Carrier AT&T Trade In... $800 bucks?

[rui no onna]

"Requires 30 months, 0% APR installment agreement,"

Seems like a bad deal at Walmart

Signing up for installment is required, yes. You can just pay off the remaining $200 via AT&T, though. There's no monthly bill credits to lose so you're not really locked in.

The $200 off is a cash discount and the loan agreement will show a financed amount of $200 (for 64GB model).

 

[rui no onna]

I am happy with my $25 unlimited plan at Visible. Over 30 months, i will be paying $1500 less than ATT. So with $800 bill credit I would be spending $700 more at ATT over 30 months.

I'm testing Visible on my old iPhone 7 right now and it sucks compared to Verizon postpaid and even AT&T where I am.

I guess the towers are pretty busy in my area since I'm getting massively deprioritized with Visible. On several occasions, the MacRumors forum would load very quickly on Verizon, okay on AT&T and take 30+ seconds on Visible.

 

[edhchoe]

I'm testing Visible on my old iPhone 7 right now and it sucks compared to Verizon postpaid and even AT&T where I am.

I guess the towers are pretty busy in my area since I'm getting massively deprioritized with Visible. On several occasions, the MacRumors forum would load very quickly on Verizon, okay on AT&T and take 30+ seconds on Visible.

Wow. Mine is 5G fast.

 

[redman042]

Add a new line of service or upgrade an existing line.

Are we sure they aren't requiring an actual upgrade of a line (to a better plan) to give this kind of credit on a used phone? That's like $300 more than I can get on eBay.

The only time I have previously seen crazy deals like this is when adding a line to the account (which rules out most people). The fine print literally says "add or upgrade a line". If they didn't mean exactly that, they should correct it.

Did more than one person reach out to AT&T and confirm? I never fully trust the words from one AT&T rep.

I'm on an old non-unlimited plan (30 GB family plan) and I am going to switch plans, but don't want to do it ahead of time if the line upgrade needs to be part of the phone upgrade process.

 

[redman042]

After the above post, I read the language on Apple's website where you go to purchase the phone. Their language is much clearer. It says nothing about upgrading a line. It seems I should just upgrade my plan to Unlimited now in advance of the purchase. I'll check with Apple Chat in the morning.

 

[aloecool]

I'm currently on the Mobile Share Plus 9GB for 3 lines with FAN discount. I'm thinking it doesn't make sense for me to move 3 lines to unlimited to qualify for this and pay more a month for unlimited data that we don't need/use. Am I wrong? Should I take into consideration 5G is not available on the old Mobile Share plan? I'm looking at paying $30 more/month on the unlimited plan based on AT&T's calculator.

 

[Ladybug]

I'm currently on the Mobile Share Plus 9GB for 3 lines with FAN discount. I'm thinking it doesn't make sense for me to move 3 lines to unlimited to qualify for this and pay more a month for unlimited data that we don't need/use. Am I wrong? Should I take into consideration 5G is not available on the old Mobile Share plan? I'm looking at paying $30 more/month on the unlimited plan based on AT&T's calculator.

I'm in the same boat. We only have two lines and rarely ever use more than a few GB of data a month because of WiFi. No way either of us need unlimited data so no to AT&T from me. And while my iPhone 8 is 3 years old I’d rather keep it for emergencies rather than deal with trading it in anyway.

 

[rui no onna]

Are we sure they aren't requiring an actual upgrade of a line (to a better plan) to give this kind of credit on a used phone? That's like $300 more than I can get on eBay.

The only time I have previously seen crazy deals like this is when adding a line to the account (which rules out most people). The fine print literally says "add or upgrade a line". If they didn't mean exactly that, they should correct it.

Did more than one person reach out to AT&T and confirm? I never fully trust the words from one AT&T rep.

I'm on an old non-unlimited plan (30 GB family plan) and I am going to switch plans, but don't want to do it ahead of time if the line upgrade needs to be part of the phone upgrade process.

It says specifically that unlimited plans are required.

That's my dilemma as well although I've been hitting the 35GB cap of late. It's likely gonna be an extra $30-50 with tax though and that's forever. Plus, I'll lose hotspot support on the iPad and I use that a lot (big battery so acting as hotspot isn't a big drain).

 

[harambe4ever]

Any reason to believe you must trade in your current phone if on AT&T? I am thinking about buying a cheap android phone that qualifies for $150 and trading that in, then selling my current iPhone 11 on swappa for $550. Any reason this can’t be done?

 

[pdxmatts]

How do these compare to Unlimited Data Plus that was offered a few years ago?
Seems Starter + extra are both 'SD video' - is this enforced since these are 5G plans? Seems sort of a waste to have 5G and only be able to stream in SD instead of HD.

Also not clear that Extra has 50GB of 'premium data' whereas Starter has no stipulations at all, but again both 5G plans.

Confusing.

Seems UDP (plus plan) -> Unlimited Extra is the most logical migration, right? Probably not going to shift until at least one of us in the family is on a 5G iPhone, but this kinda stinks having to fuss with plans yet again. Still, fwiw it does seem cheaper overall by maybe like $25

($115 base + $20 access fee x 3 Lines of $175 vs what appears $50 flat per line x 3)

worth migrating even before having a 5g device?

If you are receiving a discount though work or school (Signature Program) or are eligible, you get an extra $10 off per line for the Elite plan, so for the Unlimited Elite (4 lines) it would be $40 per line. That is the one we went with because we wanted HD and HBOMAX was a nice perk.

 

[walds11]

So this works out to about $26 a month in credit from AT&T for the trade in right?

This should cover almost all of the monthly cost of the iPhone 12 Pro 256 upgrade.

I've been with AT&T for a decade and keeps my phones for 2+ years at a time. Seems like a no brainer unless I'm missing something.....?

Correct. Seems like an absolute no brainer! Worse case scenario, you lose the remainder of the credits if you trade in early.

 

[Nebulance]

It's a very good deal, and it's available to existing customers as well as new users, which is great (AT&T user here). But, a couple of caveats: 1) it's over 30 months, not 24 (Verizon's deals are over 24 months). So the per-month isn't as high as it seems. 2) it's only available on certain AT&T plans. I haven't called to find out which ones yet… but I'm sure it's going to be unlimited, and maybe only certain unlimited plans. I'm currently on an older family share plan with plenty of data and would have to go to a more expensive unlimited plan to get this.

Good catch there about it being for certain plans. I have the 4 GB data plan, and considering I'm on WiFi 90% of the day as it is, I have and endless amount of rollover. I was seriously considering this for upgrading my X, but I wonder if this would work. I should check with AT&T as well. Also, I'd prefer to get the 12 mini, and it's not clear if that phone is part of this offer -- I'd assume not if only because the pre-order is slated for Nov (according to Apple at least).

 

[jgurwin]

Since you can't pay off the phone ahead of the 30 months and continue getting the credits, you more or less can never unlock it?

 

[MinimeJer05]

My wife likes to keep her phones for about 3 years and we were planning on buying her a 12 Pro outright, but this sounds like the better deal in the long run as we are happy with AT&T and don’t plan on leaving them anytime soon.

 

[ohsnapimaninja]

Would it be possible to get this phone unlocked by a third party provider?

 

[seancy]

1) My wife and I have the grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan which does not include 5G. Do we need to upgrade to one of the newer unlimited plans to qualify for the $800 credit? Or can we stay under the grandfather plan, purchase new phones under the credit, and just live without 5G (which is just hype right now)?

2) If we order via Apple Store App and select the AT&T monthly payment plan (with credit for trade in), will it be possible to select Apple store pick up as our delivery option?

 

[rui no onna]

Since you can't pay off the phone ahead of the 30 months and continue getting the credits, you more or less can never unlock it?

Technically, you can. You just have to wait 30 months.

 

[essential]

i'm not sure if i fully understand this ... so you'd pay full price for the phone up front, then get back $800 in bill credit over 30 months ($26.67/month)?

 

[BrettDS]

1) My wife and I have the grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan which does not include 5G. Do we need to upgrade to one of the newer unlimited plans to qualify for the $800 credit? Or can we stay under the grandfather plan, purchase new phones under the credit, and just live without 5G (which is just hype right now)?

2) If we order via Apple Store App and select the AT&T monthly payment plan (with credit for trade in), will it be possible to select Apple store pick up as our delivery option?

You would need to switch plans just to qualify for the credit. In the fine print of the credit it al requires that you be on one of the newer unlimited plans.

It would appear that you would be able to order through the apple store app and select in store pickup and still qualify for the credit.

 

[macrumors3000]

30 month contract.

 

[BrettDS]

i'm not sure if i fully understand this ... so you'd pay full price for the phone up front, then get back $800 in bill credit over 30 months ($26.67/month)?

No, you need to buy the phone on an ATT installment plan to qualify for the credit. There is no interest, but you would pay for the phone over 30 months and get the $800 credit as a $26.67 credit each month for 30 months. As long as you’re planning to keep your phone for 30 months there really isn’t a down side. However, if you plan to upgrade your phone sooner than that it can get tricky. If you pay off the balance of the installment plan early (like you would need to do to trade in or sell the phone) then the credits will stop and you won’t get the full $800.

 

[essential]

No, you need to buy the phone on an ATT installment plan to qualify for the credit. There is no interest, but you would pay for the phone over 30 months and get the $800 credit as a $26.67 credit each month for 30 months. As long as you’re planning to keep your phone for 30 months there really isn’t a down side. However, if you plan to upgrade your phone sooner than that it can get tricky. If you pay off the balance of the installment plan early (like you would need to do to trade in or sell the phone) then the credits will stop and you won’t get the full $800.

That makes sense, so it's an offset of the final value of whatever the monthly phone installment ends up being.
Pro Max 256GB = $1,200 (before tax)
$40/month @ 30 months
$13.33/month for 30 months after credit
$400 total paid

 

[seancy]

You would need to switch plans just to qualify for the credit. In the fine print of the credit it al requires that you be on one of the newer unlimited plans.

It would appear that you would be able to order through the apple store app and select in store pickup and still qualify for the credit.

Answering my own question. Per ATT rep, my current plan is eligible for the promotion credit. It just does not include 5G. (AT&T Unlimited Choice II Multi Line)

 

[Stlcheer]

This offer sounds good and is very tempting, but I have seen only horror stories about their trade in program. Phones mailed in and never received, or are claimed to be damaged and ineligible. Don’t want to wind up getting nothing for my phone in excellent condition. Has anyone actually done an AT&T trade in and had a good, smooth experience?

I trade in my phone every year to AT&T and have not had any issues.

 

[WeirdBal]

I trade in my phone every year to AT&T and have not had any issues.

Are you trading in via mail, or in store? Not sure if this offer is available in store or if it worth any unnecessary risk of going to a store right now, so I am concerned with the mail in option’s reliability. I know those with problems are the ones most likely to post about it online, but I found zero good stories and was hoping to see if I could solicit at least a few responses of positive experiences to give me some confidence.