Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
This is bad news for perennial iPhone users. It will be a shock to them when they come to renew their plan and find out that they gotta drop close to a grand instead of $200 up front. I see more and more going the anti-Apple route as they will find that you can buy most Android phones or Windows phones that are of comparable quality/tech at full price for much much less.

I can see basic talk/text phones making a comeback. I still have my late 90s Nokia and mid-2000s Samsung slider. I have no problems going into AT&T and saying here's what you have to work with. These phones worked flawlessly, and they battery life makes iPhone look like a joke.
 
I know a LOT of people that are still with AT&T on contract because they are still being grandfathered in to their unlimited data plans. I wonder if this is also going to result in the death of unlimited data.
They recently announced a price increase of $5 per month on unlimited so I would guess they're keeping it. I'm pretty sure most including myself would switch carriers if they got rid of it.
 
So you can do att next and keep the same phone plan you have and just pay a finance fee?
It sounds like when your current 2-year contract is up, if you want a new phone, you can use Next to finance it. Then you'd pay whatever your paid for your same phone plan + the monthly Next installment (which goes away once your phone is paid off). There is no finance fee with Next, though. It's 0% APR.
 
so if u pay for the phone up front (which this is from AT&T), then their would be no contract, no early termination frees, free to leave when you like, and your monthly bill will just be call/data costs only, right ?

In effect,,, why would there be a contract still (locked in) IF the full payment for a phone is paid-up front ? There'd be no reason to.
 
i got two questions:
Can unlimited data plan combine with the monthly payment? I understand the deal is not as good as 2 years contract but better than buying the iPhone for $799 at retail price.

After 24 monthly payments, the phone is unlocked?
 
The other plans on AT&T? Or did you look at MVNO plans?

Yeah looked at others and they were at most 10 dollars less than what I'm currently paying and did not include the unlimited data I'm grandfathered into. Should also probably have mentioned I'm on a family plan.
 
WTF! Not cool at&t

I just went to at&t and got a 6S on early upgrade. I kept my unlimited plan, and it actually works out as I was about to buy a 64gb 6S off of CL for $600. Now when the 7 comes around I have to pay full price :(

Yeah, you'll be paying more to be cool (for a few days) in September. :D It looks like some people I know will be holding on to their iPhones a little longer from now on. It would be great if you could get a 32GB iPhone 7 for $449 or 499 full price. It would definitely reduce the "pain" for some accustomed to paying 2 or 3 Ben Franklins every couple of years.:(
 
What kind of plan were you trying to keep? I was able to get a $299 64GB iPhone on a 2 year unlimited plan 3 days ago.

Maybe your plan didn't exist anymore? Or maybe they just didn't want to re-up you (they're probably discouraged from it), in which case I would raise holy hell.
unlimited data plan.
 
Well I went into the local ATT store 2 weeks ago and they would not cell a subsidized iPhone. It was either full price or Next Plan. They (ATT) are counting on very few being able to come up with the outright purchase price and being forced into the Next lease arrangement. I would bet that if Apple did not allow outright purchase, that ATT would not do it either.

Perhaps you have FAN? If so, we had to order our iPhones through the Premier store, not just any local AT&T store.
 
How can they use the $199, 299 and 399 pricing if it doesn't exist anymore? Sure, they can list something like starting at $22 a month for AT&T, starting at $21 a month for Verizon, etc. I just think that becomes convoluted and more to the point makes it more obvious to the consumer that Apple is trying to mask the full price when introducing them. Maybe that's a byproduct of Apple's overpricing guilt.

Fair point you have there. However, contracts had already ended prior to the last iPhone event. T-Mobile dropped contracts altogether 2 years prior, Verizon had dropped contracts in August, and AT&T had dropped new contracts (only allowed renewals) in favor of NEXT. So at the time of the event there was already disparate carrier pricing and any prices Apple showed only applied to certain specific cases.

But as I said, you make a good point and I agree it is awkward. We will find out what Apple does next fall, or maybe earlier with the rumored return of a 4" iPhone.
 
I called again to get more info such as how the charges break down per line as well as taxes and discounts. They said that there is only a single charge for the service and that it is not broken down per line. I also got a good estimate on taxes and fees for my area. Lastly they said that my 15% discount through my employer is applied to the total cost AFTER taxes!

At first I thought I would go with their unlimited data plan since it still saves me money, but with their Binge On and Music Freedom programs I don't think I will need more than the 6GB LTE per line. The one phone that uses about 16GB a month mostly uses it from HBO, Netflix, and Slingbox which are all part of the Binge On program!

The last concerns that I have and should be able to answer next week are:
What kind of coverage and data speeds do I have at work? I'll have to ask my T-Mobile coworkers.

Will I have to pay ETF, or will I be able to have it waived now since I am cancelling due to the $5 data increase? To be honest, this won't hold me back as I would make up the difference in less than 4 months of savings.

How long after waiving/paying ETF will my phones be unlocked? I'm not sure if I can activate service with T-Mobile if my phones are still locked. If I can, how long will I be without service as I wait for AT&T to unlock my phones so that they can start working with T-Mobile?

Since you were so kind and let me know about this deal I decided to share the numbers I crunched in an excel spreadsheet. I'm not sure how similar this situation would be for you but I figured it would be a good starting point for you and others.

View attachment 608163
BingeOn downgrades video to 480p quality. I personally am not willing to accept the quality loss so I'd rather pay for unlimited period.
 
There is no way I am paying att full price, using next or otherwise, when I can pay the same price for an unlocked phone. in fact, i think i'll pay to get my current phone unlocked and sell that to help pay the cost of the 7, wouldn't that make more sense?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
The other plans on AT&T? Or did you look at MVNO plans?


90 is still ridiculous. I pay $27/mo for my service through consumer cellular.

I've decided to give Cricket ppd a try since it's an AT&T subsidiary. Tired of paying AT&T a monthly device access fee. $35/mo all in for unlimited (2.5gb high speed) data. We'll see what it's like. i may wind up coming back to AT&T but maybe not!
 
  • Like
Reactions: macintologist
BingeOn downgrades video to 480p quality. I personally am not willing to accept the quality loss so I'd rather pay for unlimited period.

I completely understand that preference.

One thing I did was pull up a HQ video on the YouTube app on my iPhone 6 and change the video quality around to see the actual difference. First I was surprised that the highest option was 720P even though it is a 1080P video on my laptop. The next surprising thing was that there wasn't much detectable difference between 720P and 480P on my iPhone's screen.

It also looks easy to turn off and on as needed.

Good luck in whatever you end up getting
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
I've stayed on 2-yr contracts because they have been cheaper for me than buying the iPhone for full-price.

The iPhone costs $650 retail (plus tax).
I could always sell the iPhone for about $200 at the end of the 2 year contact.
Subsidy was $450.

So doing the math, I was always breaking even after 2 years. In other words I have been getting free iPhone upgrades for the last 6 years. Coupled with Unlimited data and it was a sweet deal.

If the 2 year contracts were soo overpriced, AT&T would be making a huge profit from it and would keep them. The fact that they are getting rid of them shows that they were actually too good a value for the consumer.


OR they want to make MORE MONEY!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
So if the subsidies end and I stay on contract with my old phone will my monthly bill go down? After all, I am no longer paying to subsidize the phone.
nope because they integrated the costs of the device subsidy as costs of the voice and/or data plan in the 2 year contracts. Meaning you can't separate the costs, they are basically hidden fees. The only way to get separate costs is to go with the new no contract plans. You don't have to sign up for a next device plan, you can keep the phone you own and just pay the monthly fees for minutes/data that exist as options.
 
It sounds like when your current 2-year contract is up, if you want a new phone, you can use Next to finance it. Then you'd pay whatever your paid for your same phone plan + the monthly Next installment (which goes away once your phone is paid off). There is no finance fee with Next, though. It's 0% APR.

This is what I do. I was using like 20-30 gigs a month. So my unlimited plan made sense. I use NEXT with my unlimited plan because it's 0% financing. I like to get all the new phones so it works out perfect and I don't have to deal with selling a phone.

Just added my wife but I bought her phone outright and set her up with 2 gigs. She didn't want to do NEXT. Doesn't make sense but she wanted to own the phone so I was like fine I'll get it for your birthday.

I'm not giving up unlimited. Even if I'm not using much data I like having the option too. Unlimited with NEXT makes perfect sense to me.
 
i guess i was thinking i'd lose my UDP but if i can keep that, maybe Next will be alright
I don't know where people are getting that they can go to NEXT and still keep unlimited data. I wasn't given that option , and believe me I asked about it.
 
That is not a option where I live you must be receiving special treatment

I don't know where people are getting that they can go to NEXT and still keep unlimited data. I wasn't given that option , and believe me I asked about it.

No special treatment required. People have been able to move to NEXT and still keep their grandfathered unlimited, but at&t employees are known to mess up the procedure or play dumb as to what the options are. Not many have done this because it's better to do the 2-year contract while on unlimited, as there are no service discounts for the grandfathered plan.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.