We traded in our old phones and received new 12's back in November. We never received our credits. Each month, we'd use the chat feature (paper trail) and the agent would say "I see everything, the credits will come next month". Finally in March, a chat agent says "We never received your old phones, so you're responsible for the full price of the new phone." I shared with them the USPS tracking info saying the items were delivered. The chat agent pushed back saying "all that shows is a box was delivered, not the contents."

I went nuclear and filed a complaint with the FCC.

Within 24 hours, I received a call from a person from the "office of the president" of ATT. I know he's not really in the office of the president, but the customer care he extended to us was second to none. He picked up the phone each time I called and gave us daily updates until the issue was resolved.

Not only did the credits properly post on the next bill, we received a one-time statement credit in the amount of the missing credits as an additional service recovery.

Long story short... if you aren't getting anywhere, file with the FCC.

I tried out the iphone 12 but wasn't with 5g speeds nor camera or video. Maybe next the 13 wows me maybe not.

Wow, I didn't know that was a viable option. It might come to that, if my next call leads to another shrug from them.

The FCC�s website has a section specifically set up to receive these complaints. It�s the �nuclear option� but it works.

For those who has T-Mobile, starting April 18, you can trade in iPhone 11 for free upgrade to iPhone 12.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-car...des-the-iphone

You can also trade in any phone (including old flip phone) to free Samsung A32 5G.

Miss Swede bought an iPhone 11 128GB in absolute pristine condition (including 100% battery health) for $515 back in November off Swappa. Is it worth it to upgrade to a 12? I probably would foot the extra $40 for the 128GB version.

Looks like the changes are pretty incremental--slightly better screen, slightly better camera hardware, and 5G radio. I guess the real question is whether T-Mobile would offer a free iPhone 13 (or whatever comes next) with iPhone 11 trade-in; or a free iPhone 14 with iPhone 12 trade-in.

I would wait for the 12S/13 at the end of the year.

My 12 Pro 256 is a great phone, and with ATTs $850 trade-in credit it was a no-brainer. But the 12S/13 [the Pro models at least, if not the entire range] is going to have a 120hz screen, under-glass touch ID, slightly better cameras, a faster processor, and a slightly bigger battery, and a smaller notch. All in the same package. Well worth waiting a few months for IMO.

There is no guarantee about future promotions and trade in. I traded in several iPhone 8�s for iPhone 12�s and paid for upgraded memory. I would wait before trading in the 11 to see if the fingerprint sensor is added back in the 13z

If you trade for a 12 now, can you trade up for a 13 a few months later or is there some restriction on doing that?

T-mobile trade in deal is usually 24 months credit. They charge you for the new phone total divided by 24 every month and then credit you back the same amount. You will be locked in for 24 months on that line. If you want to upgrade again, you will probably have to pay off the total for the existing phone first. So pretty much you only want to upgrade if you think you are going to keep the phone for 2 years. If you are going to upgrade before that, then your free upgrade is not totally free.

There is also some complex math involved with the trade-in...

$830 over 24 months = $35.48 per month
Let's say T-Mobile values your iPhone 11 trade in at $240
Once they accept your iPhone 11 trade-in as good, they immediately apply a $240 bill credit to your account
Then T-Mobile claws back that $240 over 24 months ($10/mo)
The bill shows up as you paying $10/mo for the phone with a $25.48 credit
Each month, $35.48 is deducted from the $830 balance for the next 24 months
Let's say after 12 months, you want to trade it in for the iPhone 12S/13/13S/13Z/14/whatever, you need to pay the remaining balance ($415), but you'll still receive the $25.48/mo bill credit for the remaining 12 months

Really? I thought you would have to pay the remaining balance, but then you would stop receiving the remaining credits on the trade-in phone because you will be on a new 24 month credits on the new phone? If I only have to pay off the balance ahead of time but still get it back later, there is really no reason to not trade in iPhone 11 for 12.

Per T-Mobile's website...

You may have one Recurring Device Credits (RDC) promo per line at a time. To get a new Recurring Device Credits (RDC) promo and keep your current credit, you must pay off the existing EIP first.

• If you pay off your EIP early, you�ll continue to receive the promised Recurring Device Credits (RDC) as an account-level credit through the remaining months of the promotional credit period (up to 24 or 36 months).

That said, I have heard stories about RDC not being moved to account-level (recurring) credits properly. You'll need to watch your account like a hawk for 2-3 billing cycles.

After discussing with a super-helpful T-Mobile agent, we're just going to wait until September and gamble there will be a similar trade-in promotion.

Are the newest iPhones (12 and newer) interchangeable on all networks, for example TMobile, Verizon and AT&T without ordering a specific carrier model?

I believe so. I don't think CDMA has been a thing for awhile.

Also, this is the first 5G modem Apple has used so it doesn't include all the 5G bands which are coming in line.

Already, Qualcomm has announced newer modems with support for more bands.

If we were able to travel internationally, we might find that iPhone 12 and other current 5G phones sold in the US may not be as well supported overseas.


On Tuesday, Apple is expected to announce new iPad Pros with 5G options. But I believe they might use the same modem as the iPhone 12. So I'm thinking of waiting another year before buying a 5G iPad.