Do you really, really wish that you had an iPhone 6s for the summer? AT&T has some good news for you – you can get one for free, just by signing up for DIRECTV. But before doing that I recommend that you educate yourself to the correct satellite provider and read our DISH vs DIRECTV comparison reviews.
In case you haven’t been following AT&T’s business deals closely (we don’t blame you), you may not know that AT&T has bought DIRECTV and has been working hard to get customers to sign up for its TV content with a variety of deals. This latest deal has two parts, and they’re both very impressive at first glance: Sign up and you get a free iPhone 6s, as well as being able to purchase 5 more iPhones from AT&T at 50% off.
Sounds pretty good, right – especially if you already use AT&T? But you may be wondering where the catch is at…and there is a catch or two. First, the deal does end on June 30th, so you don’t have much time to catch up and get your free iPhone. Second, AT&T’s definition of the word “free” is a little dubious, because this is more of a refund than a free product. You still have to buy the iPhone yourself, with your own money. When you do this and sign up for DIRECTV, AT&T will issue you 30 monthly bill credits that add up to the price of the iPhone.
Yes, this is a bit problematic. You have to have the cash on hand for the new iPhone if you want one, and you have to buy (and get your money’s worth) DIRECTV for two and half years. That’s a long time to eventually get paid off for buying an iPhone, and you’ll never see any cash out of the deal. Actually, since you have to pay for DIRECTV month by month – the credits cannot cover the entire bill – you’ll have actually lost a lot of cash by the end of the deal.
However, we would like to point out that the second half of the offering is much more interesting, at least if you like saving money. For example, if you want to upgrade the whole family’s iPhones, then just three purchases means that one of those iPhones is free, even without the weird monthly bill credits. We recommend this deal for anyone who wants to upgrade multiple phones at the same time.
Another thing to keep in mind: the iPhone 7 is expected to be announced and released later this year. That means if you get an iPhone 6s now, you’ll be behind the current iPhone trend. Sometimes people really don’t care about this, but sometimes it’s an important factor in decision making, so it’s worth mentioning.
Of course, we haven’t even discussed if DIRECTV is worth it or not: Cable cord cutters and video streamers have already made up their minds on that point. If you’re the sort of person who still buys cable or satellite TV, the synergy between DIRECTV and AT&T is worth investigating. While prices vary the baseline DIRECTV package sells for around $50 per month. There are some two-year deals to lock in your starting price as well, which can help you save money after the first year.
