ATT Next - more expensive then subsidy.

[Hal~9000]

I laughed out loud when I read this.

It's not that hard to comprehend...

Verizon is usually the most expensive post-paid carrier in the U.S.

If someone doesn't want to pay Verizon's prices but still want's a post-paid carrier with an LTE network near the strength of Verizon then AT&T is the reliable, and usually cheaper, option.

Of course you'll probably say something like "go t-mobile then if you want to save money" or "go pre-paid then", but as I said above... if someone wants a post-paid carrier and an LTE network near the strength of Verizon then there is only one option left: AT&T.

 

[nickspohn]

It's not that hard to comprehend...

There was no comprehension required. AT&T and Verizon are pretty much the same exact cost. At least for me in the Chicago market.

 

[ftaok]

In general, for MobileShare plans, NEXT makes sense for 10GB plans and above. For 8GB and below, going subsidy makes sense.

All else being equal, the difference is in the monthly discount for paying outright or with NEXT.

At 24 months, the $25 discount comes out to $600, which is more than the typical $450 discount for iPhones.

At 24 months, a $15 discount comes out to $360, which is less than the $450 subsidy. Even factoring in the $40 upgrade fee, it would be cheaper to go subsidy.

So it really depends on how much data you choose.

 

[McDaddio]

question on all this math...

If you do Next, it says you can trade it in for a new one after 18 months, but do you actually own it at that point? Can you just sell it and get another one using Next?

 

[nickspohn]

question on all this math...

If you do Next, it says you can trade it in for a new one after 18 months, but do you actually own it at that point? Can you just sell it and get another one using Next?

You do not own the phone yet. You must trade it in if you would like to upgrade to a new phone. After 24 months then you finally own the phone.

 

[Hal~9000]

question on all this math...

If you do Next, it says you can trade it in for a new one after 18 months, but do you actually own it at that point?

Not yet since it hasn't been paid off yet. If you trade it in to AT&T it's simply because you still owe $ on it but AT&T is willing to forgive that small amount because you are agreeing to buy an even more expensive phone from them via new Next financing.

Can you just sell it and get another one using Next?

You could, but you would still need to pay off the remaining balance with AT&T before you could do a new Next financing. If you didn't pay off the balance then the phone would be locked out of the AT&T network for whoever bought it from you.

 

[nickspohn]

To go off of my post above, you are much better off selling the phone right before the next iPhone is announced and pay off the remaining balance on NEXT. Even if you are on the NEXT 18 plan. AT&T is going to make sooooooooooooooooooooo much money off of the people that keep their phones and trade them in at the 18 month period (or just finish paying the phone off after 2 years).

 

[ftaok]

question on all this math...

If you do Next, it says you can trade it in for a new one after 18 months, but do you actually own it at that point? Can you just sell it and get another one using Next?

The NEXT plans allow you to upgrade after 12 or 18 months, depending on the plan you choose. If you choose to upgrade at 12/18, you give them back your old phone (provided it's still meets the condition standards) and they relieve you of the rest of the payments you owe. You can then start a new NEXT plan with a new phone.

Depending on the resale value of your phone, and how many payments past the 12/18 you made, it could be a good deal or bad deal. My gut tells me that early upgrades on NEXT for iPhones is a bad deal since you'd probably get more than AT&T is letting you off the hook for.

Math shown below.

Get new iPhone 6 ($650) using NEXT12. You pay $32.50 for 12 months and decide to upgrade. You've paid them $390 and have $260 remaining. You pick a new iPhone (or whatever) and start over. AT&T lets you off the hook for the $260, essentially paying you $260 for a 1 year old iPhone6. I think you could do better selling it yourself on eBay or Craigslist.

The NEXT18 plan is even worse since at $27.09 for 18 months, you've paid $488 and have $162 left. AT&T is paying you $162 for an 18 month old iPhone6. That's robbery.

If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to. Plus, it'll be an unlocked phone, so you might get a few more bucks.

 

[Hal~9000]

To go off of my post above, you are much better off selling the phone right before the next iPhone is announced and pay off the remaining balance on NEXT. Even if you are on the NEXT 18 plan. AT&T is going to make sooooooooooooooooooooo much money off of the people that keep their phones and trade them in at the 18 month period (or just finish paying the phone off after 2 years).

Good advice ^

Usually it is the best value to take control as a consumer and sell your device on your own. Any sort of convenience via trade-in is going to be HEAVILY in favor of the company. Of course some customers just don't have the stomach for it and will take whatever they can get for an easy trade-in process.

If you follow nicks advice you can simply get 0% financing via AT&T Next, hopefully get a $25/mo discount on your family share plan to somewhat balance out the $ you are paying for the phone each month, then sell it for the most you can at the end and pay off the remaining balance with hopefully some profit left over.

 

[DotCom2]

The NEXT plans allow you to upgrade after 12 or 18 months, depending on the plan you choose. If you choose to upgrade at 12/18, you give them back your old phone (provided it's still meets the condition standards) and they relieve you of the rest of the payments you owe. You can then start a new NEXT plan with a new phone.

Depending on the resale value of your phone, and how many payments past the 12/18 you made, it could be a good deal or bad deal. My gut tells me that early upgrades on NEXT for iPhones is a bad deal since you'd probably get more than AT&T is letting you off the hook for.

Math shown below.

Get new iPhone 6 ($650) using NEXT12. You pay $32.50 for 12 months and decide to upgrade. You've paid them $390 and have $260 remaining. You pick a new iPhone (or whatever) and start over. AT&T lets you off the hook for the $260, essentially paying you $260 for a 1 year old iPhone6. I think you could do better selling it yourself on eBay or Craigslist.

The NEXT18 plan is even worse since at $27.09 for 18 months, you've paid $488 and have $162 left. AT&T is paying you $162 for an 18 month old iPhone6. That's robbery.

If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to. Plus, it'll be an unlocked phone, so you might get a few more bucks.

Don't forget though that you don't have to give them your phone as a trade-in.
You can pay off the $260 and own the phone outright. Then sell it for more and be money ahead and then start a new next plan with a new phone.
That's what I'm going to do anyway.

 

[McDaddio]

If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to. Plus, it'll be an unlocked phone, so you might get a few more bucks.

Thanks.
That is what I thought.

I just my 5s for a heck of a lot more than AT&T or Apple was willing to take as a trade in, so I did think that needs to factor into the math a bit more when comparing plans.

 

[mantan]

As others have said, NEXT is a much better deal for people for larger families and data plans.

 

[viewfly]

ATT Next - more expensive then subsidy.

On contract, after the 24 months that surcharge goes away. Next is only cheaper on the 10 GB or higher mobile share plans.

Ah that is something new with the introduction of Next.

I saved $50 a month moving three lines to the 10gb plan.

At the 10gb level the cost of phone ownership is less on Next. Basically a no interest loan. For Next 12, replace every 12 months or own/sell after 18 months.

Practically few people on this forum will want to wait 2 years to replace a phone.

*For plans 10GB or higher, customers with smartphones on 2-year wireless service agreements prior to Feb. 2, 2014, are eligible for the discounted $15/month access charge. For plans 2GB to 6GB, customers with smartphones on 2-year wireless service agreements prior to March 8, 2014, are eligible for the discounted $25/month access charge. If you are on these plans and then upgrade to a 2-year wireless service agreement, you are no longer eligible for these discounted rates. To receive this discount, upgrade with AT&T NextSM, bring your own smartphone, or pay full price for your new smartphone.

 

[deeddawg]

The NEXT plans allow you to upgrade after 12 or 18 months, depending on the plan you choose. [...] If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to.

Or you can simply treat the NEXT plan as interest free financing.

With a modicum of forethought (which I realize is in short supply with some folks) you simply pay off the remaining balance and get the phone unlocked prior to when you will resell it.

----------

Ah that is something new with the introduction of Next.

No. The expiring subsidy is new with the introduction of the Mobile Share plans. Those are not to be confused with the Next program, which is a way of financing the phones with a trade-up option embedded. AT&T pushes the trade-in as it's to their benefit, but it is not required and you can simply pay off the phone and do with it whatever you want (keep, resell, trickle-down to another family member, etc).

Practically few people on this forum will want to wait 2 years to replace a phone.

Perhaps. There are a fair number that skip generations, but even the annual upgraders often have less tech-saavy people on their plans who don't upgrade every product cycle.

 

[aristobrat]

If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to. Plus, it'll be an unlocked phone, so you might get a few more bucks.

The only thing I don't like about that plan is how much of a PITA it is to buy a full-priced iPhone during a launch.

I bought on Next because it let me pre-order and have the phone shipped to me. There is no pre-payment penalty with Next, so I'll have it paid off (and have AT&T unlock it) before the next iPhone comes out, so I'll be able to sell it for what I want.

Seems like the same results as having bought at full price, but less work and the flexibility of paying off the phone in 10 or 11 payments instead of dropping $649+ up-front?

 

[viewfly]

ATT Next - more expensive then subsidy.

No. The expiring subsidy is new with the introduction of the Mobile Share plans. Those are not to be confused with the Next program, which is a way of financing the phones with a trade-up option embedded. AT&T pushes the trade-in as it's to their benefit, but it is not required and you can simply pay off the phone and do with it whatever you want (keep, resell, trickle-down to another family member, etc).





Perhaps. There are a fair number that skip generations, but even the annual upgraders often have less tech-saavy people on their plans who don't upgrade every product cycle.

Not that it makes a hoot of difference going forward but when mobile share was introduced in 2012, a 10 Gb plan cost $30 per smartphone. And that price didn't change. With Next it came down to $15.

Today 2yr subsidy vs Next 12:
Paying $25/mo extra($40-$15) for 24mon and the original $299 makes a 32gb iPhone cost $899 after 2 years.

Next 12 is $37.45 x 20 months which equals $749.

So if you plan to sell in eBay that cuts into your profit

 

[wacky4alanis]

When I did the analysis earlier in the year, I found that the family share plan only made sense if you had 4 or more lines. And even then, the family share plan still cost more if you didn't have any texting plan on the old plan. We have 4 lines, and we all got sick of not having a text plan, so we switched. Unlimited calling meant nothing to us. The personal hotspot feature is nice when we are on vacation, but rarely used otherwise. We like the shared data, since the 4 of us have drastically different data usage patterns. The shared data is very good at taking care of short term anomalies in data usage.

 

[Sketchr]

The only thing I don't like about that plan is how much of a PITA it is to buy a full-priced iPhone during a launch.

I bought on Next because it let me pre-order and have the phone shipped to me. There is no pre-payment penalty with Next, so I'll have it paid off (and have AT&T unlock it) before the next iPhone comes out, so I'll be able to sell it for what I want.

Seems like the same results as having bought at full price, but less work and the flexibility of paying off the phone in 10 or 11 payments instead of dropping $649+ up-front?

This.

I had to preorder on a Next program as well. I would have preferred buying full price.

I want to pay it off right away, though I want to wait until this period closes so the statement includes the next plan.

Are we sure they won't take away the $25.00 credit on that line if paid off?

I receive $25.00 credit on another line that's not on Next because it was grandfathered into the new eligibility.

 

[oplix]

Subsidy is better. Next just preys on typical $0 down American mindset

 

[deeddawg]

Subsidy is better.

Really? For everyone for all plans? It's "better" to pay an extra $150 for the same phone on a Mobile Share plan? Then if you want to sell the phone in a year it's better to pay for an expensive third-party unlock rather than just paying it off (if you hadn't already) and getting it unlocked for free? (No difference if you'll keep it two+ years though)

I'm not really seeing how either of those is "better"... Please do explain.

Next just preys on typical $0 down American mindset

True. Next is definitely aimed at the zero-down-no-hassle-upgrade mindset. Yet just with using credit cards, those with a smidgen of self control can use the program to their own benefit instead of to AT&T's.

 

[aristobrat]

Subsidy is better. Next just preys on typical $0 down American mindset

You can't make a blanket statement about either. Subsidy is better in some situations, Next is better than others.

I have 5 lines on my account.

$5,795 = subsidy (what I pay after two years)
$5,045 = Next (what I pay after two years)

Subsidy is NOT better for me.

 

[deeddawg]

Not that it makes a hoot of difference going forward but when mobile share was introduced in 2012, a 10 Gb plan cost $30 per smartphone. And that price didn't change. With Next it came down to $15.

True. I was really only considering the plans as they exist today. Had I recalled the difference on the old mobile share plans I'd probably still have assumed anyone on one would have updated to the newer style since the overall pricing structure improved (as I remember, may be wrong though).

So if you plan to sell in eBay that cuts into your profit

*shrug* It's very easy to estimate "profit" aka net proceeds by using any of the ebay fee calculators and looking at similar Sold auctions. I didn't think I'd mentioned ebay though, it has plenty of pitfalls for sellers and I'm selective on what I will sell there. Plenty of other avenues such as Swappa, Gazelle, Amazon Sellers Marketplace (careful on return policy requirements), Amazon Trade-In, Craigslist, etc. covering the spectrum of risk, effort, and how much you end up with.

 

[zhenya]

The NEXT plans allow you to upgrade after 12 or 18 months, depending on the plan you choose. If you choose to upgrade at 12/18, you give them back your old phone (provided it's still meets the condition standards) and they relieve you of the rest of the payments you owe. You can then start a new NEXT plan with a new phone.

Depending on the resale value of your phone, and how many payments past the 12/18 you made, it could be a good deal or bad deal. My gut tells me that early upgrades on NEXT for iPhones is a bad deal since you'd probably get more than AT&T is letting you off the hook for.

Math shown below.

Get new iPhone 6 ($650) using NEXT12. You pay $32.50 for 12 months and decide to upgrade. You've paid them $390 and have $260 remaining. You pick a new iPhone (or whatever) and start over. AT&T lets you off the hook for the $260, essentially paying you $260 for a 1 year old iPhone6. I think you could do better selling it yourself on eBay or Craigslist.

The NEXT18 plan is even worse since at $27.09 for 18 months, you've paid $488 and have $162 left. AT&T is paying you $162 for an 18 month old iPhone6. That's robbery.

If you want to upgrade early, you're better off buying at full price and selling it whenever you want to. Plus, it'll be an unlocked phone, so you might get a few more bucks.

Trade in offers online for a 16GB 5s are around $200. Even going by the asking (not selling) prices for iPhones on my local Craigslist, I actually think trading in at 12 months on NEXT is going to be a reasonably appealing option. It's basically a $260 guaranteed trade-in. If they don't require the accessories, that's additional value to you, and I'm not buying a case for my 6, as I don't care if it's scratched a bit if I'm trading it in.

I've sold every iPhone usually unlocked from the 3g and upgraded pretty well immediately. The bottom is starting to fall out of the market a bit, in part due to saturation and in part due to concerns about activation lock. It's a lot harder to sell a phone today than in the past.

If I can trade my phone in for $260 with no accessories and not worrying much about its condition, with no hassle, that's easily worth an additional $50-100 to me. I won't miss the time and effort it takes to sell it on my own.

 

[rui no onna]

Trade in offers online for a 16GB 5s are around $200. Even going by the asking (not selling) prices for iPhones on my local Craigslist, I actually think trading in at 12 months on NEXT is going to be a reasonably appealing option. It's basically a $260 guaranteed trade-in. If they don't require the accessories, that's additional value to you, and I'm not buying a case for my 6, as I don't care if it's scratched a bit if I'm trading it in.

I've sold every iPhone usually unlocked from the 3g and upgraded pretty well immediately. The bottom is starting to fall out of the market a bit, in part due to saturation and in part due to concerns about activation lock. It's a lot harder to sell a phone today than in the past.

If I can trade my phone in for $260 with no accessories and not worrying much about its condition, with no hassle, that's easily worth an additional $50-100 to me. I won't miss the time and effort it takes to sell it on my own.

Agreed. With trade-in values falling across the board, Next and Edge are starting to look attractive for those who don't wish to deal with the hassles of selling.

Effective Next 12/Edge Trade-In values

iPhone 6 16GB: $260
iPhone 6 64GB: $300
iPhone 6 128GB: $340

iPhone 6 Plus 16GB: $300
iPhone 6 Plus 64GB: $340
iPhone 6 Plus 128GB: $380

 

[aristobrat]

I've sold every iPhone usually unlocked from the 3g and upgraded pretty well immediately. The bottom is starting to fall out of the market a bit, in part due to saturation and in part due to concerns about activation lock. It's a lot harder to sell a phone today than in the past.

I've had the same experience with Craigslist where I live. When I'd upgrade to a new iPhone and go to sell my old one (16GB), it's gone from "sells for $350 in a few hours" <a few years ago> to "lucky to sell it for $275-300 after a week or two" <today>.

I'm curious to see if AT&T/Verizon will offer $300 for iPhone 6 trade-ins next year (like they're currently doing for iPhone 5s trade-ins).