Is there a downside to paying of a Next plan early?

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@pzjagd wrote:

I could pay off my phone now to cut my bill by $20/month. Will I  lose the $15 dollar monthy discount? Will I "own" the phone and not have to trade it in if I buy a new phone? Any reason not to pay it off early?

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The only downside I see to paying off early is that you have to give AT&T all the money now.  Other than that, it's no different than continuing to make the monthly payments.  Some would say that you could invest the money now and even at 3-5% retun, that's 3-5% more you will have at the end of the agreement time than if you give it all to AT&T now.  With the amount being so small, it's probably not even worth the hassle though.