AT&T confirms its plan to end two-year contracts on January 8

By David Curry December 30, 2015

att to end two year contracts january 2016 sign phone company carrier — Image used with permission by copyright holder

AT&T confirmed it will end two-year contracts on January 8, 2016 for its smartphone service plans. Currently, AT&T is the only major U.S. carrier offering contracts on its website. T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon all killed contracts recently. Internal documents published by Engadget initially revealed AT&T’s planned changes to coverage.

Updated on 12-30-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added confirmation from AT&T that it will end two-year contracts.

After January 8, AT&T will sell smartphones at full retail price or through installment plans like its current Next program. Customers will pay monthly for a data plan and unlimited talk and text, but won’t have an obligation to keep the data plan, as long as they’ve paid for the phone.

“With $0 down for well-qualified customers, the ability to upgrade early and down-payment options available with even lower monthly installments, our customers are overwhelmingly choosing AT&T Next,” AT&T told Re/code. “Starting January 8, AT&T Next will be the primary way to get a new smartphone at AT&T.”

No further details were revealed by AT&T.

The new policy should, hopefully, make AT&T’s data pricing more competitive when compared to T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint. The wireless carrier is the last of the major four to remove two-year contracts, and if rumors are correct, it has been looking into it for the best part of this year.

att-two-year-plans — Engadget

According to the leaked document, flip phones and feature phones, named “Quick Messaging Devices” by AT&T, will receive the same treatment. Neither the document nor AT&T mentioned contracts for business customers, meaning two-year contracts might still be around for businesses.

Wearables are another potential area where two-year contracts might remain, especially since AT&T has been heavily promoting two-year contracts for wearables like Samsung’s Gear S2.

Once two-year contracts for phones are gone, so will the lower subsidized prices of smartphones. Customers will have to pay the full-retail price of the smartphone over a certain amount of time. All four of the major carriers currently offer 24-month phone installment plan deals for smartphones, but that may soon be the only option available to customers.

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