Early upgrade plans: Best of the worst

[HeyCori]

A nice look at why you should probably avoid all these plans.

Jump, Edge, or Next: which mobile carrier's early upgrade plan screws you the least? | The Verge

 

[Narse77]

The AT&T Next is terrible. I am a AT&T customer and have been for about 14 years but I will never go to that plan as it is now. I upgrade a lot but would rather sell my old phone and use the upgrades I have on the four lines in my plan.

 

[Kebero]

For some, it may be worth it. For others, not so much. What bothers me about most of the detractors are the comments about "paying twice." I think most people forget that AT&T always has the same rate plan, regardless of BYOD, on contract or full retail.

 

[GoodThings2Life]

For some, it may be worth it. For others, not so much. What bothers me about most of the detractors are the comments about "paying twice." I think most people forget that AT&T always has the same rate plan, regardless of BYOD, on contract or full retail.

The Verge article sums it up nicely... there is no financially viable path to justify the upgrade plan. When a full-price device is $650 or less, there's no path that justifies the $2400+ it takes to get that cheaper upgrade.

 

[Kebero]

The Verge article sums it up nicely... there is no financially viable path to justify the upgrade plan. When a full-price device is $650 or less, there's no path that justifies the $2400+ it takes to get that cheaper upgrade.

If you pay full retail on AT&T, you do NOT get a discounted plan rate, so how, exactly are you spending more, other than not having a phone you can try to sell for some unknown value on eBay?

 

[GoodThings2Life]

If you pay full retail on AT&T, you do NOT get a discounted plan rate, so how, exactly are you spending more, other than not having a phone you can try to sell for some unknown value on eBay?

I'm not going to rewrite what Verge has already explained so clearly.

 

[Kebero]

I'm not going to rewrite what Verge has already explained so clearly.

I read the article, as well as the others. It doesn't change the fact they ignore that T-Mo is the ONLY major carrier that has a different pricing tier for non-subsidized phones. IOW, with AT&T or VZW, you are "paying twice" over two years, UNLESS your device is subsidized.

The only real difference here is that you may not wind up with a device to sell on the used market.

 

[Kebero]

Just some counterpoint:

Subsidies, contracts and how the upgrade plans of T-Mobile JUMP!, AT&T Next and Verizon Edge add up