Next Up question

Next up charges you a fee every month to give you the privilege (cough) of upgrading early when you have paid. At least 50% of your phone off.

If you have upgraded with a promotion, you have to stick out the full 36 months in order to get all of your credits, which does indeed make having next up a bad deal.

For example, if you purchase an $800 phone that is free with credits of $22.22 every month for 36 months and at 50%, you've paid off $400 and still owe $400. You decide you want to upgrade to the next phone.   Keep in mind AT&t would pay you another $400 to keep the phone and keep paying on it for the rest of the 18 months.

You are required to return the phone and the only credit you get is the remaining $400 you owe on it and you start a new installment at the regular installment payment rate. Let's say the new phone cost $800 as well.  So now you've engaged in a new installment loan for 36 months, no credits against that $800 because you're not eligible for a promotional trade-in when your previous phone was not paid off.

You can cancel next up at any time. We recommend that you read your bill after making any changes and on a regular basis thereafter to make sure that you are not paying for something you don't want, and are paying for things you do.

Remove Next Up:

Sign into your myAT&T account. Use the mobile app. Go to the account overview and select See my bill. Select Manage installment plan under Billing & payment options. Select Learn about or cancel Next Up.

Well my plan was to use the next up at the halfway point of this phone, trade it in and buy my next one outright. That wouldn't be possible would it?

Well my plan was to use the next up at the halfway point of this phone, trade it in and buy my next one outright. That wouldn't be possible would it?

You could upgrade at the halfway point and return your old phone to AT&t to get the remainder of your installments waived. It is not a trade-in. It is a return to AT&t in excellent working condition.

The installment on that phone stops, but so do any credits that you were supposed to get in the following 18 months. So as in my example above you were supposed to get $800 in credits. Credits. You're only getting 400. But you also don't have to pay off the rest of the phone so it's a wash.

Then you can purchase a new phone on installments at the regular cost, no deal or trade in .

AT&t will probably force you to take a new installment. But you can pay off that installment 14 days after your purchase.

Okay so then that would be what I want. I was thinking that since I'm on a promo, that voided the next up program. 

Thank you!

Not if your paying the fee.  

Yeah, I'll end up paying 55 more dollars over the next 11 months. But to me that's worth it to be able to switch to a the new Google phone I want withthout having to wait another year and a half or paying off the rest of this phone.