AT&T and phone upgrade

yup

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ATT no longer lets you purchase a phone at a discounted price when you renew your contract?

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Yep they found a way not to have to subsidize phones with a 2 year contract and when you sign up for the payment plan you are in essence in a 2 year contract unless you pay it off early.

Check out th iPhone upgrade plan through Apple

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And FYI, you were never getting phones at a discount. The old contract plans basically had installment phone payments built in, but they never rolled off once the phone was paid for.

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Not sure how this factual statement has two downvotes but whatever. Under the "old ways" you paid $40/mo per line smartphone access while it was under contract. Under the new way you pay $20/mo per line + whatever the monthly note on the phone is at 0% interest. You can do 20, 24, or 30 month payment plans so the range is ~$15 to ~$30 per phone (iphone 7's range between $650 and $969).

Personally, I prefer the straight-forwardness of the new way. They're always going to screw you but at least it's not some mystery how much your phone costs like it was.