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AT&T Cuts Pricing on 'AT&T Next' Smartphone Upgrade Program, iPhone Now $1/Year Cheaper Than Verizon

RF9 said:
Well this plan only works if you're upgrading annually. It is completely pointless if you upgrade every 2 years or more.

The way to compare it is:
$324 per year for a new phone every year.
Vs.
$199 for a phone the first year and $650 for a phone on your 2nd year.

So compare:
$650 out of pocket vs $850 for annual upgrades.

At this point, don't confuse yourself with in the built in $20 month subsidy in the bill because that's already figured in at this point.

Why AT&T Next is a ripoff:
1) You don't keep the old phone. This becomes basically a lease.
2) Eventually you have to "exit" the program and pay off the final device which you'll keep. This is effectively overpaying by hundreds of dollars because you're not getting any advantage of subsidy.
3) If you just buy your phones every year and sell the old one, it would cost you less.
A) Buy Phone #1 at $199.
B) Buy your upgrade (#2) at $650, sell the old one for about $300.
C) Over 2 years it cost you about $550 to buy and sell the old phone vs $650 to be on AT&T Next (aka $275/yr vs $325/year.) And should you decide to not upgrade every year, you aren't penalized. Selling on gazelle.com for $300 on a 1 year old iPhone is almost hassle so there's no excuse to make these numbers work.

Also, AT&T will give you 1/2 subsidy to upgrade early (after 12 months.) So instead of paying $199 you'd pay $399 if you upgrade at 1 year. AT&T gives you $450 subsidy per year (or $225 per year as early upgrades.)

So by that math, you'd be paying $400 per year to OWN and keep devices (after the first year at $199) vs paying $325 per year on AT&T Next where you do NOT keep your devices. And remember you can always sell that old phone for about $300 on gazelle making it again better/cheaper to buy than use Next.

The scarry thing about Next is that you have to commit to upgrading every year or it's a complete ripoff. Also if you lose that iPhone (or it's stolen) I believe you simply have no choice than to pay it off. You would have paid full price for the phone without getting the advantage of that $450 subsidy. I don't know if Next has any kind of deductible (insurance wise) that makes it so you can get a new phone.

Also under Next there is no contract and therefore not ETF. But paying the ETF on a 2 year contract isn't any worse than just paying full price for the phone which is what you'd don on Next (because you're "exiting" the upgrade program.)

No, I haven't put any thought in to this at all /s
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Oh my god this is crazy!

I can't believe these cell phone carriers are taking something that should be so simple, and making it that complicated.

I myself had to re-read your post 3 or 4 times to comprehend; and I think I'm still partially confused.

I could just imagine what these poor Customer Service Representatives have to go through trying to explain all of these plans... When I'm sure they themselves don't know exactly how they work.

T-Mobile truly made everything more complicated when they transitioned to their "Un-Carrier" policies...

Hugely ironic considering these policies were supposedly created to simplify things and make customers feel more secure without a "contract."

All that has happened is that these companies (including T-Mobile) found a new way to make more money in sneaky and under-handed ways.

And then they wonder why churn rate is so high and customer service ratings are so low.
 
OMG!!WTHBBQ!!!

Duuuuuuuuuuuuude!

It's a whole dollar less!!!

Meh. Snake oil is right.
 
tasset said:
Haha, Oh my these telcos are so repulsive. AT&T's bean counters must be patting themselves on the back for undercutting Verizon a whole dollar. Little Ralphie must be proud of their brand of "competition".
I personally have moved on to Tmobile and am not looking back. Separating device cost from service is the way to go.
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Absolutely! It's the only fair and 100% transparent way to buy. Regardless of upgrade cycles, you, the customer, know at any given time what you owe on the phone, and if you're ready to get a newer model at any time of your choosing, you pay off what you owe (if any), get a new phone, and can then sell your old phone privately, or do with it as you please.

Conversely, if you don't feel the need for a new phone as often, you know that once you've paid off the phone, you're not subsidizing others, thru monthly payments that remain unchanged.
 
TouchMint.com said:
Competition driving down price and the consumer winning!
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Lol all three are competing on who will you choose from them to get then ripped off. These plans are ridiculous please don't even consider them.

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I always thought they would lower the plan prices the first two years on these new plans and then just start increasing monthly fees after people are on the plan. But i didn't anticipate the level of greed an how fast they want to take our money.
 
Oh well, I can never upgrade anyway. I'm on a grandfathered verizon plan with 450 minutes, 1000 texts and 20 gb for $110 (More like $130 after taxes).
 
ATT and Verizon prices make me cringe. I've been on T-Mobile since I moved to this country and couldn't be happier with their service. I pay about $90 for 4 lines, which include unlimited data (throttled after 2gb) and unlimited texting on 2 lines. I just upgraded to a Nexus 4 so it went up by $17/month, but I'm not complaining. :D

I know there's no LTE or true 4G on T-Mobile, I honestly don't need it. I get Wi-Fi on campus and at home, and HSPA is pretty fast for when I don't have Wi-Fi. I'm sure 95% of America can be happy with 3G speeds too. The Jump program is so much better than all this crap. Jump also includes insurance for your devices, which covers accidental damage too...all for $10/month!

Now if T-Mobile just put a little bit more $$ into expanding their network, they would be unbeatable. Unless there is no coverage in their area or they really need LTE speeds, I don't see any reason why people still put up with this f**kery.
 
pukifloyd said:
Unless there is no coverage in their area or they really need LTE speeds, I don't see any reason why people still put up with this f**kery.
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The no coverage is a pretty big deal. For those of us who travel and/or don't live in cities, t-mobile is pretty crappy. For the longest time, T-mobile had at best 2-bars throughout my town. Even today, they only have edge where I live. Not having LTE isn't a huge deal to me, but not having 3G is. Sprint is even worse. So that really only leaves AT&T and Verizon.

I am surprised that the DOJ hasn't gone after the carriers for anything. The SMS price hikes a few years back screamed price fixing to me, and that was with all 4 carriers. And no matter what, if AT&T or Verizon make a change, the other follows within a month or two. Both companies have vastly superior coverage than T-mobile or Sprint, so they effectively have a duoply and have appeared to make deals in the background to eliminate competition.
 
If you don't get to keep your phone at the end of the year then this program only really benefits the carriers. You can't even offset any costs by selling your 'old' iPhone to a service like Gazelle. No thanks.
 
rneglia said:
The reason there hasn't been any comments on this yet is because everybody is still figuring out the math
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Rest assure, if it takes us this long to figure it out, it means ATT is screwing their users.

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I left ATT and go with T Mobile pre-paid plan:
$30 per month, unlimited web & Text & 100minutes talk.

So happy to have left ATT.
 
yea, next is a terrible deal

I think Att is more about loyalty. I have this plan for more than a decade started with cingular.

I'm in a family plan that shares 450 minutes between 4 of us starting at $40. I take on 3 more lines for the family, 2 of those lines are 300mb data, and one $5 text

40+10+10+10+20+20+5=$115 a month. +tax
I'm one of the few that doesn't hate att
 
well, $1 isn't a big difference, and their service is also very poor, i dont think i'll be switching to at&t anytime soon.
 
Here's something Apple could innovate. How about a phone service plan that doesn't require a spreadsheet to understand?
 
Ugh. I don't know what it is, but anything AT&T related makes me cringe as I think of getting abused on a monthly basis by them financially. Of course I am a willing participant, but cell providers and cable providers need to have these oligopolies broken apart. If only modern day capitalism had a place for perfect competition.
 
KdParker said:
Don't see any reason not to pay full price and sell my phone when I am ready to upgrade.

Cheaper overall and with more options....no brainer.
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That would be true with T-Mobile as they have separated out data/service charge from the phone finance fee which you don't pay if you bring your own phone.

Show up at ATT or Verizon with a fully paid for phone and you continue to pay the approximate $20/mo phone payback fee on a phone you have already paid for. It is just excess profit for them as they don't reduce their rates by the approx $20/mo. The only difference is, you can leave them at any time and not locked in for 2 years. They rely on nowhere to go - and unfortunately, locally and in most markets T-Mobile is not strong enough in their infrastructure compared to ATT and Verizon.

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mbh said:
Here's something Apple could innovate. How about a phone service plan that doesn't require a spreadsheet to understand?
Click to expand...

That is the way it is presented in the Apple Store online. While ATT and Verizon are listed first with phone/plan choices, scroll to the bottom. There you will find the 2 full price options. One comes with the T-Mobile SIM, the other "international GSM"
 
tasset said:
Haha, Oh my these telcos are so repulsive. AT&T's bean counters must be patting themselves on the back for undercutting Verizon a whole dollar. Little Ralphie must be proud of their brand of "competition".
I personally have moved on to Tmobile and am not looking back. Separating device cost from service is the way to go.
Click to expand...

I'm not defending the Tel Coms but when you think of all the billions they have spent and continue spend to upgrade their systems nationally, that cost has to be recouped somehow.
 
alent1234 said:
t-mobile is not any cheaper once you figure in the price of the phone and the amount of LTE data you get
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The $30 I'm saving on the plan for my wife and I to go to unlimited calling (from 450 minutes), unlimited texting (from limited texting), and larger data plans (from 2GB each to 2.5GB each phone) disagrees with you.
 
$30.00 upgrade fee for Verizon

tizeye said:
I currently am "upgrade eligible" with ATT and fully free Oct 1, so shopping. One thing is abundantly clear, even if wife and I liked our phones, must upgrade Oct 1 as rates are not going down when phone payment obligation is complete. It just becomes excess profit for the carrier.

Looked at the NEXT and Edge and immediately said "no thanks". The sell it on 'new phone every year' as if you need a new phone. As the math noted earlier, the 1 year payment almost paid fully for the phone, but given the resale value of the mandatory trade-in, ATT/Verizon will actually make more. An easy no thanks.

At least T-Mobile drops the monthly phone payment charge when paid for, and talk/data becomes significantly cheaper. It is nice that they itemize it out - and $0 if you bring your own. The also have a Jump program for new phone up to twice a year, but so turned off by NEXT and Edge that didn't explore it. Just don't know about T-Mobile network speed as sales people at stores that carry all three networks consistently bash T-Mobile over that issue, pushing ATT or Verizon. Of course, they could be getting a bigger bonus from ATT or Verizon.

Waiting for Oct 1...and perhaps a new iPhone will be announced. Even if not available Oct 1, I could delay a few months I I knew it was coming.
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Please also note and consider: if you are a Verizon customer, they want you to upgrade, but for me, a customer since 1984, I can upgrade every 2 years, and NOW they tack on a $30.00 upgrade fee to my husband's new phone (he was eligible for upgrade 2 years ago, but his phone recently DIED) in addition to the profit they make when we overpay for equipment and then their services. It is a racket and WHY do I have to pay $200 a MONTH for two smart phones and neither one goes over minutes or data usage? It is OUTRAGEOUS! The Verizon agent said the $30.00 fee is to make up the cost difference of phones sold and allows them to continue to provide free classes and help to customers needing help with their new phones. Really, it is not free if I am paying for it! The class is done by a sales person in the store, in the main open area, which is crowded, loud and the training is for all in attendance and good luck getting individual help for specific issues at this training session. Been there, done that, and it was not good!
 
Much like with cable, we're still living in the stone age when it comes to telecom services and pricing.
 
Carlanga said:
Lol all three are competing on who will you choose from them to get then ripped off. These plans are ridiculous please don't even consider them.

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I always thought they would lower the plan prices the first two years on these new plans and then just start increasing monthly fees after people are on the plan. But i didn't anticipate the level of greed an how fast they want to take our money.
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I usually have to buy my phone straight up or just slightly discounted since I need to newest hardware to dev/ test on. I don't plan on grabbing one of these but maybe they will get low enough where they are actually a good deal.
 
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