AT&T Will Stop Offering 2-Year Phone Contracts On January 8th

Service contracts have traditionally been the single-most preferred mode of mobile phone ownership in the USA ever since the introduction of mobile telephony in the country.

According to internal documents obtained by Engadget, AT&T appears rady to ditch its two-year subsidized handset plans, making early-upgrade or no-commitment plans the only purchase options for new and existing customers starting January 8, 2016.

According to newly leaked documents, AT&T is doing away with two-year contracts early next month, moving subscribers over to its’ AT&T Next installment plan or requiring them to pay the price of the phone upfront. This includes all phones, not just smartphones. This also applies to AT&T employees with a plan with the company.

T-Mobile was the first major US carrier to abandon traditional wireless contracts in 2013, and Verizon followed suit in August 2015 by ending its two-year contract offer as well.

There is an indication that corporate accounts might be able to retain their two-year subscriptions, but everyone else is going to have to get used to a contract-less future.

But it’s not only wireless carriers that have moved to an installment model.

The contract approach gave customers a built-in incentive to upgrade their phones every couple of years, while the new pricing allows customers to save money by keeping their phones a bit longer, since their bills actually go down once they are done paying off the phone price installments.

AT&T did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.