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Thanks! I wasn't aware the plans were cheaper, but now that I look at it, I can see a savings of $38 a month fro my family plan if I go with NEXT!

A follow-up question then if anyone can answer. The monthly costs for the NEXT phones on Apple are for the 16GB only. Is there anywhere online, or does anyone know what kind of monthly cost we would be looking at for a 64GB?

I believe all you have to do is divide 100 by the number of installments you choose.

Example: 20 installment plan would add $5 monthly.
 
Is there anywhere online, or does anyone know what kind of monthly cost we would be looking at for a 64GB?

Get the Apple Store app on iOS.

Find where it says "Upgrade Your iPhone" and touch "Check Eligibility Pricing." It will make you put in your AT&T account phone number and social number and will give you actual pricing based on you.

Remember to figure out what your data cost savings will be (depends on how much data you buy).

For me, for example, a 64 GB iPhone 6 will add $31.21 to my bill, but save me $25 in data. So the phone is essentially costing me $6.21 per month.
 
look at ATT site for details. Since the new phones keep the same pricing structure, the monthly payments should be the same.


For me, with data plan at 2GB, a 2-year contract for me is better...wife is on NEXT now. if you have 6GB data plan, jump up to 10GB and it should be cheaper for NEXT.
 
I assume NEXT plans mean I would lose my old grandfathered "unlimited" plan that I've been holding onto for years and years?

I pay $102 a month right now for my unlimited plan and have an iPhone 5S. What would a next plan cost me? $102 + $40 more?? and I don't get unlimited anymore correct?
 
AT&T Next is the same thing as Verizon Edge, it depends on what plan you're on whether or not it is worth it...

It also depends on how comfortable you are selling used iPhones cuz they hold their value.

For example: if you are on a 10 GB (or higher) share plan with AT&T or Verizon, the line access fee for your smartphone is $40...

If you get the 16 GB iPhone 6 on Next or Edge, it is around $32.50 a month for the device (depending on which trade in plan you pick)

Then you get a $25 discount on the access fee, which makes the net change to your plan in the area of only $7.50

Therefore, you end up getting a better price on the phone in the long wrong

This isn't the case for plans with 8 gb or lower cuz they only get a $10 discount on the line access fee

----------

I assume NEXT plans mean I would lose my old grandfathered "unlimited" plan that I've been holding onto for years and years?

I pay $102 a month right now for my unlimited plan and have an iPhone 5S. What would a next plan cost me? $102 + $40 more?? and I don't get unlimited anymore correct?

Go onto AT&T's website, most ppl who have unlimited data don't really need it to be honest. My AT&T plan is $65 a month for 2 gb, unlimited talk and text and verizon has a similar plan for $60 right now
 
AT&T Next is the same thing as Verizon Edge, it depends on what plan you're on whether or not it is worth it...

It also depends on how comfortable you are selling used iPhones cuz they hold their value.

For example: if you are on a 10 GB (or higher) share plan with AT&T or Verizon, the line access fee for your smartphone is $40...

If you get the 16 GB iPhone 6 on Next or Edge, it is around $32.50 a month for the device (depending on which trade in plan you pick)

Then you get a $25 discount on the access fee, which makes the net change to your plan in the area of only $7.50

Therefore, you end up getting a better price on the phone in the long wrong

This isn't the case for plans with 8 gb or lower cuz they only get a $10 discount on the line access fee

----------



Go onto AT&T's website, most ppl who have unlimited data don't really need it to be honest. My AT&T plan is $65 a month for 2 gb, unlimited talk and text and verizon has a similar plan for $60 right now


I ran a report on my monthly usage and it looks like I typically use anywhere from 3GB - 4GB a month - and i connect to wifi at work and home. For some reason this month I'm over 5GB...

I tried to look at the ATT NEXT website but its confusing. I just want to figure out what a typical bill would look like and what the data plans are as I never want to risk going over.
 
I did the math based on what my wife and I do every year (buy new phone on one line, I get the new one, she gets my old one, rinse and repeat). I'm doing Next for this phone and subsequent. Monthly, my cost will be roughly the same, and yearly, my cost will be roughly the same (I'll owe about $300 left on the payments at 12 months, of which I'll sell the old phone and pay off the previous contract so we're only financing one phone at a time).

The difference for me? This year, I get the iPhone 6 for 'free' upfront instead of spending $300, and we'll just get to pocket the $200 from my wife's iPhone 5 sale. So for me, it's a wash after this, but a $300 benefit immediately. Nice!

So i did the math too and compared the AT&t NEXT 12-month plan against the cost of a 2year contract for the 64GB iphone6.

With At&t NEXT you pay nothing upfront other than sales tax(on the full price of the phone) and then pay $37.50/month for 20 months. this comes out to $749 which is the non contract price of the phone.
If you sign a 2yr contract then you get the phone for $299, but then At&t cancels the "$25/month discount" they claim i have been receiving on my mobile share plan. This way its costing my $899 to get the same Iphone6.

Now while i agree that At&t next is the cheaper of these options, how the hell is no one outraged that they have to pay the "full price" for the phone? and if you dont think that is the case, then your wrong. I use to just sign a new 2 yr contract, pay the $299, and stick with my current plan/charges. now i have to pay $450-600 more? is this not crazy to anyone else? the iphone is great but its not worth that much. thats more than an ipad.

Also i checked with Verizon and tmobile, and they are doing the exact same thing. Verizon calls it next, and tmobile calls it jump. All 3 are attempting to push us away from contracts, but you have to pay the full cost of the phone. or you sign a contract and it cost you even more. where's the logic here? anyone else feel let down?
 
Because if you buy for $199 you'll be paying more for monthly service so that AT&T gets its money from you.

Unless ATT takes away the $30 monthly data plan, there's no advantage to doing the next for those who upgrade every 24months.
 
I still can't figure out what the data plans look like for NEXT... i pay $102 a month for my old unlimited plan. It says I can save $25 a month on my bill for a shared plan but I don't have a shared plan with my wife, we each have our own bill.

So am I looking at $102 + $40 per month to get the iPhone 6 on NEXT? What is the data usage as I assume I lose my unlimited plan? And do I get a discount with a NEXT plan even if it's not shared?

I wish there was an easy way to calculate an example bill on ATT's website so I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into.
 
I assume NEXT plans mean I would lose my old grandfathered "unlimited" plan that I've been holding onto for years and years?

I pay $102 a month right now for my unlimited plan and have an iPhone 5S. What would a next plan cost me? $102 + $40 more?? and I don't get unlimited anymore correct?

Not exactly. I recently, begrudgingly, and finally let my grandfathered unlimited go. It just didn't make sense to keep paying for data I never came close to using.

So now my wife and I have a mobile share plan. We get a $25 discount on our bill because we have our phones paid off. That's important.

So if I were to buy the subsidized iPhone 6 (200 down) I lose my $25 discount.

If I do Next, I pay $28 (next 18, next 12 is $33ish) a month but keep the discount.

So the choice for me is $200 + ($25 x 24) = $800

Or

Next 18 $0 + ($28 x 24) = $672

After that it's my phone. Or, of course, I could trade it in after 18 months. But I won't. I'm a 2 year upgrade guy.

So, next makes sense for me. I also recommend checking your billing history to see how much data you actually use. My guess is you don't need your unlimited data, but don't want to let it go. That's not to judge. I know I held on to mine way, way longer than I should have.
 
Att next makes sense for those customers in family mobile sharing plans (aka 4 lines/$160 a month 10gb data share) no subsidy.

Compared to old mobile share with subsidy there is no price difference per se. And big savings on new mobile share plans once phone is paid off.

For those of us on older traditional voice and text plans where we can mix and match flip phones ($10/month yet still use full subsidy to buy any smartphone). Than its a better deal to stay with subsidy model.
 
Can someone please clarify this for me... I can't even get a clear answer from AT&T so I thought I'd ask here.

Right now, my wife and I are on a 10GB mobile share plan. My line is no longer under contract as of 6/2014. My wife is still in a 2 year contract that started 10/2013. Neither of us were ever on a NEXT plan, but I see a $25 credit for "Discount for Mobile Share Value Savings" on each of our lines on the bill, for a total of $50 in credits.

1) If we purchase new phones under NEXT, will we receive an ADDITIONAL $25 credit on each line (in addition to the monthly phone cost, of course), or is this the same discount AT&T advertises that you'd get for switching to NEXT (ie, our bills will go up by the phone costs, no new discounts)? Why do we already have this discount if we never had NEXT, anyway?

2) If not, will the $25 discount go away on my line if I elect to sign a new 2 year contract for my new phone, rather than using NEXT?
 
Not exactly. I recently, begrudgingly, and finally let my grandfathered unlimited go. It just didn't make sense to keep paying for data I never came close to using.

So now my wife and I have a mobile share plan. We get a $25 discount on our bill because we have our phones paid off. That's important.

So if I were to buy the subsidized iPhone 6 (200 down) I lose my $25 discount.

If I do Next, I pay $28 (next 18, next 12 is $33ish) a month but keep the discount.

So the choice for me is $200 + ($25 x 24) = $800

Or

Next 18 $0 + ($28 x 24) = $672

After that it's my phone. Or, of course, I could trade it in after 18 months. But I won't. I'm a 2 year upgrade guy.

So, next makes sense for me. I also recommend checking your billing history to see how much data you actually use. My guess is you don't need your unlimited data, but don't want to let it go. That's not to judge. I know I held on to mine way, way longer than I should have.

I did check my usage... it ranges from 3GB - 4GB a month, but even this last month it hit 5.5GB! I don't know how as I am on wifi at work and wifi at home... I guess I use my phone a lot more than I ever realized.

I don't know what my wife's usage is like but I worry that 10GB wouldn't be enough... I just hate the thought of letting go of the unlimited plan and worrying about usage all the time.
 
There isn't one other than you have to turn in the phone you've been making payments on to get the new phone. It's kind of like leasing a car without interest.

If you go Next 12 and pay off the balance at that time you don't have to
turn the phone in. You can get new phone on Next and sell the old one. The key is that the balance has to be paid off.
 
You can pay off your NEXT phone at anytime and it is yours to keep, sell, etc.

Why is this so hard for people to understand?


(you also have the option of trading up in a year... OPTION)
 
Looks like a lot of us are in the same boat.

My contract isn't up until mid November on ATT.

I am on chat with ATT now and they are saying that if I move to NEXT on Friday (iPhone 6/64GB) then my monthly will simply increase by the 37.45 month. There is no reduction on my bill to compensate the move from subsidized to "renting" against the retail price.

If that is correct, then my options are (I am an upgrade every other phone person):

1) Buy outright for $749 (I think?) - ($102 over 24 months + $749 = $3197)
2) Buy subsidized with the ETF built in at $549 ($102 over 24 months + $749 = $2997)
3) Move to NEXT at $37.45 per month over what I pay now ($139.45 over 20 months + $120 over 4 months + $0 = $3197)
4) Wait until November ($102 over 24 months + $299 = $2747)

So if I want to order the phone on Friday I am better off paying the subsidized + ETF price of $549.

Definitely doesn't look like NEXT makes sense in my case.

EDIT: Fixed next calculation in 3 above to reflect that the 37.45 only applies to the first 20 payments, not all 24 for the two year cycle I used.
 
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if you sign a contract you pay a higher line fee

Personally minus my NEXT phone charge i see no difference in my monthly bill pricing from when I signed a 2 year contract and signing with NEXT. That might me more for people with family plans because they give you a discount with NEXT
 
Can someone please clarify this for me... I can't even get a clear answer from AT&T so I thought I'd ask here.

Right now, my wife and I are on a 10GB mobile share plan. My line is no longer under contract as of 6/2014. My wife is still in a 2 year contract that started 10/2013. Neither of us were ever on a NEXT plan, but I see a $25 credit for "Discount for Mobile Share Value Savings" on each of our lines on the bill, for a total of $50 in credits.

1) If we purchase new phones under NEXT, will we receive an ADDITIONAL $25 credit on each line (in addition to the monthly phone cost, of course), or is this the same discount AT&T advertises that you'd get for switching to NEXT (ie, our bills will go up by the phone costs, no new discounts)? Why do we already have this discount if we never had NEXT, anyway?

2) If not, will the $25 discount go away on my line if I elect to sign a new 2 year contract for my new phone, rather than using NEXT?

#2 yes the $25 discount will go away. That's what has made NEXT the way to go in my opinion .... 2 phones with next = $1300 .. 2 phones on contract = $400 plus the $40 activation fee per phone. Savings of $1200 for the $25/ discount ....Do the math ... Next will save me $380 over a 2 year period which is how long I keep my phones.
 
So if I upgrade to a Next plan, do I have to turn in my current two-year contract 5s? Or does the trade-in part only start on my new phone?

If I don't have to then I might consider it, if I do than I'll probably just buy off contract.
 
so I took a look at the shared plans and if I did the 15GB plan it says its $145 a month. I assume thats for both phones together. Then add $38 for the iPhone 6 on NEXT and I'm close to $190 which is still about $15 less a month than we currently pay now for our individual plans. And I don't think we'd ever go over 15GB. Soooo... does that make sense? I don't think we get the $25 discount for having a shared plan.

It's just all so confusing on the website, it's hard to understand. And I still don't understand if I have to "turn in" my iPhone 5S... I assume yes since I got it a year ago so it's not "paid off"
 
So if I upgrade to a Next plan, do I have to turn in my current two-year contract 5s? Or does the trade-in part only start on my new phone?

If I don't have to then I might consider it, if I do than I'll probably just buy off contract.

No you don't and when your in the NEXT plan once your phones are paid in full you don't have to trade them in either ... Only if you got a balance left on the phone
 
So if I upgrade to a Next plan, do I have to turn in my current two-year contract 5s? Or does the trade-in part only start on my new phone?

If I don't have to then I might consider it, if I do than I'll probably just buy off contract.

You do not have to trade in your existing phone.
 
Looks like I wouldn't get the $10 discount for switching to Next since I am not on a family share plan.

Also, just to update my though process, I think it might make sense to go with the Next plan. The difference is only $200 over the course of 24 months but the option is there to upgrade after 1 year.

Looks like a lot of us are in the same boat.

My contract isn't up until mid November on ATT.

I am on chat with ATT now and they are saying that if I move to NEXT on Friday (iPhone 6/64GB) then my monthly will simply increase by the 37.45 month. There is no reduction on my bill to compensate the move from subsidized to "renting" against the retail price.

If that is correct, then my options are (I am an upgrade every other phone person):

1) Buy outright for $749 (I think?) - ($102 over 24 months + $749 = $3197)
2) Buy subsidized with the ETF built in at $549 ($102 over 24 months + $749 = $2997)
3) Move to NEXT at $37.45 per month over what I pay now ($139.45 over 20 months + $120 over 4 months + $0 = $3197)
4) Wait until November ($102 over 24 months + $299 = $2747)

So if I want to order the phone on Friday I am better off paying the subsidized + ETF price of $549.

Definitely doesn't look like NEXT makes sense in my case.

EDIT: Fixed next calculation in 3 above to reflect that the 37.45 only applies to the first 20 payments, not all 24 for the two year cycle I used.
 
NEXT is actually a very fair way to move people off the subsidized model.

But for a lot of people it probably would have been better to switch earlier this year. When A&T was pushing the updated Mobile Share plans, they were essentially giving people 'non-subsidy' monthly data prices on their phones and making them immediately eligible for NEXT, even if they just signed a contract.

The real savings for NEXT comes when a phone is paid off the the data rate drops. The 'pain' of NEXT comes if you have multiple people moving to a new device at one time. (All 4 family members want the latest and greatest.) There will be a lot of sticker shock and short memories next week for people who enjoyed the monthly savings most of this year, but forgot they were getting 'data only' monthly rates.

For my family, it changes how we think about upgrades. When it was 'just' $199, I'd be a lot more open to buying the kids (17 and 13) a new iPhone for Christmas. But when I'm factoring in the 20/24 month cost, they are going to be looking at hand-me downs, used phones or paying for it themselves.
 
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