Smartphone installment plans

[O-dot]

I have AT&T as my carrier, and today my HTC One X chose to bite it. At this time, my only upgrade option is to enroll in their AT&T Next plan because my contract wasn't up until July. Otherwise, I guess I just buy a new phone for full retail. Any thoughts?

[TC]

if you move to t-mobile, apparently they will pay any early termination fees. can't vouch for their service. i use sprint myself, no complaints.

[darkness]

Phones are the one place where the optional repair/replacement coverage usually is actually worth it. Sure, you're stuck paying a few extra dollars a month. But if your phone bites it, it's cheaper than paying $700 for a new one. Granted that doesn't help you right now of course. I don't know about AT&T, but with Sprint they have something where you can get a refurb or used phone as a cheaper replacement than the new one.

[TC]

using square trade is cheaper and they have a cheaper deductible. i use them for all "extended warranty" stuff on all types of things (amps, tvs, phones, laptops, consoles, etc).

[O-dot]

Update:

My wife took the phone to the AT&T store and they deduced that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were "on" and thus responsible for draining all the battery power. (They were turned on whilst traveling in airplane mode earlier this week, it seems.) So it's back in action today, and now only needs to stay working for 74 days, when the contract expires.