How is ATT next?

[kyrax12]

Apparently since we are in a mobile shared plan, it would be a bit more expensive to upgrade using the two year contract method...


How is ATT next?

 

[chimaxi83]

Been fine for me. Zero interest loan basically, and you own the device at the end... you're paying full price though. You can also upgrade earlier than the usual 2 years if you so desire.

 

[Radeon962]

It used to be a bad deal as you did not get a monthly line discount, so you were essentially being double charged for the phone.

If you are on a 10gb or higher family share plan then you get a $25/mo discount off the line charge. Same discount as a bring your own phone that you bought outright. On the lower tier data plans the discount is $15/mo.

The $36 activation fee is also waived.

If you like to lease, then it's a reasonable deal. All you are doing is taking the price of the phone and paying it off monthly for 20, 24 or 30 months. You can upgrade early after 12, 18 or 24 months if you enter another Next plan and you have to turn in the phone as you essentially just leased the phone for that period but did not pay it off.

If you pay through the end of your Next agreement then the phone is yours at the end. You will have paid the same amount as you would have buying it outright but spread the cost over a set time period with no interest.

The one catch is that if you lose, break or have your phone stolen you are still responsible for making your payments per your Next agreement. There is no replacement policy unless you have the carrier insurance or some other insurance to pay for the phone.

 

[tsupersonic]

It's alright. I just prefer to pay for the phone full price up front, just to get it over with. I am paying about $60/month for unlimited talk/text/3 GB rollover data

 

[boomhower]

I like it. I had the 12 month plan with the intention of trading it in after 12 months. I ended up paying it off early but I still like the idea and plan to do the same when the iPhone 6S comes out. I like getting a new phone every year and like this a lot better than two year contracts. Saves the trouble of selling my old phone and have to deal with all the issues and possibility of the transaction going wrong.

 

[Midwayman]

The issue for me is you pay MSRP for the phone. You can almost always go better if you shop around. iDevices maybe being the exception. If you give back your phone, you're doing worse than if you sold it on your own. The only good thing is the interest free loan. I'd rather pay up front and use a cheaper MVNO. Cheaper in the long run.

 

[bearxor]

It depends on what you want. Do you want the newest phone every year when it comes out? Then doing Next 12 and trading it in every year is a better deal than buying it outright and trying to sell it.

Look at the SGS5. If you had bought it on Next when it came out and choose Next 12, you would still need to pay around $300 to finish off your payments and start a new Next contract on the SGS6. There are a ton of SGS5's on swappa right now for under $400.

Is it worth fronting the $300 or so and going through trying to sell it for <$100 profit? That's up to you I suppose but it would definitely not be worth the time for me.

So, yeah, if you like the newest devices every year right when they come out when they're at their highest price, then Next isn't a bad deal.

Also keep in mine... I know you said it would be more expensive to upgrade with a two-year contract. This depends entirely on which plan you are on and which phone you pick.

Remember that if you sign a two-year contract, your monthly cost per line goes from $15 to $40. That means that in order for it to be cheaper, you'd need to pick a phone with Next payments lower than $25/mo. This is really going to limit your choices for yearly upgrades.

You can get around that price range for flagship phones if you choose Next 24, but keep in mind that Next 24 is 30 payments. So while you can trade it in after 24 months, you'd need to pay on it for 30 months to own it outright. If you're looking at any of the current flagship devices, they run from $20-27/mo for Next 24. This puts you at around $5 less than doing a two-year contract at best and a couple dollars more than the two year at worst. The best device you could probably get on Next and still save a decent amount of money is the G3. It's $15/mo on Next 24.

 

[Midwayman]

It depends on what you want. Do you want the newest phone every year when it comes out? Then doing Next 12 and trading it in every year is a better deal than buying it outright and trying to sell it.

Look at the SGS5. If you had bought it on Next when it came out and choose Next 12, you would still need to pay around $300 to finish off your payments and start a new Next contract on the SGS6. There are a ton of SGS5's on swappa right now for under $400.

Is it worth fronting the $300 or so and going through trying to sell it for <$100 profit? That's up to you I suppose but it would definitely not be worth the time for me.

Better deal? No.

The SGS5 is $500 just casually goggling new ones, and $650 at ATT. After 12mo on next 12 you will have paid $390. On swappa right now they sell for $340.

So buying it outright total cost. $160.
ATT next. $390.

Saving $230. Worth it to list it on swappa? Probably. If you hunted around I'm sure you can do better. Next is really just for the lazy.

 

[bearxor]

Better deal? No.

The SGS5 is $500 just casually goggling new ones, and $650 at ATT. After 12mo on next 12 you will have paid $390. On swappa right now they sell for $340.

So buying it outright total cost. $160.
ATT next. $390.

Saving $230. Worth it to list it on swappa? Probably. If you hunted around I'm sure you can do better. Next is really just for the lazy.

Now I remember why I quit posting here.

My post very explicitly says:

if you like the newest devices every year right when they come out when they're at their highest price, then Next isn't a bad deal.

If you want to wait a year after a device is released and get it when you can find it for $150-200 cheaper, then sure you're correct. But you weren't going to find a SGS5 for $500 new last April.

 

[Midwayman]

Now I remember why I quit posting here.

My post very explicitly says:


If you want to wait a year after a device is released and get it when you can find it for $150-200 cheaper, then sure you're correct. But you weren't going to find a SGS5 for $500 new last April.

Because you don't like being corrected? You can buy below MSRP right off the bat if you're not an idiot and don't shop at the corporate stores.

 

[gorcorps]

Been fine for me. Zero interest loan basically, and you own the device at the end... you're paying full price though. You can also upgrade earlier than the usual 2 years if you so desire.

Yeah, I don't mind it either.

I don't mind paying a little more over time for the phone vs. putting $500-600 down immediately.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Because you don't like being corrected? You can buy below MSRP right off the bat if you're not an idiot and don't shop at the corporate stores.

This is if you responded to everyone shopping for a computer to tell them to build their own. That isn't an appropriate model for 100% of people let alone 50% of the population. Only a small crowd will shop around for used phones. Similar to car shopping, it needs to be clearly defined if you're buying new or used up front.

 

[poofyhairguy]

This is if you responded to everyone shopping for a computer to tell them to build their own. That isn't an appropriate model for 100% of people let alone 50% of the population.

Sure but this is an enthusiast forum- you will get told to build a computer on here!

Plus I don't get why normals can't take advantage of this stuff. I got my wife's Note 4 day 1 for $250 off simply by bringing in a trade in, a deal that was on Bestbuy's website and posted in their store. I don't expect a normal knew to buy a $40 Windows Phone a week before as a trade in like I did, but they could have traded in their last model and still gotten a huge discount.

Other big deals hit on times like Black Friday- when normals know to look for deals- or around Christmas. I know most people aren't going to get a deal, because hell they couldn't get a deal if you circled the ad for them on BF and sent them into the store. Some people suck at deal hunting, which is awesome because they they pay all the margin that keeps the stores running for you and me. But being a deal-hunter is not a nerd thing- I know some old women that know the relative price of everything in JC Penny like I know computer parts.

I think the problem is that too many people just wander into that carrier store like sheep ready to be slaughtered. The deals are almost never at the store, they are at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Amazon, and other entities that do more than sell phones.

 

[cpacini]

Sure but this is an enthusiast forum- you will get told to build a computer on here!

Plus I don't get why normals can't take advantage of this stuff. I got my wife's Note 4 day 1 for $250 off simply by bringing in a trade in, a deal that was on Bestbuy's website and posted in their store. I don't expect a normal knew to buy a $40 Windows Phone a week before as a trade in like I did, but they could have traded in their last model and still gotten a huge discount.

Other big deals hit on times like Black Friday- when normals know to look for deals- or around Christmas. I know most people aren't going to get a deal, because hell they couldn't get a deal if you circled the ad for them on BF and sent them into the store. Some people suck at deal hunting, which is awesome because they they pay all the margin that keeps the stores running for you and me. But being a deal-hunter is not a nerd thing- I know some old women that know the relative price of everything in JC Penny like I know computer parts.

I think the problem is that too many people just wander into that carrier store like sheep ready to be slaughtered. The deals are almost never at the store, they are at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Amazon, and other entities that do more than sell phones.

I think for a lot of people the idea of selling their used phone is a complete non- starter, so plans like AT&T next or tmobile jump look attractive as they can decrease the time between upgrades without adding significant cost.

 

[Midwayman]

I think for a lot of people the idea of selling their used phone is a complete non- starter, so plans like AT&T next or tmobile jump look attractive as they can decrease the time between upgrades without adding significant cost.

Sure, just like leasing a car is easier for some folks. However some people are trying to say its actually a better deal. This is absolutely objectively not true. Easier, sure. However in the context of this forum, it we were into 'easier' we'd all be using overpriced alienware computers.

For those folks who can't be bothered to sell their own phones, there are lots of other trade-in companies that I bet will beat ATT's offer *and* allow you to partake of the under MSRP deals.