What should I do?

[rpearlberg]

Current:
AT&T Mobile Share Value 2GB, Unlimited Talk/Text
$63 total after discounts and taxes

Keep AT&T and just upgrade to the iPhone 6 via early upgrade or NEXT.

Switch to Verizon, 2GB, Unlimited Talk/Text. Would probably be about $5 less per month.

In order to switch to Verizon I would have to pay a $205 ETF, but then with Edge I don't have to pay for the phone up front. I would then sell my 5s and put the money towards the Verizon phone.

Am I created too many problems by switching, should I just stick with AT&T? I have no issues with AT&T, just trying to save a few bucks. And I think Verizon is offering an extra 2GB if you sign up today (or soon).

 

[mofunk]

What are you gaining if you get the 6? I asked myself the same thing. I like the ApplePay but I can wait. Screen size is not a huge issue because I can use my Mac or other iOS devices. Lastly, when I got my 5s I got a nice deal around Christmas last year. You could probably wait 4 months and save some money.

 

[BrettDS]

Current:
AT&T Mobile Share Value 2GB, Unlimited Talk/Text
$63 total after discounts and taxes

Keep AT&T and just upgrade to the iPhone 6 via early upgrade or NEXT.

Switch to Verizon, 2GB, Unlimited Talk/Text. Would probably be about $5 less per month.

In order to switch to Verizon I would have to pay a $205 ETF, but then with Edge I don't have to pay for the phone up front. I would then sell my 5s and put the money towards the Verizon phone.

Am I created too many problems by switching, should I just stick with AT&T? I have no issues with AT&T, just trying to save a few bucks. And I think Verizon is offering an extra 2GB if you sign up today (or soon).

Paying an ETF of $205 to save $5 a month doesn't really make much sense. It would take 41 months (or nearly 3 and a half years) to make back that $205 before you start actually saving money.

Upgrading via the NEXT program might make the most sense for you, especially if you do want to consider moving to Verizon at some point. That would keep you from getting locked into another contract with ATT, so you would have the option to switch for free when your contract ends. You can still sell your 5S to pay for the new phone even if you upgrade via NEXT. You can pay off the NEXT balance at any time, so once you sell your 5S, just call ATT and have them apply that money to the NEXT balance.

 

[rpearlberg]

Paying an ETF of $205 to save $5 a month doesn't really make much sense. It would take 41 months (or nearly 3 and a half years) to make back that $205 before you start actually saving money.

Upgrading via the NEXT program might make the most sense for you, especially if you do want to consider moving to Verizon at some point. That would keep you from getting locked into another contract with ATT, so you would have the option to switch for free when your contract ends. You can still sell your 5S to pay for the new phone even if you upgrade via NEXT. You can pay off the NEXT balance at any time, so once you sell your 5S, just call ATT and have them apply that money to the NEXT balance.

Thanks. I was thinking this also. Stupid to pay an ETF. If I switch to NEXT now and then pay off my phone, I don't owe AT&T anything, right? Meaning even if I stay with them and want to upgrade in a year I don't have to give them my phone since I've paid it off fully.

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If I end up doing next and plan to pay it off in a few months, does it matter if I do 12 or 18?

 

[rpearlberg]

One more question...
In order to avoid the ETF, could I upgrade now with NEXT, pay off the phone and then switch to Verizon?

 

[BrettDS]

Yeah, once you pay it off the phone is yours. NEXT is a pretty terrible deal if you plan to trade in your phone and upgrade after 12 or 18 months... you'd be much better off buying it outright and selling it on your own, but it's a good way to finance the phone at 0% interest.

And both NEXT programs offer 0% interest, it's just spread out over a different number of months. If you plan to make payments for some time, then you might consider whether you want to make smaller payments for longer or bigger payments for less time, but if you're just gonna pay it off anyway then I don't think it matters at all.

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One more question...
In order to avoid the ETF, could I upgrade now with NEXT, pay off the phone and then switch to Verizon?

Unfortunately not. ATT wants to get people into the NEXT program, so they're allowing you to do a NEXT upgrade while you're still under contract, but it won't affect your contract. The contract will still be in effect with the original end date. If you're not under contract when you purchase a phone with NEXT then you won't have to sign a contract at that time, but if you're already under contract then that won't change.

 

[rpearlberg]

Yeah, once you pay it off the phone is yours. NEXT is a pretty terrible deal if you plan to trade in your phone and upgrade after 12 or 18 months... you'd be much better off buying it outright and selling it on your own, but it's a good way to finance the phone at 0% interest.

And both NEXT programs offer 0% interest, it's just spread out over a different number of months. If you plan to make payments for some time, then you might consider whether you want to make smaller payments for longer or bigger payments for less time, but if you're just gonna pay it off anyway then I don't think it matters at all.

Thanks. Right now I could either add a 2 year contract and get the phone for $549 (64GB) or do NEXT....either way I'll sell my 5s and put the money towards the new phone. If I pay off the NEXT phone before the 12 months is up it's mine to keep and sell on my own, correct?

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Yeah, once you pay it off the phone is yours. NEXT is a pretty terrible deal if you plan to trade in your phone and upgrade after 12 or 18 months... you'd be much better off buying it outright and selling it on your own, but it's a good way to finance the phone at 0% interest.

And both NEXT programs offer 0% interest, it's just spread out over a different number of months. If you plan to make payments for some time, then you might consider whether you want to make smaller payments for longer or bigger payments for less time, but if you're just gonna pay it off anyway then I don't think it matters at all.

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Unfortunately not. ATT wants to get people into the NEXT program, so they're allowing you to do a NEXT upgrade while you're still under contract, but it won't affect your contract. The contract will still be in effect with the original end date. If you're not under contract when you purchase a phone with NEXT then you won't have to sign a contract at that time, but if you're already under contract then that won't change.

Thanks for the clarification. I was hoping switching to NEXT would terminate this contract. I guess I could still switch to NEXT and be under contract for another 12 months and then decide if I want to switch carriers.

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I just did online chat with AT&T and they said upgrading to NEXT will terminate my current contract.

 

[BrettDS]

Thanks. Right now I could either add a 2 year contract and get the phone for $549 (64GB) or do NEXT....either way I'll sell my 5s and put the money towards the new phone. If I pay off the NEXT phone before the 12 months is up it's mine to keep and sell on my own, correct?

Correct. Once you pay it off (whether it's before, after, or at 12 months) then it's yours to keep or sell or whatever.

I just did online chat with AT&T and they said upgrading to NEXT will terminate my current contract.

That surprises me and I would be pretty shocked if that was really the case. I think the rep was just mistaken. I'll go check, though, and see what happened in my case. I was under contract and purchased a NEXT program phone on launch day. I'll see if my contract has ended or not.

 

[rpearlberg]

Correct. Once you pay it off (whether it's before, after, or at 12 months) then it's yours to keep or sell or whatever.



That surprises me and I would be pretty shocked if that was really the case. I think the rep was just mistaken. I'll go check, though, and see what happened in my case. I was under contract and purchased a NEXT program phone on launch day. I'll see if my contract has ended or not.

Thanks, please let me know. I still don't know if NEXT is worth it, only if I plan to switch carriers. This would get me out of my contract, maybe. I can get the phone right now for $549 if I want to stay under contract...

 

[BrettDS]

Thanks, please let me know. I still don't know if NEXT is worth it, only if I plan to switch carriers. This would get me out of my contract, maybe. I can get the phone right now for $549 if I want to stay under contract...

Well that's kind of interesting... I just checked my account and the two accounts I upgraded with NEXT on launch day are showing a contract end date of 9/12/16, which certainly seems to imply that they extended my contract by two years from the date I purchased the phones, which doesn't make sense to me. The only thing I can think is that I selected the NEXT 18 option, which requires 24 months of payments. Perhaps that's showing when my NEXT payments end and if will be shortened if I pay off the phones sooner, but I'm going to call or chat with ATT and see if I can get some clarification here.

 

[rpearlberg]

Well that's kind of interesting... I just checked my account and the two accounts I upgraded with NEXT on launch day are showing a contract end date of 9/12/16, which certainly seems to imply that they extended my contract by two years from the date I purchased the phones, which doesn't make sense to me. The only thing I can think is that I selected the NEXT 18 option, which requires 24 months of payments. Perhaps that's showing when my NEXT payments end and if will be shortened if I pay off the phones sooner, but I'm going to call or chat with ATT and see if I can get some clarification here.

Thanks for finding out for me, just curious! There are way too many options to choose from here!

 

[BrettDS]

Thanks for finding out for me, just curious! There are way too many options to choose from here!

So I got a bit distracted by 'updategate' because I was one of the ones who updated to iOS 8.0.1 as soon as it was available and lost cellular connectivity, but things have settled down a bit and I called ATT to ask them about why my contract date was extended by two years. Apparently my speculation was correct. That date shows when the NEXT phone will be fully paid off if I continue to make the monthly payments. He said that if I call up and pay the phone off then the contract end date will go away and I will no longer be under contract.

Out of curiosity, I asked him the same question you asked the online rep. I said that before I did the next upgrade, I had one year remaining on my original contract. If I were to pay off the NEXT phone today would I still be under contract for that year or would I be contract free. He took a few minutes to check and came back and said that if I were to pay off the NEXT phone today that I would indeed be contract free and able to cancel at any time.

As before, this answer really surprises me and I'd be a bit amazed if it was correct, so I'd take it with a grain of salt, but it does sound like there may be a potential loophole here for getting out of an ATT contract early... especially since the iPhone 6 is so new. You can buy an iPhone 6 now and resell it for the purchase price or very close to it and get out of your contract with no ETF and little or no money out of your pocket.

 

[rpearlberg]

So I got a bit distracted by 'updategate' because I was one of the ones who updated to iOS 8.0.1 as soon as it was available and lost cellular connectivity, but things have settled down a bit and I called ATT to ask them about why my contract date was extended by two years. Apparently my speculation was correct. That date shows when the NEXT phone will be fully paid off if I continue to make the monthly payments. He said that if I call up and pay the phone off then the contract end date will go away and I will no longer be under contract.

Out of curiosity, I asked him the same question you asked the online rep. I said that before I did the next upgrade, I had one year remaining on my original contract. If I were to pay off the NEXT phone today would I still be under contract for that year or would I be contract free. He took a few minutes to check and came back and said that if I were to pay off the NEXT phone today that I would indeed be contract free and able to cancel at any time.

As before, this answer really surprises me and I'd be a bit amazed if it was correct, so I'd take it with a grain of salt, but it does sound like there may be a potential loophole here for getting out of an ATT contract early... especially since the iPhone 6 is so new. You can buy an iPhone 6 now and resell it for the purchase price or very close to it and get out of your contract with no ETF and little or no money out of your pocket.

Thanks for getting back to me. I also just realized I couldn't use the iPhone 6 on Verizon, so I would have to sell it. Not sure it's really worth all of this, so now I'm thinking I'll just stick with AT&T. The question now is do I upgrade for $549 and add 2 years, or do the NEXT so it gives me the option to move carriers if I decide to in the near future....

 

[rpearlberg]

So if I do want to switch to Verizon, what would be the best/cheapest way to do this?

I have an ETF of about $200. I can sell my iPhone 5s, use $200 to pay the ETF and the other $100-$150 to put towards the VZW phone. Would it be best to sign a 2 yr agreement to get the phone for cheaper, or do the Edge plan with payments?

 

[DeeezzNuttzz]

So if I do want to switch to Verizon, what would be the best/cheapest way to do this?

I have an ETF of about $200. I can sell my iPhone 5s, use $200 to pay the ETF and the other $100-$150 to put towards the VZW phone. Would it be best to sign a 2 yr agreement to get the phone for cheaper, or do the Edge plan with payments?

Stay with NEXT. It does terminate your old contract and you get to keep the old phone. I just got my 6 Plus, and they sent me the approval to unlock my 5s so I can sell it for even more because it can now be taken to any carrier, even Metro piece of Sshhh. Verizon is the worst, even worst than sprint. Their the lost expensive, and att has had iphones the longest and most loyal companies. That's just the way I look at it. Apple made the iphone exclusive at the start for att for a reason I guess. My advice, stick with ATT.