Carrier AT&T new line questions

[ACG12]

Best Buy has a really great deal of $4.99/month for an iPhone 8 with a new line on AT&T next.

My question is can I pay the phone off the next day/couple of days and cancel the line as well? Thanks

 

[ecschwarz]

I suspect when all is said and done, you can go into your AT&T account and pay the balance due on the phone (they've added it where you don't have to go to a store like back when I had AT&T). Once paid off, you can do an unlock request at http://att.com/deviceunlock. You may need to keep service for a billing cycle just so everything gets processed, but as long as it's not cheap because of bill credits (like many of the "free" iPhone lines), it should work.

 

[Nishant]

Whenever At&T has deals like this, they give monthly credits to offset the cost of the phone. To only pay 4.99 a month for that phone, you'll have to keep it 24 or 30 months (whatever the terms are).

 

[jetsam]

Whenever At&T has deals like this, they give monthly credits to offset the cost of the phone. To only pay 4.99 a month for that phone, you'll have to keep it 24 or 30 months (whatever the terms are).

This. ^

The $5/month deal is gone, but they now have a $10/month for 30 months deal for new lines, which is half the retail price for a 64 GB 8.

The fine print is:

$10.00/mo. for 30 months after $10.00/mo. AT&T bill credit for 30 mos; 0% APR. Bill credits begin within 1-2 cycles. Bill credits end when balance is paid. Line must remain in good standing.

 

[jay968]

Honestly the best way to get an answer on this is to ask a rep at Best Buy what your options are. I have come to realize that responses such as "I would suspect..." or "whenever AT&T has deals like this..." are only speculation at best. Rules and regulations on these matters change all the time.
For what it's worth, my wife purchased a phone on a monthly plan from Best Buy a couple of years ago and yes they let her pay the phone off after having signing up and paying the down payment. However, when I tried this a year later, they said I could not do this.
Just ask them when you are ready.