Individual Plans Not As Good As Family Plans

jstar002 · 09:25 PM

Anyone else notice that individual plans are sucky whereas w/family plans it gets cheaper if you break it down by the number of lines?

What about some of us who don't want families ever and aren't close or even keep in contact with our immediate families? It seems like Verizon's plans are all for families... not everyone is into the whole "family" thing.... It seems like a bias for people who are not family oriented and don't want one.

mantan · Dec 16, 2012, 09:35 PM

Multiple user accounts bring in more money than singer user accounts. Plus when there is a multiple user account you often have varying contract dates which can make the customers a lot more 'sticky' than single contract accounts.

Giving a discount/incentive for those type of accounts is just smart business.

jstar002 · Dec 16, 2012, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mantan

Multiple user accounts bring in more money than singer user accounts. Plus when there is a multiple user account you often have varying contract dates which can make the customers a lot more 'sticky' than single contract accounts.

Giving a discount/incentive for those type of accounts is just smart business.

True but some carriers don't even really have any plans that make sense for individuals like Verizon for example; I think all their plans are family type deals.

darster · Dec 16, 2012, 09:45 PM

This is where T Mobile will make a killing WHEN it gets it LTE up and running nationwide. Pay full price for your phone and get a much better deal. Verizon and AT&T just screw people.

jstar002 · Dec 16, 2012, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darster

This is where T Mobile will make a killing WHEN it gets it LTE up and running nationwide. Pay full price for your phone and get a much better deal. Verizon and AT&T just screw people.

Hopefully Tmobile's LTE will be as fast as ATT and Verizon... Or will it be slower?

wordoflife · Dec 16, 2012, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

Hopefully Tmobile's LTE will be as fast as ATT and Verizon... Or will it be slower?

LTE is LTE so it depends on the area and all of that. It could be both faster or slower. But it shouldn't be a drastic amount. Things will still load relatively fast and at the same rate.

Granted, T-Mobile LTE isn't going up for a while...

SnowLeopard OSX · Dec 17, 2012, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

Anyone else notice that individual plans are sucky whereas w/family plans it gets cheaper if you break it down by the number of lines?

What about some of us who don't want families ever and aren't close or even keep in contact with our immediate families? It seems like Verizon's plans are all for families... not everyone is into the whole "family" thing.... It seems like a bias for people who are not family oriented and don't want one.

I agree with you completely... for the largest phone carrier in the country it makes absolutely no sense for Verizon to have dropped all of their single-user contract plans and turn everything into family-friendly plans -- I can't imagine how that would benefit them as a company.

swervinsuburban · Dec 17, 2012, 12:37 AM

I actually paid more with 900 minutes, unlimited texts and data then I now do for unlimited talk, texts and 2 of data, I think about 15 dollars a month less

fins831 · Dec 17, 2012, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wordoflife

LTE is LTE so it depends on the area and all of that. It could be both faster or slower. But it shouldn't be a drastic amount. Things will still load relatively fast and at the same rate.

Granted, T-Mobile LTE isn't going up for a while...

T-Mo and Metro combining spectrum gives T-Mo a lot of bandwith to use. Understand that the bigger the pipe, the more users it needs to drag it down down, and in major cities, they will have more spectrum than major carriers (NY, LA), so for some people this could be high 'sustained' LTE speeds.

I am in Miami and I go from 5-50, depending on which street corner. I am not saying its bad, I am just saying, they can do better for what we are paying...using ATT for the past 5 years, had T-mo before.

I hope Tmo becomes competitive because WE NEED ALTERNATIVES...more competition, better choice, better prices, etc.

Mrbobb · Dec 17, 2012, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

What about some of us who don't want families ever

AMEN brother! Is discrimination against single people.

This is just the beginning, when you are at work, when the boss is looking for someone to stay overtime, the married people say, "oh, can't my baby needs me." then the boss looks at you and go, "John, you don't have any kids!" SAD.

BTW, single people pay more taxes too... and we wonder why some people shouldn't have kids, because the government is sending this sub-conscious message.

F123D · Dec 17, 2012, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darster

Verizon and AT&T just screw people.

All phone carriers screw people.

macher · Dec 17, 2012, 03:29 AM

My 4 line AT&T family plan is $190 including taxes and employee discount. Each line has unlimited LTE data, unlimited family text, mobile to any mobile and aList. The cost is less than $50 per line.

I work on a college campus and what the Asian students do is get together in groups and get in on family plans to make it cheaper per line.

takeshi74 · Dec 17, 2012, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

Anyone else notice that individual plans are sucky whereas w/family plans it gets cheaper if you break it down by the number of lines?

Of course it does. That's the point of the family plans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

What about some of us who don't want families ever and aren't close or even keep in contact with our immediate families?

Take some initiative. Recruit some buddies. The carriers don't perform DNA or blood tests to verify that all users are actually a family.

BigMcGuire · Dec 17, 2012, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by takeshi74

Of course it does. That's the point of the family plans.

Take some initiative. Recruit some buddies. The carriers don't perform DNA or blood tests to verify that all users are actually a family.

And they don't care. Got my friend and his gf on a family plan with me and my wife. Saves us $.

aristobrat · Dec 18, 2012, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstar002

It seems like Verizon's plans are all for families... not everyone is into the whole "family" thing....

Verizon's plans are for sharing data between multiple devices -- family not required.

I'm single. A 4GB Verizon "Share Everything" plan with my iPhone and iPad costs the same as when I had an individual iPhone and individual iPad plan, except now I get unlimited minutes (instead of 450), and can tether from my iPhone (which was a $20/month add-on feature before).

Even if you don't want to share data, the cheapest Verizon "Share Everything" plan is only $10 more than AT&T's cheapest individual plan (that includes texting). For that $10, you get unlimited minutes and tethering. So at least you do get something for that little extra you pay.

And like others have mentioned, if you have a friend that you trust to add to your "Share Everything" plan, it can really start to save everyone money.

rockyroad55 · Dec 18, 2012, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macher

My 4 line AT&T family plan is $190 including taxes and employee discount. Each line has unlimited LTE data, unlimited family text, mobile to any mobile and aList. The cost is less than $50 per line.

I work on a college campus and what the Asian students do is get together in groups and get in on family plans to make it cheaper per line.

But if they don't become friends any longer, guess who gets screwed? The account holder (whoever that is) haha

Leonard1818 · Dec 18, 2012, 08:39 AM

I KNOW!!! Sheesh. Every time I go to that sams club they always have "family size this" and "family size that"... what about us individuals that want to buy mashed potatoes but only enough mashed potatoes for OURSELVES! Should we be punished for not procreating? Where does Stoffers get off thinking that they can just give the good deals to the people with families?! And don't get me started on the ketchup racket... It's like if you buy a gallon of it, you get a huge discount but if I want individual packets from McDonalds, it's extra money! It's a conspiracy I tell you!

:facepalm:

jwlbel · Dec 18, 2012, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyroad55

But if they don't become friends any longer, guess who gets screwed? The account holder (whoever that is) haha

Yep, This happened to me. I put what I thought was my best friend on my plan. Just under 2 months after I added her to my plan I found out that she was doing things behind my back and so needless to say we are no longer friends. I suggested that we split the ETF and she pretty much said. It is your account, you deal with it.

Jordan921 · Dec 18, 2012, 10:07 AM

I had an individual plan and added my gfs mom so I could get an iPhone 5 but also start a family plan to save some money. Now the gf is also on it.

Leonard1818 · Dec 18, 2012, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan921

I had an individual plan and added my gfs mom so I could get an iPhone 5 but also start a family plan to save some money. Now the gf is also on it.

Better make the GF the Wife or you may have this happen:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwlbel

Yep, This happened to me. I put what I thought was my best friend on my plan. Just under 2 months after I added her to my plan I found out that she was doing things behind my back and so needless to say we are no longer friends. I suggested that we split the ETF and she pretty much said. It is your account, you deal with it.

Jordan921 · Dec 18, 2012, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard1818

Better make the GF the Wife or you may have this happen:

I have nothing to worry about.

Leonard1818 · Dec 18, 2012, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan921

I have nothing to worry about.

Then surely you shall not buy the cow when the milk is free.

jsgreen · Dec 18, 2012, 04:02 PM

This thread prompted me to dump my family's unlimited data plans for a 6Gb Mobile Share on AT&T.

Previous plan was $235 per month (unlimited data, calls and text for 2 lines and 2Gb data plan for an iPad on a pre-paid plan)

New plan is $170 for unlimited calls and text and 6Gb cap. plus tethering as an option.

In the past 12 months our combined data usage never exceeded 5 Gb, so this nets us a nice $780 in savings per year with no real difference in usage.

Dec 16, 2012, 09:19 PM	#1
jstar002 macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2012	Individual Plans Not As Good As Family Plans Anyone else notice that individual plans are sucky whereas w/family plans it gets cheaper if you break it down by the number of lines? What about some of us who don't want families ever and aren't close or even keep in contact with our immediate families? It seems like Verizon's plans are all for families... not everyone is into the whole "family" thing.... It seems like a bias for people who are not family oriented and don't want one. Last edited by jstar002; Dec 16, 2012 at 09:25 PM.
	1

Dec 18, 2012, 04:02 PM	#23
jsgreen macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NH	This thread just saved me $780! This thread prompted me to dump my family's unlimited data plans for a 6Gb Mobile Share on AT&T. Previous plan was $235 per month (unlimited data, calls and text for 2 lines and 2Gb data plan for an iPad on a pre-paid plan) New plan is $170 for unlimited calls and text and 6Gb cap. plus tethering as an option. In the past 12 months our combined data usage never exceeded 5 Gb, so this nets us a nice $780 in savings per year with no real difference in usage.
	0

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Dec 16, 2012, 09:35 PM	#2
mantan macrumors 6502a Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: By Grabthar's Hammer	Multiple user accounts bring in more money than singer user accounts. Plus when there is a multiple user account you often have varying contract dates which can make the customers a lot more 'sticky' than single contract accounts. Giving a discount/incentive for those type of accounts is just smart business.
	1

Dec 16, 2012, 09:45 PM	#4
darster macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2011	This is where T Mobile will make a killing WHEN it gets it LTE up and running nationwide. Pay full price for your phone and get a much better deal. Verizon and AT&T just screw people.
	2

Dec 17, 2012, 12:37 AM	#8
swervinsuburban macrumors regular Join Date: Nov 2012	I actually paid more with 900 minutes, unlimited texts and data then I now do for unlimited talk, texts and 2 of data, I think about 15 dollars a month less
	0

Dec 17, 2012, 03:29 AM	#12
macher macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2012	My 4 line AT&T family plan is $190 including taxes and employee discount. Each line has unlimited LTE data, unlimited family text, mobile to any mobile and aList. The cost is less than $50 per line. I work on a college campus and what the Asian students do is get together in groups and get in on family plans to make it cheaper per line.
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 08:39 AM	#17
Leonard1818 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Nov 2011	I KNOW!!! Sheesh. Every time I go to that sams club they always have "family size this" and "family size that"... what about us individuals that want to buy mashed potatoes but only enough mashed potatoes for OURSELVES! Should we be punished for not procreating? Where does Stoffers get off thinking that they can just give the good deals to the people with families?! And don't get me started on the ketchup racket... It's like if you buy a gallon of it, you get a huge discount but if I want individual packets from McDonalds, it's extra money! It's a conspiracy I tell you! :facepalm:
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 10:07 AM	#19
Jordan921 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bay Area	I had an individual plan and added my gfs mom so I could get an iPhone 5 but also start a family plan to save some money. Now the gf is also on it.
	0