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My plan doesn't matter. Last time I bought a phone I only had to lay out $299 (6+) and my bill was $116. My bill will still be that much or more, only now I will have to pay $749. So again, how is this GOOD for me?

Call them when your contract is up and you are not subsidizing a phone. I had att and verizon both do that when I was in the us since I typically keep phones past one contract period. BOTH dropped my monthly payment.
 
My plan doesn't matter. Last time I bought a phone I only had to lay out $299 (6+) and my bill was $116. My bill will still be that much or more, only now I will have to pay $749. So again, how is this GOOD for me?

Dude,

You're paying $749 for the phone either way.

AT&T wouldn't take a hit on their profits and give you a $500 discount on the phone.
 
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AT&T abolished the unlimited plan years ago. Those who still have unlimited plans used a loophole by purchasing a device for the full price up front instead of signing a new agreement.

When someone goes to sign up for the AT&T NEXT plan, they sign a new agreement and unlimited isn't an option.

No, you're thinking about Verizon. at&t still allowed grandfathered customers to keep unlimited when signing a new two-year contract, although this must be done through at&t rather than the Apple Store starting with the iPhone 6s/6s+.
 
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We are saying the same thing differently...
There is a contract...as you said, the contract states that you can get out anytime by paying off the remaining installments...that is part of the contract.
Oh my. Do we really need to discuss semantics? I'm sure you know exactly what I meant.
If I leased a car I could turn it in one year early and just pay off the remaining installments...
You would still not own the car, because the regular installments of a lease contract only cover the depreciation over the lease term (plus interest). The regular installments of a Next plan cover the entire phone.
I'm sure the dealership would be happy as they would get all of the money as well as the car back a year early which would be worth more.
As was mentioned many times, AT&T does not get the phone back if you pay off a Next plan, because it's yours.
 
Dude,

You're paying $749 for the phone either way.

AT&T wouldn't take a hit on their profits and give you a $500 discount on the phone.

It's MUCH more likely the monthly bill will be dropped by complaining on a forum than calling the company. I NEVER paid the same price if I wasn't subsidizing a phone but then I had to call them and not just renew the same contract.
 
When did they ever allow the NEXT program with the unlimited plan?

AT&T abolished the unlimited plan years ago. Those who still have unlimited plans used a loophole by purchasing a device for the full price up front instead of signing a new agreement.

When someone goes to sign up for the AT&T NEXT plan, they sign a new agreement and unlimited isn't an option.
Maybe you are confusing Verizon here? until January 8 you can still sign a contract and get an iPhone for $200 with ATT; there is no loophole and no reason to buy outright. After January 8 you can no longer do this, however your monthly rate remains exactly the same. You can/could also choose to pay next, but you will have to pay the next installement plus an additional monthly fee (on top of your plan rates), which is what made Next more expensive, by far, than contracted plans. The shared plans "get around this" by adding a reduction to your monthly cost; this was ATT's way, when introducing sahred, to get people to choose tiered data because, when comparing costs on multiple lines, it becomes cheaper, particularly when multiple lines require more minutes.

EDIT: I keep saying iPhone and $200. What I am really meaning is "you can sign a contract and get up to $450 off a new phone".
 
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So ETF will be waived only for the lines for which you give up unlimited data? I have a line without UDP that is due for subsidized upgrade.
 
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So ETF will be waived only for the lines for which you give up unlimited data? I have a line without UDP that is due for subsidized upgrade.
That is correct. There is a small window where you can buy a new phone and then have the ETF waived. SO you'll basically get a new iPhone for $200.
 
Watching people make blanket statements like "contracts are NEVER cheaper" is ridiculous. Can we all just agree to let other people make their own financial decisions? Yes, sometimes we don't get it but in the end who cares? And seriously, yes sometimes an old nation plan coupled with unlimited data was significantly cheaper than MSV+Next. It's simple math.

I am literally amazed T-mobile (and then the other 3) managed to raise rates on some people and they actually believe they are paying less. Or are "ETF-Free" even though they are chained to a large device installment plan with their carrier.
 
So will we not be able to keep unlimited data with next. If not then why ev n bother raising unlimited data price if I can't keep it.

You can keep your unlimited data if you buy your phone upfront for full price or bring your own old phone. It's ATT's subtle way of forcing you into data plans. Their betting on most people not having the upfront cash to buy a new phone. It's genius on their part actually
 
Watching people make blanket statements like "contracts are NEVER cheaper" is ridiculous. Can we all just agree to let other people make their own financial decisions? Yes, sometimes we don't get it but in the end who cares?

WTF? Someone making the statement is somehow stopping you from making your own financial decisions? You must live a horrible life. Why don't you accept that everyone makes statements that do not always agree with yours, especially on a forum. Maybe you should stay away from forums if you are somehow forced to do anything by reading them. In reality nobody is stopping you from making decisions, just voicing their own opinions. Too funny, have a good life.
 
Bye bye U.S. iPhone market share. Most people I know have iPhones, but a lot of them would die if they saw the $600+ up front for a phone - unless AT&T quietly puts up the Next pricing everywhere, then I guess it won't be any different than before except you're now leasing the phone instead of owning it.
Unless AT&T quietly puts up Next pricing everywhere? They've been doing that for the last few years. lol :)

From the quote below, it looks like 66% of AT&T's smartphone customers are off of the old subsidized plans, so most should already know the up-front price of a phone (with 40% of them already using Next to finance it for 0% APR). @macnewbie91, I think that answers your question about how many folks are left on those old plans.

More than 40% of the postpaid smartphone base is on AT&T Next, with about 66%, or 38.2 million, of postpaid smartphone subscribers on no-device- subsidy Mobile Share Value plans.
http://www.att.com/Investor/Earnings/3q15/ib_final_3q15.pdf
 
Maybe you are confusing Verizon here? until January 8 you can still sign a contract and get an iPhone for $200 with ATT; there is no loophole and no reason to buy outright. After January 8 you can no longer do this, however your monthly rate remains exactly the same. You can/could also choose to pay next, but you will have to pay the next installement plus an additional monthly fee (on top of your plan rates), which is what made Next more expensive, by far, than contracted plans. The shared plans "get around this" by adding a reduction to your monthly cost; this was ATT's way, when introducing sahred, to get people to choose tiered data because, when comparing costs on multiple lines, it becomes cheaper, particularly when multiple lines require more minutes.

EDIT: I keep saying iPhone and $200. What I am really meaning is "you can sign a contract and get up to $450 off a new phone".

Show me where you can sign a contract and get unlimited data on the NEXT plan.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html
 
WTF? Someone making the statement is somehow stopping you from making your own financial decisions? You must live a horrible life. Why don't you accept that everyone makes statements that do not always agree with yours, especially on a forum. Maybe you should stay away from forums if you are somehow forced to do anything by reading them. In reality nobody is stopping you from making decisions, just voicing their own opinions. Too funny.

This literally makes no sense in context to what I said. Nice try.
 
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I am literally amazed T-mobile (and then the other 3) managed to raise rates on some people and they actually believe they are paying less. Or are "ETF-Free" even though they are chained to a large device installment plan with their carrier.
TMO raised rates for future setup plans. We still pay $120 for four lines, 10GB data each, rollover, binge on, blah blah buzz words etc lol.

That same plan is 6GB of data on 4 lines for the same price, should you sign up today.

We are still able to add unlimited to any line for $30 (as is the old price). I am unsure how this looks to someone with the 6gb per line x4 for $120.

THE "no ETF no contract" is partially true. TMO, for a small bit, was allowing folks who bought phones through their financing and didn't like their service to leave the service but continue paying monthly toward the phone (and they would unlock it for you). But if you pay installments on their device, keep it a few months, then decide to jump ship you owe TMO the rest of those payments.

For all intents and purposes, device financing through your carrier is the new contract. They've just all changed the terminology lol.
 
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My plan doesn't matter. Last time I bought a phone I only had to lay out $299 (6+) and my bill was $116. My bill will still be that much or more, only now I will have to pay $749. Multiply x2 to include my wife's phone. So again, how is this GOOD for me?
It matters in that if you have a Mobile Share plan and have been using the 2-year contract for your phone (which as been an option for the last several years), Next may be less expensive. If you have a grandfathered plan with a rate that was set from back in 2007-2008 and hasn't gone up since then, then to your point, this probably isn't good for you (in the sense that you will be paying more going forward). But it all depends on your current plan, which is probably why he asked what that was. If you did have an old grandfathered plan, at least you got a hell of a savings for a long time. That's not something that folks like me that came to AT&T 3 years ago (for the service) got to enjoy. lol
 
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This literally makes no sense in context to what I said. Nice try.
You said:
"Can we all just agree to let other people make their own financial decisions?"

It was in perfect context with what you said, but totally out of context with what is actually happening.

Didn't make it to ignore in time.
 
Show me where you can sign a contract and get unlimited data on the NEXT plan.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html
This is only available to people who already had unlimited data. It was available to me while I was on ATT but I am no longer there, so I am no longer able to show you this. Perhaps you can ask someone currently on ATT with unlimited who is currently out of contract. They should be able to show you those options. Again, nobdy does this, because it is cheaper to get the phone sibsidized.

What this thread is about is ATT getting rid of that on contract subsidy completely. Your monthly bill stays the same, but you have lost the subsidy, This is what I have been saying since my first post on this thread. The only reason Next came up is because you were mentioning it (which is fine). I realize you were "always paying that subdisdy" because it was "built into the monthly prices". What is changing is you are still paying that built in subsidy price, however you are no longer getting the subsidy. If you were getting a new phone every two years, your unlimited plan just went up by $5 per month (flat rate for everyone) as well as $450 over two years. This effictively compes out to about $15 a month, give or take.
 
FWIW, people who currently have unlimited data on AT&T have been able to resign 2-year contracts and get subsidized phones.

The NEXT plan is NOT a two year agreement... Never has, never will be.

The NEXT plan is different than a two year contract.
 
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