So I want to get an iPhone 6S. I'm 1 year into a 2-year AT&T, but I have the option to steal an upgrade from someone else. I would then have an iPhone 6 (128 GB) to sell/trade-in/whatever. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the different options, between renewing my contract, switching to AT&T next, or switching to T-Mobile. I'll want to upgrade every year at this point. What's my best option?
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Carrier In an AT&T 2-yr contract - should I break it or steal upgrade?
- Thread starter JangoFett124
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What's your current plan, and what's your usage in terms of minutes, texts, data? Other phones on your plan? Other devices (tablets, laptops, hotspots)?
I'm on the 3GB plan with unlimited minutes and text (although I don't use enough for a limit to be a big issue). No other phones or devices. The plan ends up being around $80 a month after taxes, fees, company discount (10% I think), etc.
Mobile Share Value Plan? And you'd be taking the contract from someone else? Hopefully, they're not paying extra for it. If you're not paying the extra on their contract, then obviously the $ decision is to take the contract, because you'd be getting the phone cheaper than you could anywhere else. However, that phone is not going to get unlocked until the end of the contract (unless you pay the ETF to terminate the contract), so not being able to take it to Tmobile anytime in the next two years is something to consider if that is important to you.
AT&T Next on a plan like yours is iffy. Next is basically a 0% financing contract with an option to trade the phone in early instead of paying the remainder of the payments. So a Next 12 contract has 20 monthly payments, but once you have made 12 payments, you can trade the phone in instead of making the remaining 8 payments, as long as you are starting a new Next contract. With a single line that is currently under contract, you would have to pay the ETF to start Next on a new phone. You would also only receive $15 discount for not having the phone under contract, saving $360 over the life of a 2 year contract, but the subsidy you get from a 2 year contract is $450.
You could also do the Apple Upgrade Program, which is also a 0% financing contract with an option to trade the phone early instead of paying the remainder of the payments. It is a 24 month contract, with the option to trade in after 12 months as long as you reup a new contract. This would get you an unlocked phone that you could take to any carrier, if that appeals to you. Depending on the phone you select, it may actually be cheaper on a per month basis than Next 12 even though the AUP includes AppleCare+ (it's cheaper because it is 24 months instead of 20, but if you trade in every year, the remaining months on the contract don't matter).
I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the Tmobile options, because I'm not at all familiar with Tmobile. We went through all these calculations last year around what was cheapest with our accounts on AT&T, whether we should do Next instead of contracts, etc. so I know AT&T pretty well, Tmobile not so much.
AT&T Next on a plan like yours is iffy. Next is basically a 0% financing contract with an option to trade the phone in early instead of paying the remainder of the payments. So a Next 12 contract has 20 monthly payments, but once you have made 12 payments, you can trade the phone in instead of making the remaining 8 payments, as long as you are starting a new Next contract. With a single line that is currently under contract, you would have to pay the ETF to start Next on a new phone. You would also only receive $15 discount for not having the phone under contract, saving $360 over the life of a 2 year contract, but the subsidy you get from a 2 year contract is $450.
You could also do the Apple Upgrade Program, which is also a 0% financing contract with an option to trade the phone early instead of paying the remainder of the payments. It is a 24 month contract, with the option to trade in after 12 months as long as you reup a new contract. This would get you an unlocked phone that you could take to any carrier, if that appeals to you. Depending on the phone you select, it may actually be cheaper on a per month basis than Next 12 even though the AUP includes AppleCare+ (it's cheaper because it is 24 months instead of 20, but if you trade in every year, the remaining months on the contract don't matter).
I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the Tmobile options, because I'm not at all familiar with Tmobile. We went through all these calculations last year around what was cheapest with our accounts on AT&T, whether we should do Next instead of contracts, etc. so I know AT&T pretty well, Tmobile not so much.
Yup, that's the Mobile Share Value plan. It sounds like it's best (and easiest) to go with AT&T Next. I might check out the AT&T store and get them to run the numbers for me. Thanks for your help!
I had two phones under contract with AT&T. I called retention and was able to cancel out my ETF if I switched to MobileShare. I was able to upgrade and reduce the line cost from $40 (on contract) to $15 (phone on Next). You can only do this through retention. It is not available through the store, online or regular customer service.