Reading this article, I just paid off my Next plan and am going prepaid for $60.00 a month. I'm done with this con game.
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Apple Store No Longer Sells iPhone With 2-Year Contract on AT&T
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FYI, my bill was $145 a month with next and 10 gb of data. 6gb of data for $60.00 is much better.
So you can upgrade at any time with NEXT or just once per year?
And what happens to your old phone? Is it 2 years until you get to keep it?
Also, when are you able to unlock it?
Am I correct in saying that the AT&T Next Plan is basically just a way to make it easier for someone to buy a phone at full price, but instead of giving AT&T $900 at once, for example, you pay them monthly installments for 18 or 24 months until the price of the phone is paid off?
So will you have a cheaper monthly bill if you buy the phone outright? and not deal with all this Next crap?
This is actually wrong. My plan doesn't go down after 2 years because of anything. There is no surcharge or discount. Not all plans are subject to this. Only certain plans like their Mobile Share Plan builds this in. I have bought all my iPhones on 2 year contracts, and when the new phone came out I could sell my old iPhone unlocked (which AT&T has to do for you after 2 years now) for roughly the cost of the new iPhone I was getting. So each upgrade cycle my iPhone costs me about the cost of tax and their "activation fee". I think that put my 6+ at about $75 total out of pocket. If I have to go through AT&T's website or retail store to acquire my wife's iPhone 6s or 6s+ this fall, I will. Then unlock and sell her 5s. But we like our plans, don't want Next, and don't want to pay a surcharge or get a discount on a hiked plan.
That's more or less it. You are simply finding the full price of the phone (at 0%) and paying it off over time.
My apologies if someone already made this point, but AT&T changed their policy on unlimited data recently so that they don't throttle after 5GB's *unless* you are on a congested tower. I now go well over 5GB in NYC without throttling. If they do slow you down, restarting the phone restores full speed. Whatever you are paying for the 40GB's of data you have is not as good as the $20 I'm paying for unlimited full speed data (work discount).
Keeping my plan and buying my iPhone for full price is well worth it considering the huge amounts of money I'm saving. If I were on a modern, limited plan though I'd probably go with NEXT.
It would be the same basically. In one case you are paying the price of the phone all at once and in the other case with Next you are paying the same price split up over a number of monthly payments.
You are not leasing with Next, just financing. (You can trade your phone in at some point in place of any remaining financing payments, or you just pay it off as you would any other loan.)
There is so much FUD in this thread, but apparently AT&T hasn't done the best job of marketing or explaining the Next plans.
The #1 misconception is that you don't keep your phone once you pay it off and that you have to trade it in. You can pay off the balance at any time and the monthly installment cost of your phone is removed from your bill. You then own the phone and can sell it if you like. This is obviously the first hurdle AT&T needs to tackle.
This is a much more transparent way of doing business than the old, two-year contract method. I'm not saying that this will be cheaper or more beneficial for everyone's situation. However, people should not be condemning this plan as "trash" before they have the facts.
The #1 misconception is that you don't keep your phone once you pay it off and that you have to trade it in. You can pay off the balance at any time and the monthly installment cost of your phone is removed from your bill. You then own the phone and can sell it if you like. This is obviously the first hurdle AT&T needs to tackle.
This is a much more transparent way of doing business than the old, two-year contract method. I'm not saying that this will be cheaper or more beneficial for everyone's situation. However, people should not be condemning this plan as "trash" before they have the facts.
I pay $40 for 450 minutes (all I need) $30 unlimited data $10 unlimited text (promotion price). I pay $80 a month plus taxes. I bought a 64gb iPhone 6+ for $428. Divide that price and it's $35.66 a month for twelve months added onto my bill, if I were to pay nothing up front. Sell my old phone after a year (for $400) and buy a new one for around $650 (partial discount) -$400. I paid about $250 for a new phone after one year. (Dividing this by 12 for the new year, would be like paying $21 dollars a month compared to paying $42 a month with Next)
If I just used the 12 month next plan, it would add $42.50 to my bill every month, and after one year, I trade the phone in and still pay $42.50 every month. I don't see how this is cheaper for some of us, especially not on the mobile share plans?????
If there is a better route I'm not understanding, please someone fill me in, I'd love to know.
With Cricket, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ATT, running on ATT towers...
Devices $949.99 + 749.99
Line1 $35/mo with autopay discount * 24
Line2 $30/mo with multiline discount * 24
hidden taxes and regulatory fees included, which you omit.
= 3259.98
Hmm NEXT may not be as terrible as I thought. Stil, I prefer small month to month obligations.
The cool thing about the Ting is that I'm not screwed either way if I want to use more. And this hasn't happened in a few months, but if I needed to, say, use more data or minutes in any given month, that's fine. I may then pay $26-29 or whatever, and I'm good with that. But again, that hasn't happened in awhile.
Also, even when I leave data on, I can still stay below that 100MB, but it may get harder in time with the way data is going on smartphones. For you with the data needing to always be on, then T-Mobile may be the way to go. That was may 2nd choice after Ting honestly. The other thing I really like about Ting is that they have the absolute best customer service I've ever encountered with any phone related company. They just seem like genuinely nice people that are looking out for your best interests.
I do not believe that you can make a blanket statement that AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, or those company's respective contract plans are more or less expensive without understanding your current situation. So much depends on your individual plan, usage, needs, and even timing.
As an example, under Verizon, they give a $25/mo/line credit if your shared plan is 10gb+. But, only a $15/mo/line credit if you have under 10gb. That easily could make the difference between which is most cost effective for an individual or family, Edge vs contract.
And, if you have a family plan, the expirations of each line are likely not the same, so what might make sense financially for line 1 and 2, might not for lines 3-10 (I have 10 lines on my family plan).
Further, Verizon recently provided incentives for "early edge up", allowing you to get out of a contract by turning in your old phone. Sure, the old phone had value on the open market, but depending on that value (in my case about $100ish), turning in the old phone and getting a 128gb 6+ with $0 out-the-door made perfect sense for me. The net in my case was a move from a 16gb iPhone 5 to a 128gb 6+ with nothing out of pocket. I was able to get out of the 2 year contract on the iPhone 5 about 9 months early. And, my monthly expense is only ~$10/mo more than I was paying (but I also went from 16gb to 128gb, so I have more phone to use). It was clearly better than a contract where I would have paid $400 for the phone, plus the $35 activation fee, and made back about $100 for my old phone.
I had a similar experience in moving my wife to Edge. In her case, the contract was up, so I was able to go on Edge for $0 out of pocket, keep her iPhone 5c and then sell it for $200, and again my monthly expense is only about $10/mo more (and again offset by the fact that she went from a 16gb to 128gb model).
Simply put, you need to evaluate the costs/benefits yourself and don't just assume any 1 method is better/worse.
As an example, under Verizon, they give a $25/mo/line credit if your shared plan is 10gb+. But, only a $15/mo/line credit if you have under 10gb. That easily could make the difference between which is most cost effective for an individual or family, Edge vs contract.
And, if you have a family plan, the expirations of each line are likely not the same, so what might make sense financially for line 1 and 2, might not for lines 3-10 (I have 10 lines on my family plan).
Further, Verizon recently provided incentives for "early edge up", allowing you to get out of a contract by turning in your old phone. Sure, the old phone had value on the open market, but depending on that value (in my case about $100ish), turning in the old phone and getting a 128gb 6+ with $0 out-the-door made perfect sense for me. The net in my case was a move from a 16gb iPhone 5 to a 128gb 6+ with nothing out of pocket. I was able to get out of the 2 year contract on the iPhone 5 about 9 months early. And, my monthly expense is only ~$10/mo more than I was paying (but I also went from 16gb to 128gb, so I have more phone to use). It was clearly better than a contract where I would have paid $400 for the phone, plus the $35 activation fee, and made back about $100 for my old phone.
I had a similar experience in moving my wife to Edge. In her case, the contract was up, so I was able to go on Edge for $0 out of pocket, keep her iPhone 5c and then sell it for $200, and again my monthly expense is only about $10/mo more (and again offset by the fact that she went from a 16gb to 128gb model).
Simply put, you need to evaluate the costs/benefits yourself and don't just assume any 1 method is better/worse.
Right, the bottom line is that Next works out fine for those on the current plans, which get a discount for the subsidy that is built into them, but not so much for those on the older plans that don't get the discount to offset the subsidy that is built into them. For the most part that's mainly what it comes down to.
Correct, it can be different for different people with different plans and needs.
One small correction there is that with Verizon the larger discount ($25/mo off) now applies to plans with 6 GB and above, and the smaller discount ($15/mo off) applies to plans below that, basically 4 GB and lower.
To be fair, people have been saying cell phone companies will stop waiving upgrade/activation fees for a looooooong time now.
When I switched to Sprint in 2012, I was at the store in the process of getting an account set up. I was told that there was an activation fee of $36. I told the rep that I had never paid an activation fee and would refuse to do so. She told me that they used to waive them, but now they were dead-set on keeping them and that there was absolutely no way she could waive them anymore. I told her "Okay, I understand, nevermind then." And was literally getting up to leave when she told me to "hold on". She disappeared for a few moments and returned, telling me she waived the fee and also would give me a $50 credit for the trouble. Last year, an almost identical situation happened when I was upgrading to the iPhone 6 with their "upgrade fees".
I wasn't trying to be rude or "that customer", but I really refuse to pay those ridiculous fees that are there for literally no reason other than to make a bit more extra money. I think the last time I paid an activation/upgrade fee was back in 2007 when I got my first flip phone, and that was only because I was on my own plan for the first time. Just be more persistent than they are, and refuse to do business with them if they refuse to waive those silly fees (if they mean that much to you).
T-Mobile time!ATT you just go one step closer to loosing a customer now kick me from my unlimited data and I'm gonetry me
There is another option beside AT&T Next...
AT&T: Bring Your Own Device.
These have exact same access charges and data charges as NEXT but without the NEXT financing tacked on.
For example,
Two devices with 10GB share plan with Next (monthly installments of $20?):
Costs $15 x 2 + $100 + ($20?) x 2 = $170/month
Two devices with 10GB share plan using BYOD:
Costs $15 x 2 + $100 = $130/month
AT&T: Bring Your Own Device.
These have exact same access charges and data charges as NEXT but without the NEXT financing tacked on.
For example,
Two devices with 10GB share plan with Next (monthly installments of $20?):
Costs $15 x 2 + $100 + ($20?) x 2 = $170/month
Two devices with 10GB share plan using BYOD:
Costs $15 x 2 + $100 = $130/month
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The next plan isn't always better for individual line accounts. Looks like in your case you're better off staying with what you have.