vB Easy Archive - Purchasing subsidized phone first on amazon?

Pages: 1

Purchasing subsidized phone first on amazon?
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: rapps

I am about to start a new contract on At&t and was wondering if anyone has taken advantage of buying a subsidized phone prior to 'upgrading' to the iphone. Since there is no discount on the iphone, purchasing one just extends your current contract 2 years from that point. Therefore, if I bought a discounted phone on amazon.com and then a few days later bought and activated an iphone, it should theoretically be ok. However, my question is in regards to this paragraph on amazon.com:

Conditional $250 Equipment Discount Included: Your price paid includes an equipment discount of $250 that has been provided to you in exchange for either activating a new, non-substitute line of service or renewing an existing line of service with AT&T and your agreement that for the 181-day period following such activation or renewal you will: (1) pay your balance due to AT&T each month and otherwise maintain your account in good standing; (2) not disconnect this AT&T line of service; (3) not transfer this equipment to another AT&T line of service; (4) not change your AT&T service rate plan to a lower monthly service rate--this includes canceling or removing required PDA, BlackBerry, or smartphone features after your product has shipped; (5) not use this line of service to replace an existing account with AT&T. If these conditions are not met, you hereby authorize Amazon.com to charge your credit card $250 as reimbursement of this equipment discount without need for further approval.

I was thinking about buying the new "htc tilt" from amazon for $175 and then later getting the iphone. I can understand amazon getting upset about buying the tilt and then downgrading to a regular phone (thus ditching the pda plan). However, has anyone just moved to the iphone after buying a PDA from amazon? If so...how has amazon reacted? Did they recharge your credit card?

Thanks for any info...

Posted by: Bruck

I'd like to know what happens if you bought a dumb phone and upgraded to an iphone... But they may have a problem with your iphone switch because your data plan will be cut in half (price wise) and this is definitely forbidden based on that wording.

(I have no experience but was going to attempt this with a dumphone tomorrow so i have one as a backup)