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The $27/month via AT&T Next doesn't lock you into a 2-year service contract.

Actually, the current AT&T Next offering isn't bad, they simply take the full price of the phone and divide by 20 or 24 months.

If you cancel service before the end of the period, you owe the balance of the price of the phone. It's essentially a 0% loan for the phone.

(BTW, the $27/month installment price means the Fire Phone's real price is ~$650)

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And the second important thing is that if you are on a 10 GB or higher Mobile Share Value plan, an off-contract smart phone costs you $15 instead of $40.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html

So, on Next, you pay $27 per month for the phone, but $25 less for the plan, so $2 more a month or a total of $48. And you need to pay sales tax on the phone, so that's another $50 or so. But the contract plan had to pay $199 up front. So you come out about $100 ahead over the life of the contract.

Thanks. Its the no-contract feature that I missed. That makes perfect sense and lines up with the way T-mobile prices everything right now.

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