3 ms·
I'm running the AT&T plan for my family right now and the math worked out such that we would pay almost the exact same amount whether we bought a new iPhone up
by jschmitz28 11y ago
I'm running the AT&T plan for my family right now and the math worked out such that we would pay almost the exact same amount whether we bought a new iPhone up front or bought it subsidized with a 2 year contract (because of the monthly price difference between Bring Your Own Phone and a subsidized phone).
So I'm not seeing how this is much different for the customer, except that it's more straightforward to understand the pricing model (buy phone up front vs. paying in monthly installments).
- georgehotelling 11y agoWhat's the difference on month 25 if you don't upgrade? That's always been annoying to me about contract prices: your phone bill didn't go down when your contract was up and presumably your phone was paid off.
- ceejayoz 11y agoAT&T's "Next" plans turn the phone into a separate charge, payable across 18-24 payments. Once paid, the charge goes away and you're just paying for service. IIRC, they were pressured into this by T-Mobile's offering, and Verizon now offers something similar for the same reasons.
- jschmitz28 11y agoThis was the nasty part for me. I had to explicitly contact AT&T customer service and ask them to change my account from a contract plan to a Bring Your Own Phone plan once the contract expired in order to bring the bill down on month 25. I figured most customers wouldn't notice to take advantage of this which is why I think a clearer separation between phone payments and cell service payments is a good thing.