AT&T rethinks iPhone 3G S upgrade fee

Apparently, the howls of hurt from early iPhone 3G buyers reached the heights of AT&T's bean-counting management. The company announced Wednesday that it would let iPhone 3G owners buy into new two-year iPhone 3G S contracts at a less punitive rate. Well, some iPhone 3G owners. In an open letter released on Wednesday, Big …

[Elad]

O2?

Could do well to learn from this, but I suspect their arrogance will remain.

[The Original Ash]

Goon news!

It means the iPhone 3G will come down in price to a sane amount on eBay, now :D

[Anonymous Coward]

O2

Any word on O2 coming to their senses? I literally know 5 other people who want to upgrade to 32GB iPhones but have been put off by the pricing.

[tony]

why no 12 month contracts?

A fair guess would be that the next version will be out in about a year, why can't the telcos create a 12 month contract so that people who're desperate to get the new technology wont have the hassle with buying themselves out of contracts etc?

[Steve 149]

No surprises?

How surprising a company putting it's customers through the wringer.

What is surprising (to me at least) is that there are companies elsewhere in the world that are as foul to their customers as they are in the UK.

[Nameless Faceless Computer User]

No big deal

Existing 3G owners should sit on their money and wait for the inevitable 4G phone which will probably be introduced next year.

[Pete Sowerby]

@Nameless Faceless Computer User

That is exactly what I'm doing, contract runs out Feb 2010 so i'll just sit for a couple of month and get the next one

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone Upgrade Whining

I'm still waiting someone to explain why iPhone users should to be treated as a special case when it comes to early upgrades. I'm going to be wanting a new Sony-Ericsson handset later this year when it comes out (the Satio), but I'll be a few months short of my upgrade date when it arrives.

I spend just as much as an iPhone user, so why no level playing field?

[Adam Hartfield]

$100 a month...

Pity the poor schmuck like me who has only been spending $35/month with AT&T since 2001 - no special upgrade rate acceleration in my case. Oh well, there'll be time for them to work the bugs out before I upgrade.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Whiny Sony-Ericsson owner

If you can't shorten your contract then you're not spending enough, especially if your 'only a few months short'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Already done in the UK...

O2 already do this in the UK. They call it the Priority list, and means that some people can upgrade 3 or 6 months early, depending on how much they spend. I was only 15 months into an 18 month contract, yet because of this I managed to upgrade today.

http://www.o2blueroom.co.uk/ - check if you're on Gold or Platinum, and go from there.

If anything, it's the US copying what we already get...