I just want to clear this all up and hopefully help some premiere gold people who are on the fence about getting an E4GT, or are confused about the changes. I've spoken to several sprint employees including retentions, CSRs and many people at sprintusers.com and all have confirmed the following information is correct.
If you are sprint premiere GOLD (unsure about silver) and have an upgrade on or before 10/1/2011:
1. You can use this upgrade prior to 10/2 and upgrade again 1 year from this upgrade. YOU HAVE to use this yearly upgrade prior to 10/2 to get the last upgrade 1 year from now.
2. If your next eligible upgrade is after 10/2 you only get this one last upgrade
3. The last free yearly upgrade expires 12/31/2012.
Example 1: Evo 4g sprint premiere customers:
If you bought your evo in june 4, 2010 and were/are now gold, you were eligible on 6/1/2011 for your next handset upgrade. If you use this available upgrade to epic 4g touch, evo3d, photon, etc prior to 10/2 you will get another upgrade available 9/1/2012 or 10/1/2012 (if you do it on 10/1). The upgrade available on 9/1/2012 or 10/1/2012 has to be used by 12/31/2012
Example 2: Yearly upgrade is 10/2 or later:
If your last upgrade was made after 10/31/2010, you will not be getting another upgrade on the 1 year schedule. This I believe will be 20 months.
Example 3: You upgraded to a photon, evo3d or E4GT already:
So long as you are premiere gold, you'll have your upgrade available 1 year from the date you purchased it. So for e3d users, roughly 6/1/2012, photon in august, etc.
My personal example:
I bought an evo 4g on release day. I've been premiere gold for years. I didn't like the evo3d and knew the galaxy s 2 would get to the US.. I was just hoping it was going to be like.. July. No such luck. Being that this phone was so late I decided that i'd just wait for the nexus prime, but sprint changed the premiere gold rules on 9/9/2011. And by changed I mean, deleted it. I called them and they told me the information stated above. That is, so long as I use my upgrade prior to 10/2, i'll get 1 last upgrade next year available on 9/1 or 10/1 that must be used by 12/31/2012. If I use it after 10/1 I'll still have an available upgrade, but wont be eligible for another one for 20 months
Commentary:
Sprint is doing all of this in preparation for the iphone (5, most likely). They want to get existing users to use their upgrade prior to its release which is rumored to be sometime in October. In a sense, they have achieved this in my personal example. However, I couldn't care less about the iphone, I was waiting for the nexus prime. My phone arrives tomorrow from amazon wireless, I know I won't be disappointed (at least for a month or 2!)
If you are sprint premiere GOLD (unsure about silver) and have an upgrade on or before 10/1/2011:
1. You can use this upgrade prior to 10/2 and upgrade again 1 year from this upgrade. YOU HAVE to use this yearly upgrade prior to 10/2 to get the last upgrade 1 year from now.
2. If your next eligible upgrade is after 10/2 you only get this one last upgrade
3. The last free yearly upgrade expires 12/31/2012.
Example 1: Evo 4g sprint premiere customers:
If you bought your evo in june 4, 2010 and were/are now gold, you were eligible on 6/1/2011 for your next handset upgrade. If you use this available upgrade to epic 4g touch, evo3d, photon, etc prior to 10/2 you will get another upgrade available 9/1/2012 or 10/1/2012 (if you do it on 10/1). The upgrade available on 9/1/2012 or 10/1/2012 has to be used by 12/31/2012
Example 2: Yearly upgrade is 10/2 or later:
If your last upgrade was made after 10/31/2010, you will not be getting another upgrade on the 1 year schedule. This I believe will be 20 months.
Example 3: You upgraded to a photon, evo3d or E4GT already:
So long as you are premiere gold, you'll have your upgrade available 1 year from the date you purchased it. So for e3d users, roughly 6/1/2012, photon in august, etc.
My personal example:
I bought an evo 4g on release day. I've been premiere gold for years. I didn't like the evo3d and knew the galaxy s 2 would get to the US.. I was just hoping it was going to be like.. July. No such luck. Being that this phone was so late I decided that i'd just wait for the nexus prime, but sprint changed the premiere gold rules on 9/9/2011. And by changed I mean, deleted it. I called them and they told me the information stated above. That is, so long as I use my upgrade prior to 10/2, i'll get 1 last upgrade next year available on 9/1 or 10/1 that must be used by 12/31/2012. If I use it after 10/1 I'll still have an available upgrade, but wont be eligible for another one for 20 months
Commentary:
Sprint is doing all of this in preparation for the iphone (5, most likely). They want to get existing users to use their upgrade prior to its release which is rumored to be sometime in October. In a sense, they have achieved this in my personal example. However, I couldn't care less about the iphone, I was waiting for the nexus prime. My phone arrives tomorrow from amazon wireless, I know I won't be disappointed (at least for a month or 2!)