For those that haven’t noticed, AT&T is making a big push to move some refurbished devices this month. With the new big boys due out, popular phones like the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S series are building up in the store rooms, especially in the refurbished, or Certified Pre-Owned, variants. To help clear this issue, AT&T is offering a $100 bill credit when you purchase said CPO devices on the AT&T Next program.
While this isn’t a move we recommend, if you have a beat up oldie that needs to be replaced for a minimal amount out of pocket, this isn’t the worst you could do. For example, the iPhone 6 will set you back $550 on the Next program, (or about $100 off of full retail) which works out to a payment of $18.42 a month added to your cell bill. You really don’t see the added benefits of the Next program unless you upgrade quickly, which requires upgrading to the Next 12 plan, which brings the cost up to $27.63 a month for the 16GB model or $36.13 for the 128GB model.
The two year cost on this deal, even with the $100 bill credit still comes out to a whopping $1800 for the 16GB on the 30 month Next program or just over $2400 for the 128GB iPhone 6 on the Next 12 program. While comparing this to their GoPhone offering and purchasing a brand new unlocked iPhone 6 16GB and going on the 1.5GB plan, your 2 year cost comes in under $1800 and you are not tied to a contractual agreement with your device. You also have the ability to take that device to any GSM MVNO that you wish during that time that could increase your savings.
The $100 bill credit offer is a great deal for anyone looking to grab a decent price on a refurbished device. Just remember, some refurbished devices may have been returned with months of use and not had parts replaced that didn’t have issues. Key components may have months of wear, like the battery, digitizer and camera. Even with the stringent tests that the CPO devices go through, there’s still a decent chance that $100-200 savings will end up costing you about the same in repair bills down the road. Of course, if you get lucky, you might just end up with a great deal on a great handset.
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