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AT&T will increase monthly bill for standard upgrades vs Next

briwil said:
I have granddathered unlimited data, I'm not giving that up. My contract is up in Jan, but tempted to go with Next to get phone now.
From what I've read on reddit, you can keep your unlimited data plan when switching to Next, you just don't get the $25 discount you would get with mobile share plan.

Here's my question, and why I assume Next wouldn't be good for someone like me (I would really, really like to be proved wrong)-
If I switch to Next, but keep my current plan, I'm paying the $30+ a month for the phone (through Next), but I'm also still paying the subsidy that is build into my current plan (that all contract plans have). So essentially, I'm paying twice for the phone, yes?
As it is now with my two year contract, I pay $199 to first get the phone, then some unknown fee is calculated into my monthly bill to pay for the rest of the phone.
Switching to Next (and, again, keeping my unlimited data by not switching to mobile share) I keep that subsidy but also pay for the phone monthly through Next prices.

So its a bad choice for someone in my position, no?
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You got it! This is what I've been saying and why I decided against NEXT.

ge0rgieee - I understand how you can up with those numbers. A little different for me. I have a 23% FAN discount. My plan has a phone and iPad on it (currently 5GB for the iPad). Most of the numbers that I posted are either the current plan or shown by AT&T.
 
GonzagaDynasty said:
This. Once I used my upgrade, I lost the 25 bucks a month discount the family share plan was going to provide. And I have zero interest in the next plans. I'm not financing a phone
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It is never cost effective to do a 2 year agreement on a mobile share value plan that is 10 gigs or higher period, and if you lost a 25 dollar monthly discount then you are. That 25 dollar increase is you financing the phone with an ETF if you don't complete the agreement, you spend MORE doing a 2 year agreement.
 
EvanHelpme said:
In other words, I feel I was tricked into giving up my grandfathered unlimited plan, in exchange for a short term savings, and a long term larger bill. You can blame it on the individual AT&T and Apple employees who didn't inform me of the details. You can certainly blame it on me for not digging up and reading the fine print to see if it contradicted what I was told. But it's still a sleazy business practice.
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Well, that's one reason I tend not to like dealing with customer service reps and prefer to do my research beforehand. I switched my plan online and it was very clear that if I switch to the new plans, the $25 discount will go away when signing a new 2-year contract. That or I'd have to pay for the phone via Next on top of the monthly service bill. Or you know, buy outright. For our 4-line family share, the new plans save us money both short and long term so it worked out for me. However, the new plans really are more expensive for individuals or someone who didn't used to have a messaging plan.
 
I may be crazy but I have yet to see anything about my rate plan going up from at&t. I bought both my wife and I new iPhone 6's and we kept our unlimited data plan with 450min shared with roll over and unlimited text. We get a discount from premier and our bill is still 149.00 a month. I've never gotten a text saying it will go up and when I went over it in store it was unchanged from what it was.

We did early upgrade on both lines @ $549 for each phone.
 
fallenapple99 said:
I may be crazy but I have yet to see anything about my rate plan going up from at&t. I bought both my wife and I new iPhone 6's and we kept our unlimited data plan with 450min shared with roll over and unlimited text. We get a discount from premier and our bill is still 149.00 a month. I've never gotten a text saying it will go up and when I went over it in store it was unchanged from what it was.

We did early upgrade on both lines @ $549 for each phone.
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This only applies for those people who switched to the new Mobile Share Value Plans (and received discounts on service). For example, I used to pay $240/mo for 4 lines on the old plans. With the new plans, I only pay $160/mo ($100 base + $15/line). If I sign a new 2-year contract and get a subsidized phone, then I lose the $25 discount on the line with the contract and it goes from $15 back to $40.
 
rui no onna said:
This only applies for those people who switched to the new Mobile Share Value Plans (and received discounts on service). For example, I used to pay $240/mo for 4 lines on the old plans. With the new plans, I only pay $160/mo ($100 base + $15/line). If I sign a new 2-year contract and get a subsidized phone, then I lose the $25 discount on the line with the contract and it goes from $15 back to $40.
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Oh okay, thanks for the information.
 
I came to get more insights and understand pple's thoughts on Next.

My wife and I are on 5s and are approximately at the mid-point of our 2 year contract.

After reading thru' most of the post and re-reviewing the ATT calculator, I think that Next seemed to be a better deal.

Up to sometime earlier this year, we were on the, I'll call it the "traditional" data/voice plans but was presented the new Mobile Share plan & I signed up, cos' it was an attractive way to lower monthly cost.

Here's my thinking, that ATT decided at that point in our contract, since we had already paid sufficiently into the cost of the phone (not forgetting the initial $199 down we paid to get the 5s) that we would be financially viable to be offered the "discount" of $25 on our 10GB Mobile Share plan.

It's a set up - ultimately, ATT's strategy is to set up customers like us to transition into the pool called Next.

At the end of the day, whether you think it's "subsidized" or "paying" an initial $99, or $199 or whatever, the cost of the phone is still built into what we fork over to ATT.

It's like that commercial about some car sales tactic where the price is demonstrated with one of those long balloons - depending on how or where you squeezed it, the air volume remains the same, it just gets displaced to another part of the balloon. So it's not like we loose the $25 discount if we don't go to the Next plan or not, they just shifted that into the monthly payment of the phone.

Next isn't so bad when you look at the bottom line over the course of 2 year comparison, you save about $190 (on a 10GB MSV and a iPhone 6 w/ 64GB).

What's the upside for ATT, that we would all get addicted to the fact that we can swap phones frequently and will have a greater tendency to stay around.

Ultimately, for ATT (or any phone company) it's about attracting and keeping that subscription.
 
its not a set up. its all right there in the terms and conditions.

folks bad mouth ATT for trying to increase profits, but does ATT bad mouth you when you try to save money on your monthly bill?

Mobile Share and Next are tied together and those interested should do their homework.

this is about as old as the #bentgate.

later.
 
aham23 said:
its not a set up. its all right there in the terms and conditions.

folks bad mouth ATT for trying to increase profits, but does ATT bad mouth you when you try to save money on your monthly bill?

Mobile Share and Next are tied together and those interested should do their homework.

this is about as old as the #bentgate.

later.
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Lame
 
I was assured that since I am keeping my current grandfathered plan, all I will see extra on my bill is the $40 upgrade fee. There is a lot of misinformation out there. I posted the question on ATT's facebook page and a CCR by the name of Tosh had me send him my info and I was called 5 minutes later. I placed an order yesterday morning on Apple online and saw my present grandfathered plan, so I kept it. On preorder day, I didn't see it and I had to pick a plan, so I held off on the upgrade and ordered a t mobile unlocked version instead. It is a good thing I waited, so I was able to use my upgrade on what I wanted yesterday and I will be sending back the preorder one to Apple. The smartphone access fee only pertains to people with the Mobile Share plan, not those keeping their grandfathered plan.
 
CruiseToGo said:
Just spoke with At&t to confirm my upgrade eligibility for tonight's preorder. The rep was really pushing the Next program, which I have not been interested in since I have been able to toggle my upgrades yearly between my different lines (keeping some with older models longer), plus I've been able to sell my old iphone on the open market for at least the cost of my new phone.

This year is different. Firstly, I have to pay the $40 upgrade fee, but I also found out today that if you do not choose the Next option, your bill will automatically increase an additional $25/month per line that you upgrade.
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I was told the same thing at the AT&T store but on the phone with a AT&T rep they said I could pay the $299ea. for two 64gig's, a $40ea. processing fee and I could keep my old plan... No increase.

The idiots at the store keep trying to push me into the Next Plan... I am not interested because I have many lines to upgrade.

The math never works... The Next plan would push my bill from $130 to $198 plus tax... WTF??? I also have 4 phones to trade in... they should be paying me...

In the past the carriers would subsidize the crack pipe and we paid monthly for the crack... Now we have to pay for the pipe and the crack... I will be keeping my 5 and 5s for a long while.:apple:
 
aquickquestion said:
you are looking at it from a cost of the phone perspective and not how much your bill is going to increase a month by using NEXT. Great you save $90 for the phone how does that help when I am now paying $170 a month on my bill.
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If you are strictly looking at month bill total you are "correct" but you are only deceiving yourself. Having an iPhone X and a phone service is a two part deal and you need to factor both and compare the bottom line. nikhsub1 is absolutely correct in what he says. You are including the monthly cost of iPhone in your monthly bill comparison but you don't include the outright cost of the subsidized phone in your comparison, therefore, your comparison is off. By going with NEXT, you are not bound by contract. You are simply bound by the fact that AT&T owns the device (or you are leasing it) until you have paid the full price that you'd have paid at Apple Store anyway.

The key factor is that NEXT Plan charges NO INTEREST so it is a FREE LOAN. If I feel the need to see a lower monthly bill then just go ahead and pay the balance of the phone at anytime WITHOUT any early payoff penalty. Then your bill will be lower just like you were paying before you got the the phone.

Also, for all the people saying it's still a rip off compared to buying from Apple the full retail because those units are unlocked, under NEXT Plan, as soon as you paid the cost of the (retail) iPhone, you can have it unlock as well as you OWN it. e.g.: Buy iPhone 6s under NEXT Plan, you make 2 monthly payments. You want to travel out of country for 3 months and want to use a foreign sim card... pay the balance of the iPhone, then request the unlock code (which AT&T is obligated) then you're set! That's no different that having bought at Apple Store at retail price. In this case, you may not have had the money to do so at Apple Store and now with a big check that you got, you can pay it off! No harm done at no interest.

I HATE AT&T but I went from grandfathered Unlimited plan to Value Shared Plan to Mobile Share Plan and now with NEXT Plan because by correct math, it was the best for the money.
 
nikhsub1 said:
I give up. All logic and reason has been abandoned for FUD.
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Hey nikhsub1, I just started to read this thread and I signed up just because the utter denseness of people's math. But then, I came coming to the same conclusion as you, slamming head against wall.
 
kwondeux said:
(CUT)
I HATE AT&T but I went from grandfathered Unlimited plan to Value Shared Plan to Mobile Share Plan and now with NEXT Plan because by correct math, it was the best for the money.
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I haven't read everything, but I just wanted to point out that you responded to a post that was a full year old, and AT&T has made changes to the NEXT plan since then. You might be talking apples and oranges as far as what's current now compared with what was current when the post you quoted was made a year ago.
 
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