1. 8
    Jun

    iPhone users on AT&T Family accounts.

    Last year I was shocked to find out that I was NOT eligible for the $299 price of the iPhone 3GS. How can that be? My husband and I bought the iPhone 3G on the official release day at the same time. AT&T must be confused. Turns out it was due to me being the secondary person on our Family Plan. Apparently there’s a certain percentage of your monthly plan amount that goes into paying off the subsidized amount that was covered on your iPhone. Since the main account holder is paying “full price” and the second line is getting the reduced price- the second person gets screwed. Well, technically if you throw it on a spreadsheet the math makes sense but that doesn’t make any hardcore geek spouse very happy. So what are your options? If you qualify you might have the option to pay $200 more to upgrade with your mate. Guess what? It appears if you do that one year the next year you don’t qualify to pay just $200 more you now have to pay $400 more! WTF?? So if that’s the case and you plan on upgrading yearly why not just pay the extra $400 so your phone is entirely unsubsidized? This way you only pay the $400 one year and the next year you qualify for the upgrade at the advertised price. While this would save you $200 you have to keep in mind that there’s never going to be a promise of an iPhone next year or even if it will stay on that carrier. Just something to think about. 

    Curious as to how I came about this? Last year we decided to go to Best Buy to grab our iPhones and avoid lines. I knew I was going to have to pay the extra $200 but when she rang us up I was charged $699 as they were not allowed to do the upgrades. At the time I was livid.. not livid enough to not get the 3GS ;-) The only consolation was that I knew that I qualified this year (well as long as AT&T allowed the iPhone early eligibility thing they have done the last few years).  

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I thought I was an artist, but really I'm more a geek. Occasionally, I need to embrace the artistic side of me. Welcome to Marilyn's Geek Craft. I embrace all art that is tech related, or just created by a tech ;)
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