I've never ordered from Apple's website, so I am still a bit confused on a basic fact. If I do so, and get it as a contract renewal from AT&T, it will arrive to my house via FedEx on September 19. Do I need to do anything else with AT&T, or can i just open the box and the phone is ready to go, while my current iPhone 5 will no longer work on my number? Or, do I need to go to the AT&T store afterwards to get it set up on my account?
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Checking Upgrade Eligibility Ahead of Friday's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Pre-Orders
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Thank you for keeping things simple.
I hate having to read actual evidence or well-reasoned arguments.
You da man!
Don't' forget that under next plan your monthly phone charge drops by $25 goes from 40 to 15. Also with the subsidy plan you pay activation fee, $ 40. With next option, no activation fee. So that's $25 x 24 months plus $ 40 = $640 plus the $749.
Also with next plan you pay first 12 payments and turn phone in to get 6s plus in a year. So you pay $569.40 to use the phone one year, interest free. Think of it as a no interest lease.
Or pay full cost and sell phone in a year, if you can get more than $380 for it.
I have an upgrade on another line so I'm going to do a cross upgrade. I can just walk into the store and have my line upgraded! I remember when I had to bring the other phone with the upgrade in with me uh that was a pain.
I hear what your saying but for me it will work like this:
Go with NEXT
No $40 activation fee on two new phones = Save $80
$25 discount on mobile share plan $25*24months = $600 savings
Sell our iPhone 5s for $350 each = $700
Means I will pay $318 out of pocket for two iPhone 6+ 64GB.
For the first time since 2007, I truly believe I will have no problem hanging onto this phone for two years but even if I cave, I will be on the NEXT plan.
This is the way I'm justifying my purchase... lol
The wife and I are on Verizon - we switched from AT&T about 20 months ago due to poor reception here at our home/office/WorldHQ and we had been wanting to migrate to “cell only” - most of my business related travel in DC, SF AT&T was mostly fine (and we wound up keeping a minimum landline for various reasons). AT&T wouldn’t cough up a microcell, and I haven’t really needed concurrent voice/data. We currently both have 32GB iPhone 5.
Anyway ... my long so and boring cell phone business details aside
It looks like our 2-year contract is up in mid-December, and of course, I’d like to have new equipment. Any insight into how to leverage an early upgrade? I don’t believe the Edge/Next plans are of any interest to me (at least based on my loose calculations). AT&T used to offer a mid-level upgrade price once you were over 18 months, but before the 24.
If anyone has better insight into the Edge plan, I’d be interested in hearing that too. Given that I like to upgrade, possibly even every year, it might make more sense for me than I’m realizing[?]
Anyway ... my long so and boring cell phone business details aside
It looks like our 2-year contract is up in mid-December, and of course, I’d like to have new equipment. Any insight into how to leverage an early upgrade? I don’t believe the Edge/Next plans are of any interest to me (at least based on my loose calculations). AT&T used to offer a mid-level upgrade price once you were over 18 months, but before the 24.
If anyone has better insight into the Edge plan, I’d be interested in hearing that too. Given that I like to upgrade, possibly even every year, it might make more sense for me than I’m realizing[?]
This is the best explanation thus far:
I'm not sure why there is still so much confusion about NEXT. It takes some digging but all the information is available on AT&T's website.Okay let's clear some stuff up for everyone who is curious about how the ATT Next system works.
A. IF YOU HAVE A CURRENT 2 YR CONTRACT ON THE LINE YOU WANT TO UPGRADE:
-- If you started the contract ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 18, 2014: You are eligible to upgrade to ATT Next on this line right now. This also applies if your contract is over. This will 1. End the remainder of your 2 year contract for this line, if any exists 2. Have NO ETFs for this line 3. Give you complete ownership of the device on this line that is now OUT of contract. Sell as you please and profit.
-- If you started the contract AFTER JANUARY 18, 2014:You cannot upgrade to ATT Next until 20 months have passed on your 2 year contract. That is 1 Year, 8 months for anyone counting. So, if you signed up on January 19, 2014, you're looking at September 20, 2015. How unfortunate. This is the only real nitpick I have with ATT upgrade eligibility to the Next plan, as this is a long time to wait.
Overview of ATT Next:
-- You can either have the ATT 12 Month Plan or the ATT 18 Month Plan
The way it works for current and future ATT Next lines is this:
The 12 month plan is comprised of 20 payments, and the 18 month plan is comprised of 24 payments This is the cost of the phone (without tax) divided into 20 or 24 even parts over 20 or 24 months, depending on which plan (12 or 18) you have on this line. The 12 or 18 months refers to earliest upgrade period, so after 12 or 18 months, you can upgrade to a new phone without any money down (besides taxes on the new phone).
B. IF YOU HAVE A CURRENT AT&T NEXT PLAN ON THE LINE YOU WANT TO UPGRADE AND HAVE MADE THE ONLY THE MINIMUM PAYMENTS (12 or 18 months' worth)
At this point where you reach 12 or 18 months, you are required to trade in your phone to complete your eligibility for a new ATT Next upgrade. Everyone is whining about how the phone "isn't really yours". This is because you haven't paid it off yet! Remember how the 12 month plan has 20 months of payments and the 18 month plan has 24 months of payments? Well, after 12 months of payments on the former plan, you still have 8 payments left to make, so ATT is saying, "look, we will waive the last 8 payments if you trade the phone in". Say the payment is $32.50 (I will list general pricing per month below). You have paid 12 months * $32.50 = $390 and still owe 8 months * $32.50 = $260. Total cost is *gasp* $649! That sounds familiar! Yes, that is the retail price of a $199 iPhone, ladies and gentlemen. No ripoff here. If you wait until after you make your 20 payments (if you have the 12 month plan) or 24 payments (if you have the 18 month plan, you then own the phone. At this point, if you choose a new ATT Next phone for this line, you do not have to trade in your old device. Understood? Good. Moving on.
Now, let's say -
C. IF YOU HAVE A CURRENT AT&T NEXT PLAN ON THE LINE YOU WANT TO UPGRADE AND HAVE NOT YET MADE THE MINIMUM PAYMENTS (Less than the 12 or 18 months' worth, depending on your plan)
You can log on to your ATT account via their website and use the options available to make some choices:
PAY TO UPGRADE THIS DEVICE option. You will pay the remainder of your minimum monthly payments up to and including the 12th/18th month, which will immediately deem you "upgrade eligible". So, if you paid 10 months out of your 12, you will owe $32.50 * 2 months = $65.00. After that, you trade in your phone and proceed with a new upgrade as normal.
PAY OFF THIS DEVICE option. Self explanatory. This is the remaining amount of money you owe on the phone (so it would be all payments through the 20th/24th month rather than 12th/18th month). If you made 10 payments on a 12 month Next plan and want to keep your current phone but also upgrade, then you will owe 20 months - 10 months = 10 months * $32.50 = $325.00. You will then OWN the phone and can proceed with a new ATT Next upgrade without trading it in.
D. IF YOU HAVE A CURRENT AT&T NEXT PLAN ON THE LINE YOU WANT TO UPGRADE AND HAVE MADE THE MINIMUM PAYMENTS BUT HAVE NOT PAID OFF THE PHONE (More than 12/18 but less than 20/24 months, depending on your plan)
You can either 1. Surrender your phone and upgrade. You made an extra few payments of $32.50 that you won't get back. Oh well.
2. Make the remaining payments via the website with the PAY OFF THIS DEVICE option: If you made 18 payments on a 12 month Next plan and want to keep your current phone but also upgrade, then you will owe 20 months - 18 months = 2 months * $32.50 = $65.00. You will then OWN the phone and can proceed with a new ATT Next upgrade without trading it in.
The $32.50 I keep referencing, again, is for a '$199' phone, i.e. the entry level iPhone 6 with a retail cost of $649.00. Remember 649/32.50 = 19.999 aka 20.
So, here we go with pricing:
ATT Next 12 Month Plan (12 months of payments to trade in, 20 months of payments to own):
16 GB iPhone 6: $32.50/mo
64 GB iPhone 6: $37.50/mo
128 GB iPhone 6: $42.50/mo
16 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $37.50/mo
64 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $42.50/mo
128 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $47.50/mo
The ATT 18 numbers aren't quite as exact a science as the 12, but these are pulled from ATT and are valid:
ATT Next 18 month Plan (18 months of payments to trade in, 24 months of payments to own):
16 GB iPhone 6: $27.09/mo
64 GB iPhone 6: $31.25/mo
128 GB iPhone 6: $35.42/mo
16 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $31.25/mo
64 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $35.42/mo
128 GB iPhone 6 Plus: $39.59/mo
Now, all of this is just for the cost of the phone alone. It does not include service costs, which are separate and are beyond the scope of this discussion. You can save some serious coin with ATT Next and Mobile Share though, (on the tune of $15/month per line for 6-9.99 gb and $25/month per line for 10gb and greater).
Cheers!
As long as you make two or three installment payments you have the option to pay the phone in full, keep the discounts on your phone lines, own the phone outright, and upgrade whenever you want. This is essentially the same as paying full price at the counter except the cost is deferred a few months. If you can afford it, and upgrade every year, it makes more sense to pay off the phone and sell it for around 60-75% of retail than to turn it in to AT&T.
That is for the next plan, not the 2 year subsidized price of $199 upgrade for a 16gb iPhone 6. Pay way to much with att next plan.
But if you change your 2 year contract to a NEXT account and only have ONE PHONE LINE- there is no savings to be had and thee only thing is that you can upgrade early in contrast to your two year contract and that you can pay it off over 12 or 18 months.
My brain hurts too much to see where any of the bonafide benefit may be in either plan but there most totally isn't saving any money on "lines" if you only have the line for yourself. At least that was what I was told on the phone.
My brain hurts too much to see where any of the bonafide benefit may be in either plan but there most totally isn't saving any money on "lines" if you only have the line for yourself. At least that was what I was told on the phone.
AND you have to give them your current phone to start.
You don't pay full price. You choose 20 payments and can turn phone in after 12 payments and get latest phone. It's a no interest lease.
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Go to Apple store, find the carrier rate plan section and start clicking. Gives you share plan cost, additional line costs. Spells it all out. Only things left out are the taxes.
I don't have any upgrades so I'll just add a line,then stick a dummy phone on it,I know I'm getting the 6 plus just haven't decided on color,my 5s was gold but I really love how the space gray looks with the all black screen,that's what I'm leaning towards.
- getting (4) Verizon iPhone 6 Plus 128GB models on contract
- giving verizon (4) old iPhone 4S's and getting (4) $200 credits towards the above phones
- temporarily giving up unlimited data plans for (1) business day
- switching to T-Mobile and have them pay off the ETFs on all 4 lines
- unlimited data on all 4 lines with no throttling, and saving me $85/mo
it's my final EFFF-YOU to Verizon for the upcoming October throttle-fest sh*#& show
- giving verizon (4) old iPhone 4S's and getting (4) $200 credits towards the above phones
- temporarily giving up unlimited data plans for (1) business day
- switching to T-Mobile and have them pay off the ETFs on all 4 lines
- unlimited data on all 4 lines with no throttling, and saving me $85/mo
it's my final EFFF-YOU to Verizon for the upcoming October throttle-fest sh*#& show
Hi Everyone,
Not sure if this was already said but after talking with AT&T this is getting very confusing.
In the past I upgrade every year to the new iPhone. AT&T used to give full upgrade pricing for the first 2-3 years then they started to do the $200 off price Almost the same as an ETF.
NOW
This past year AT&T introduced the Mobile Share Plan which Most people did since it was a good deal.
On friday if you upgrade to with a plan that is 2yr contract the mobile share Phone fee goes up from $25/$15/month to $40/Month
AT&T wants everyone to Do the Next Plan only way to Keep the $25/$15 Month Fee per phone. You can pay off the phone in Full at any time or pay it monthly or if you upgrade next year you can but will have to trade in the phone (I like to keep my old phones)
It looks like like either way you will be paying full price per the phone it's just how you would like to do it.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Not sure if this was already said but after talking with AT&T this is getting very confusing.
In the past I upgrade every year to the new iPhone. AT&T used to give full upgrade pricing for the first 2-3 years then they started to do the $200 off price Almost the same as an ETF.
NOW
This past year AT&T introduced the Mobile Share Plan which Most people did since it was a good deal.
On friday if you upgrade to with a plan that is 2yr contract the mobile share Phone fee goes up from $25/$15/month to $40/Month
AT&T wants everyone to Do the Next Plan only way to Keep the $25/$15 Month Fee per phone. You can pay off the phone in Full at any time or pay it monthly or if you upgrade next year you can but will have to trade in the phone (I like to keep my old phones)
It looks like like either way you will be paying full price per the phone it's just how you would like to do it.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Don't you have to trade your phones into t-mobile for them to pay off the ETF? I'm not sure if T-Mobile cares if the phones you trade in were the phones you actually were using, but it looks like you need to trade something or another in.
I am still a bit confused and wondering which way to go.
I have an AT&T iPhone 5S personal grandfathered unlimited plan
I have an iPhone 5S business (my own small business) on Verizon
I am selling my two 5S iPhones to Gazelle for $285 AT&T and $330 Verizon
I want to replace them with a 6 (AT&T and 6 plus VZ)
I bought them on launch day last year
Verizon is no problem because I have another phone on the plan and last year I upgraded that and switched lines so I can get the 128 GB 6 plus for $499 now
But for AT&T am considering the Next 12 month plan because I have always gotten the new iPhone on day one since 2007.
$42.45 x 12 (for 128 GB 6) = $507 when I turn it in in a year to get the 6S
vs.
$649 to pay now, though I assume I could sell it to gazelle for at least $250 in a year.
Am I doing the math right?
I have an AT&T iPhone 5S personal grandfathered unlimited plan
I have an iPhone 5S business (my own small business) on Verizon
I am selling my two 5S iPhones to Gazelle for $285 AT&T and $330 Verizon
I want to replace them with a 6 (AT&T and 6 plus VZ)
I bought them on launch day last year
Verizon is no problem because I have another phone on the plan and last year I upgraded that and switched lines so I can get the 128 GB 6 plus for $499 now
But for AT&T am considering the Next 12 month plan because I have always gotten the new iPhone on day one since 2007.
$42.45 x 12 (for 128 GB 6) = $507 when I turn it in in a year to get the 6S
vs.
$649 to pay now, though I assume I could sell it to gazelle for at least $250 in a year.
Am I doing the math right?
Once you get your new phone you would take the SIM card out of your old phone and place it in the new one, everything will switch over. I don't remember having to do much else last time I did a preorder. It was 3 years ago though I think. Its a pretty easy process and you do not have to go to the store to do anything.
Suppose you made the first 12 AT&T Next payments and now become upgrade eligible, but have to trade in your phone.. do you FIRST have to mail your phone into AT&T before ordering the new model, or can you mail it in after starting the new AT&T Next upgrade plan? In other words, can you wait to mail the phone back in till your new phone arrives?
You do, yes. I have 4 blackberry curves to give them that are all worthless.
Tmobile doesn't care if they were the smartphones from the contracts, you just have to turn in any smartphones
I hear what your saying but for me it will work like this:
Go with NEXT
No $40 activation fee on two new phones = Save $80
$25 discount on mobile share plan $25*24months = $600 savings
Sell our iPhone 5s for $350 each = $700
Means I will pay $318 out of pocket for two iPhone 6+ 64GB.
For the first time since 2007, I truly believe I will have no problem hanging onto this phone for two years but even if I cave, I will be on the NEXT plan.
This is the way I'm justifying my purchase... lol
Yeah, I see your point. Good catch about the $40 activation and also the savings on the data plan for 24 months.
At first the AT&T rep told me I had to return my 5s, but now I read that this is not true. So selling it for $350 would be nice, plus my 5s is unlocked, I wonder if that sells for more.
I have 3 lines on my shared plan but because I use less than 10gig, I will get $15 p/month reduction on my current data shared plan.
I will only be upgrading for the 6Plus with 64gb. $849
My wife and kid don't care about updating now. They will do next year when their contract expires.
So doing all the math the 6plus 64gb will end up costing me only around $100.
Trading in the phone after a year is usually a bad choice because you've essentially leased the phone.
You make a year's worth of payments and walk away with nothing.
Might be a better choice to pay off the iPhone 6 before upgrading to the 6S and then selling the 6.
Verizon in a call earlier this year: You have an upgrade on your account. Yes, it looks like the upgrade is from the ipad you added on your account. Yes that upgrade is transferable.
Verizon in a call I made to them two weeks ago: Yes that's right, if the new iPhone comes out on September 19th you won't be eligible until the 21st (two years after iPhone 5 launch, don't want to wait in case they get back ordered) when your contract renews. Oh you have another upgrade on your account from your iPad? Yes you can do an upgrade transfer no problem.
Me seeing this article this evening and calling Verizon to confirm there are no problems: Oh no sir, you can't use an upgrade from your iPad line on another account. But your current line has been eligible for upgrade since September 4th so you'll be ok.
I have no idea what to believe now. Apples website does say I'm eligible though, so I'll go with that I suppose. Just don't want to wait two days and suddenly they're backed up a month on shipping times.
Now the toughest decision yet: 4.7" or 5.5". I made a cardboard mockup that I wore on me today. A little big but not too bad for the 5.5". I'll wear the 4.7" MacRumors case tomorrow and see how that feels by comparison. On either one I can't reach the top row of icons or any buttons so I'm thinking might as well get the bigger one. I asked my coworkers if the 5.5" looks weird when held up to my ear and they said "No except that you're talking into a damn cardboard iPhone that you made yourself you geek."
Verizon in a call I made to them two weeks ago: Yes that's right, if the new iPhone comes out on September 19th you won't be eligible until the 21st (two years after iPhone 5 launch, don't want to wait in case they get back ordered) when your contract renews. Oh you have another upgrade on your account from your iPad? Yes you can do an upgrade transfer no problem.
Me seeing this article this evening and calling Verizon to confirm there are no problems: Oh no sir, you can't use an upgrade from your iPad line on another account. But your current line has been eligible for upgrade since September 4th so you'll be ok.
I have no idea what to believe now. Apples website does say I'm eligible though, so I'll go with that I suppose. Just don't want to wait two days and suddenly they're backed up a month on shipping times.
Now the toughest decision yet: 4.7" or 5.5". I made a cardboard mockup that I wore on me today. A little big but not too bad for the 5.5". I'll wear the 4.7" MacRumors case tomorrow and see how that feels by comparison. On either one I can't reach the top row of icons or any buttons so I'm thinking might as well get the bigger one. I asked my coworkers if the 5.5" looks weird when held up to my ear and they said "No except that you're talking into a damn cardboard iPhone that you made yourself you geek."