Did At&t mess up and give me a free phone?

[Chelsmae7]

Okay so I had my original At&t phone but decide to use att next to upgrade. I returned the phone but and got a different one still using the next program. I did this at the end of September and also created a new line at the time because I got a free tablet with the phone. I noticed the other day that it said I was eligible for an upgrade with att next which I was sure wasn't right since technically I'm not eligible for many more months unless I pay the remainder of the phone off but sure enough I went through the upgrade process and ordered a new phone without any extra fees or an upgrade fee. I noticed that originally my account said the exact same thing as my fiances for the upgrade eligibility (upgrade now with att next or a date to upgrade normally). Now it shows his as the same but mine says I'm ineligible and on the att next 24 month plan. My bill seemed off since I returned the original phone and got the one I have now in September.. It didn't seem high enough for me to be paying for my phone monthly. Is it possible that att messed up and didn't put my current phone on the next plan but maybe entered it as if I got a phone using a normal upgrade? I did this at one of the stores that only does att stuff but isn't an actual att store. I ordered the upgrade online.

I just can't imagine they would send me an upgrade without me paying what is left on the phone I have or having me send it back before I receive the new one. Any one have any experience with this situation or any insight?

 

[mayconvert]

it depends on many factors.

I assume since you are on a Next plan you are on a newer data share plan.
If so, how many GB of data are you paying for? what phone did you get?

The reason I ask, if if you were "under contract"(subsidized your prior phone) and on a data share plan, the line bills at $40 a month.
If you do a Next plan, depending on how many GB of data your are paying for, it lowers the Line charge down to $15 or $25

10GB+ data share lines bill at $15 and anything under 10GB and the line bills at $25

either way, bother are cheaper than the $40 line charge under the standard 2 year agreement plan.

So say you got a phone that was $20 a month on a 10GB (or more) data plan. Since the line charge itself went down $15 (instead of the $40 'contract' line fee), and you are paying $20 a month for the phone, your bill would have actually went down $5 per month even though you got a new phone.

Say you have a 4GB data share, the line fee Still went down $15 per month ($25 line fee instead of $40 for 'contract' line fee)
That $20 per month phone is now only costing you $5 per month since the line fee went down $15 per month and you added a phone charge of $20 per month.

Hope this helps. Line fee charges can be confusing.
Standard 2 year contract lines: $40 per month
10GB or more makes line fee: $15 per month
Less than 10GB: $25 line fee

(none of those factor in the Talk and Text part, nor taxes/discounts)

 

[mayconvert]

Thought I would also ad in Next plans themselves.

Next 12
Next 18
Next 24

those are the 3 choices, of course the longer you can wait, the lower the monthly charge for the phone.

Next 12 means that you can "upgrade" after 12 payments have been made on the phone. BUT. you must trade in old device to get a new one.
On Next 12, the phone pays off on month 20 and you are allowed to keep it.

Next 18 = upgrade on month 18, pays off after 24 payments.
Next 24 = upgrade on month 24, pays off after 30 payments.

If you pay off a phone, which you can do at any time, you get to Keep the $15 line charge, which usually means a lower bill in general.
Same with "bring your own device" If you buy a phone on Craigslist and use it instead of upgrading or using a Next plan, you also get the $15 line charge, and could be cheaper than what you are currently paying.

Verizon Edge plans are somewhat the same, but different. I can explain those to anyone that wants as well.