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AT&T Increases Early Upgrade, 1-Year Contract Device Prices

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AT&T has confirmed recent suspicions saying they’d be making it more expensive for people to upgrade early or for people to buy phones with just a one-year contract as opposed to two years.

You’ll have to pay $50 more than previous standard pricing for the latter situation, while those who don’t want to be tied down to a two-year contract and instead opt for one year will need to pay $150 more for their smartphones.

AT&T claims that the decision was made due to the sophistication of smartphones these days. As they get better, their costs go up. (Except they forget to mention that you’re already paying for the MSRP throughout the two-year or one-year deal anyway.) [via BGR]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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22 Comments

  1. And so it begins. I’m glad the FCC will have a chance to see this as they are looking at the TMo deal.

  2. Eff you, AT&T. Couldn’t you at least wait until AFTER the deal is complete to prove you were blatantly lieing to us???

  3. Everytime you feel frustrated about things like this, take a look at Canadian telecoms. It will make you feel better.

    1. Actually, when I look at Canadian telecoms, I see our future, so it doesn’t make me feel any better lol.

  4. This has nothing to do with TMobile you tools. Verizon recently did the same phones are costing 700-1000 dollars just look at the galaxy S2 etc so Telecom companies are saying you have to pay more unless you sign two years. Why should they subsidize the phones any more than they do. Shit American telecoms give you the cheapest phones in the world and you ladies complain. Try living in Canada or better yet Europe were they barely if at all subsidize.

    1. Don’t the europeans have ridiculously cheap data rates? Stop being an asshole. I’d rather pay full price for the phone if I could get a European monthly price.Tool.

    2. If you honestly believe thats what the phone costs, I have a cup of coffee I would love to sell you for $95. Part of the reason phone costs outside the US are so high is the telcos in the US subsidize the cost. AT&T buys phones in the millions from the OEM and gets them for a hell of a lot cheaper than you think. For example lets take last gen technology. Captivate, it likley cost the manuf around $85 a unit to create in its retail package. AT&T customers paid $199 and allegedly this was with AT&T subsidizing away $200+ because to buy the phone without a contract was around $500. So if those numbers are to be believe Samsung makes a huge profit because basically after costs the entire AT&T subsidy serves as nothing more than an artificial inflation of the price and since that price is inflated more can be charged for it world wide.

    3. Andrea – in Europe ,with two year contract, You can have ANY phone for a dollar.
      Nobody there would pay $200 like in USA.
      Should I mention,that incoming calls are free ?

  5. I hope Verizon doesn’t copy them.

  6. Just as expected.. DRAIN EVERYONE DRY GREAT MOVE.. Pretty sure Verizon the other crappy network will follow they always copy one another.. People on Tmobile should stop worrying that potential merger with Ass t&t is looking more and more like it WON’T HAPPEN.

    1. Well here we go again Mr. Sprint fanboy. And im pretty sure sprint changed up their upgrades a little bit to so I wouldnt say anything because the only reason sprint CANT increase anything is because they already lose money every quarter and their network is sub par at best. And yes I looked at the coverage map so what are you going to try and say now since all you care about is how good sprint supposedly is when its not…

      1. Hey Verizon fanboy to bad you can’t stick with issue posted but ok you want to discuss your great network verizon then let’s discuss them. Your nothing but a sprint hater someone that posts comments when you feel it benefits verizon or there looking good in your eyes. Verizon sucks there devices suck and all they do is make people like you believe they provide such superior service. They are one of the worst with updates on there devices and they don’t offer nothing that pushes the envelope for technology.. They are always late to everything and are nothing but followers I think they believe there At&t it’s actually a joke the way they overcharge and nickel and dime everyone to death. Look around my friend there current devices are joke definitely nothing to write home and tell anybody about. Your mind is wilted with Verizon and it’s network proff will be in the pudding your LTE network has proven nothing. Your current 3g service is garbage also keep fooling yourself all you want. Meanwhile if you and all the other Verizon bleed red FANBOYS want something special join us online for the Htc Evo3d a GINGERBREAD FLAGSHIP DEVICE FOR HTC/SPRINT. My clear message to you and others that will read this and comment as they usually do… DON’T HATE PARTICIPATE IN THE JOY OF THE EVO BRAND… 55days and counting till the Evo 3d blasts off

        1. Im pretty sure they did a study and verizon was the best with updates so idk where you get your info all you do is spout things you think are facts because you are so far up sprints ass thats all you know. I dont post anything that makes verizon look better I could care less. Its called facts something you cant understand because sprint has 1 good phone and all of the sudden every other carrier’s phones suck? Come on get something new to use yeah the EVO 3d big deal the galaxy s 2 will blow that out of the water and yes its coming to verizon. So what are you going to use now that your so called king of android will be short lived with the variety of new phones that have the same specs or better. But i guess you have nothing better to do than say the same thing a hundred times and get proven wrong 101 times. Good luck though with the EVO 3D. And you say about current devices sprints suck the EVO is old and the Thunderbolt which is currently on verizon is better than that so what phone that sprint read this CURRENTLY has matches the thunderbolt? Exactly you are basing everything off of a phone thats not even available yet!

          1. Reading this is like listening to two children argue. The arguments might have merit, but have either of you heard of punctuation, or at the very least proper grammar?

            OK, just punctuation would make this less fatiguing to read.

      2. You DO realize who yarrellray is, don’t you? Think about it…YARRELL…R..ay…just picture his post in all caps.

        1. What?

  7. Unrelated to topic, but a friendly grammatical tip (stress on friendly).. in your second paragraph, when referring to the first situation it would actually be the “former” whereas the second situation would be considered the “latter”.

    Back on topic, not thrilled about these new increases.

    1. Thank you. Confused at first when reading this.

  8. here’s a fact, all cell phone companies are crooked in one way or another. at&t is the most expensive company from what i have seen, and they put a limit on everything. you can’t even download an APK from a third party source. if i buy a phone, they should have no right telling me what i can and cannot download. if i pay for their service, than i will use the service that i pay for however the hell i want.

    sprint, they constantly lie to their customers. They say they offer the cheaper of the prices, however when you add up all of their fees and hidden charges they’re not much cheaper than at&t. they brag about their “Everything DATA” plans, and how it’s so much cheaper than the other companies. They used to charge an extra $10 for 4g service, however after taking a massive amount of scrutiny from customers that don’t get 4g coverage, they decided to charge everybody an extra $10/month and called it the smartphone data fee. funny thing is, instead of only a fraction of the customers getting screwed over, they are all getting screwed over… and people don’t seem to mind now. that’s why i left sprint. they changed my contract.

    i have never been with verizon, i don’t know how well they treat their customers. i heard they want an astronomical deposit fee like at&t if you have mediocre-poor credit. for those who have been impacted by the economy, and got laid off, it doesn’t seem like a viable options. really, in todays economy how do you expect to get new customers if you try charging them two months rent for a deposit fee?

    and now tmobile. they are the cheapest of the bunch. in some areas, their coverage is as strong as other carriers, in some cases they have the best coverage. they also have the best customer service. however, their coverage is also the most limited. they don’t have as wide 3g coverage as other carriers. sprint and verizon have 3g in my area, however with tmobile i am on the edge network.

    in the end, they all have their downfalls, however i would stick with tmobile if i had the choice. if the deal with at&t goes through, then i will probably look into another carrier, that is unless at&t works out a deal with me to stay. if the merger gets denied, then i would like to see tmobile invest in widening their 3g networks. if they could offer 3g to more areas, they would get more customers.

  9. Yallerray- wireless carriers DO NOT push out the updates until the manufacturer releases it. If you don’t believe me, ask Samsung or Verizon or Sprint or whomever else you want.

    Statistical fact: Numbers don’t lie. Verizon has the largest US footprint. I don’t personally flame any carrier because one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. But please align and research your facts before you staunchly argue a misguided point.

  10. The Empire Strikes Back. To hell with Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and North Korea. . .the real terrorists are American Wall Street ppl. AT&T is still hosing with no vaseline

  11. atnt can burn in hell..and there coverage is horrible

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