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gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,584
3,693
Yep. You will come out about $100 ahead by buying the phone full price and selling it at the end of the year to buy your next phone. Its a little over $8 per month you earn buying and selling versus trading in. I take the Next payments and trade in offer but its to avoid the selling process each year. I pay my fee and move on.
 
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Cryates

macrumors 68040
Nov 19, 2013
3,312
5,209
Att doesn't charge me $25 a month if i do a upgrade with 2 year contract. I just pay the 499 for the iphone 6s plus 128gb. Am i missing something? att? charges monthly if you do the 2 years subsidy?

The $25 he is talking about is for his situation, not necessarily yours.

Right now, he gets a $25/discount for not using his upgrade. He will lose that if he uses it, and it will add $25 back to his monthly bill.
 
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gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,584
3,693
Att doesn't charge me $25 a month if i do a upgrade with 2 year contract. I just pay the 499 for the iphone 6s plus 128gb. Am i missing something? att? charges monthly if you do the 2 years subsidy?
If you have family share value plan you pay a monthly fee to add a device to the plan and give it access to the pool of data. It starts at $40 for a phone on a 2-year plan, drops to $25 or $15 based on the size of your data plan. Less than 10GB you pay $25, above 10GB you pay $15.
 

Cryates

macrumors 68040
Nov 19, 2013
3,312
5,209
Yeah this is very much a YMMV situation. I have an old plan that includes no monthly device access fee. Confirmed with AT&T rep that my charges will not change at all. Staying in the subsidized plan is less expensive for me.
It really depends on the person and their plan situation.
 
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Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,093
1,565
So just do Next. Saves in the short term AND the long term.
Ironically, the best way to "save" is keep the old non mobile share plan. The unlimited didn't make you pay $25 a month extra and you got to buy subsidized. But then you miss out on the mobile share benefits, which are worth it to me (tethering mostly). I put ironically since the high pressure salesman kept talking about how it is way cheaper than "unlimited".
 
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Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,093
1,565
Att doesn't charge me $25 a month if i do a upgrade with 2 year contract. I just pay the 499 for the iphone 6s plus 128gb. Am i missing something? att? charges monthly if you do the 2 years subsidy?
It's for mobile share.
 

Cryates

macrumors 68040
Nov 19, 2013
3,312
5,209
Ironically, the best way to "save" is keep the old non mobile share plan. The unlimited didn't make you pay $25 a month extra and you got to buy subsidized. But then you miss out on the mobile share benefits, which are worth it to me (tethering mostly)
Well, we are talking about current options though. You're right but that's no longer an option unless you are still on that plan.
 

Cryates

macrumors 68040
Nov 19, 2013
3,312
5,209
Does T-mobile still pay your ETF?
They will BUT you will be reimbursed by them 8 weeks later in the form of a Visa Card AND....this is the requirement:

In order to qualify for this ETF offer, you must be switching from a postpaid plan on a contract with another carrier and port your current numbers to T-Mobile. You would need to trade-in a mobile phone or tablet and purchase a new device with T-Mobile on a qualifying postpaid Simple Choice plan (you would not be able to sign up for a T-Mobile prepaid or Simple Choice Family Plan with no credit check). All lines must be activated in the same T-Mobile market with the same billing address.

So taking your phone over would negate the ETF being paid for you.
 

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,093
1,565
They will BUT you will be reimbursed by them 8 weeks later in the form of a Visa Card AND....this is the requirement:



So taking your phone over would negate the ETF being paid for you.
Ha! "No such thing as a free lunch"
 

Appl3FTW

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 15, 2012
5,552
1,252
Att doesn't charge me $25 a month if i do a upgrade with 2 year contract. I just pay the 499 for the iphone 6s plus 128gb. Am i missing something? att? charges monthly if you do the 2 years subsidy?

yes check your bill breakdown.. well I'm on ATT family share.
 

roccobladr

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2011
333
91
I have an ATT 5GB mobile share plan with my 5S right now and receive the 15$ discount because I've been on contract with them for a while. For me, it is cheaper to go the subsidized route.

Subsidized 16GB 6S Example:
199$ for phone upfront
+ 15$ each month for 24 months
= 559$ + tax (apparently my FAN discount waives activation fees)

Outright 16GB 6S = 649$ + tax

I don't plan on changing carriers so for me it is better to go the 2 year subsided plan route.
 

ipodlover77

macrumors 65816
Jan 17, 2009
1,364
393
Damn. I had no idea that these Next/Family Share plans were so convuluted. I'm going to ride out with my family plan with individual data per line, till I die. I love me those subsidized prices.
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,957
2,253
WRONG.. I did the calculations see below: model 128gb 6s plus

Option 1: Subsidy for 2 years
528.94 + 600 = 1128.94

Option 2: Buy phone full price
949 + tax = 1005.94

Option 3: Att NEXT Plan 47.45/month 12/20
$47.45 * 12 = 569.40
$47.45 * 20 = 949

Ok so for NEXT plan they require you to surrender your existing phone. Hence for the iphone 7 next year you will have to surrender your 6s plus to start over. Let's just say I can sell my phone iphone 6s Plus 128gb next year for $528.94, mind you this is a fairly conservative price for a year old iphone. then...

Option 1:
1128.94 - 528.94 = $600 cost of ownership for 1 year.

Option 2:
1005.94 - 528.94 = $477 cost of ownership for 1 year.

Option 3:
47.45 * 12 = $569.40 cost of ownership for 1 year.

Bottom line, BUY THE PHONE FULL RETAIL PRICE! NEXT is a good plan but not the best at it seems.

As mentioned above you forgot to include the $15 next monthly discount. I can also keep my 6 plus phone with the NEXT plan if I pay the remaining $379 balance today and I would still have the option of signing up for another NEXT plan with the 6S. You keep the phone with the NEXT plan if you pay it off. The only time you surrender the phone is if the whole next balance isn't paid off.

Damn. I had no idea that these Next/Family Share plans were so convuluted. I'm going to ride out with my family plan with individual data per line, till I die. I love me those subsidized prices.

Then continue paying more for your phone and your data as long as you stick to ATT. ATT structured it so NEXT pays the least. The only advantage left with a subsidized plan is if you have a grandfathered unlimited plan.
 

ToroidalZeus

macrumors 68020
Dec 8, 2009
2,301
875
Well if you're on a 2 year cycle and you finish your cycle, then it shouldn't matter.

i.e. if you've always been paying $40 for 2 years.. then resign up subsidy again for 2 years, then yes they will charge you $40 again LOL.

my point is I have a family plan, one of my phones I have a discount of $25 for not using subsidy. so instead of paying $40, I'm only paying $15 ($25 savings). If I convert that same phone to a subsidized, I will lose the $25 discount and will now be charged $40 instead of the $15.

Look I already told you. The subsidized prices came out with the old plans--where each line had it's own individual data plan. Then AT&T came out with the new shared data plans and--not surprisingly--they added a fee for buying subsidized iPhone obviously designed to kill subsidises.

Subsidy costs AT&T 450 dollars. Financing interest is a fraction of that, maybe $50.
 

dangerfish

macrumors 6502a
Aug 28, 2007
584
133
Att doesn't charge me $25 a month if i do a upgrade with 2 year contract. I just pay the 499 for the iphone 6s plus 128gb. Am i missing something? att? charges monthly if you do the 2 years subsidy?

Yes, you pay more every month if you go the subsidy route. For me (with 30Gb of data) my monthly access charge is $15/mo/line. If I was on a subsidy, every line would be $40/mo/line instead which is $25 more per line every month. So my bill would be higher by $100 every month for my 4 lines. Your situation may be different if you only have 1 line and don't use much data but for me, Next is a pretty damn good deal.

Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 2.12.47 PM.png
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,417
12,425
2-year contract subsidy only makes sense if you're on older style minutes plans or have Mobile Share Value with less than 10GB. Otherwise, Next or BYOD is better.
 
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Appl3FTW

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 15, 2012
5,552
1,252
As mentioned above you forgot to include the $15 next monthly discount. I can also keep my 6 plus phone with the NEXT plan if I pay the remaining $379 balance today and I would still have the option of signing up for another NEXT plan with the 6S. You keep the phone with the NEXT plan if you pay it off. The only time you surrender the phone is if the whole next balance isn't paid off.



Then continue paying more for your phone and your data as long as you stick to ATT. ATT structured it so NEXT pays the least. The only advantage left with a subsidized plan is if you have a grandfathered unlimited plan.

I didn't forget the discount.. it was already understood. Again, NEXT and Subsidy you're paying $15 or $25 versus paying $40 for subsidized.
 

Appl3FTW

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 15, 2012
5,552
1,252
Look I already told you. The subsidized prices came out with the old plans--where each line had it's own individual data plan. Then AT&T came out with the new shared data plans and--not surprisingly--they added a fee for buying subsidized iPhone obviously designed to kill subsidises.

Subsidy costs AT&T 450 dollars. Financing interest is a fraction of that, maybe $50.

this is the old layout.. yes. but for the new mobile share plans.. this doesn't apply.

it's basically, do you want the cheaper phone or better data plan. I opted for the better data plan. this is why I switched to the 15gb mobile family share for the price of 10gb.
 
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