Why am I going to pay AT&T a single dime more for the "privilege" of paying for my phone in installments?
With my two year contract, I pay $199 (no sales tax when bought in DE) + $40 x 24mo + $40 activation = $1199. The phone is then mine to do with as I please.
With Next, I'd pay $22 x 24mo +$25 x 24mo = $1128. Then, if I want to keep that phone, I'd have to pay the remaining installments, so $22 x 6mo = $132. For a grand total of $1260. If I didnt want to keep the phone for whatever reason - I'm essentially "selling" my two year phone to them for under market value, furthering their profit off me even more.
Even *if* I had to buy in state and pay sales tax... That would be $45. Still leaving me giving AT&T more money than I would have otherwise. That's what I call a ripoff.
Dont fool yourself into thinking they came up with this scheme out of the kindness of their heart. Multiply those dollars by the millions of customers they're duping into this plan and it pads their bottom line by a pretty good margin.