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Switching from Unlimited Data to Next Plan

V

vincent6396

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2007
49
0
I currently have a family plan with 5 iphones with 3 having unlimited data and the other 2 on the minimum plan. With minutes, text and data, we are paying $280 a month even with the discount from work.

I will be switching to the Next plan with 30GB shared data with unlimited talk and text. The bill will be about $190 monthly, the plan will take effect in 10 days as the customer service advise me to wait til my new billing cycle to make the change so I won't be prorated for the days.

My question is, can I upgrade my phone(s) before the new plan take place. I currently have 4 phones that is upgrade eligible. I upgraded my moms iphone to the 6 back in Sept and signed a new 2 year contract but the customer service didn't say anything about it when she set up my new plan to be change. If I do upgrade 1 or 2 iphones now, will they charge me the full retail price once my new plan take effect? Thanks
 
The only way you will end up with 5 phones and $190 total bill with 30GB is if all the phones are paid for - no contract or next. Otherwise you are looking at $40 on contract/ ~$40 Next fee per phone. That will make your bill $130 + (5 x $40) = $330. You can toggle the number of phones you have on contract or on NEXT at any given point of time to interpolate what you may expect to pay.
 
mtneer said:
The only way you will end up with 5 phones and $190 total bill with 30GB is if all the phones are paid for - no contract or next. Otherwise you are looking at $40 on contract/ ~$40 Next fee per phone. That will make your bill $130 + (5 x $40) = $330. You can toggle the number of phones you have on contract or on NEXT at any given point of time to interpolate what you may expect to pay.
Click to expand...
Actually, if you use Next, it's $15 per line, not $40. The $40 fee is only if you don't BYOD or use a traditional upgrade.

With Next, you still get the $25 credit per line.
 
KentuckyHouse said:
Actually, if you use Next, it's $15 per line, not $40. The $40 fee is only if you don't BYOD or use a traditional upgrade.

With Next, you still get the $25 credit per line.
Click to expand...

The $15 is just the phone line "access fee". You will have to pay the monthly installment for the phone on top of that - $30 to $40. That is why I told the OP he can get away with the $15 per phone only if he pays off his phone immediately or BYOD's. If not, essentially he is paying somewhere in the vicinity of $45 - $50 per phone with next.
 
The phones are all paid off and 2 year contracts are fulfilled except mu moms Iphone 6. From what I understand what uou are saying is ATT will bill me the full amount on her Iphone 6 that I used a upgrade for in Sept. Is that correct?
 
vincent6396 said:
I currently have a family plan with 5 iphones with 3 having unlimited data and the other 2 on the minimum plan. With minutes, text and data, we are paying $280 a month even with the discount from work.

I will be switching to the Next plan with 30GB shared data with unlimited talk and text. The bill will be about $190 monthly, the plan will take effect in 10 days as the customer service advise me to wait til my new billing cycle to make the change so I won't be prorated for the days.

My question is, can I upgrade my phone(s) before the new plan take place. I currently have 4 phones that is upgrade eligible. I upgraded my moms iphone to the 6 back in Sept and signed a new 2 year contract but the customer service didn't say anything about it when she set up my new plan to be change. If I do upgrade 1 or 2 iphones now, will they charge me the full retail price once my new plan take effect? Thanks
Click to expand...
I wouldnt give up those 3 unlimiteds ever....is your grandfathered plan still in effect for next 10 days?and is it still showing on your account webpage?or has it been officially changed and is that 30 gig mobile share deal on yor acct now showing as your current plan?
 
MVP and the Next program are two different things. MVP is a plan with Data and line fees. Next is a way to finance the phone. You can upgrade now and use NEXT, or subsidize a phone or pay full price for a phone and it won't change your data plan, just the amount of how much each line will be depending on your upgrade method.

Next - 0 interest/0 down. $15 per line and installment amount for new phone (you go off contract and can upgrade trade-in after 12/18 mo's or pay it off early or pay the whole 20/24 mo's, then line goes back to $15 per mo)

Subsidize - Pay the down payment for new phone (be on a 2 yr contract and pay $40 per line even after 2 yrs if you don't upgrade)

Pay full price or BYOD - Pay full price for new phone (pay $15 per line and be off contract)
 
vincent6396 said:
The phones are all paid off and 2 year contracts are fulfilled except mu moms Iphone 6. From what I understand what uou are saying is ATT will bill me the full amount on her Iphone 6 that I used a upgrade for in Sept. Is that correct?
Click to expand...

No. They will bill you $40 per month for your mom's phone that is still in contract. You can pay the ETF and get out. All other non contract/ paid off phones will pay $15 per line per month - until you decide to buy a new phone financed from AT&T. Then you tack on the monthly installments for each phone on top of what you are paying now.

If you can afford to front enough cash to upgrade all phones at the same time (at least 4 X 650 = $2600); then you keep paying $15 per line. Or you may have to stagger out upgrades to every other year for half your family to soften the payments.
 
Yardman1977 said:
I wouldnt give up those 3 unlimiteds ever....is your grandfathered plan still in effect for next 10 days?and is it still showing on your account webpage?or has it been officially changed and is that 30 gig mobile share deal on yor acct now showing as your current plan?
Click to expand...

I still have my unlimited data plan for 3 phones. The Next plan will take effect until Nov. 11. I can cancel the plan change til then. We are trying to save money by cutting down some bills. The reason I am willing to give up the unlimited data is we won't be using up the 30GB/month and don't upgrade our phones as much as before. I only upgrade mine or the wifes phone then we past our phones down to the kids.
 
vincent6396 said:
I still have my unlimited data plan for 3 phones. The Next plan will take effect until Nov. 11. I can cancel the plan change til then. We are trying to save money by cutting down some bills. The reason I am willing to give up the unlimited data is we won't be using up the 30GB/month and don't upgrade our phones as much as before. I only upgrade mine or the wifes phone then we past our phones down to the kids.
Click to expand...

Good...glad u cud still change..u cud call retentions and tell them you need to cut down on you costs or whatever......ask for 20 dollar family messaging....that will save you 10 bucks per month...if you have insurance then u cud cancel those plans to save money... And when buying a new phone ask them to waive the 40 dollar fee. i have 4 lines...2 of them unlimiteds...its great to stream everything and never have to worry about going over a cap and getting overages....and even after im throttled websites stil open fast cuz of low pings....and netflix still works perfect....and youtube doesnt buffer after its turned to 144 or 260 resolution ....and if the courts make att stop throttling then that will be huge....
You have a great plan...especially with 5 lines with subsidies....and when you start paying full price for new phones on mobile share and next program. then yor not gonna be saving anything...cuz someday the kids arendt gonna want your hand me down phones...theyre gonna want the latest iphones at 850 a pop.........i would try to save money elsewhere and dont mess with your unlimiteds.....cuz once you do they will be gone forever....
 
To repeat.

NEXT is a phone purchase plan. It is NOT a service or data plan.

But, going from unlimited to a the data share plan is for most people an excellent idea.

----------

As to waiting and no prorating... I call Bull... on that. Switch today. The system does all the pro-rating automatically. In fact, depending on when the actual switch is processed you may still have 1 day/29 day prorate anyways.
 
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