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AT&T Confirms Early Upgrade Price Increase to $200

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This is why....

Iselltheshitoutofphones

Oct 7, 2010, 10:50 PM
Phone insurance is a good idea on all phones especially smartphones. A $50 or $125 deductible is better than an exception up or no commit pricing.

Early iphone pricing of $200 more masked as an exception upgrade for an iphone. Not to mention, att dishes those out often.

I activated an iphone for a customer back in June. She broke the phone and was elig for the early iphone upgrade pricing. Instead of getting a phone that is insurable, and is accident prone, I can't believe she bought another iphone.....amazing.

My dealer base doesn't offer an exception upgrades for smartphones. To charge $75 more and make $65 in comp from att, puts me at loss of $35.

Will
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acdc1a

Oct 8, 2010, 8:41 AM
You're right. But this is also why we need to step away from the contract model in the US. Too many people expect something for nothing and it's the wireless industry's fault for conditioning them that way.
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flagrantmisuse

Oct 8, 2010, 1:09 PM
i agreee to a certain extent. it's not only the carriers fault it is americans as a whole. we have been conditioned in every business practice that to show appreciation or offer stuff to intice customers to be free or at an introductory rate.

americans want something for nothing. although i will admit, that wireless providers are unique in the sense that they dont MAKE you pay much or anything for that matter for the hardware to use thier service.

cable-you have to buy a tv.

internet-you have to buy a computer or other internet capable device.

home phone-have to buy the phone.

in a perfect world, customers should have to pay for the hardware and not have a contract...but come on...we're americans...how many of us are actuall...
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T Bone

Oct 8, 2010, 6:49 PM
Wireless providers are NOT unique, Direct TV gives you a free DVR with 2 year contract....instead of charging you $199 for it...

As far as it goes, very few people want to spend between $500-$700 for a phone...even if they can afford it they simply WILL NOT do it

The contract and subsidy system was introduced because otherwise no one would sign up

Get rid of the contract and subsidy and one of two things will happen: people will cancel cell phone service and go back to landlines, or they will switch to cheap $20 pre-paid phones and plans....

Most people simply WILL NOT pay between $500-$700 for a phone, they WILL NOT do it.
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acdc1a

Oct 9, 2010, 8:47 AM
The part you're leaving out is most of these phones are not $500 to $700 phones. The cost to the carriers is in the $350 neighborhood for even the most advanced devices. Make your money on the service, not on the devices. Kill the contracts.
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T Bone

Oct 9, 2010, 12:21 PM
The Blackberry Torch is $499 without a contract, the iPhone 4 32 GB is $599 without a contract...

$500-$700 is a perfectly reasonable estimate for the retail price of an advanced smartphone

So...here's what I want to know is, who is going to tell the device manufacturers that their sales and profit margins are going bye bye because nobody is buying their product anymore?

I don't want to be part of that conversation 'hello, CEO of RIM, last year we needed 20 million Blackberries, this year we're gonna need right around 20,000....either that or start producing cheap phones that can be purchased for less than $20'

Yeah, that's nothing a conversation I want to be a part of.

The smartphone industry will be wiped out overnight...no ...
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flagrantmisuse

Oct 9, 2010, 12:16 PM
how can you watch direct tv with out a tv? and best buy and walmart sure as hell arent gonna give you one.
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T Bone

Oct 9, 2010, 12:36 PM
It is easy to buy a cheap TV, it is not easy to buy a cheap smartphone....and even if it was...people will not do it.

You can try to convince them until you are blue in the face that the phones are worth the price, they will never believe you. Sure, they have an Mp3 player, GPS, a digital camera and on and on and on...and buying all of those things separately would set you back more than a grand....but they don't see it that way...the way they see it is 'paying $500 for a phone' and they think that's ridiculous, and even people who can afford it simply aren't going to pay it.

The subsidy system is not the CAUSE of people thinking that their phones are cheap, it's a reaction to it....

People just don't think phones are worth all th...
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flagrantmisuse

Oct 9, 2010, 12:21 PM
and you kinda made my point for me.
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ELawson87

Oct 9, 2010, 8:30 AM
The conditioning comes in when people don't realize just how expensive cell phones really ARE. People see all of the advertising for "FREE PHONE," but they don't notice the fine print that says, "with new 2 year agreement, regular price $399.99."

So then they break the phone six months later and think, "well, that phone was free when I got it, so I can just go to the store and they'll give me another one for free."

Then they realize the phone they got "for free" actually costs $400, and it absolutely blows their mind. Then they start complaining about how they got the phone for free to sign the contract, but can't get another one for free, because they don't seen to understand that they got discounted pricing to sign a contract, and ...
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Da_Bonehead

Oct 9, 2010, 11:04 AM
I have seen this on several occasions. One I remember the most was a young lady came into my store to have here phone looked at by me, I am a service technician, and i opened the device and water came out. when I told here that it cannot be fixed but she can do an insurance claim she stated she just wandted to buy another phone instead because the one she got was $19.95. when I told her the phone was normally $250.00 and that she had got it on a renewal she got upset because now she would have to tell her Dad that she dropped the phone in a bucket of soapy watter while washing her car.
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