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For Most People, Contract Upgrade is Bad, Next is good, Buy it: Why? (AT&T)
- Thread starter nostresshere
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Yes. You would pay $75 for the 10GB plan after FAN discount. Then add $15 for the the phone and you have $90/month plus taxes and fees.
I don't think you understand my point. I never said contracts were the better option monetarily over the course of 24 months. They aren't. Next is the clear winner there.
But with Next you lose the flexibility, freedom and ownership of your device. With contracts you don't.
Short term, prior to completely paying off your device, contracts provide more flexibility in the event of an emergency or you're left without a working device.
You'd be surprised how many people have broken devices due to things outside of their control.
If you're always careful about your device - Next is great. Vast majority of people aren't. Contracts or outright will always be the better choice terms of freedom.
I'd rather own my device as opposed to lease it.
I think my point of view comes from when I worked at the Genius Bar back in college.
That might have been true 10 years ago.... but now.... not all people with bad credit are equal. Someone who worked for the same job for 20 years and lost their job because the business closed and has crap credit because they couldn't find a new job for 6 months....Should still be able to buy an iphone if they can now afford it again.
For Most People, Contract Upgrade is BAD, Next is good, Buy it: Why? (ATT)
But you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a contract is. You don't own your device that way either. You're paying the subsidy off in $25/month installments over the course of two years. So you are paying that subsidy even if you lose the device, it just doesn't show up as a phone payment but it's still there every month till your contract runs out.
You're describing a false sense of freedom.
But you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a contract is. You don't own your device that way either. You're paying the subsidy off in $25/month installments over the course of two years. So you are paying that subsidy even if you lose the device, it just doesn't show up as a phone payment but it's still there every month till your contract runs out.
You're describing a false sense of freedom.
But the point that everyone is trying to make is that you aren't leasing the phone with NEXT. You are buying it at 0% interest with the option to trade it in at 12 months and re-upgrade.
This is also why most still buy insurance... contract..no contract... or cash.
I understand that. The plans are essentially more expensive because of the subsidized pricing. However, you still own the device. I would be able to walk into an apple store and recycle the device next day to get a new device.
With Next you sign a contract giving up ownership of the device until you pay it off.
Again, you're talking about pricing involving carriers plans. I am not talking about that. I am speaking strictly on the device.
But you are. You cannot sell, damage, lose your device or otherwise take advantage of any programs (like reuse & recycle above) until you pay off your remaining balance on the device. There are systems in place for that. I could do any of the above 1 day into my contract or halfway through it or at the end.
Moreso given that you cannot pay off your device earlier than the 24 months.
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You can. But you're still paying $25/month for that device you just recycled for the next 24 months.
You can recycle the Next device the next day too. You'll just be paying $27/month for a phone you don't have anymore. You can still bring a broken Next device into Apple and have them exchange it for $300 (or whatever it is). You aren't tied down to that phone. You're tied down to the payment. Just the same way you are as a contract.
And that's where you're wrong. All non-contract lease agreement devices from carriers will not be eligible for any program from: best buy, apple, radioshack, etc until the remaining balance of the device has been paid off. The carriers are well aware of it.
The only thing you'd be able to do is replace the device at the Genius Bar (or else where).
Take it from someone who is currently working for AT&T and has worked for Apple in the past.
For Most People, Contract Upgrade is BAD, Next is good, Buy it: Why? (ATT)
Okay you may have a point here that I'm starting to understand.
We all know that you can bring in an out of warranty iPhone to the Genius Bar and get a refurbished one for like $265 or something.
Are you saying that is not possible with Next? I have to pay off the phone entirely and then pay Apple for the refurb on top of that? Because if that's true, I get your point and you might have just changed my mind.
Okay you may have a point here that I'm starting to understand.
We all know that you can bring in an out of warranty iPhone to the Genius Bar and get a refurbished one for like $265 or something.
Are you saying that is not possible with Next? I have to pay off the phone entirely and then pay Apple for the refurb on top of that? Because if that's true, I get your point and you might have just changed my mind.
You can still do that with Next (or any of the carriers programs).
A good example would be Apple's reuse and recycle program. A device under Next, Edge or Jump is not able to be recycled for a new device until it's lease agreement is paid. At that point you cannot call up AT&T and say I want to pay off my remaining device right now. You either have to wait the 12 months to upgrade and stay stuck in another lease agreement or pay it off over 20/22/24 months depending on your carrier.
You also don't get a down payment option with any carrier other than Verizon. With AT&T and T Mobile it's either 0 down or your down payment. And that doesn't change your payment plans with them. It'd still be 20/22/24 months to pay off the entire balance just at a lower monthly fee.
When I received training for these programs it sounds great at a lower cost (not much lower I may add) but again you are restricted in new ways that make it much more inconvenient (at least to me) to the customer.
I thought you could pay off the phone at any time as long as it was paid in full. If you have $400 left to pay on the device, you pay $400 and you are free and clear to trade it in at Best Buy. Maybe that's a misunderstanding on my part.
If you pay an extra $400 on your bill it will be counted towards your service, not your device. These programs are the flipped version of contracts.
In contracts, you can do whatever you want with your device but are stuck with the service for 2 years.
In Next/Edge/Jump, you can do whatever you want with your service but are stuck with the device until it's paid off completely after X amount of months depending on the agreement you selected.
No that is correct. And if lets say you have a Note 3 that you bought on NEXT 10 months ago and you want a Note 4 in 2 weeks... You can pay the extra 2 payments and upgrade/trade early or pay the phone off completely and trade early.
So what's keeping me from selling the phone on eBay or Craigslist and continuing to make the payments even though the phone is no longer in my possession?
Newtons Apple
Suspended
Okay, then I don't see the difference at all between Next and a contract. The phone is yours to do with what you please as long as I still make the payments.
If I am misunderstanding something, I don't see it.
Nothing. But you won't be able to use your early-upgrade until after your device is paid off. And if you want to get a new device from a carrier, it will have to be full price paid in full - you won't be eligible for Next.
Flexibility with contracts. Early upgrades after 12 months or cross upgrades.
In the situation your describing (which is what I was saying earlier) the contract option will actually be MUCH less short term and even out long term. Next will be a huge amount of money upfront but will get less expensive at time wears on.
Pick your poison.
Newtons Apple
Suspended
In the very end AT&T is pushing NEXT big time which tells me they like it due to it being to their advantage.🙂
I am old school and think if you cant afford to buy it outright, maybe you should rethink about how bad you really need it!🙄
Everyone paid for their Health Insurance yet?😕
I am old school and think if you cant afford to buy it outright, maybe you should rethink about how bad you really need it!🙄
Everyone paid for their Health Insurance yet?😕
rui no onna
Contributor
1. True.
2. True.
3. Not true. You can do whatever you like with the device as long as you keep paying AT&T what you owe them. That could be either paying the balance in full or continuing to make your NEXT monthly payments.
4. Not true. See answer #3.
5. Kinda true but it's pretty much the same thing as if you're on contract. I reckon the only advantage is if you're still on the older Family Talk plans since you can cross upgrade with a dumb phone. On the new Mobile Share plans, the 2-year contract cross upgrade will likely cost around the same as NEXT+payoff or more.
6. Kinda true. You can always pay off the device if you don't want to trade it in. At the one-year mark, the NEXT payoff is likely cheaper than Apple's OOW replacement or doing an early upgrade. In my book, $260 payoff + $32.50 for 20 months + $15 for 24 months ($1,270 total) is cheaper than $450 early upgrade + $40 upgrade fee + $40 for 24 months ($1,450 total).
Again. Apple, Best Buy, RadioShack, Wal-Mart, etc all have agreements made with the carriers. Devices under a lease agreement are not eligible for any special trade-in opt-out programs at ALL. It will prompt the sales person that this device is still under a lease agreement and decline to move forward with the transaction.
If you want to trade-in or upgrade your device prior to your agreement terms, it will have to be done directly with your carrier.
jlake02
macrumors 68020
I've had the "unlimited" plan since the original iPhone. It's overrated IMHO. They throttle hard core after 5 gigs. Throttle so hard it's difficult to use 10 gigs of data (at least for me).
I'd rather get the 10 gig plan so I can use all my gigs without throttle.. AND get the hotspot. (Always annoyed me I couldn't hotspot.) Not to mention my connection fee with unlimited is $40 and will only be $15 with the NEXT 10 gig plan.
"Unlimited" is nice in theory.. not that nice in practice. I'm moving to NEXT and the 10 gig plan.
For Most People, Contract Upgrade is BAD, Next is good, Buy it: Why? (ATT)
They like it because it gives people the idea that they can upgrade more often for no cost to them. AT&T would much rather you hand them your iPhone worth $400 after 1 year than they would have you sell it on eBay or to Gazelle where they don't see any profit.
That's the idea of Next. If they can get a percentage of people to fall into that trap, then they come out ahead. Those of us who think about it and choose not to hand over our perfectly good phone for a percentage of what it's worth, see no negative affects.
Now, if AT&T forced you to give up your phone like a car lease, then that's a bad deal for us. But that's not how it works right now. I'm sure that's their ideal goal, but consumers won't fall for that yet unless you tempt them with even lower rates. As it is right now, you're buying a brand new car for 0% interest and no money down. That's a great deal. But don't get too comfortable, because I'm sure changes are deep in the pipeline at AT&T.
They like it because it gives people the idea that they can upgrade more often for no cost to them. AT&T would much rather you hand them your iPhone worth $400 after 1 year than they would have you sell it on eBay or to Gazelle where they don't see any profit.
That's the idea of Next. If they can get a percentage of people to fall into that trap, then they come out ahead. Those of us who think about it and choose not to hand over our perfectly good phone for a percentage of what it's worth, see no negative affects.
Now, if AT&T forced you to give up your phone like a car lease, then that's a bad deal for us. But that's not how it works right now. I'm sure that's their ideal goal, but consumers won't fall for that yet unless you tempt them with even lower rates. As it is right now, you're buying a brand new car for 0% interest and no money down. That's a great deal. But don't get too comfortable, because I'm sure changes are deep in the pipeline at AT&T.
That's false AT&T does let you keep your unlimited Data plan. I went to the Next Plan last year and this year I'm going to pay off the 5s and get the iphone 6 or whatever they decide to call it.
rui no onna
Contributor
Ok, so official AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile resellers have agreements in place that prevents trade-ins. There are other trade in sites and CraigsList, eBay and Swappa are still options.
Monetarily speaking, you'll still come out ahead with NEXT even after pay off compared to a 2-year contract (assuming you're on a 10+ GB plan).