The account management site for AT&T recently saw some outages after Apple said the telecommunications company would excuse customers from their contracts in order to upgrade to the iPhone 4. Errors during the period included “No backend server available for connection: timed out after 100 seconds or idempotent set to OFF, “Maintenance In Progress” and “Due to a system upgrade the site is temporarily unavailable.”
While customers are usually forbidden from purchasing a new subsidized smartphone until their contract has, or is about to, expire, Steve Jobs announced that AT&T is relaxing those guidelines for iPhone 4 customers. “Any existing iPhone customer eligible for an upgrade between today and the end of this year will be eligible for our best pricing for iPhone 4, $199 and $299, with a two-year term commitment,” read a statement from AT&T.
“We know that people are eager to get iPhone 4, which is why we moved up the upgrade eligibility date for current iPhone customers by up to six months,” added Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility. “This move, combined with the new wireless data plans we announced last week, will make it more affordable for more people to purchase an iPhone and enjoy the benefits of the mobile Internet.”
The iPhone 4 can be purchased unsubsidized for $399 for a 16GB model and $499 for 32GB and without a contract for $599 for a 16GB phone or $699 for the 32GB device.
Source: ComputerWorld
