More upgrades for everyone! Just a day after Verizon announced that it was shortening the period of time that a Verizon Edge customer must wait before upgrading from 6 months to 30 days, AT&T has revealed an early smartphone upgrade program that'll allow subscribers that are locked into a two-year contract to ditch that commitment and get a new phone through AT&T Next.

According to AT&T, any customer involved in a two-year contract on or before Jan. 18 is eligible to upgrade to a new device through AT&T Next after spending 6 months in their commitment. AT&T Next is the big blue operator's upgrade program that allows customers to pick up a new device for $0 down and then spread the full cost of that hardware out over a 20-month or 26-month period. AT&T Next subscribers have the option of trading in their existing unit and upgrading to a new unit after either 12 months or 18 months, depending on which version of the program they're signed up for.

It may seem kind of strange to see AT&T advertising the fact that they'll let contract customers out of their commitments after just 6 months, but by doing so, it's also getting its subscribers to upgrade again and join its new AT&T Next program that'll see them making installment payments for several months. As I said over the weekend when Verizon announced its Edge change, though, it's always good to see carriers giving their customers more options and opportunities to upgrade. Just be sure to weigh the benefits and costs of these upgrade plans before signing up for one.

Via AT&T