Next was terrible when they introduced it, but now that they offer $25 off for not taking a subsidized phone it is a pretty good deal.
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AT&T Offering $50 Bill Credit for iPhone Upgrades Made Through Apple Online and Retail Stores
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Next was terrible when they introduced it, but now that they offer $25 off for not taking a subsidized phone it is a pretty good deal.
Next is not for everyone, but at the same time Next is not as bad as some of you make it out to be.
If you are on unlimited data and you are a heavy data user then Next is not for you. If you are on a Mobile Share Plan with 3 or more users then Next would most likely be the better option compared to a 2 year agreement.
If you upgrade and decide to turn in your phone then it is a lease. But, I would purchase the phone outright and then sell it to recoup some of that money and then reup on a new Next plan.
As for the $50 credit I guess I will have to call AT&T to see if I can get this applied to my account as I didn't know about it and recently bought my iPhone in a past few days.
If you are on unlimited data and you are a heavy data user then Next is not for you. If you are on a Mobile Share Plan with 3 or more users then Next would most likely be the better option compared to a 2 year agreement.
If you upgrade and decide to turn in your phone then it is a lease. But, I would purchase the phone outright and then sell it to recoup some of that money and then reup on a new Next plan.
As for the $50 credit I guess I will have to call AT&T to see if I can get this applied to my account as I didn't know about it and recently bought my iPhone in a past few days.
Not trying to be snarky, but ...
This points out yet another reason to avoid contracts. It's not just AT&T that puts contract customers at a disadvantage; Verizon does this even more than AT&T.
After TMobile started the ball rolling (by eliminating contracts), the other carriers have had to make changes to remain competitive. AT&T has been much quicker to make competitive offers than VZW. About 9 months ago I gave up on waiting for VZW to offer a competitive plan for my family. So after 10 years with VZW I switched to ATT's no-contract family share plan, saving $50 per month (compared to comparable VZW plan) AND getting $400 in credits for starting service with my 4 devices. All of this because I am NOT ON A CONTRACT.
It gets even better. Since I switched, I have been able to take advantage of 2 more offers. Most recently, my data plan was upgraded (no added cost) from 10 to 20 GB. Plus, there is now another AT&T offer, described in this article - $50 credit for "upgrading" a current off-contract device to a new iPhone bought through Apple Store or Apple.com on the Next plan. This runs through Dec 31st, so I will probably "upgrade" my wife's iPhone 4s to an iPhone 6. I can place the cost on the Next plan, then pay off the Next plan in full (same price as "full price" for the phone) after the 1st billing cycle, then have the phone unlocked through AT&T's automated device unlock process.
Bottom line: your problem is not specfically related to AT&T. The problem is that you are on contract and therefore unable to take advantage of the rapidly-changing competitive wireless market.
My advice is to buy full-price, unlocked devices that can be used on multiple carrier networks (e.g., Nexus phones, iPhones, Moto X developer edition, etc.) and to AVOID CONTRACTS. Then you are free to take advantage of competitive offers. AT&T has been quick to make these offers, at least in the last 9 months or so.
In today's hyper-competitive environment, long-time loyalty means nothing. It really pays to be flexible, attentive and most importantly, off-contract.
Just my $.02.
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This may work, depending on when you bought your phone. I just called AT&T -- after some research the rep stated that the offer runs from Nov 7th to Dec 31st. So if you bought on Nov 7th or later, you're in luck.
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Correct, don't trade the phone in. Make sure you pay off the Next payments, then unlock the phone through AT&T's automated device unlock process. Then you can sell the phone on Ebay or through a number of reputable services (Gazelle and others). If your phone is unlocked and in good condition, you can get a MUCH better price than that offered by AT&T (or any of the other carriers, for that matter).
And the other reason this works is that you are OFF CONTRACT, so your monthly plan costs are lower. If you are on a 10GB or more share data plan, you get a $25 per device per month discount if you are off contract.
Just make sure you wait until the bill credit goes through to pay off the phone, not that it costs you anything to wait a month.
^ This.
I upgraded to the 6 via Next. While I'm making monthly payments on the phone, I plan on paying it off by the end of Q1 2015. That way before the 6s is announced, I can sell it on eBay, Swappa, etc. and use my 5c until I get the 6s. I have no interest in turning the phone back to AT&T.
If you go to upgrade from a Next plan you are given two choices. Trade your phone in or pay it off.
For example, my wife got a 5S in February on Next 18. She won't be eligible to trade it in until next summer. But now she wants an iPhone 6.
I went just to see what I could do. I added the 6 and it told me I could pay $260 to advance the phone loan so that she could trade it in or I could pay $490 and keep the phone and get a new one.
So you have a choice and you can upgrade whenever you feel like it really. I went with just trading it in. If I had paid the $490, I would have gotten $400 back from selling it on a site like swappa or something and I just didn't feel like it was worth my time for the extra $80-100 I might gain out of it. But I was very happy to be able to upgrade her whenever I felt like.
This may work, depending on when you bought your phone. I just called AT&T -- after some research the rep stated that the offer runs from Nov 7th to Dec 31st. So if you bought on Nov 7th or later, you're in luck.
i ordered my phone about 10 days ago and it just shipped today, an hour before i heard about the $50 credit thing. any thoughts on whether at&t could be talked into giving me the credit? or should i return the phone to apple and order again? or just eat the $50 ?
It isn't a lease. It is an interest free loan. You can pay off the balance at any time and the phone is yours.
That is exactly what Next is. Read up on it and educate yourself.
Exactly; Next is simply an interest-free financing plan to buy the phone. The Next service de-links the phone purchase from the carrier rate plan. You are "free" from the old contract system.
Verizon is much worse about locking in customers, despite its similar Edge plan. Verizon's CDMA network is incompatible with the rest of the world (except South Korea), and Verizon makes it much harder to use non-Verizon phones on its system. And you can't use many (or most?) Verizon-sold phones on other networks, even if you are not on contract.
I'm no expert on the unlimited plan but I would think yes.
But remember, on your unlimited plan you are ALWAYS paying a higher monthly cost that includes a subsidy for a phone. It probably amounts to about an extra $25 per device per month.
If you go to a Next plan that shares 10GB or more, then you get a discount of $25 per device per month.
My take is that over time, you would be better off without a contract on a Next shared data plan if you have 2 or more devices and want 10 GB (or maybe 20, which can be "doubled" for free at the moment) of data. Plus you can take advantage of periodic competitive offers from ATT or other carriers since you are not on contract.
If you are streaming Netflix daily on your phone, then there may be an advantage to staying on the unlimited plan. Due diligence required - look at all the angles.
AT&T killed that deal last month. As far as I know, nobody is able to get it anymore.
I purchased a 6+ from Apple online. I contacted AT&T about this $50 bill credit, and they new nothing of it. Where does the source of this AT&T $50 bill credit post come from? There's a screenshot, but no link to its source? If I had a source to refer to, I could get back to them - but not from a forum post, with no hard info.
I tried going through the motions earlier today and the text shows up on the webpage when you're trying to buy an iPhone from Apple using AT&T Next. I haven't seen anything about the promotion anywhere else.
I just went to the AT&T site and tried what you said.
I couldn't find anything about the $50 bill credit?
It seems that this credit only applies to iPhones purchased from Apple, not AT&T.
They have stopped offering them, which makes me wonder why they are still allowed. That's probably next. Finally kill them. AT&T has gotten far too big, again...
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Yes, and it makes me wonder why.
Although I got a very hard sell from the AT&T minion when I got a new iPhone.
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No, like in you pay the whole cost upfront, without their involvement. I haven't heard that foreign carriers lock devices the way that AT&T does. Perhaps AT&T NEXT is their way of insuring that they CAN lock phones, because you really don't *own* the phone, you are 'buying it over time' from AT&T. It's still theirs until you pay off the cost they say you owe.
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But the point is that you DO NOT OWN IT until you pay it off. And as I said above, perhaps AT&T is using that as the logic behind their locking them to their service. Either way, at AT&T minion confirmed, if you bring a device onto the AT&T network, it is automatically locked.
So NEXT buys you nothing. No pun intended.
I have two lines, one unlimited, and the other with 300mb's (my gf never, ever uses data -hippie)
Unlimited texts and a crapload of rollover minutes that never seem to end. Overages? NEVER. In anything.
$125 a month. Two lines. Both iPhone 6.
Both "activation fees" of $40 per iphone were waived, as they are every single year that I upgrade (all you have to do is call them)
Please tell me how I'm paying more than Any, ANY "Next- Mobile share"customer. In fact, if anyone can actually tell me how Next- mobile ripoff share- would benefit me so much that i'd give up my unlimited plan.
Anyone?
I can tell you that I had several occasions where AT&T refused to waive my upgrade fee. I took it all the way to retentions and had a manager review my claim. No luck.
Do you ever plan on using tethering? If not, then it sounds like you have a plan that works for you. Although Next and Mobile share aren't a "rip off," they just don't fit your needs.
AT&T Offering $50 Bill Credit for iPhone Upgrades Made Through Apple Online a...
No thetering. I don't have the need - jailbreak-
That's odd. It never fails with me, so I don even take that fee into consideration. Once they said they couldn't, so I said I'd just return the phone and cancel the contract. They waived immediately.
I just don't understand why people keep saying that those on contracts or unlimited grandfathered plans get the short end of the stick, when in some cases, we clearly don't.
No thetering. I don't have the need - jailbreak-
That's odd. It never fails with me, so I don even take that fee into consideration. Once they said they couldn't, so I said I'd just return the phone and cancel the contract. They waived immediately.
I just don't understand why people keep saying that those on contracts or unlimited grandfathered plans get the short end of the stick, when in some cases, we clearly don't.
Most folks don't spend the time to calculate which plan is better for their needs. You obviously have and the current plan you have setup fits your needs. On the other hand, I found that the 10GB Mobile Share plans saved me and my family money. We have 6 lines with 2 folks that use 90% of the data each month. We've come close to 10GB a couple of times now, but I was able to get the double data promo from AT&T and now we've got 20GB. But the biggest factor for us is that we have 3 users on my account that use their iPhones for 3-4 years instead of upgrading every 2 years.
Too many people to quote, so hopefully the relevant people will see this... but to clear a few things up:
I wanted the iPhone 6 and the only way I could do it (since I had just bought the iPhone 5S 10 months before) was by using the Next Plan. So...
1. I pre-ordered via the Apple site before the release and got it delivered the day the iPhone 6 came out.
2. I'm still grandfathered in the Unlimited plan from the very first iPhone.
3. And after calling AT&T about the $50 credit, found out nobody actually needs to call in; it is already setup so that ANYONE who bought a new iPhone 6 or 6plus through Apple online with the Next plan, from the beginning of when the iPhone 6 was sold, up until December 31, 2014, will automatically get the $50 credit after 45 days or, as they told me, on my third billing cycle which will be coming up in 15 days of this post in my particular case.
TLDR version - So if you pre-ordered like me, i.e., are one of the first ones to get an iPhone 6 with the Next plan through Apple online, then you WILL get the $50 credit automatically applied to your account in about 15 days from now. It's already built into the system/account.
I wanted the iPhone 6 and the only way I could do it (since I had just bought the iPhone 5S 10 months before) was by using the Next Plan. So...
1. I pre-ordered via the Apple site before the release and got it delivered the day the iPhone 6 came out.
2. I'm still grandfathered in the Unlimited plan from the very first iPhone.
3. And after calling AT&T about the $50 credit, found out nobody actually needs to call in; it is already setup so that ANYONE who bought a new iPhone 6 or 6plus through Apple online with the Next plan, from the beginning of when the iPhone 6 was sold, up until December 31, 2014, will automatically get the $50 credit after 45 days or, as they told me, on my third billing cycle which will be coming up in 15 days of this post in my particular case.
TLDR version - So if you pre-ordered like me, i.e., are one of the first ones to get an iPhone 6 with the Next plan through Apple online, then you WILL get the $50 credit automatically applied to your account in about 15 days from now. It's already built into the system/account.
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Because AT&T makes more money if you upgrade early using Next (where you have to turn in your phone), but if you ride our your months on Next, the overall cost is less for the consumer than a 2 year contract with a subsidized phone.
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You are forgetting that AT&T charges a $40 "upgrade" fee for upgrading your phone with the 2 year contract option. Also, consider the $50 savings deal listed in the original article, and, even by your own numbers, the deals are even.
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If you pay off your phone you don't turn it in. You only turn it in if you upgrade early, and even then you still have the choice to pay off the balance and keep your phone or turn it in and walk away.
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We ALL like to sell our phones to cover the cost of new phones, which you can completely do on Next, assuming you pay for your phone. If you pay for it, you keep it. If you don't, you can turn it in and upgrade. With next, you have a choice, based on the resale value of your phone at the time you want to upgrade, to let AT&T sell it or you to sell it. You can pick the one that will net you the most cash back.