quote:
Seems like you are getting hosed, paying $30 a month for a phone over 18 months, when everyone else gets to sign a new contract and get the phone for $199.00.

the contract plans are cheaper on next plan

you were always paying full price for the phone pretty much, because they were including that subsidized cost into your plan costs

now you pay for the phone outright or in installments and you get a cheaper service plan

every situation is different, and some people may end up spending more depending on how often they upgrade and how many GB of data they purchase

i'm not 100% up to speed with NEXT, but with Verizon EDGE, the discounts on the plan are higher if you purchase 10GB of data or more

it's not a scam....it's just not going to benefit everyone the same

eta: the people most likely to benefit from these plans are the people who want to upgrade more often....or the people that don't care about upgrades and may use the same phone for 3 years

also, i don't think that individuals or even couples really benefit from these plans, unless they have phones that are paid off and opt for the cheaper service

This post was edited on 9/11/14 at 1:13 pm

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Posted by ILikeLSUToo

Central, LA

Member since Jan 2008

18018 posts

Posted on 9/11/14 at 1:24 pm to Croacka

quote:
the contract plans are cheaper on next plan

Now they are, because AT&T structured them that way. But for customers like myself who have been on the old school unlimited plans for years, it's a scam. Or rather, people who pay to rent the phone for X amount of months and then trade it in for a new rental are.. not smart.

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Posted by TigerinATL

Member since Feb 2005

61672 posts

Posted on 9/11/14 at 1:40 pm to Croacka

quote:

every situation is different, and some people may end up spending more depending on how often they upgrade and how many GB of data they purchase

tl;dr version:
If your AT&T data plan is 10GB or greater, or you expect to keep your phone longer than 2 years, you save money with the installment plan rather than upgrading.

On the Mobile Share Value Plans, if you don't get the free upgrade and have over 10GB of data you get a $25 discount per line per month. Under 10GB the discount is $15 per month.

A $649 phone has an upgrade price of $199 + $40 activation fee. So $27.09 per month on an installment plan for 24 months vs $9.96 per month prorated upgrade cost over 24 months.

On a 10GB or greater data plan you lose your $25 discount by upgrading, so you're actually paying $25 + $9.96 or $34.96 per month to upgrade rather than paying just $27.09 per month on a 0% interest installment plan. The numbers aren't favorable for the smaller data plans though, $15 + $9.96 = $24.96. So if you have a smaller data plan you actually save a few dollars per month by upgrading. However you've just increased your plan rate $15 per month, so you start losing money if you keep your phone much longer than 2 years.

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