In 2013, T-Mobile began their re-branding as the “Un-Carrier”. They abolished contracts in favor of customer-friendly deals to improve their market share. AT&T and Verizon followed suit soon after, and the new standard became financing devices over a two or three year agreement. Locked-in contracts and termination fees are gone! Or, are they?
Since the end of two-year “contracts”, carriers have gotten creative to incentivize and retain customers without the appearance of being locked into a financial obligation. Gone are the early termination fees, which is great, but now consumers are faced with a new challenge: switch carriers, and you’ll be hit with the remaining balance of your phones on every line.
In hindsight, breaking out of a phone financing agreement can be significantly more money than the “Early Termination Fees” of the old contracts, depending on your device.
So, are you stuck? Well, maybe not entirely. AT&T is coming to the rescue with Switch and Save. This deal can get you up to $800 per line to offset paying off your phone’s outstanding balance, and it’s available now.
What to Know About AT&T Switch and Save
Interested in Switch and Save? Here is what you’ll need to be able to get the deal.
- Your account with your current carrier must be over 120 days old.
- You must have paid at least four of your payments on your phone’s installment plan.
- You can then either purchase a new device from AT&T (via installments or at full price), or bring your own phone (even the one you just paid off).
- Finally, you must port your numbers in from an eligible carrier (some exclusions apply, like certain prepaid services, landline, or AT&T-owned carriers like Cricket).
Note, this is up to $800 per line. Say you owe $540 on an iPhone 15 financing agreement. You will be eligible for a $540 rebate card on that line to pay it off. Again, this is on up to ten lines for your account, putting a huge $8000 potential credit on the table for a big account making the switch. Even T-Mobile’s latest Carrier Freedom terms limits you to a maximum of 4 lines.
Rebate cards are delivered within 8-10 weeks after you upload a bill to AT&T’s switch and save site. The pdf of the bill is used to verify the amounts for the rebate cards on the lines.
AT&T may charge back the value of the reward card if you cancel or go non-pay suspend within 6 months of activation, so be aware of that too.
Even T-Mobile’s Reaction Isn’t Competing
T-Mobile’s recent upgrade to their “Carrier Freedom” offer gives the same $800 per line of up to 4 lines on an account. AT&T’s offer is good for up to ten lines. This blows T-Mobile’s four line max on Carrier Freedom out of the water, and that’s after they just increased it from 2 lines. There is up to $8000 of payoff on the table for ten lines moving to AT&T from a single account.
Also worth noting that T-Mobile requires trade-in in order to take advantage of Carrier Freedom. AT&T’s Switch and Save does not.
Clearly, AT&T is really fighting hard to steal customers from the competition. Switch and Save doesn’t even require you to finance a new device: T-Mobile will lock you into a new financing agreement while AT&T allows you to finance, buy outright, or even use your own unlocked, compatible device. You are given more flexibility with AT&T’s Switch and Save.
These device financing agreements are essentially early termination fees in a new name. Carriers are basically just paying each other off every time customers switch with these rebate cards. When the next John Legere for wireless stands up, perhaps we’ll see a future with no locked-in financing agreements.
For now, get your rebate card, keep your phone if you can, and get the service that makes the most sense for you. AT&T beats T-Mobile this round in qualifying lines and device flexibility. T-Mobile has stepped it up, but clearly not enough, according to AT&T.
You can find all about Switch and Save over on AT&T’s website using the button below.
