Was it a mistake to pay full price for ATT 6s+?

[pjny]

Hi,

My unlimited, 400-min, 200text, $80/month contract ends on Sep 20, 2015. I was upgrade-eligible for 2-year renewal contract only if I ordered from ATT site.

I tried on ATT site for about 1.5 hours beginning at 12PST but kept getting rejected so I ordered from Apple as I have always done.

My question is:

Are there any benefits to paying full price?

It seems not as I will still be paying the subsidy whether my phone is paid off or I am on a 2-year contract.

I don't mind paying full price. I just don't want to pay extra for a phone that is not subsidized.

Is there a way to get my bill lower because I have already paid full price for the phone?

Is the only benefit that I can leave ATT at any time and sell the phone at any time?

Is the full-price phone even unlocked upon delivery?

Thanks.

 

[Kendo]

Why wouldn't use buy it on a 2 year contract to get $450 off? Our grandfathered plans are better than any plan out there today. Even if we never upgraded our phones and continued to pay the $80 price with built-in subsidy, the unlimited data plan is still better than any other $80 plan you get today. The fact that we ALSO get a phone for $200 is MAJOR ICING on the cake.

 

[pjny]

OK, I tried cancelling apple order but it says I can't for a couple of hours. Should I wait till Apple order cancelled before ordering from ATT site?

 

[Kendo]

How important is it that the phone is unlocked? I go overseas once a year and this year was a major drag that my iPhone 6 is still on contract and I couldn't use an iPhone internationally. That is pretty much the only reason why I would buy an unlocked phone.

Like I mentioned before, sure if you buy full price you can leave AT&T at any time. But as I also mentioned before, the unlimited data plan is something you should never plan on leaving anyway.

I'd probably try ordering from AT&T and then cancel the Apple order since it won't have any effect on the AT&T order.

 

[barkomatic]

There is no benefit to getting an unlocked iPhone over a subsidized one *unless* you plan to travel internationally a lot over the next few years or you want to change carriers a lot. Since you have an awesome grandfathered plan, I don't know why you'd do that. When you can, cancel your order on Apple and order on AT&T.

I was going to buy full price myself, but only if AT&T didn't provide a straightforward way to keep my unlimited data plan. I was shocked to find that they made it really easy when I ordered and even sent a confirmation that included my unlimited data plan so all is good.

 

[Appl3FTW]

This is the first time I ever use full price. I've always been doing subsidies but since I made the switch for the mobile share plans, the subsidy no loner offers the cheapest deal.

 

[Steve686]

Pay full now or pay full later. Eventually you pay and it's just what people prefer. Higher out of pocket cost right now, or higher phone bills as you pay off the phone.

 

[Tom359]

I disagree. By buying the phone off contract, I was able to have my AT&T bill lowered by $50 per month. That's $600 per year, as long as I stay with them. My wife and I were on the old 6 gig shared data plan, which was more expensive since it assumes a subsidy. They moved us to one of the new 15 gig shared plans, which was actually way cheaper if you don't do the subsidized phones. My bill went from $154 per month to $105. Pretty sweet.

 

[Steve686]

I disagree. By buying the phone off contract, I was able to have my AT&T bill lowered by $50 per month. That's $600 per year, as long as I stay with them. My wife and I were on the old 6 gig shared data plan, which was more expensive since it assumes a subsidy. They moved us to one of the new 15 gig shared plans, which was actually way cheaper if you don't do the subsidized phones. My bill went from $154 per month to $105. Pretty sweet.

Higher phone bills as in the monthly payment is added to your bill. Not higher line access costs which on most ATT lines is reduced by $15-$25 per line for NEXT.

 

[mashinhead]

I never really fully get this question. Regardless of how you choose to pay for this phone (financing, subsidized with contract, or unlocked outright) you are always paying full price for the phone.

The only questions are do you want the flexibility of not having a contract, or do you want to lower your upfront costs.

It's that simple.

 

[kevroc]

I never really fully get this question. Regardless of how you choose to pay for this phone (financing, subsidized with contract, or unlocked outright) you are always paying full price for the phone.

The only questions are do you want the flexibility of not having a contract, or do you want to lower your upfront costs.

It's that simple.

Well, not exactly. On old AT&T, you would pay $200 for the phone and be locked into a 2 year contract. No big deal if you aren't switching carriers anyway. At the end of your contract term, your monthly pricing doesn't change, so if you buy a new phone at full price, say $800, versus buying a phone on 2 year contract price of $200, it's a $600 difference. So you never paid full price for the phone, AT&T paid the difference to keep you locked up.

 

[mashinhead]

Well, not exactly. On old AT&T, you would pay $200 for the phone and be locked into a 2 year contract. No big deal if you aren't switching carriers anyway. At the end of your contract term, your monthly pricing doesn't change, so if you buy a new phone at full price, say $800, versus buying a phone on 2 year contract price of $200, it's a $600 difference. So you never paid full price for the phone, AT&T paid the difference to keep you locked up.

If you don't believe that the price of that phone isn't factored into those monthly costs... I don't know what to tell you. AT&T isn't paying anything.

Someone has to pay for that phone. And AT&T isn't swallowing $600 per customer to keep you locked in for 2 years. It doesn't even make economic sense. It's a business and business do not take losses. You better believe you are one way or another paying for that phone full on.

Sure they may present it another way but in reality...

 

[terraphantm]

If you don't believe that the price of that phone isn't factored into those monthly costs... I don't know what to tell you. AT&T isn't paying anything.

Someone has to pay for that phone. And AT&T isn't swallowing $600 per customer to keep you locked in for 2 years. It doesn't even make economic sense. It's a business and business do not take losses. You better believe you are one way or another paying for that phone full on.

Sure they may present it another way but in reality...

You are correct, but if you're on one of the grandfathered plans, AT&T doesn't discount your monthly fee even when they're not paying for the phone.

 

[bronzi]

If you don't believe that the price of that phone isn't factored into those monthly costs... I don't know what to tell you. AT&T isn't paying anything.

Someone has to pay for that phone. And AT&T isn't swallowing $600 per customer to keep you locked in for 2 years. It doesn't even make economic sense. It's a business and business do not take losses. You better believe you are one way or another paying for that phone full on.

Sure they may present it another way but in reality...

Yep. I just got a new deal at work through BYOD and its unlimited everything for $43 per month instead of the $96 I'm now paying which uncles $30 for unlimited data where I never go over 2gig. Yes, I did, but paying full freight, incur a higher layout now, but I can also go where I want, sell my phone, etc. I just saved $516/year, which along with selling my 6 nearly covers the upgrade non-subsidy. I can then decide to do what I want.

 

[kevroc]

If you don't believe that the price of that phone isn't factored into those monthly costs... I don't know what to tell you. AT&T isn't paying anything.

Someone has to pay for that phone. And AT&T isn't swallowing $600 per customer to keep you locked in for 2 years. It doesn't even make economic sense. It's a business and business do not take losses. You better believe you are one way or another paying for that phone full on.

Sure they may present it another way but in reality...

That's why they are moving away from it. They used to bury it in your monthly service, but as another poster said, even if your contract ended you still paid the same monthly service fee. So if you didn't upgrade, you were paying their premium without getting a new phone out of the deal so they were making even more off of you.

Now with Mobile Share they give you a discount off the monthly price, but for the older plans that don't do the monthly discount, you need to be upgrading with 2 year contracts or you're really getting hosed.