Att Next vs 2 year commitment

[5enohpi]

Little confused as to which program would fit my needs better. I tend to use phones for at least 2 years and have always stuck to the regular cycle and never bought an S. 24 X 21.47= 515.28 with the next plan or $199 every two years( which I always recoupe after selling the old phone) any one made the transition to the next plan for a particular reason I might have missed in the details? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks

 

[mazdamiata210]

Little confused as to which program would fit my needs better. I tend to use phones for at least 2 years and have always stuck to the regular cycle and never bought an S. 24 X 21.47= 515.28 with the next plan or $199 every two years( which I always recoupe after selling the old phone) any one made the transition to the next plan for a particular reason I might have missed in the details? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks

If you're on shared data don't forget that the next plan vs 2 year contract will effect how much you pay for the device to be added on the data plan. If it's 10 gigs or more you pay $15 per line with next, if you do a 2 year agreement you pay $40 per line.

 

[5enohpi]

Interesting point. I have 4 lines on my family plan and all 4 of them are in contract however two lines appear to be eligible for an upgrade via the next plan. If I was two extend both I would be paying $15 opposed to $40 each month? Even with the monthly installment that would be 21 + 15 = 36 opposed to $40. Am I missing something?

 

[Small White Car]

I have both a subsidized phone and a NEXT phone on my plan. (Which is over 10 GB.) Ignoring the overall data cost, here's what I'm charged for each line:

Subsidized line:
$40 for the line
$299 for the phone, once every 2 years

(So 2 years = ($40 x 24 months) + ($299) = $1,259)

NEXT line:
$40 for the line
-$25 for not having a subsidized phone
$37.45 for NEXT phone

(for 2 years = ($15 x 24) + ($37.45 x 20 months) = $1,109)

= = = = =

So over 2 years my NEXT line is going to save me $150 over the subsidized line. When the subsidized line runs out I'll absolutely be replacing it with a NEXT line.

 

[5enohpi]

And u get to upgrade your phone every year instead of waiting till you are eligible for the two year contract

 

[C DM]

And u get to upgrade your phone every year instead of waiting till you are eligible for the two year contract

Provided you return your phone or pay off the remaining balance to keep it (and give it to someone else or sell it yourself).

 

[5enohpi]

Any criteria on what the phones condition should be when you return it? I don't use cases and they do get pretty banged up

 

[Small White Car]

And u get to upgrade your phone every year instead of waiting till you are eligible for the two year contract

Yes, but you should choose the quicker NEXT plan with the higher monthly payments if you're doing that. Also, you have to give the phone back. This replicates the old "sell it on Craigslist every year" method.

The alternative is to spread the payments out more, wait 2 years, and get to keep your old phone when you get a new one. This replicates the old "subsidized" method.

They did a good job at making NEXT plans that fit everyone's needs. I understand they're not as good a deal for solo users, but if you have a family plan with over 10 GB of data they're pretty much the only way to go.

Any criteria on what the phones condition should be when you return it? I don't use cases and they do get pretty banged up

Yes, but I think it's a sliding scale. So it's not a "yes/no" thing but a "how much money will I save" kind of thing.

I'm doing the "wait two years and keep the old phone" scheme, though, so I honestly didn't look into the details too closely.

 

[5enohpi]

I'm a creature of habit. My initial reaction is to just stay on the 2 year commitment plan. I always feel like there is a catch when they intro these new plans. Took me forever to get rid of my unlimited data plan but I finally changed that last year when the rep told me I never use more than 10mb ever

 

[erayser]

I'm a creature of habit. My initial reaction is to just stay on the 2 year commitment plan. I always feel like there is a catch when they intro these new plans. Took me forever to get rid of my unlimited data plan but I finally changed that last year when the rep told me I never use more than 10mb ever

And you believed the rep?

It sucks how AT&T handcuffed UDP customers, and forced users to change the way we used our data. I don't blame customers for leaving their UDP. I was so tempted to leave my grandfathered unlimited data plan. Users who gave up UDP in this forum tempted me on the double the data plans... but I decided to stick with UDP since $30 was still a good price for 5gb of LTE speeds.

So happy I stayed with my UDP... Since the news that AT&T scaled back on their throttling policy last week, I've already gone past 16gb of data in a week... and no more throttling in my area. I still have fast download/upload speeds. I went overboard on my data this week just to test the new policy... but now that I'm not handcuffed anymore... I can see myself going over 10gb of data easily.

 

[macher]

And you believed the rep?

It sucks how AT&T handcuffed UDP customers, and forced users to change the way we used our data. I don't blame customers for leaving their UDP. I was so tempted to leave my grandfathered unlimited data plan. Users who gave up UDP in this forum tempted me on the double the data plans... but I decided to stick with UDP since $30 was still a good price for 5gb of LTE speeds.

So happy I stayed with my UDP... Since the news that AT&T scaled back on their throttling policy last week, I've already gone past 16gb of data in a week... and no more throttling in my area. I still have fast download/upload speeds. I went overboard on my data this week just to test the new policy... but now that I'm not handcuffed anymore... I can see myself going over 10gb of data easily.

I'm glad we stuck with our UDP's, 4 lines. Average of all 4 lines is 28GB/month. Yes we could probably save money if we got on the double data promo but the savings isn't significant enough for me compared to 'comfort' of having UDP. I'm pretty comfortable with our monthly bill. And especially now no hard throttling policy.

 

[cousintim]

the rep told me I never use more than 1GB 2GB 5GB 10mb ever

Same song, different verse.

 

[5enohpi]

In my case I'm pretty sure I didn't use more data than I am getting now. We are on wifi at home for the most part our internet usage is limited to email, occasional browser usage and FB. I don't stream songs or videos, neither does my wife. The other 2 lines belong to my mother in law who just learned how to text and my BYOD work phone that I only use for work email since I m paranoid around what they can or cannot see when I use the browser

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Might I add that I rolled over 9mb just last month. I know it expires after 30 days but if I'm not coming close use to using 15mb a month with 4 phones I'd rather pay less and give up the UDP.

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Also how does selling your phone individually once you replace it effect the numbers? I usually get at least $300 for the device i sold sometimes even a little bit more. If I am able to do this on a consistent basis Next will probably amount to even larger savings i would assume

 

[rosario1990]

In which cases 2 years commitment is available?

 

[C DM]

In my case I'm pretty sure I didn't use more data than I am getting now. We are on wifi at home for the most part our internet usage is limited to email, occasional browser usage and FB. I don't stream songs or videos, neither does my wife. The other 2 lines belong to my mother in law who just learned how to text and my BYOD work phone that I only use for work email since I m paranoid around what they can or cannot see when I use the browser

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Might I add that I rolled over 9mb just last month. I know it expires after 30 days but if I'm not coming close use to using 15mb a month with 4 phones I'd rather pay less and give up the UDP.

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Also how does selling your phone individually once you replace it effect the numbers? I usually get at least $300 for the device i sold sometimes even a little bit more. If I am able to do this on a consistent basis Next will probably amount to even larger savings i would assume

We are talking about GB and not actually MB right?

 

[AlphaHumanus]

I re-upped my contracts in February. It was like pulling teeth to get the rep to shut up about next. I had done my math, and even had them do the math with me. (the manager even got involved trying to convince me to switch to next.)

In the end, I stayed with 2 subsidies, pay the same amount of $$ every month, and have insurance on both phones. The only difference was the down payment. The rep was absolutely dumbfounded that I'd rather pay 500 down, than carry a leased phone.

 

[C DM]

I re-upped my contracts in February. It was like pulling teeth to get the rep to shut up about next. I had done my math, and even had them do the math with me. (the manager even got involved trying to convince me to switch to next.)

In the end, I stayed with 2 subsidies, pay the same amount of $$ every month, and have insurance on both phones. The only difference was the down payment. The rep was absolutely dumbfounded that I'd rather pay 500 down, than carry a leased phone.

While there are certainly plenty of situations where Next doesn't make as much sense, just wanted to point out that the phone isn't leased with Next, but simply financed (at 0%), which is different.

 

[5enohpi]

We are talking about GB and not actually MB right?

Correct. My bad

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Still. Not convinced next is the right choice for me. I'm ok with skipping a cycle and waiting two years. I remember there was an early upgrade option at one point

 

[C DM]

Correct. My bad

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Still. Not convinced next is the right choice for me. I'm ok with skipping a cycle and waiting two years. I remember there was an early upgrade option at one point

Mainly depends on the money. See what contract costs for you vs Next and see which one is better. Then taking that into account think if any other contract vs Next differences might play a role (often not as much) and go based off of that.

 

[ftaok]

Little confused as to which program would fit my needs better. I tend to use phones for at least 2 years and have always stuck to the regular cycle and never bought an S. 24 X 21.47= 515.28 with the next plan or $199 every two years( which I always recoupe after selling the old phone) any one made the transition to the next plan for a particular reason I might have missed in the details? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks

My situation was a little different as we didn't have phones on Unlimited. We had a 550 minute plan with family text and 3GB on each phone.

At the time, AT&T was allowing us to switch to a Mobile Share plan and get the $25/line discount, even though we still had 7 months left on our 2 year contract.

I did the math and I was saving $30/month by going with the Mobile Share.

Here are a few key things to consider.

1. Do you have any employee discount plan (aka FAN)? Most FAN accounts only take the discount on the minutes portion of the plan. In our case, the discount was deducted from the $50 charge for the 550 minutes. The $30 for each 3GB was full priced. On the Mobile Share plan, we're charged $100 for our 10GB plan, and the discount comes off that number. So we get a bigger discount for getting more data.

2. Any additional smartphones added to our account would save even more money compared to our previous minutes plan. However, adding a feature/flip phone would actually cost us money since on our old plan, it was $10/month extra for a flip phone.

When we upgraded to iPhone 6's, we had 3 choices. Subsidy, NEXT, or full price. We ultimately went with full price. Here are some things to think about.

1. On subsidy, we would lose our $25/mo discount on 2 lines. Over 24 months, that's $600 per phone. The subsidy on an iPhone is $450, so we'd lose $150 per phone over two years by going subsidy.

2. So the choice was either NEXT or full price. If you do the math, it's basically the same price either way. You do have to have the cash available when you buy the phone, but that wasn't an issue for me. I went full price because I get an additional year of warranty coverage through my credit card (Amex) and in the program detail, Amex states that you must put the full cost of the item on the card. On NEXT, there is no charge (other than sales tax) that goes against the Amex, so I felt that the extra year of warranty was worth it over NEXT.

NOTE - I did not contact Amex to get the full details of how the program would work when it's a $0 down purchase. Perhaps paying for the sales tax would have been enough for Amex to constitute a purchase eligble for the extended warranty program. I figured it wasn't worth the bother to spend time calling Amex to find out.

Hope this helps your decision.

 

[AlphaHumanus]

While there are certainly plenty of situations where Next doesn't make as much sense, just wanted to point out that the phone isn't leased with Next, but simply financed (at 0%), which is different.

Good point, you are correct there. I don't have any problems with the next program, just my experience with the ATT reps.

I wish I could put to words the ridiculousness that I went through. No one should have to go through that.

 

[5enohpi]

So I called into ATT today to do a comparison. Rep was almost too happy to even have the opportunity to convert my lines.

So I have 4 lines:

Me-iphone6
Wife-iphone6
Mom-iphone5
Dad-iphone5s

What we have done in the past is when my wife and I upgrade every two years we give mom and dad the old phones. We don't necessarily need to upgrade every year and are ok with skipping a cycle. If I was to add Next and swap out the 2 old phones with iphone6 then depending on the term we choose my monthly payments would go up anywhere from 40-65 dollars. In my case Next makes no sense. When the iPhone 7 comes out my parents will get the iPhone6 from my wife and myself. At that point I could probably sell the old 5 and 5s for $100 each and cover at least one of the $199 for a two year commitment on an iPhone 7. I'll extend the contract as long as my situation doesn't change.