Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Options for upgrading to iPhone 6 on AT&T?

roxics

roxics

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 4, 2013
315
154
My girlfriend and I both bought the iPhone 5C the first weekend they came out. Would have preferred the 5S but they were out for the next month or so and we both wanted to upgrade from our 4S models. So we settled. Not bad phones at all, just not what was desired.

We're both looking to get into an iPhone 6 (5.5") when possible. But we don't want to have to wait another year. We're on traditional two year contracts and pay about $156.00 a month on a family plan together. I was grandfathered into unlimted data and she has 2GB I think. Neither of us come close to 2GB a month because there is wifi where we usually are.

What are our options for getting into a new iPhone 6 models and paying about the same price per month? Anyone know? The only thing we don't want to do is switch carriers.
 
You might be able to switch to their NEXT plan and get your phones that way. I would go into a store and talk to them about it.
 
If you go online, you can price out a new phone and get an idea.

Look at their new data sharing plans and skip the unlimited.
 
You're going to pay through the nose to get a new contract: ETF + early upgrade fee (which they told me was $200...and that might be per phone) + standard phone upgrade fee.

Or you can switch to NEXT, which they appear to be willing to let people do at almost any time, since they want to get rid of as many contracts as possible.

Go with the MSV 2gb plan; on NEXT, the plan itself will be $90 plus the monthly phone payment (which will be less if you go with the 24 month payoff). The 5S is about $27/month per phone, so you'd be paying about the same, and if you hit a lucky scratch ticket or something, you can pay off your phones at any time.

It's not a better deal than a contract for the 2Gb plan, but it's a much better deal for someone in your situation.
 
I spent a little time looking it up and apparently we're eligible for a Next upgrade. So yeah I guess that is an option. I wonder if we have to turn in our current 5C devices to join that though.
 
I don't think so, but I may be wrong on turning in the 5c, as it was bought on old plan. Never settle on the iphone, I got the 4 when the 4s hit Sprint as the 4s was sold out, just if I waited a couple weeks or a month I could have had it. I didn't and then got rid of the 4 as it wasn't what I wanted, no gps turn by turn and siri which I use. I lived and learned as I came back and got the iphone I wanted. The next plan is interesting, I might use it, I am not sure. I mean I priced a 5s 32 gig and it is $37.50 extra a month, no discounts on the plan. Don't know if I can do that even for a 12 month upgrade.
 
roxics said:
I spent a little time looking it up and apparently we're eligible for a Next upgrade. So yeah I guess that is an option. I wonder if we have to turn in our current 5C devices to join that though.
Click to expand...

You can also buy the phones outright and continue your current plan on ATT. Then in another year, you are free to do as you wish when your contract is over and you can get the new iPhone 7. :apple:
 
roxics said:
I spent a little time looking it up and apparently we're eligible for a Next upgrade. So yeah I guess that is an option. I wonder if we have to turn in our current 5C devices to join that though.
Click to expand...

You won't have to turn in your current devices. Next is basically just a payment plan for a new phone where you can take 24 months to pay off the device (or trade it in for a new phone after 12).
 
rgarjr said:
Early upgrades are like 200 or 250 on top of the phone price. The thing is u can't do this every year, I think it's every other.
Click to expand...

Correct because 2 year contracts are…two years. The OP needs to get on the NEXT program if he/she intends to upgrade every year.
 
Newtons Apple said:
You would need to double up on those Next payments as it is for TWO years and changing phone every year will . . . .
Click to expand...

No more payments on the phone you trade in, even if there are installments left. It's basically like selling your phone for $260 every year.
 
td1439 said:
You're going to pay through the nose to get a new contract: ETF + early upgrade fee (which they told me was $200...and that might be per phone) + standard phone upgrade fee.

Or you can switch to NEXT, which they appear to be willing to let people do at almost any time, since they want to get rid of as many contracts as possible.

Go with the MSV 2gb plan; on NEXT, the plan itself will be $90 plus the monthly phone payment (which will be less if you go with the 24 month payoff). The 5S is about $27/month per phone, so you'd be paying about the same, and if you hit a lucky scratch ticket or something, you can pay off your phones at any time.

It's not a better deal than a contract for the 2Gb plan, but it's a much better deal for someone in your situation.
Click to expand...

Huh? You're forgetting the NEXT device access discount.
 
roxics said:
My girlfriend and I both bought the iPhone 5C the first weekend they came out. Would have preferred the 5S but they were out for the next month or so and we both wanted to upgrade from our 4S models. So we settled. Not bad phones at all, just not what was desired.

We're both looking to get into an iPhone 6 (5.5") when possible. But we don't want to have to wait another year. We're on traditional two year contracts and pay about $156.00 a month on a family plan together. I was grandfathered into unlimted data and she has 2GB I think. Neither of us come close to 2GB a month because there is wifi where we usually are.

What are our options for getting into a new iPhone 6 models and paying about the same price per month? Anyone know? The only thing we don't want to do is switch carriers.
Click to expand...

Haha y'all messed up getting the C's. Just wait till the announcement, dude. Use that 5C like she treated you wrong#firstworldproblems
 
So yeah I just chatted with an AT&T rep and they said that we get to keep our 5C phones. Which would be nice to have as a backup. There are no fees or anything to switch to Next and we can just turn in our phones every 12 months for a new phone without any additional fees or paying off the old phones first.

I did the numbers and Next doesn't seem like a bad deal. Like I said we currently pay $156 a month and that includes 550 anytime minutes and unlimited text plus unlimited data for me and 2GB of data for my girlfriend.

On Next we would pay $160(+tax I assume) a month for unlimited minutes and text but only 2GBs of shared data. So we lose data. But after gong over the stats for the last year, at most I have used 1.8GBs and she has used 0.3GBs, so we would be over, but that is not typical. Typically she is around 0.1-0.2GBs and I am around 0.8-1GB per month. So we would have to watch ourselves just a bit, whereas we don't even watch ourselves now.

The benefit though is the ability to switch to a new phone every 12 months, which would be nice. Or pay it off completely in 20 months, kind of like a regular 2 year contract.

So it's really not much more expensive for her and I to be on Next and get new phones every year. If we were heavy data users that would be a different story.

----------

BTW according to the AT&T chat guy, the iPhone 6 will be the star of the Next program. lol
 
Last edited:
RyanG said:
Huh? You're forgetting the NEXT device access discount.
Click to expand...

There is a discount? I must have missed that. I can see paying some more a month, and say upgrading each year if I want. I need to check on next discount.
 
sandmanfvr said:
There is a discount? I must have missed that. I can see paying some more a month, and say upgrading each year if I want. I need to check on next discount.
Click to expand...

If you have a Mobile Share Value Plan, but don't have any phones on Next yet, you still got the $15-$25 discount on each line, depending on the amount of data. If you currently have it, once you get a new phone on a two-year contract, that discount will go away. The only way to keep the discount is by buying a phone off-contract or outright, or buying with Next.
 
Exactly, why say $37.50 for a 32 gig 5s now (thinking same or near it for 6 and 32 or the first step up from 16 gigs) and no discount is just not worth it, I would rather buy it out right and do it that way. If I got some off, say $20 a month, then might do it. Might.
 
sandmanfvr said:
Exactly, why say $37.50 for a 32 gig 5s now (thinking same or near it for 6 and 32 or the first step up from 16 gigs) and no discount is just not worth it, I would rather buy it out right and do it that way. If I got some off, say $20 a month, then might do it. Might.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. The only reason I'm doing Next is because of the monthly discount, and I may start upgrading every year.
 
You keep quoting me!!!!! lol

Kidding, but I did look, if I did $70 a month for 4 gigs data, plenty as I do 3 gigs and never use it all working from home, then $25 for a smartphone, minus $15 and then add $37.50 for a 5s with 32 gigs (hoping it is near same price) and upgrading every 12 months = $117.50 and I pay $104, BUT I would need to add $6 for insurance and then some for taxes. I am thinking $125, so still $20 or tad more a month, so I have to ask myself: worth it to upgrade each year for that much a month? Wish the lower one that was $10 cheaper wasn't down to 2 gigs, I have times I can use half of that, but who knows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back