re: Rumor: AT&T will end two-year contracts at the end of May

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No. On the 2 year contract you keep paying a premium every month even if you've owned the phone long enough to have paid it off. On the Next plan the finance payments stop once you've paid for the phone.

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On a 2 year plan I buy the phone outright at a discount for agreeing to another 2 years. I dont pay for it every month.

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On a 2 year plan I buy the phone outright at a discount for agreeing to another 2 years. I dont pay for it every month.

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Really? Maybe in 2006 that happened, but most of these discounts are recouped by higher data/line rates. You can't just sell a phone for less than it's worth, not get any additional monies, and call it a day. You'd be out of business so quickly.

When you purchase an item from Walmart, you are paying for their taxes, personnel, advertising, legal issues, and everything else. Just because it doesn't say it on the receipt doesn't mean it's not getting paid for.

My monthly bill doesnt change when i buy a new phone though...

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Stout fails to state the fact that you pay anywhere from 20-30 dollars per month depending on which smartphone you chose on NEXT program

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No I didn't. I stated...

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you basically finance the phone interest-free for whichever Next plan you choose.

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So tack that on to your 25 to 15 dollars per plan and you will be paying anywhere between 40 to 55 dollar smartphone charge on NEXT vs the flat 40 dollar smartphone charge on a 2 year plan.

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Flat $40 for the 2 year plan plus the $199 and taxes up front you mean. It pretty much comes out to the same thing when all factors are considered except you do have the option to upgrade earlier and more often with Next.

Not to mention that the $40 continues forever but with Next the price of the equipment falls off whenever you finish paying for it according to the terms you choose when signing up like 18, 24, or 30 months.

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On a 2 year plan I buy the phone outright at a discount for agreeing to another 2 years. I dont pay for it every month.

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But you do. It's just been hidden from you because it's been built into your monthly service price.

Things are changing because phones are getting so expensive that it's hard to explain why you can get a $400 discount on a high end phone, or only a $200 discount on a low end phone, but pay the same monthly fee for 2 years. Those subsidies were built into everyone's bills, and you never actually finished paying for your phone. If you put off upgrading, you just continued helping to pay for the subsidies for the people getting brand new high end phones subsidized.

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AT&T will end two-year contracts at the end of May

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Our sources also tell us that AT&T still has no plans to offer unlimited data packages to its customers.

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Does this mean my wife's grandfathered unlimited plan will be forced into Next?

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You need to state all the facts and not just what supports your choice. The only real benefit of next is ability to upgrade yearly. That's it. And if anyone in this thread states different, it's BS.

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Well, for me, I was paying for Unlimited for me, 2GB for my wife and son, each. Now, I have a 15GB share, w/ rollover and we can all get new phones whenever we want. If I finance all three new phones (16GB iPhone 6), with my new plan, I pay 5349.51 over two years. On my old, 2 year plans, I would pay (for the listed services and the same new phones on 2 year contract), 5324.13 over two years. Now, my son and I kept our iPhone 5 that we had because they were still good. If I eliminate two new phones, it goes to OLD = 4812.15 NEXT = 3995.01.

So, NEXT works best for my family, at 3 connections for us to share 15GB, because I was wasting my unlimited by using less than 2GB per month.

If you don't believe me, can send you my spreadsheet.

ETA: Bottom line is I will not bitch about $25.28 more over 24 months for my family to have a better overall plan and 3 brand new phones.

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 It pretty much comes out to the same thing when all factors are considered except you do have the option to upgrade earlier and more often with Next. 

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Which was the exact point of my rant.

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Not to mention that the $40 continues forever but with Next the price of the equipment falls off whenever you finish paying for it according to the terms you choose when signing up like 18, 24, or 30 months. 

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At which point you WILL upgrade. So that point is, well pointless. In fact, most techies like myself would probably upgrade yearly. 90% of the smartphone market upgrades within 2 years. Only a very small percentage will carry a 3 or 4 year old device. Most devices can't go beyond that due to wear/inability to handle software upgrades. That's the way phone manufacturers design.
So I would say 90% of consumers on NEXT will never see the benefit of just carrying the 15 to 25 dollar smartphone charge because of the flexible upgrade options. Only poor's and cheap asses who look for cheaper off contract devices or carry around 3 to 5 year old dinosaurs. Even off contract phones are becoming less affordable as they try to keep up with the hardware in the device. So point is you still have to drop the Benjamin's sooner or later. Up front, over a contract, etc.

For the record, I'm not for or against either way because the phone companies aren't trying to do you any favors with pricing. Just tricking you into thinking one is a better option over the other with the fine print.

Where are you going to go? Once one carrier does something, they all follow suit. It will just be a matter of time before Verizon drops two year agreements also.

I just want that damn Asus phone to come to the US so I can get rid of this S3.