As far as I recall for AT&T if you pay off your phone early, you lose any remaining credits. You keep the remaining credits as long as you keep the installment plan.
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ATT Trade in woes for iPhone
- Thread starter phrehdd
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I agree. It’s the best deal you’ll get for a 3 or 4 year old phone.
I understand people don’t want to be locked in with a carrier. However, since I don’t plan on switching, the trade in deal is attractive.
Trading in under the promotion starts a new installment plan. You can only have one installment plan at a time under the promotion. So I think paying off the phone early does not affect the credits unless you are trading the phone in. IIRC.
Yes, you can only have one installment plan at a time, but I’m saying the credits apply to the installment. They don’t apply if you want to pay off your phone. If you’re halfway through an installment plan, and you want to pay off your phone, you’d have to pay the remaining balance without the remaining credits. For example, if you have $1000 in credits over 36 months and you pay the phone off in 18 months (having used $500 in credits over the previous 18 months), you give up the remaining $500 in credit that you would have gotten over the next 18 months. If you keep the installment for the full 36 months, you receive all $1000 in credits.
Let’s just think about this, does anyone really believe the carriers are giving anything away to everyone on these plans? You can spin it anyway you want but they are not losing on the deal. They are doing what pulls in the most money. That doesn’t mean you can’t find what you consider a fair deal. I think some of us just like to turn it around and make it the best deal with the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want. It’s just personal choice.
Customers can choose to buy a phone outright with no commitment or go with an inflated trade-in or some other deal. No one is forced to go with “contracts 2.0." People are free to choose the plan, price, deal, etc. that works best for them.
Trying to lock customers in longer-term with deals/lower prices is what subscription or subscription-like products have done for ages.
It’s been reported that paying off that $500 does NOT cancel monthly credits. So for the next 18 months, you’ll still receive credits, as long as you do not get yourself into another promotion or upgrade your line. It’s tied to the line, not the device.
You’re being disingenuous comparing apples to puppies. You can’t compare your scenario to the scenario we were talking about. Of course if you buy an SE for $429 brand new and use some sketchy $25 8GB/month data plan it’ll be cheaper. Try comparing like to like, and tell me it’s still cheaper.
I’m not saying it’s tied to the device, it’s tied to the installment agreement. My installment agreement is a couple years old so it may have changed by now and you may be correct.
In my installment agreement, it says the bill credits stop if the installment agreement ends. If you pay off the phone, you end the installment agreement which then ends the bill credits.
You’re right, but the agreement says your credits MAY stop. I’ve had confirmation from employees saying as long as you pay it off online (and don’t get an agent to assist you, as they will probably mess it up), your credits will not cease, no matter what the agreement you signed said.
It's exactly my point. Why anyone would want to deal with this is beyond me. It's like cable companies having rates for two years and then changing them, so you have to haggle. SiriusXM did the same back in the day. Why go through all the trouble, just buy a phone, and a plan, and you don't have to deal with any fine print and can swap your phone at any time.
I don't think I am. It's a valid option where you don't have to be tied to a company, and you are still spending less money overall. It's less on the plan, and less on the phone.
Why? Many customers like it because they can get a "better deal" on the phone, and aren't bothered by being locked to a particular carrier for 2 to 3 years. If a carrier is willing to give $1,000 for a phone that Apple is only giving $300 for, it may be worth it. Those that don't find the deal worthwhile can still choose to buy a phone at full/regular price and not be locked in for 2 to 3 years.
Neither option is necessarily good or bad.
Yes you are. We are talking about the $1k promotion on a Pro phone. There is no carrier promotion for an iPhone SE (there may be, I have no idea, but for the sake of this conversation there isn’t) worth $1k.
To get a Pro iPhone at one of the best prices (free or close to it) the carrier deal is well worth it. You’re arguing something completely different, which is fine. Cheaper everything is cheaper. But that’s not what we’re talking about. Disingenuous.
cousintim
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cousintim
macrumors 6502
That suggests you have at least two lines. If so, Consumer Cellular, which is an AT&T MVNO, would be $32.50/line for two lines for Unlimited, and $15 for each additional line. An AARP membership would save you 5%.
Not necessarily. Some customers are paying less than others. Like airlines that sell seats at a loss and others at a profit. Someone else is making up the difference.
My experience is that the credits continue after I pay off the phone until I trade in the phone for a new promotion. And really why would AT&T care as long as no changes are made to the plan. They get to take the installment off of their books early and the credits are an incentive for the customer to stick around.
That's great for you, not everyone does.
The whole thread started with the problems of fine print, terms and conditions, being stuck with a carrier, and in the end the bill isn't much cheaper, but hey, you got a new phone out of it. I hope it doesn't get broken in the 36 months you are collecting all those credits to make it worthwhile. Oh, and most peope will be stuck with an overpriced plan in the end when the credits run out. So then the cycle starts over again, hoping for some other new discount so you can get the latest and greatest. Before all these games, it was subsidized phones with contracts.
It's an endless corporate circle jerk. Enjoy.
There are no problems in the fine print. It’s very clearly stated what you’re getting yourself into. “Stuck with a carrier” that we were going to use and keep using anyway. “Isn’t much cheaper” but since I have 6 lines on my plan, each one is $30-35 - on par with your sketchy 8 GB/month plan, but we get reliable unlimited service as well as free phones while you get all the problems of a MVNE and have to pay outright for your phones. Your math ain’t mathin’.
I hope the $1k phone you bought doesn’t break while you’re not collecting credits, because you need to buy another phone and no one else has been paying for it so you’ll pay for it twice.
Yes the plan I was going to keep anyway. And as established, not overpriced.
We do enjoy this circle of free phones.
Not overpriced but you get what you pay for. I also get ad-free Max which is worth something since we watch it. Cheap out on the carrier and get sketchy service, that is the trade off. As long as AT&T is willing to give me $1,000 for my old phone every three years, I'm happy to take it and get a new, higher end phone. I have a $1,299 iPhone 14 Pro that will only cost me $299 out of pocket (and I can bank the rest for self-insuring the phone from damage or buy AppleCare+) and then, hopefully, 18 months from now when the credits are done I will trade that in for another Pro phone that will also only cost me about $299 or so out of pocket. Of course there's a risk that AT&T will discontinue the promotions but we'll cross that bridge later. Sometimes things sound too good to be true but in this case it really is a good deal as long as you're willing to stick it out for 36 months to get all of the credits. Commitment is hard lol. Just ask Ben and Jen.
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Wickedrm has been absolutely correct. I use AT&T and they give a super inflated credit for trading in an older phone that’s not worth anywhere near the amount of credit. I did that the last time when I got an $1100 iPhone 13 Pro Max for $300. They gave me $800 credit for an 11 that was worth a couple hundred dollars. Yes those credits are spread out over the three year payments, but that’s fine. And yes, I had to pay tax, but that is still a very minimal fee. Let’s say I paid $400 in total, that’s still a great deal for an $1100 phone. Now for the fifth now they will pay me $1000 to trade in this 13 Pro Max on a new 15 pro max.
This is by far the least expensive way to get a high-end phone. And even if you decide you don’t want to use your carrier anymore, you could leave and you only lose the future promotional credits. You still received all the ones you already got and got the phone at an extreme discount versus buying it Outright
This is by far the least expensive way to get a high-end phone. And even if you decide you don’t want to use your carrier anymore, you could leave and you only lose the future promotional credits. You still received all the ones you already got and got the phone at an extreme discount versus buying it Outright
