AT&T has some bad news for some of its customers. Starting on Sunday, AT&T customers with contracts expiring on March 1st, 2014 or later, will have to wait a full 24 months before being allowed to upgrade to a new phone paying the lower subsidized price for the device. The announcement by the carrier makes official what was rumored after a leaked AT&T memo revealed the change in policy.
Before the change in policy, AT&T had allowed those with a signed contract to purchase a subsidized phone after 20 months as long as they extended their contract for another 24 months. Like Verizon, which also eliminated the 20 month upgrade on a two-year contract back in April, AT&T said that it wanted to align the upgrade cycle with the two-year contracts that post-paid customers sign. Verizon's change takes affect this coming January, two months before AT&T's new rules start.
AT&T will stop allowing customers to update their phones before 24 months
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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