For all of you who are "angry" or "fed up" that the at&t stores do not know the pricing on devices.

Fair enough. I think it would improve customer service if AT&T fed some preliminary "no-binding" info out to the customer service reps in the form of coping them on the official announcements at least.

It really makes the reps look like bone heads when they have not even heard about stuff thats been OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED via AT&T...

 

gotta agree reps in store and via phone had no idea the phone was announced BY ATT even several days after the fact. in my profession, we publish and circulate a daily info update to keep us abreast of the goings on. seems important from a customer service stand point

 

Lol why would I lie? They told me that they dont sell off contract phone, I have no reason to lie about that.

 

There are plenty of 3rd party authorized retailers out there who may be following specific guidance of their store managers/regional managers. ATT can only control them so much....

 

Anything I can do to get the inspire for anything less than full off-contract price? Just passed the 1-year mark on my 2-year contract and i'd really like to avoid the full price. I currently have a captivate, and as we all know, it has gps issues. Is this a valid bargaining point?

 

dont ask dont tell

while it doesnt tell you the exact full price, you can get an idea. The pink prices on the left are 2 year pricing, and the ones on the right are 1 year pricing.

you might have to squint....for some reason its shrunk

 

call cancellations, ask them what your early termination fee is. they should attempt to keep you. if they ask why you want to leave, tell them you want to upgrade to 4G. You want the Inspire, but the store said you couldnt upgrade. VERIZON is launching the THUNDERBOLT which is a little better than the INSPIRE and is 4G. Then the dealing begins.

 

So the 1 year price IS 199! The extra 100 is WAY cheaper than buying a new phone after a year. How do i go about telling them i just want to do the 1 year contract?

 

To be honest ive never done a 1 year upgrade before, I know how to do it (under term you select 1 year)

just tell the associate you want a 1 year contract/pricing. and on the CSS (the copy of the contract they give) make sure it says 12 months next to where it says "term" in the top left box

 

Doesn't AT&T require your bill to be a certain amount before you can have 1 year contracts and upgrades?

 

No you just pay the higher cost of the phone when your two year is up then your on one year

 

This is quite literally the first time I have ever heard anything like this in my entire life.

 

Its absolutely going to be cheaper for me to pay the $199 for one year and do another upgrade next year then it is to have an "oh shoot" moment when HTC comes out with its dual core phone and i end up payin $550 for one off contract.

 

i wonder what the ETF is on a 1year

 

Excellent questions. One I might look to you for an answer lol

 

one might have to wait until i go to work tomorrow to find out

 

haha, fair enough!

 

So 1-yr agreements are available to everyone, they just don't advertise it? I wonder if third-party retailers also have the ability to sell 1-yr contracts?

 

Yes they do and if you go to beat buy for instance next to each phone they have all 3 prices off contract, one year and.two

 

Pretty cool. Never noticed that.

Although, if on a family plan, simply adding an unused line and alternating upgrades every year may be a better option. An additional line is only $9.99/mo.

So it's $120 paid over 12 months vs $100+tax up front. Sure, you may be able to save a small amount of money paying up front, but paying in $10 monthly installments is nice. Plus, you have an extra line in case some weird circumstance arises when you'd need one.

One caveat, of course, would be the significantly larger ETF you'd have at all times. But for someone with no interest in ever leaving AT&T, that wouldn't be a concern.

 

Yes fir instance I would hardly if ever see a reason to leave att so.for me if I neededthis scenario it would be doable

 

Didn't AT&T just raise the price for new lines up to $36/month? I don't think that is an option anymore.

I'd also be interested in knowing the ETF for a 1 year contract.