AT&T Upgrade Fee?

NailbunnyPD

Up until yesterday, I was pretty much sold on upgrading to an iPhone from my Blackjack II. I'm 18 months into my contract, and the AT&T site shows me the option to upgrade to the iPhone at the proper upgrade price.

I was ready to pull the trigger until I saw an $18 Upgrade Fee. I thought, surely this is a mistake. They wouldn't be charging me a fee to lock me into another 2-year contract. After stopping into a physical location, it was confirmed. The rep explained it as being akin to an activation fee.

$18 is pretty nominal considering the overall expense ($200 + $75 * 24 = $2000), but its proven to be quite the psychological barrier. I feel like I am being penalized for sticking with AT&T.

Is this typical with other carriers? Is there a way to get this fee waived?

Scrublet

Usually when you start up a NEW contract with a carrier there is an activation fee. This is typical, there is not a way to get it waived, and wtf it's EIGHTEEN DOLLARS.

Djeet

The $18 "upgrade fee" is normal from AT&T, my wife and I've paid it several times.

It is very unlikely they will waive it. I got it waived once, and that time I had gone into a B&M AT&T store and mine was a business account at the time, never had it waived since.

Also make sure there aren't additional fees. I recall when I first got my iPhone (2G) there was an activation fee of $36. I did get AT&T to credit me back the $36 on that occasion (they said they couldn't "waive" it because it was charged by Apple, and they didn't credit me back any taxes on the $36), but I still had to pay the $18 "upgrade" fee.

travathian

I just signed a new contract with Sprint after my previous one expired. Got a new phone delivered next day air, no activation fee, stayed on my same plan.

I find it baffling that you are buying a new phone and going to a more expensive plan and they have the nerve to charge you an activation fee.

Tanooki Mario

You have to remember, you're six months short of being off-contract. Of course they're going to nickel and dime you -- what are you going to do, leave early and pay an even-higher ETF fee (probably around $85 right now) to avoid the $18 charge?

Another thing to consider is what Apple will do to the iPhone come June/July. They've released a new rev of iPhone for three straight years in that time period. Personally, I'd advocate sticking it out until then. There's not much new coming out right now from any manufacturer for AT&T that gives any kind of 'wow' factor and is going to last you a couple years aside from iPhone.

Also, it's fucking AT&T. They're pure evil of cell networks.

NailbunnyPD

I got the fee waived! I leveraged the fact that I brought in a business account that fluctuates between 5-10 lines. It can be done!

Since they were so nice to do so, I opted for the 32G instead of the 16G. I also ordered an Incase Bamboo Slider for full protection.

I'm not worried about what's on the horizon with the next hardware revision. I figure I will have to skip one version before I am eligible for my next upgrade anyways, so might as well get it out of the way now. I'll plan to upgrade again in 2011.