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Will this work to get a new iPhone every year subsidized?

T

tnisatard

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 1, 2008
447
0
I have a question about AT&T, I am going to sign up for AT&T next summer and I was wondering if I can do this for iPhones since Im in charge of the phone bill


Sign up for 3 lines with AT&T Family Plan

Me: 2010 iPhone on 2 year contract
Mom: Use a regular unlocked phone with no contract
Dad: Use a regular unlocked phone with no contract

then when 2011 comes out with the new iPhone

Me: Use my moms upgrade (1 year left on contract)
Mom: Get the 2011 iPhone and put it under my account + 2 year contract for her
Dad: no upgrade (not on contract)

then rotate every year assuming i still want the iphone or some other phone


in case your wondering, my parents dont even use their cell phones much, they only use it to contact me and they do not care as long as it makes calls, they arent into technology at all, and i will buy them unlocked phones to use
 
Sure - but you don't need 3 people to pull this off - you only need 2. If 1 of the people on the account is satisfied with using a crap phone, you would upgrade your own phone on even years, and use their upgrade in the odd years (or vice versa). And since they usually let you upgrade after 1.5 years (or sometimes even less - depends on your monthly cost), that makes it even easier to pull off.

*edit* I forgot about the data plan issue... if the other person doesn't have a data plan, this probably doesn't work.

tnisatard said:
I have a question about AT&T, I am going to sign up for AT&T next summer and I was wondering if I can do this for iPhones since Im in charge of the phone bill


Sign up for 3 lines with AT&T Family Plan

Me: 2010 iPhone on 2 year contract
Mom: Use a regular unlocked phone with no contract
Dad: Use a regular unlocked phone with no contract

then when 2011 comes out with the new iPhone

Me: Use my moms upgrade (1 year left on contract)
Mom: Get the 2011 iPhone and put it under my account + 2 year contract for her
Dad: no upgrade (not on contract)

then rotate every year assuming i still want the iphone or some other phone


in case your wondering, my parents dont even use their cell phones much, they only use it to contact me and they do not care as long as it makes calls, they arent into technology at all, and i will buy them unlocked phones to use
Click to expand...
 
wacky4alanis said:
Sure - but you don't need 3 people to pull this off - you only need 2. If 1 of the people on the account is satisfied with using a crap phone, you would upgrade your own phone on even years, and use their upgrade in the odd years (or vice versa). And since they usually let you upgrade after 1.5 years (or sometimes even less - depends on your monthly cost), that makes it even easier to pull off.

*edit* I forgot about the data plan issue... if the other person doesn't have a data plan, this probably doesn't work.
Click to expand...

oh yeah, i know i dont need 3 people, but thats how my situation is

and what do you mean about the data plan issue?

does that mean if i use my moms line to upgrade to a new iphone, i must add a data plan on her line before i can give myself the iphone?
 
tnisatard said:
oh yeah, i know i dont need 3 people, but thats how my situation is

and what do you mean about the data plan issue?

does that mean if i use my moms line to upgrade to a new iphone, i must add a data plan on her line before i can give myself the iphone?
Click to expand...

no. just say you want to use that upgrade, and that you want to use that phone on your line.
 
ok cool! thanks for responses!


this plan is pretty much going to work right?

there isnt any fault i can see
 
You shouldn't have to move data plans around, I used an upgrade on the family plan (my wife's) to upgrade to my 3g last summer. They simply removed the upgrade from her number and gave me the discount. I have two iPhones on a family plan, and because my line is over 100 a month i get a yearly upgrade and she has a 2 year upgrade, but takes my last year iPhone when I upgrade.
 
Stop being greedy you don't need two iPhones sell your current one on eBay for the crazy prices they go for these days and buy the new one full price....it's that simple
 
In the US on AT&T you would only need one in this scenario. If you have your iPhone line as the primary line on the account (lists the full plan amount on this line with add on amounts for the other line) along with the data plan and any family texting, etc, your renewal period should only be 12 months. That's the way mine is setup and many others have seen this as well.
 
Yeah I have 4 lines with two of them being iPhones on my Family Plan, I'm eligible for an upgrade (my number,main line on the account) every 12 months. The way understand it is the length of time for upgrades is based on how much your plan costs each month. I don't recall the levels but that's what I heard. :)
 
hmmm

lets see I bought my Iphone in June in Nov of next year I can get a new one is that really that bad that is on the base plan I should get around $600 buy new phone on plan pocket extra cash. :D or I might wait till 2011 for my next one see what june brings.but if you can do what you want with two plans of course you can do it with 3. or lets start another thread can I get a new phone every year with 4-5 plans.
 
nateo200 said:
Stop being greedy you don't need two iPhones sell your current one on eBay for the crazy prices they go for these days and buy the new one full price....it's that simple
Click to expand...

so its smarter to pay 600 dollars for a phone when I can get it for 1/3 of the price... okay....


labman said:
lets see I bought my Iphone in June in Nov of next year I can get a new one is that really that bad that is on the base plan I should get around $600 buy new phone on plan pocket extra cash. :D or I might wait till 2011 for my next one see what june brings.but if you can do what you want with two plans of course you can do it with 3. or lets start another thread can I get a new phone every year with 4-5 plans.
Click to expand...


i didnt mean to make this thread asking if i can do it with 3 lines, but that is going to be my situation in the future, i was pretty sure i can do it with 2 lines, but i just put the 3rd line anyways since i plan on signing that type of contract
 
If you have more than one account and the others are eligible to upgrade you can just switch it over to yours. I did it in order to get my 3Gs.
 
I have a friend who does the same thing on Verizon. His parents don't care about new phones so they let him use the upgrades as long as he pays for the phones.
 
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