AT&T has announced a deal for existing customers who are eager to get their hands on a new smartphone. According to the carrier, postpaid customers who have been on contract as of January 18 of this year, can upgrade to a new smartphone immediately for $0 down through AT&T Next. It's a good deal, but it does come with a requirement that might not bode well for some customers - AT&T said customers will have to be at least six months into their current contract to be eligible.
When AT&T first launched the new program, it was only available to customers adding a new line of service, or customers due for an upgrade. Everyone else had to wait their turn until they were eligible to take part in the new program. Now the carrier is opening Next to other customers as a reward for their loyalty. In many ways though, this move is likely a ploy to keep customers from jumping ship to rival T-Mobile.
"We want our customers to have the best smartphones, on a high quality, blazing fast and reliable network, all at a great value," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. "It's a win-win - customers get the latest devices with $0 down on the nation's most reliable 4G LTE network with significant savings on their monthly bill when they sign-up for our Mobile Share Value plans."
Furthermore, if a user signs up to an AT&T 2 year contract plan after January 19, they will have the ability for a new device upgrade in 20 months time. Just recently, AT&T changed its device upgrade policy to 24 months. However, before that, it was actually 20 months.
What AT&T is doing here is quite similar to what Verizon has done with its Edge early-upgrade plan. The new plan allows customers to upgrade to a new smartphone just a month after purchasing a handset.
AT&T Next is a move into the world of unsubsidized pricing. Instead of paying for a smartphone in full, or locking you into a 2 year contract, Next puts the user on an installment plan. This plan allows users to pay the full cost of the phone in installments. In addition, customers on Next will have the option to upgrade to a new smartphone after 12 months, the remaining payments will be removed, and customers would just begin making new payments on another device.
