ATT Next Savings?

After what cousintim said, here is an updated chart. Verdict? 

10GB or more: ATT Next Plan

6GB or less: 2 Year contract 

*Considering you plan on keeping the phone for 2 years and not giving it back

An informative chart but the costs are based on a 10GB data plan, which assumes a family or way-above-normal data usage.  A smaller data plan raises the Next plan's monthly smartphone access charge by $10/month, which pretty much negates any savings.

Eligibility for a corporate discount would tilt the decision to the 2-year contract. 

Yes, youre correct. You have to spend a little extra (anything more than 6GB) to get the savings in which your access charge goes from $25 to $15. Otherwise, youre savings are indeed negated on anything less than 6GB. 

Here's the new chart showing the costs if you were to have a 2GB plan. You would lose $50 over 2 years if you were to use Next; which isn't as bad considering you are now not on a contract. 

Does the NEXT program give any savings towards customers who still have the unlimited data plan?

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@jtrue28 wrote:

Does the NEXT program give any savings towards customers who still have the unlimited data plan?

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No. If you are not on the mobile share plan, it will be cheaper to get the phone via the "traditional" 2 year subsidized contract price. 

No, having unlimited data is an even $30 versus the ATT Next plan which starts out at $20 for 300MB to 6GB for $80 plus $25 for access charge and 10GB for $100 to $50GB for $375 plus $15 for access charge. 

It is ultimately up to you to decide whether it is best for you (depending on how much data you use and how much you use your minutes considering $79.99 for 700 minutes with rollover, mobile to mobile, free nights/weekends, and holidays). 

We have a corporate discount, so I'm not signing up for any sort of "Share" plan.  They will have to pry the unlimited data out of my dead hands.

$30 for unlimited data sounds like a deal to me.  Good grief...the prices they are charging for 10GB.  No way.

Best option I would say is to stick with the unlimited plan. 

Now it's time to decide whether to go to the Next plan or a 2 year contract on the new iPhone 6.

Have a family plan with 15 gb data and a corporate discount.  Two (out of 5) of us are upgrading.  (We either wear out or lose a phone!)  The two of us have old 4S iPhones.

We have been with AT&T for years and don't plan to hop carriers in the next two years -- and we don't upgrade.  

The question is if you're not going to upgrade in two years' time, is the 2 year contract the better deal even when paying the "activation" fee?

Thank you.

Hi Shorecomber,

The true savings come not from the activation fee but from your access charge. According to the AT&T website when you pick a dataplan, it mentions that any 2 year contract before 02/09/2014 will receive a $25 discount from the $40 access charge. While any data plan larger than 10GB through a Next Plan will give you a $15 access charge.

Not knowing your corporate discount and going soley on ATT rates, going on the ATT Next Plan is simply the better option. Here is the breakdown of overall cost over 2 years for both plans: 

Here is the breakdown for your monthly for ATT Next: 

$130 (15GB) + $15 * 5 (access charge for 5 lines) + 27.09 * 2 (2 new iPhone 6 on 24 installment period) 

Here is the breakdown for your monthly for 2 Year Contract:

$130 (15GB) + $40 * 5 (acess charge for 5 lines) 

As you can see, the difference in access charges saves you approximately $70 a month or better yet, just a little over $2,000 in 2 years.