Upgrading question Next/2-Year Contract

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@heeyylyla wrote:

Are they doing away with the 2-year contract free upgrades? I have two lines on my plan that should be due for their free upgrades in a month or so, but whenever I go to "check upgrade eligibility', it just tells me that I qualify for the AT&T Next plan upgrade (which I absolutely refuse to do).

 

So...when those two lines are up, are they just out of luck with the old upgrading system?

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As of right now, AT&T still has contract subsidized phones.  Depending upon your phone plan, you may see a bill increase of up to $25/month to cover that contract subsidy, but you can still get phones at a discount with a 2 year contract.

AT&T is trying to convince people to move away from the subsidy by offering a discount of up to $25/month (per phone) if you purchase an off-contract (full price) phone.  You can do that using AT&T NEXT, or by making the full price purchase yourself.  Note that with some of the inexpensive phones, it is far cheaper to buy a phone outright than to get it "free" with a contract due to the discount to the monthly bill for being "off contract".

Devon0318 here is biased.

Run your own numbers. For many situations AT&T Next is a fantastic option, but of course not always.

Your plan pricing is going to play a very large part into that.

-Alex

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@Devon0318 wrote:
Don't do the Next program, They over charge you for EVERYTHING.

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the next program charges you the exact retail price of the device plus tax, not a penny more. did you really think a smartphone retail was .01 cents or 199.00?

Next actually saved me money each month. Got an s3 mini for 239 with a payment of 9 something each month. Monthly payment was $45 plus the $9 so bill was $54 plus tax/fees.

with a two year subsidy I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get the $15 discount so the plan would have been $60 plus tax/fees. Depends on how expensive of a phone you get.

Walmart wireless will stop offering the 2-year contract option on 28 May for AT&T.  Everyone else will follow a few days later.  It's gone.  Options after that will be NEXT or pay full retail for the phone.  Not sure how this will effect basic phones that previously were not eligible for the NEXT program, or if accounts still on the legacy nation/family plans will be forced to switch to a mobile share plan (That was the rumor many moons ago).

John

Your information is a little wrong but mostly right.

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/05/19/att-is-moving-away-from-2-year-contracts-starting-june-1/

You can still get a 2 year contract just has to be DFF which means waiting on the phone to get to you.

Can you get upgrade if you are not eligible