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Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1
- Thread starter brotkasten
- Start date
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
It requires a 2 year contract, so not a great deal for everyone that's not already on contract with at&t. Also, if it's the 64gb version you can get decent pricing on eBay without contract.
I went with white this time.
That being said, I figure I will likely get a 3rd party shell for it anyways.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
Is Microsoft not going to make a comment about updates on their unlocked phones sold by them online or in store? Shouldn't that be a big selling point the same way Google markets the nexus phones on their website?
maximum360
Member
Looks like it's already OOS.
RipTheJacker
Member
I wonder if the MS site will discount or lower prices to match Amazon etc? I pre ordered the moment it went live in oct so have the good old £529 price.
Just to confirm, I shouldn't have any problems with an unlocked XL with AT&T, right?
NeOak
Member
None
maximum360
Member
My order just went through. Used education discount for 10% off and fatwallet for an additional 5% off.
Speedy Blue Dude
Banned
I don't see an option to preorder the regular 950... Did I miss Preorders or have they not went live yet?
maximum360
Member
I ordered the XL. The rumor is that AT&T might be given an exclusivity window to offer the 950. I have no idea if that's the case or not.
AWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I'm so happy I could cry! NO ONE REMIND ME THAT THERE'S NO BOFA APP!
nillapuddin
Member
Fuck, just found out my contract is up in April not December (ATT)
Next 24 (30 months)
$19.97
Next 18 (24 months)
$24.96
Next 12 (20 months)
$29.95
Two-Year Commit
$149.99
I feel like a fucking idiot. No matter how many times this is explained to me I still dont get it.
I dont understand the incentive in paying over 5 times the contract cost if you arent going anywhere, there must be something Im missing.
Next 24 (30 months)
$19.97
Next 18 (24 months)
$24.96
Next 12 (20 months)
$29.95
Two-Year Commit
$149.99
I feel like a fucking idiot. No matter how many times this is explained to me I still dont get it.
I dont understand the incentive in paying over 5 times the contract cost if you arent going anywhere, there must be something Im missing.
juliushandle
Member
You pay Next price on top of the $15 fee per smartphone. With a 2 yr contract the fee is $40 a month.
nillapuddin
Member
But at 2 years thats the same price
Phone = $15
Next = $25
----------------
Total=$40 Monthly
vs.
Contract = $40 Monthly
Phone = $150 (One time)
Again, I feel really dumb harping on this, I just dont get it.
LostMyNarbles
Member
If you're on an older AT&T plan (Not the new Mobile Share Plans) there's no reason to go with AT&T NEXT. On the MSP you're given a $15/$25 discount if you go the NEXT route which is cheaper than the contract plans.
Those fees are only for the new Mobile Share plans. If he's on an older AT&T plan then there's no reason to go NEXT.
Steelyuhas
Member
Next is an...awful deal, no?
LostMyNarbles
Member
After 24 months the NEXT option costs $975 which includes the $15 upgrade fee. The contract option costs $1,155 which is the $40 a month plus the cost of the phone and a $45 upgrade fee. Although with the AT&T NEXT option you won't be on a 24 month cycle since the base plan is 30 months.
nillapuddin
Member
Im struggling to find the positives...
So $180 less, but for what benefits?
If you break your phone is there a difference?
Can you leave at any time?
LostMyNarbles
Member
Most notably is the fact that all of AT&T's promotions or deals center around AT&T NEXT and not contracts. For instance (And I know this isn't Windows Phone) those $200 iPhone trade up promotions used to be for contracts but now they're AT&T NEXT only. Additionally Target/Best Buy and probably other retailers will be offering insane Giftcard deals for Black Friday and they all only work with AT&T NEXT. Those savings just add up to making it cheaper than a contract.
You also aren't in a contract anymore so if you just randomly want to leave the carrier you can pay the phone off and do that.
n64coder
Member
You're not locked into a contract.
You don't have to upgrade your phone every 24 months or leave money on the table.
You have a better feel for the true cost of the phone.
You can save money by holding onto an existing phone for a longer period before upgrading.
Those are some of the benefits that I can think of.
Unless things have changed in the last year, AT&T Next is perfectly fine as long as you're OK with the off-contract price they're charging in the first place.
AT&T Next is simply a no-interest installment plan. You're paying the exact same amount over time as you'd pay up front. You can optionally pay it off entirely whenever you want if you want to own the device outright and sell it yourself. Or you can wait the 12/18 months and just trade in the device, potentially getting more value out of it than you could if you sold it after the same amount of time.
Also, by doing AT&T Next instead of a 2-year contract, you're getting a major discount on the line cost making it $15/month instead of $40/month. Ed Bott did the math here a year ago:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-does-an-iphone-6-really-cost-hint-its-way-more-than-199/
AT&T Next is simply a no-interest installment plan. You're paying the exact same amount over time as you'd pay up front. You can optionally pay it off entirely whenever you want if you want to own the device outright and sell it yourself. Or you can wait the 12/18 months and just trade in the device, potentially getting more value out of it than you could if you sold it after the same amount of time.
Also, by doing AT&T Next instead of a 2-year contract, you're getting a major discount on the line cost making it $15/month instead of $40/month. Ed Bott did the math here a year ago:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-does-an-iphone-6-really-cost-hint-its-way-more-than-199/
Poindexter
Member
Wait, so the 950 XL isn't available from ATT? Only at the MS store?
7echnicolor
Member
So excited for the new phones. Will there be an OT for them?
NeOak
Member
Yup
If you have a .edu email address, you can use the 10% off educational discount.
Poindexter
Member
that is nice. but man I wanted to jump on that Surface deal that ATT has.
Poindexter
Member
If you have the cash, yes.
NeOak
Member
What are you paying? Check if they haven't lowered rates on the same plan btw!
I pay $25 for 2GB shared w/rollover
$40 per line. minus$15 per line because it's out of contract.
So really $25 per line + $25 for 2GB data.
and ~$10 in taxes
$80/month for two phone approx.
if I get a 950 it will be a used one a few months down the line I think.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
2gb shared? Aww hell naw
Unlimited talk and text w/2.5 highspeed LTE and unlimited throttled after that $35/mo via Cricket.
This, or MetroPCS has a $40 plan with 3gb and unlimited music streaming if T-Mobile is good in your area.
LostMyNarbles
Member
I'm on my parents plan with AT&T. Currently paying $50 a month for Unlimited Talk/Text and 300Mb's of data with subsidized contract upgrades. Once my contract runs out in May I'm sprinting towards my own plan with either MetroPCS or Cricket.
Yeah we're on a plan like that too. Those older plans don't get any discounts if you go contract-free so if you don't mind going into a two-year contract you may as well use it.
NeOak
Member
nillapuddin
Member
fuck my life man
so if I went NEXT
Id get $50 off of the phones, but the NEXT payments would be $50
What if I really want 950s for the GF and I, but want to bail in April, Id have to pay the remainder of the full retail of the phone to own it, I cant just give it back to them (assuming great condition) and we just walk our separate ways?
Ouch ouch ouch D:
God damn
Seriously. Can I even do better?
It's 2 lines for $80, and I have no issues with data.
I definitely want to know if I can!!
LostMyNarbles
Member
Actually you'd get $30 off the phone lines. The AT&T NEXT/No Contract discount is $15 per line for plans under 15GB's or $25 per line for plans 15GB's or over.
fuck my life man
so if I went NEXT
Id get $50 off of the phones, but the NEXT payments would be $50
What if I really want 950s for the GF and I, but want to bail in April, Id have to pay the remainder of the full retail of the phone to own it, I cant just give it back to them (assuming great condition) and we just walk our separate ways?
Running the numbers in my head if we took your current plan but you went AT&T NEXT with Lumia 950's instead you'd pay $20 more over the course of 30 months and you'd also have to wait 6 months longer to upgrade.
If those numbers add up you pay $85 for two lines with (I assume) Unlimited Talk/Text and 2GB of shared data. You can do better depending if you care about switching carriers.
Cricket Wireless (Owned by AT&T) Offers Two Lines for $70 with taxes and fees included. That includes unlimited Talk/Text and each line gets 2.5GB's of high-speed data after of which you're throttled to unlimited data at 128Kbps speed. The downsides to Cricket are that their CS is pretty crappy and their data speeds are limited to 8Mbps (Which is still fine for most uses).
MetroPCS (Owned by T-Mobile) Offers the same Two Lines at $70 with taxes and fees included. They give unlimited Talk/Text and each line gets 2GB's of data after which you get throttled to unlimited low-speed data. MetroPCS has lower data than Cricket, but they also offer T-Mobile's Music Freedom so you can stream music on your phone without it going towards your data usage.
NeOak
Member
fuck my life man
so if I went NEXT
Id get $50 off of the phones, but the NEXT payments would be $50
What if I really want 950s for the GF and I, but want to bail in April, Id have to pay the remainder of the full retail of the phone to own it, I cant just give it back to them (assuming great condition) and we just walk our separate ways?
Is T-Mobile an option? They pay the ETFs.
I don't know. Maybe.
No, that promo plan has $15 smartphones with NEXT. It was available for a limited time only.
Don't want tmobile even for free. Know enough people on it and I can't even hear them on the phone. what's the point?? Haha
I actually only pay $80 because of EDU discount.
I would consider cricket. Its not a ton of money, but $100/yr is $100.
Thanks!
LostMyNarbles
Member
What promotion do you mean? The current discounts give either $15 lines or $25 lines depending on your data package.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
It's been a long time since we've had to talk contracts and upgrades. A long time.
brotkasten
Member
It's just a shame that only AT&T is offering it, while Verizon and T-Mobile already announced that they're going to offer the Priv in the future.
Longpress in the text field, select right arrow in the menu that pops up, select insert picture/video.
n64coder
Member
Agreed but their email support is generally very excellent. I think it's second level people.
If they don't I may not be coming back to this device.