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Carrier What's the catch when buying iPad on AT&T NEXT?

mattcube64

mattcube64

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 21, 2006
1,297
115
Missouri
Can anybody give some input on doing the iPad Air on AT&T NEXT?

I know for actual cell phones, it's kind of an abysmal deal. But I didn't know they offered it for iPads.

With the iPad, I'm positive I want to upgrade every year. So I can sign up - pay not a penny now - and have 12 payments of $31.50. That's a total of $378. I then trade in the device when the new one comes out in a year, and I get the new one (assuming it's the same price) for another 20-month contract, with the option to upgrade in 12? So basically I can always have the latest and greatest iPad so long as I pay $31.50 a month? Doesn't seem so bad for the long haul if I never have to pay a lump sum.

Do you have to have data the whole time? I do anyway - the 3GB option. just curious....
 
mattcube64 said:
Can anybody give some input on doing the iPad Air on AT&T NEXT?

I know for actual cell phones, it's kind of an abysmal deal. But I didn't know they offered it for iPads.

With the iPad, I'm positive I want to upgrade every year. So I can sign up - pay not a penny now - and have 12 payments of $31.50. That's a total of $378. I then trade in the device when the new one comes out in a year, and I get the new one (assuming it's the same price) for another 20-month contract, with the option to upgrade in 12? So basically I can always have the latest and greatest iPad so long as I pay $31.50 a month? Doesn't seem so bad for the long haul if I never have to pay a lump sum.

Do you have to have data the whole time? I do anyway - the 3GB option. just curious....
Click to expand...

Yes, you will need a data plan if you're adding it as a line of it's own. Though if you have a mobile shared account you can add it to that and there is no extra charge for data as it's shared among your other devices. It'll be an extra $10 per month though on top of the installment payments for mobile share plans.
 
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nolegirl said:
Yes, you will need a data plan if you're adding it as a line of it's own. Though if you have a mobile shared account you can add it to that and there is no extra charge for data as it's shared among your other devices. It'll be an extra $10 per month though on top of the installment payments.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm a subordinate on a family plan (no reason to ditch my mom's account; I just pay her $70/month for the difference). I have unlimited data on my iPhone, so I don't want to mess with that. But I can just add the iPad "line" to our account to avoid doing it separately and getting a hard-pull on my own credit?
 
mattcube64 said:
Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm a subordinate on a family plan (no reason to ditch my mom's account; I just pay her $70/month for the difference). I have unlimited data on my iPhone, so I don't want to mess with that. But I can just add the iPad "line" to our account to avoid doing it separately and getting a hard-pull on my own credit?
Click to expand...

It won't hard pull your credit unless you're the account holder (I think) it does ask for social. But it will pull your mom's credit, or who ever the account belongs to. This is only if you're looking to finance the ipad, btw.
 
mattcube64 said:
I have unlimited data on my iPhone, so I don't want to mess with that. But I can just add the iPad "line" to our account to avoid doing it separately and getting a hard-pull on my own credit?
Click to expand...
So obviously not on a Mobile Share plan. I don't think you can add an iPad for $10/mo on the traditional family plans. You'll need to get a separate data plan for it. For data-only devices, minimum for Mobile Share is $40 ($30 4GB + $10 line access).
 
My AT&T account has 5 lines. 3 smart phones all with unlimited data. Can I use next to get a new ipad air? I'm worried that my account is maxed out with devices with the old data plans.
 
baker5721 said:
My AT&T account has 5 lines. 3 smart phones all with unlimited data. Can I use next to get a new ipad air? I'm worried that my account is maxed out with devices with the old data plans.
Click to expand...

Call AT&T. 611.
 
With the Next program you have to trade in your old device, so don't forget that part. Compare to buying outright plus selling your old ipad.

Also need to make sure you know the exit strategy if you should decide one day to switch to a different carrier.
 
baker5721 said:
My AT&T account has 5 lines. 3 smart phones all with unlimited data. Can I use next to get a new ipad air? I'm worried that my account is maxed out with devices with the old data plans.
Click to expand...

I doubt it unless you switch to the mobile shared plan which allows 10 lines.
 
deeddawg said:
With the Next program you have to trade in your old device, so don't forget that part. Compare to buying outright plus selling your old ipad.
Click to expand...
I've calculated the "trade-in" value after 12 months for Next.

$530: $212
$630: $252
$730: $292
$830: $332
$930: $372

Less than what you get if you sell but around on par with trade in on Amazon, etc.

deeddawg said:
Also need to make sure you know the exit strategy if you should decide one day to switch to a different carrier.
Click to expand...
Simple. Just pay off your device. There's no ETF involved and you would have spent the same amount if you paid for your device upfront anyway.
 
rui no onna said:
Simple. Just pay off your device. There's no ETF involved and you would have spent the same amount if you paid for your device upfront anyway.
Click to expand...

Cool. I haven't really paid attention to the Next program; thanks for the clarification. I merely brought it up as the OP hadn't mentioned anything about it.
 
If you want to get a new ipad after 12 months, just pay off the remainder of your ipad and sell it yourself instead of trading it in. You'll get a better value on the sell.
 
romeo0119 said:
If you want to get a new ipad after 12 months, just pay off the remainder of your ipad and sell it yourself instead of trading it in. You'll get a better value on the sell.
Click to expand...
You would but there's less headache with the trade in. :p Plus if going ebay, keep in mind there's seller fees and PayPal fees and potential for getting scammed. :rolleyes:
 
I always sell mine on craigslist, it's not really a hassle for me, but some ppl might be. Whatever you're comfortable with. I'm getting mine with next since I have a share plan and I don't plan to upgrade iPad like I do iPhone. Probably will just pay it off in a few months though.
 
This is pretty tempting. I could sell my current iPad and my Mac Mini to finance the Macbook Air I want instead of the new iPad. I already auto pay monthly for ATT data, so the added $20-30 wouldn't be a big deal.
 
Ya, folks seem to be caught up in the bad-deal equation for Next if you're buying a normally subsidized phone vs. a full-retail tablet.

Phone+Next = Bad. You're paying the near full-unsubsidized price via installments and you're locked into a contract. Whether you trade in after 12 months or own it after 20, you're giving up the power that your 2 year commitment normally wields, in exchange for avoiding an up-front charge. Bad carrier, bad.

Tablet+Next = Good. No carrier except the "Un-Carrier" is subsidizing tablets, so whether you're planning to put your tablet on a plan or not, the price would be the same. Next is basically an interest-free payment plan in this case, and your commitment in exchange for that is a $10/month data plan (assuming you're adding it to a mobile share group). As someone that's done ad-hoc data plans on my VZW iPad for $20-30 a month, $10 to add it to the ATT plan makes sense.

Next was such a transparently horrible plan that it's very name drags down anything that it's attached to. I think they re-priced it about a week after they launched this summer. And, as described above, for tablets it actually makes sense. I think the carrier's game in this is selling more tablets with the $130 cellular uplift, selling more through their channel, but really they want to get you on a bigger screen using ATT's data so you'll move from 6 to 10, 10 to 15, 15 to 20 (GB), etc. They've craftily moved us all over to metered paid usage knowing that we're gonna use double what we used last year, and double next year what we did this year, etc.

Everytime I see someone's eyeballs stuck on a screen in an airport, on a flight, in a coffee shop, etc., I just envision a nickel flying out of their pocket and to VZW, ATT, etc...well played gentlemen.

Edit- two more things in play here with Next-
-AT&T is subsidizing up-front purchases, knocking off $100 for 2 year commitments. So, a reason why Next isn't as attractive as buying/committing.
-With Next, AT&T is waiving the activation fee, so something that swings in Next's favor.
 
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