Im on the next plan

If you are on a NEXT agreement that required you to pay a deposit on the phone, then the deposti went towards the purchase price of your phone, and your monthly payments were reduced over the amount you would have paid without a deposit.  In the end, you still pay the same amount for the phone (unless you upgrade early, in which case you pay more for your phone but that is a cost of having poor credit).   Since teh deposit reduced teh monthly payments on your phone, that money is tied to the phone itself, and is more of a down payment than a deposit, which means you will not get it back, and it is a part of the cost of your phone.  If your account is handled in good status for the entire lif eof the NEXT agreement, it reduces the likelihood that you will have to use the down payment method on future phone purchases (unless you still have extremely poor credit).