Apple Store No Longer Sells iPhone With 2-Year Contract on AT&T

[KPOM]

This is incorrect. After 2 years (on a subsidized plan), you own the equipment. If your carrier doesn't adjust your bill, call them up. You're essentially in the 'Bring Your Own Device' camp now. No different than if you had an old phone and called up to activate service on it (there's no equipment subsidy).

That's not how the old grandfathered plans worked. There is a discount for the mobile share plans, but those all have limited data.

 

[T-Will]

Having looked at this, the new program is better for the user. After you've paid off the phone, you no longer pay the phone surcharge like you did with the 2-year contract (i.e., if you keep your phone longer then two years, your bill doesn't go down). You're free to keep your phone after that, but if you want to upgrade earlier, then you have to trade in your phone.

Of course, you're always free to purchase the phone outright, from what I'm hearing, on the new plan, they'll still honor the Unlimited plan folks.

I'd expect Verizon to follow this before the next iPhone comes out.

This is exactly right (at least according to my discussion with AT&T yesterday). One additional note is you can pay off the phone anytime within the "Next" period, and AT&T should remove the monthly "Next" charge, and you would not need to trade your phone in to get a new one.

 

[uberman15]

You might want to reread the agreement you signed. Part of the Administrative Fees and Surcharges on your monthly bill is a hidden subsidy for your phone. AT&T says that the iPhone 6 16GB will have a monthly installment fee of $22, but that is on top of your existing AT&T service fees, which already include a device subsidy. The exact amount of that subsidy is unknown but most industry estimates have put it at something like $20 per month.

WTF are you talking about?

With 10GB mobile share you pay $100 for the plan. You also pay this with a contract. You pay $15 per month for each line through Next and monthly installments on the phone. Next 18 and iPhone 6 16GB, this is ~$27 per month for 2 years. With contract, you pay $200 upfront and then $40 per month for each line for 2 years. That's $25 more per month for each line to cover the cost of the subsidy you keep talking about. That's $600 plus the upfront $200. You've just paid $800 for the phone with the 2-year contract and $650 for the phone with Next. In every other way, the contracts are effectively the same. Next, under this setup (read: not unlimited and not less than 10GB data) is cheaper. With Next, there are no further subsidy surcharges.

There are no hidden subsidies on your phone through AT&T Next. None. AT&T Next is a financing program with an early upgrade option. That is all.

Other fees, such as the administrative fee (less than $1 on my plan) and taxes would appear on either type of plan.

 

[peglegjack]

Actually I agree with you completely. I have been experimenting with cheap plan as well as cheaper phones. I even go as far as to see if I can replace most of my iPhone function with a cheap Android phones (recently purchased a Moto E for that matter). One thing I find rather annoying is that fact that the phone is constantly pulling data in the background, and it was rather annoying on my iPhone to have to close down lots of background operation and such. As far as Ting, I actually really like their plan. But I still stand by the fact that I think they can charge a bit less when it comes to data. I think I would jump on board with Ting if they ever lower the data rate.

Yeah I know what you're talking about with the background data. I've done everything I know how to do, and I still occasionally have those issues from time to time, but not that bad. My solution has been to just turn data off unless I need it. And if I know people (or blue friends) are texting me or they're going to, then I just leave it on. And if it's realllyyy an emergency, of course I'm still a phone call away.

And you know, so far so good. Only 5.7MB so far this month, doing the same things I've always done. I guess the only difference with me is that while I'm using an iPhone 4S that I've had since launch, I'll probably get the new iPhone when it comes out this fall. Because, you know

 

[supersalo]

That's not how the old grandfathered plans worked. There is a discount for the mobile share plans, but those all have limited data.

Even using 15GB per month, it's cheaper to get the 'limited data' mobile share plan, than keep the higher priced unlimited grandfathered plan.

 

[Tapdawg]

This is utterly false. I have done the math ad nauseum and it's not true. ATT dropped my monthly fees by about $100/month when I uncoupled hardware from my monthly service cost. This puts the cost of the hardware onto me. I can either buy it out of pocket (which I now do since cash flow isn't an issue for me) or I can do NEXT which for 5 phones (the amount in my family) would add approx. the $100 back on. It's all the same but people get so confused about it. If you are in fact paying subsidy pricing and footing the bill for your hardware then you need to call ATT because you are getting ripped off...

Mike, you might want to look at your bill. See the area that says "Surcharges and Fees" on each phone line? That's your hidden phone subsidy.

 

[KPOM]

I can't speak to unlimited plans because I don't have one but other than that how is Next worse than the 2 year contract? Either way you're paying off the phone in installments.

For those not on unlimited plans, it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. All that's happening now is that you are paying $25/month less for your service (if you have a 4GB data plan or more - $15/month otherwise), and are paying off your phone in installments. On the contract plans, you got $450 off your phone, but paid $40 to activate. Over 2 years, those with less than 4GB data pay about $10 more than under the subsidized model, while those with more than 4GB of data pay about $190 less. The difference now is that you are explicitly financing the phone. If you "cancel," instead of an ETF you owe the finance company the unpaid balance on the phone.

 

[5105973]

We'll just have to order from AT&T online at midnight.

My husband and I did that for the IPhone 6 Plus. They did not fill orders in the order in which they were received. It was a cluster cluck that made the Apple Watch preorder fulfillment look very well executed in comparison. What a godawful mess that was. It took weeks of watching people who ordered after we did getting their phones first before we finally got ours. One woman was stuck in preorder hell for over a month. We were all rooting for her to get her iPhone and when she finally did we posted celebratory posts for her.

 

[Swervarelli]

AT&T Next is a scam. Do the math. $199 and 2 year of phone bills is way less money than paying the full price of an iPhone and a monthly bill. AT&T will lose a lot of customers including me.

 

[KPOM]

Even using 15GB per month, it's cheaper to get the 'limited data' mobile share plan, than keep the higher priced unlimited grandfathered plan.

If you have multiple lines, yes, or use lots of voice or text. However, I'm paying about $65 all in after my corporate discount. I've done the math, and it's still better keeping my UDP, particularly now that they have softened their throttling policies.

 

[KPOM]

AT&T Next is a scam. Do the math. $199 and 2 year of phone bills is way less money than paying the full price of an iPhone and a monthly bill. AT&T will lose a lot of customers including me.

It depends. For those on a mobile share plan it's usually cheaper to go on AT&T Next. For those on old grandfathered plans, Next is costlier.

 

[uberman15]

Mike, you might want to look at your bill. See the area that says "Surcharges and Fees" on each phone line? That's your hidden phone subsidy.

That's funny, because mine breaks down into:

Administrative fee
Colorado Universal Service
Federal Universal Service
Regulatory Cost Recover Charge

which amounts to a total of about $3 per phone. That's the entirety of my "surcharges and fees."

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

I just did a chat session with ATT and they said you can sell your phone after your installments are completed and then just start over with a new NEXT payment plan. if this is true, then NEXT could end up being cheaper in the end. I might stop in an ATT store to ask this again as I always get varying answers, but glad you brought this up.

Yes, that's exactly how it works.... You can pay off at any time and then you can finance a new device with NEXT again. They do that for iPads as well.

 

[supersalo]

Mike, you might want to look at your bill. See the area that says "Surcharges and Fees" on each phone line? That's your hidden phone subsidy.

Surcharges and Other Fees

1. Administrative Fee 0.61
   
   
2. Federal Universal Service Charge 0.94
   
   
3. Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge 0.99
   
   
4. Telecom Relay Service Fund 0.14
   

Total Surcharges and Other Fees 2.68

 

[johnny5k]

Can thi

I can't believe the amount of people fooled by the AT&T Next plan...

Let's do the math: AT&T says that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will have a monthly installment fee of $32, on top of your existing AT&T service fees, which already include a device subsidy. The exact amount of that subsidy is unknown, but most industry estimates have put it at something like $20 per month. That's how you can get a GS4 for $199 with a new two-year contract, even though it costs $620 at retail: after two years, AT&T will have collected $680 in total device payments from you, and you get to keep the phone.

But the balance tips entirely towards AT&T with Next. Assuming that same $20 subsidy, after 12 months of Next you will have paid AT&T $384 in Next monthly installments and $240 in device subsidies, for a grand total of $620. Again, that's exactly the full retail cost of an unlocked Galaxy S4 — but you don't get to keep that phone, even though you just paid full price for it. You have to trade it in to get a new phone — effectively giving AT&T a free GS4 to refurbish and resell to its next unwitting customer.

Now, you do get to keep your Next phone if you pay 20 monthly installments, which will cost you a whopping $1,040 if you assume a $20 subsidy: $640 in Next payments, plus $400 in subsidies built into your AT&T plan. That's $420 in pure profit for AT&T, which just made you pay full price for a phone while charging you inflated service prices that include a subsidy specifically designed to lower the upfront cost of that phone.

source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/16/4528404/att-next-phone-upgrade-plans-a-huge-ripoff

Can this be bumped up to the top? Everyone's being fooled by AT&T because they forget about the built-in monthly subsidy that you'll still be paying, ON TOP of the new NEXT installments, and on top of not being able to sell your phone when you get a new one. So of course AT&T wants you to "upgrade" to a NEXT contract! It's HUGELY profitable for them!

 

[supersalo]

Surcharges and Other Fees

1. Administrative Fee 0.61
   
   
2. Federal Universal Service Charge 0.94
   
   
3. Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge 0.99
   
   
4. Telecom Relay Service Fund 0.14

Total Surcharges and Other Fees 2.68

Stop spreading misinformation, Tapdawg.

 

[uberman15]

Surcharges and Other Fees

1. Administrative Fee 0.61
   
   
2. Federal Universal Service Charge 0.94
   
   
3. Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge 0.99
   
   
4. Telecom Relay Service Fund 0.14

Total Surcharges and Other Fees 2.68

This Tapdawg guy is full of it and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. To make matters worse, there are a number of forum members who actually could be helped here to understand how AT&T Next works and would benefit from the free financing, but Tapdawg only further confuses them.

And he makes us out to sound like AT&T shills when we're simply trying to prevent him from spreading completely false information.

 

[supersalo]

Can thi


Can this be bumped up to the top? Everyone's being fooled by AT&T because they forget about the built-in monthly subsidy that you'll still be paying, ON TOP of the new NEXT installments, and on top of not being able to sell your phone when you get a new one. So of course AT&T wants you to "upgrade" to a NEXT contract! It's HUGELY profitable for them!

No, because IT'S NOT TRUE.

Next is profitable because they know people "love the new shiny". And they make a bunch of $$$ from reselling your phone that you traded in. That's the carrot they dangle: Upgrade every year without a surcharge (and turn in your old phone).

It's more profitable for YOU to sell the phone yourself and pocket the money. The truth is, most people don't want to bother with that and will gladly turn in their old phone if it means they can upgrade to the newest one every year.

 

[supersalo]

This Tapdawg guy is full of it and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. To make matters worse, there are a number of forum members who actually could be helped here to understand how AT&T Next works and would benefit from the free financing, but Tapdawg only further confuses them.

And he makes us out to sound like AT&T shills when we're simply trying to prevent him from spreading completely false information.

Exactly.

 

[Dmunjal]

Can thi


Can this be bumped up to the top? Everyone's being fooled by AT&T because they forget about the built-in monthly subsidy that you'll still be paying, ON TOP of the new NEXT installments, and on top of not being able to sell your phone when you get a new one. So of course AT&T wants you to "upgrade" to a NEXT contract! It's HUGELY profitable for them!

That Verge article is from 2013. It's no longer correct. Today, if you're on NEXT, you get a $25 discount on your per-line costs so you're not paying this ON TOP of the installments. You are not paying the subsidy any longer. And you can still sell your phone after your installments are done.

 

[aajeevlin]

Yeah I know what you're talking about with the background data. I've done everything I know how to do, and I still occasionally have those issues from time to time, but not that bad. My solution has been to just turn data off unless I need it. And if I know people (or blue friends) are texting me or they're going to, then I just leave it on. And if it's realllyyy an emergency, of course I'm still a phone call away.

And you know, so far so good. Only 5.7MB so far this month, doing the same things I've always done. I guess the only difference with me is that while I'm using an iPhone 4S that I've had since launch, I'll probably get the new iPhone when it comes out this fall. Because, you know

Yea, I thought about turning off the cell data as well. However, my home alarm as well as home security camera depends on cell data to send me alerts if anything is wrong. I'm still trying to figure out if I can get around that. I'm leaning towards T-mobile's $30/month plan with 5GB of data. I also plan to port my number to Google voice so I can use cell data/wifi to make and receiving call/text messages. I will say that Ting is great if you can keep the data rate down, I estimated if I'm careful I can probably only pay as much as you are paying right now. I'm a heavy user, but I'm pretty flexible when it comes to adjustment.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

All NEXT does is add an extra $20-30/mo to your bill for 12-24 months. After your NEXT plan is up, you're back to the price a person on a 2 year contract is paying. Why would I want to spend a couple hundred bucks for the exact same thing?

So if that's how the math works for some of us, don't use AT&T for service. There are plenty of alternatives. We use NET10. It's cheaper than AT&T rates while working on the AT&T LTE network. We're noticing a few others that appear a little less than NET10. Even Walmart appears to have a cell service plan now.

AT&T, Verizon, etc don't want to deliver the best value. They want to maximize their profits. The ever-changing, ever-evolving plans are just marketing aimed at trying to seduce fools to pay more for their service vs. the multitude of alternatives. Shop around and find a better deal. And shopping around doesn't involve comparing AT&T to only Verizon & Sprint... if you really want the total cost of owning a cell phone to be minimized.

AND, before someone whines about subsidized pricing of the phone, there are plenty of ways to get a phone on monthly payments without dealing with AT&T, Verizon or Sprint. Again, shop around. You can even buy stuff on credit cards that will give you no interest for upwards of 12-14 months if you want to shop around ANYWHERE and pay for the phone portion over 12-24 months.

AT&T is not the only game in town... and hasn't been for many years now.

 

[Tapdawg]

That's funny, because mine breaks down into:

Administrative fee
Colorado Universal Service
Federal Universal Service
Regulatory Cost Recover Charge

which amounts to a total of about $3 per phone. That's the entirety of my "surcharges and fees."

So you're paying an extra $15/mo for the 5 lines? Just don't forget what happens when you try to upgrade!

This Tapdawg guy is full of it and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. To make matters worse, there are a number of forum members who actually could be helped here to understand how AT&T Next works and would benefit from the free financing, but Tapdawg only further confuses them.

And he makes us out to sound like AT&T shills when we're simply trying to prevent him from spreading completely false information.

Yikes, maybe it's because I'm voicing the truth for the 50% of us still on unlimited data plans. I already stated if you have a monthly mobile share plan than it makes fiscal sense. But those of us with unlimited it's still more financially sound to stick with the 2 year contract.

 

[Tapdawg]

That Verge article is from 2013. It's no longer correct. Today, if you're on NEXT, you get a $25 discount on your per-line costs so you're not paying this ON TOP of the installments. You are not paying the subsidy any longer. And you can still sell your phone after your installments are done.

that's only true if you have shared data... 50% of us don't!

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

People upgrade because of these contracts that allow them to only cough up the upfront cost of $0-200. I can see people keeping their phone beyond two years more and more now. Not necessarily a bad thing.

People don't replace phones just because of the 2 year contract. Statistically they replace them even earlier than their contract allows.

They will continue to replace them every year or two when their current phone starts feeling a bit sluggish running the latest apps and OS and when new features them entice them. We aren't the Finish that replace them every 74.5 months.

Interestingly, though, stateside people didn't completely fit into the two-year change a phone concept as on average they replaced phones three months prior the end of the contract, ensuing an early termination fee.

http://mobilefuture.org/resources/international-comparisons-the-handset-replacement-cycle-2/