It’s too horrible... and I was thinking it was fake tan Snookie. Recommended.

I’d like to nominate my Asian genetics.

I’d like to nominate my Asian genetics.

At least now we know what happens when you take the blue and red pills together.

No kidding. Where’s my terabyte download speeds?

I feel like we’re talking in circles, both bringing up accurate facts but somehow missing the point. Either way, you haven’t said anything incorrect. I must not be explaining myself correctly.

Good morning BV. The etf is replaced by the hardware costs. They’re not added together. It’s like parts and labor pripricing you’d find anywhere but the cell phone store previously.

The plan makes a huge difference, yes. Sorry, I thought I mentioned that earlier. Too many sub-threads. There are many times when next and a newer plan works out better compared to... Less tenured options. Yours isn’t one of them. That plan was made with a flip phone in mind. You can understand why they’d want to move…

You’re savvier than a lot of phone buyers, but the end effect is the same. Consider keeping the old phone one day longer than the Next agreement. Get a new phone without trading the old one back. Sell it after that. You’ll see you’ll have $200 or whatever in your pocket and the new phone. You’ll only be out the taxes…

TL;DR: You always paid full price for the phone. That’s why there were early termination fees.

It’s OK if they’re parents.

By the summary above, they’re the last ones to bury the subsidized contracts. Are you suggesting to move to a carrier that ditched the option sooner? Remember, all they’re doing is not offering something anymore. It’s like a steak restaurant going vegan. The next time you have a choice you can either not choose them…

You’re absolutely correct! NEXT also made sense if you used to do early upgrades a lot. The old plans weren’t that great unless you had unlimited data and used tons. If that’s the case, consider that every time you used more than an equivalent priced plan, you’re saving money. They have no obligation to offer the same…

You’re on an old plan or you’re ignoring that you’re paying for the plan plus an interest free phone. I’m guessing the first option.

When I started back in 2011, it was 450 minutes $39.99, Unlimited text, one person $20, 2GB data, $25, so $84.99 a month whether you were or weren’t on contract.
Or look at the current option of unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB, $55 a month. You either add the price of the phone payments on top of that, $15…

It’s worth mentioning that if you go to a prepaid carrier, you can get even cheaper monthly rates as your interactions with them will be online or through voice menus. You may not find a store or office anywhere. Live people cost extra. Just find out who’s signal they’re based off of. If you want to leave them or have…

The older plans never dropped in price when your contract was up. That’s a trait of newer plans.

Basically, yes. The phones have always been “financed” and why there were two year contracts. Since it’s AT&T, we’ll go with that. 2GB a month data, unlimited talk and text is $55 if you have the phone and $95 if you get it on the 2 year contract. That’s not including the $199 plus tax, activation and what not.

You can really tell which commenters didn’t bother reading the article.

Hurrah.

On the old plans your subsidized phone price was built into your monthly cost as well. When your two years were up you were still paying for that phone! On new plans your monthly is cheaper if the phone is paid off or you bought it upfront. That’s what they’ve done in return.