re: Hidden Traps in AT&T Next plans?

2-year contract (My Old plans, including work discount)
2 year bill: $4,556.16 (189.94*24)(What I was paying)

New iPhone $215.99 (199.99*1.08)
New iPhone $215.99
New iPhone $215.99

Upgrade Charge $120.00 ($40 per line)

Total Cost: $5,324.13



NEXT 2-year cost

Total Recurring: $5,268.24

One Time: $156.00



Total Cost: $5,424.24


So, this is with 3 brand new iPhone 6's. I don't need 3, so I am not paying this. But back off 54.14*24 and 104 (tax on two phones), this is exactly what I pay now. Over two years (with 3 brand new phones), its $100 more to go to NEXT, but my family gets more data to share. Also, we have the month's rollover. It made too much sense to me to switch.

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My current plan is Mobile Share Value

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Yeah, that's one of the modern plans, which puts you SOL in being able to take advantage of the on-contract prices anymore.

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I don't like the idea of paying $600 for a phone

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Since you're on the Mobile Share Value plan, AT&T would raise the bill for you and your wife by $50/month if you didn't use Next or buy your phone outright. So, consider the options: Pay that money and the some to AT&T, or use that money toward phones. AT&T doesn't really profit much from the phone sales either way.

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If it's lost, I owe the difference I assume?

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Yes. Remember, it's your phone. AT&T is just letting you pay for it over time OR trade it in for a new one. If you instead buy your phone direct from Apple/Motorola/HTC/etc. or eBay or whatever, it works out the same, except you wouldn't be able to trade it in to AT&T for the 12-month upgrade.

If I were on the Mobile Value Plan, I'd just buy my phones outright elsewhere and keep them for as long as I wanted, whether it's 12 months, 6 months, 14 months, etc. Then I'd sell the old phone. For a couple of reasons:

1. Ordering online, depending on your phone choice and where you buy it, may spare you the sales tax that AT&T would charge, or you might get it for less than retail.

2. Smartphones reasonably hold some value for a year or two, even Android phones. For example, if you'd purchased an HTC M8 when it first came out under AT&T Next 12, you'd have paid all sales tax on it (~$58), then $32.50 a month for 12 months, totaling $448 for the phone, which you then give back if you want a new phone. You'll then pay another $448 to use your next phone for a year. However, after a year, you could've sold that HTC M8, if in good condition, for $350-400. Put that money toward the new phone of similar pricing, and you're paying around $350 tops for your new phone instead of the $450 to AT&T. If you were considering AT&T next 18 or Next 24, it makes even more sense to buy your phone outright instead, because over 18 months, you'd be paying 75% of the value of the phone and then giving it back to AT&T. You could sell that phone for well above 25% of its original value after 18 months.

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Vlad The Inhaler

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Also, have you considered Straight Talk? If AT&T ever makes me give up my old plan I'm probably going to go that route (Including two premium phones every 2 years, we pay around $3876 every 24 months for "unlimited" data --throttled after 5GB each--and more than enough minutes and texts).

With Straight Talk you just pop an AT&T LTE sim card into the GSM-capable phone of your choice, and it uses AT&T towers. unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 3GB of data per line (throttled after 3GB). $45/month per line.

Since you'd be buying your phone outright anyway, this would essentially be lowering your service plan price. With a couple of $650 iPhones for you and your wife, it works out to around $3460 over 24 months, plus tax for the phones. From what I've read, the one thing you lose with Straight Talk is customer service, but I can't recall the last time I needed AT&T customer service for anything.

Straight talk loses favor when you have more lines since they are individual plans


4*45 = 180

4*15 +100 = 160




I'm sure there are some discounts I may be missing but you get the gist

yeah, $45 plus whatever the sim card costs (a dollar or two maybe). I could try it out anytime, but I guess I've just been content with what I have. Not being able to get the subsidized phones anymore (even with my old cheap plan) would give me motivation to try it.

It just occurred to me that I know you IRL.

Straight talk gets the same service as my current AT&T phones do. Had straight talk for over 3 years and never noticed a difference between it and my AT&T work phone. I'm currently using AT&T for personal because I've gone to 6 devices and straight talk was no longer cost effective.

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Bought a ligthly used phone off eBay from a seller with a good rep for half the price and just pay the monthly fee. No warranty on phone but I'm saving money.

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I bought a cheap phone off ebay last year and was offered a square trade insurance plan. If insurance/warranty is that important to you, look for a seller that offers it.