Carrier Life without 2 year contracts...

Many of us feel your pain, and what used to be a no brainier every two years is now a real decision.

Based on what I know about the 7, I am going to stick with the 6. The new features aren't worth the money.

BJ

 

After 12 payments, you turn in your old phone, pick up your new phone, start new 24 month contract on new phone. There's no more payments on old phone.

You don't put anything down if you're going through Apple to buy the phone.

Whatever you want.

 

Some things from a similar discussion at http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/are-the-carrier-phone-discounts-gone.1991296/ should be of some help.

 

I feel your pain. I felt the same way when I found out AT&T got rid of contracts no more subsidized phones. I will try the Apple Upgrade program because I will want to upgrade again in a year. I am also switching to T-Mobile one unlimited everything deal. No reason to stay with AT&T anymore.

 

I'm paying the final payment required to get an upgrade with phone turn-in. I purposely chose NEXT 12 so that we made the higher payments that got us new phones in a year.

You could choose the longer options and make lesser payments, but then next year you have a huge payment to be upgrade eligible.

Because it took so long to sell our phones last year with too many low ball offers... we're not even dealing with that this year. Just going to send it back to ATT and be done with it....

 

The cost is the same it ever was. It just used to be hidden by subsidies that were paid off over the course of the two year contracts. It never seemed like you were paying the phone off because the cost wasn't ever billed as the phone but rather as a monthly access charge -- one that was silently inflated to cover the subsidy.

Since leaving the subsidy model, my family's monthly bill with att has come down more than enough to afford an upgrade for every member of the family every two years. The difference is that now you get the sticker shock up front.

Of course, the installment plans basically restore the old model, under a different name, if that's what you want to do.

 

Well first you need to call you carrier and move to a newer plan. Second if you are a customer of Verizon & Sprint then they still offer 2 year contracts for current customers. I plan on using my carriers financing even though they still offer 2 year contracts since my carrier give me a 25.00 credit every month for using their financing for 24 months so it make the phone even cheaper then 2 year.

 

Like this probably, same as last year:

 

For people on the newer plans, the positive to this is that the price of the phone has no correlation to the price of the phone service.

It doesn't penalize customers that don't upgrade every two years:

With 2-year contracts, carriers don't sell a $749 phone for $299 just because they like their customers. Part of the monthly bill went towards recouping the ~$450 delta between what customers paid up-front for that phone and what the phone actually cost.

So after the 2-year contract was up, and the carrier recouped that money, you'd think the monthly bill would go down (assuming the customer didn't sign another 2-year contract)... But it didn't. Carriers kept charging the same amount, even though the delta had been paid back. That penalizes folks that don't upgrade every two years.

It eliminates big up-front costs for upgrading:

For folks that upgrade every year, instead of having to drop $199+ up-front (when signing the contract) and then having to pay $649+ up-front (when they upgraded in the middle of that contract), they don't really have to pay anything up-front now.

Sales tax will be added to their next bill, and they may have to make their first monthly payment up-front (Apple's Yearly Upgrade program requires this last year), but there's no big up-front payment any more.

 

You can do all of that.

 

As someone with the AT&T grandfathered unlimited data plan, is there any way that I'm not paying more per month than I am now when I get a new phone and still have unlimited data?

I think I can get unlimited data by linking my wireless account with my u-verse account or something but I think even then I am paying more even before the phone payment is added.

 

You're basically receiving a 0% interest loan for the phone so in essence, you will be paying full retail over the course of said loan (24 or 30 months). You can pay it off at any time, but there are set points in the loan when you can upgrade by just trading your phone in.

If you finish the payments without trading the phone in (or pay it off in full before the end) the phone is yours to keep. Half way through you can upgrade by trading in which forgives the rest of the loan and starts a new loan with your new phone. Sure you can probably make more by selling yourself, but you still have the rest of the payment to pay off.

 

Same problem here. I have a 6s Plus and no real need to upgrade.

If I want the new iPhone, I have 3 options:
1. Pay the remaining balance of approximately $600
2. Pay half and start a new Next plan (about $300 maybe a little less)
3. Start a new Next plan and continue to pay the current one (NO WAY am I doing that)

That said, unless AT&T comes up with some kind of promotion for those of us not in the 'new iPhone every year' plan. I may have to wait a little longer.

 

Exactly this.

AT&T, Verizon, whoever wasn't eating the cost of millions of phones and giving you a discount you were just being charged in a way that you the consumer didn't notice. Now, the price is more in the open.
And, I too, after switching our phones from the 2 year contract and old unlimited plans, the total cost dropped over a two year period. Which is how and why I decided to change the way I got 10 lines with 10 iPhones.
I took my then current monthly price, x 24, x10. Then Upfront cost of phones + new monthly price x24. New way was much less expense overall after the same 2 year period.

The other way you new you were paying was if you tried to cancel. There was the early cancellation fee. Which was the price of the phone - $200 you paid up front then for every month you were on the contract the ETF decreased until you made it to payment 24 where the ETF was zero because the phone is now paid off and it's yours.

 

I'm not sure why this is so confusing to people. Phones never cost $99 or $299 or whatever, they were subsidized and the actual price of the phone was hidden in the monthly plan, that's why you signed a 2 year contract.

AT&T NEXT and Apple Upgrade plan are just 0% financing with the option to trade the phone in after a year or so.

 

A $648 phone spread over 24 months is still a $648 phone spread over 2 years no matter how you look at it.
That $200 up front cost (from the older contracts) is basically 7 and a half months of $27/month.

You can pay $200 in the beginning on the phone and then your payments are roughly $18.65 for the remainder of the 2 years. I know the monthly payments will still be $27 but if you paid the $200 up front the phone will be paid off in 16 1/2 months rather than 24.

You're already ok with spending $200, just have that in your checking account that pays for the phone bill every month and you should be fine, you'll actually be more ahead than on the previous contracts because you're not out $200 on day one. Now you just walk in, grab a phone and leave.
For the most part.

 

I also have the grandfathered AT&T plan and I am finally going to get rid of it and move to T-Mobile where I will get unlimited everything including data and texts international.

Not only does AT&T no longer subsidize the phone but you will be paying the exactly monthly service. There is NO discount for having your paid off iPhone. Even if you sign up for the next program after you're done you do not get a discount because you must be on one of their mobile share plans. So in essence you are paying way more $$.

I think we all knew the cost of the phone was baked into the contract and you were really paying for the phone as well. But it's amazing after 2 years they still charge you the same monthly price.

It's a nice way for them to convince you to get rid of the grandfathered unlimited data. I'm glad I am convinced to leave as of next week

 

That's not true. Here's my current "access charge":



It used to be $40, now it's $15.

 

Do you have the grandfathered Unlimited Data plan??

 

If he's not on a Mobile Share plan (i.e. he's on an old grandfathered plan), his "access charge" isn't separate from his plan cost.

If his plan was $79.99/month, and he had the option of getting a new iPhone for $199 (and signing another 2-year contract), he can't do that that anymore.

So he'll continue to pay the $79.99/month, and if he wants a new phone, he's either paying for that fully out-of-pocket, or he's using something like AT&T Next, where he'll still pay $79.99/month, plus the monthly cost of his phone.

IMO, for people that don't want to give up their inexpensive grandfathered plans, they'll now be paying about as much (or more) as if they switched to one of the current plans (if they want a new phone, anyway).

 

Yeah, AT&T still does this I believe, and Verizon at least used to do it but have announced some time ago that they will stop doing that for any new lines/devices coming off a contract or financing or basically that just use owned equipment--which is rather shady if that's the case since they are just charging more for nothing.