AT&T Announces New Limited Data Rollover Feature for Mobile Share Value Customers

[friedmud]

Can someone please explain the difference between Moble Share Plans and mobile share value plans? I spoke to AT&T and the only thing I could gather is that it's basically the same but you'll be forced into the NEXT program. I like the 2 year agreements and have no plans to ever switch it. So, what's next to get the cool features I want, I have to first pay for something I don't want? These phones are not worth upgrading every year. They don't change enough but every 2 years is a pretty good update. I don't think I should be forced to pay for early upgrades when I flat out don't want it.

Next is only about giving you the option to upgrade. You can go with a Next 24 plan and you'll pay off your phone over 2 years just like now and then upgrade then... or you can go with Next 18 and be done paying for your phone early and get 6 months of a lower monthly bill before the next phone comes out... or you can go with Next 12 and pay your phone off every year... giving you the _option_ to upgrade every year... OR you can keep your existing phone if it suits your needs and have a lower bill for a whole year until you see what the next phone has.

That's the thing about Next... there's no downside. 24, 18, 12 are all 0% interest loans on the price of the phone. You pay the same each way... the only thing that's different is your monthly bill and hence how long until you've paid for your phone.

You are absolutely NOT forced to upgrade... and in fact it's the other way around. On a 2 year contract you feel almost "obliged" to upgrade every 2 years because, hey, you're paying for the phone in that contract anyway! With Next you could wait 3 years... and have really cheap bills the whole time (after you pay off your phone).

Next really is as close as we can get in the US to what people in other parts of the world have. You can bring your own phone. You can buy one up front. You can finance one over 12-24 months.... and you can cancel or upgrade at any time (paying off the remainder of your phone).

When Next first debuted it wasn't good. But they fixed it... and if you do the math it works out to the same amount as you pay on a 2 year contract... but with a lot more flexibility.

You can see AT&T's breakdown comparing Next to a 2 year contract here: http://m.att.com/shopmobile/wireless/next-calculate-the-value.html

Or search on the internet to get others that do the same math.

One important thing: You should really get 10GB or more of data... because they start deducting more from your Family Share pricing.... so you get more for your dollar...

Also note that the 15GB plan is really 30GB right now (they are running a special)

 

[soheilk]

And John Jegere is laughing his ********** a** off ###

Your comment made me laugh my ass off as well #

 

[Col4bin]

Any particular reason she turns wifi off while away from home? My guess is that pesky popup that shows up, asking you to put in a password to a network you don't even want to connect to. You just happen to be walking/driving by something.

Settings > Wifi > Disable " Ask To Join Networks".

She won't even know wifi is on while out, and then it will just auto connect to your wifi at home.

Yes. I think it has something to do with her work not offering free wifi to its employees. She probably gets the prompt in iOS to join a secure network, or something like that. A few times now, she's gone over her 4GB data plan as a result. (Or so she claims. Hmmmmm…..)

 

[soheilk]

I love you John Legere, f you at&t

 

[tigres]

Hey John, time for another Youtube ass ripping on AT&T.

Go T-Mobile!

 

[burgman]

ATT does this because 90% of people go no where near their limit.

Find out when your month switches over - The day before, stream Netflix until you are .2gb away from your limit then stop.

Repeat every month and watch ATT take it all away.

Many of us have jobs and families, so playing silly games are you know kinda lame.

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I love you John Legere, f you at&t

Does Tmobile roll over the 50 meg of roaming data every month??
That's very Sprint like

 

[doelcm82]

Totally lame and it would have been better if they had done nothing. It's almost an insult compared with T-Mobile's plan.

Nevertheless, I'm sure AT&T's marketing will leave out the bit about one month.

If you're insulted by it, then you should refuse to use any rollover data. Once you reach the end of your monthly allotment, stop using data, even if the there is rollover data available.

If you use it, you're only telling them that you deserve the insult. Show them you're not going to stand for it.

 

[giantfan1224]

Has anyone else noticed that AT&T is NEVER the first company to implement a new idea between the big four?

They don't have to. You never see Verizon be the first either. In fact, they've been the last to adopt things lately, due entirely to them being the biggest and strongest network. I'm glad AT&T at least did something to match T-Mobile. And I'm glad that T-Mobile and Sprint are pushing around the big guys a little. It's better for all of us.

 

[A MacBook lover]

Stealing? Really?

If you go to a store and buy a gallon of milk with an expiration date in two weeks, and only drink half of it before it expires, do you accuse the grocery store of stealing from you? No, you would toss it away, and say "Whoops, maybe next time I should buy a half gallon instead so I don't waste any."

You're buying X gigs of data knowing it expires in 30 days. If you consistently have more data than you use, maybe you need to switch to a smaller data plan.

Data doesn't expire. Bad analogy. It's more like electricity. If you pay for 200kwh, and only use 20, should the electricy company keep your money?

 

[giantfan1224]

Totally lame and it would have been better if they had done nothing. It's almost an insult compared with T-Mobile's plan.

I fail to see how it would've been better if they'd done nothing. They just offered their customers a piece of cake for nothing and some people are complaining that they're not getting the whole cake.

 

[noobinator]

Data doesn't expire. Bad analogy. It's more like electricity. If you pay for 200kwh, and only use 20, should the electricy company keep your money?

Apparently it does expire though, after one month.

j/k I approve of your analogy.

 

[giantfan1224]

The lack of somebody selling me a nice simple DataCard with SIM five GB for $50 at the corner market like they do in other locations in earth forces me to. I am being discriminated against based on my location.

Nice rant but if you really believe you're "being discriminated against" then I weep for the school system that utterly failed you.

 

[jasonp99]

Can someone please explain the difference between Moble Share Plans and mobile share value plans? I spoke to AT&T and the only thing I could gather is that it's basically the same but you'll be forced into the NEXT program. I like the 2 year agreements and have no plans to ever switch it. So, what's next to get the cool features I want, I have to first pay for something I don't want? These phones are not worth upgrading every year. They don't change enough but every 2 years is a pretty good update. I don't think I should be forced to pay for early upgrades when I flat out don't want it.

Mobile Share plans do not exist anymore. Only Mobile Share Value plans (and Mobile Share Data plans for non-phone devices).

If you are on a Mobile Share Value plan then it is maybe cheaper to use ATT Next instead of a 2-yr contract. Take simple example for iPhone 6:

2-yr contract: $199 + $16 (tax) + $40 (activation fee) + $40*24 (access charge) = $1215 for two years (plus Mobile Share Data fee)

Next (< 10 gb data): $649 + $53 (tax) + $0 (activation fee waived) + $25*24 (access charge with Next discount) = $1302 for two years (plus Mobile Share Data fee)

Next ( 10gb+): $649 + $53 (tax) + $0 (activation fee waived) + $15*24 (access charge with Next discount) = $1062 for two years (plus Mobile Share Data fee)

Next plan can be paid all at once (I did this) or in various number of installments (no extra fee). So for the examples above Next is cheaper if you are on the 10gb or more data plan (good for families but maybe too much for a single line).

Note: if you buy your phone at Costco using Next they will waive the tax (saves $53 for base iPhone 6).

 

[giantfan1224]

Yep, especially now that Apple and the cellular providers have got people used to paying at least something for a phone. Just look back at the landscape prior to the iPhone. Almost nobody paid for a phone. Now everyone pays for their own phone except for cheap feature phones. What this means for Apple and other smartphone manufacturers is people will start holding onto their phones much longer, which will impact sales. Except for possibly Samsung which makes disposable phones to begin with.

The problem I have is that those who do choose to buy off contract and BYOD, don't pay much if any less for services than those who don't.

Actually AT&T's Next program makes it easier, in my opinion, to upgrade more often. You pay $0 down--versus the $199/$299/$399 down with the 2 yr contract--and you pay about the same per month for the device whether as an installment plan or part of the subsidized two-year contract price. I don't see it being a problem at all for Apple to continue selling a lot of phones to upgraders.

 

[giantfan1224]

Yes. I think it has something to do with her work not offering free wifi to its employees. She probably gets the prompt in iOS to join a secure network, or something like that. A few times now, she's gone over her 4GB data plan as a result. (Or so she claims. Hmmmmm…..)

That reminded me of my mom. She didn't understand the difference between a data and a wifi connection. She would stream Pandora all day at work over data and was killing my parents' plan with overages. After we found out what she was doing to use so much data (she didn't understand either how much data music streaming uses), she got the password to her office's wifi and her data useage went from like 10+ GB's per month to about 150 MB's.

 

[groovyd]

When are the phone companies going to stop stealing from us?

I buy 10Gb of data in a month, at a price that is far higher than in many other countries. If I use only 7Gb, they simply steal the data I paid for.

The next month I use 11Gb, and they hit me with an overage charge. Even if I only used 1Gb a month for a year, and they have stolen 108Gb from me, they will still charge me extra if I go even a Kb over on the 13th month.

It is a disgusting practice, and this move by AT&T is one step ahead of literally the least they could do.

So how about they announce they are not going to steal anymore? A fair price for a decent service, and if I pay for it, I get to keep it until I use it.

only sorta true... you did buy 10Gb of data 'in one month'. the rules of the game were clear when you bought into it. it isn't really 'stealing' is it? i'm not saying their contract terms are inspirational for the industry just that is what they are and it is what you signed onto.

 

[Judas1]

Cell networks have bandwidth capacity issues. Cars do not.

So no, it's not a good analogy since it (and you) are ignoring the very important aspect. If everyone tried to use all of their data in the same 10 minutes of the year it just wouldn't work. That's an issue that has to be acknowledged.

Its not an issue, so it doesn't need to be acknowledged. People are not conspiring with one another to use service at only certain times to overload the system. So it averages out because people are independent. Cell phone companies are not worried about bandwidth because its nowhere near saturated, and they can always build more towers. Its about making $$$. If you can't see this, its hopeless to try to explain.

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only sorta true... you did buy 10Gb of data 'in one month'. the rules of the game were clear when you bought into it. it isn't really 'stealing' is it? i'm not saying their contract terms are inspirational for the industry just that is what they are and it is what you signed onto.

Shouldn't he get some money back for his unused minutes then? He did buy 10 GB in one month, and he didn't use them all. You're kinda forgetting that 10 GB is not an actual physical item that he bought. Its just a description of a certain amount of bits which when never used, never transferred to the buyer.

 

[mpayne2k]

How do you figure that monthly cost for the phone?

As far as your plan, what does it have as far as minutes and messages as that plays a role too?

Also, how much data do you actually need on a monthly basis?

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You are paying more for the phone since you got it subsidized. It's not like they are going to give you a brand new phone for free or $100 or $200 when it costs over $600, you are still paying for it in some way (in this case in the subsidy that is included in the monthly payment for a plan that is under a contract).

The subsidy is clearly defined on contract as $450.00. So $18.80 is roughly the cost of $450 divided by 24 months contract length.

Minutes are 700 I think...I never ever worry about them as I basically have maxed out my minute rollover. Texts are 200/mo which I've not gone over since the advent of iMessage and that is on the old $5/mo plan which I included in the "plan" price.

Data I need? I'd say 3gb, but I did reach 5gb and get throttled about 9 out of the last 12 months. This is mainly due to wants like streaming Netflix or Pandora at the gym or watching NBA League Pass on the go. I watched two quarters of a basketball game this weekend on the go and it used 1.3gb of data. So, AT&T is giving me "unlimited" because when I get throttled, my data is only good enough to check emails basically!

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Heh, now they can add it to their checklist and suggest they've got the same feature by not going into detail. Not unlike feature checklists in software.

 

[MrXiro]

If you're insulted by it, then you should refuse to use any rollover data. Once you reach the end of your monthly allotment, stop using data, even if the there is rollover data available.

If you use it, you're only telling them that you deserve the insult. Show them you're not going to stand for it.

Actually just leave like the other people have.

 

[jokemjokester]

Does the roll over data get used up first on the next billing cycle? It makes a difference if that is used first then your new cycle of data.

 

[tnhjr]

Things come around.

I remember when they had rollover and it was for 12 months. They'll never loose money on your data plans because they're still charging the monthly fee. It's nice they following T-Mobile but it doesn't impress me. Bring back unlimited data.

 

[MPclk2006]

I had been waiting for this since the announcement from other providers and thought I would see it first on here but it popped up on my facebook feed as a "sponsored" post...great news! Specially since the next day after it becomes effective, I will be going away from home so I will need a lot of data.

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Does the roll over data get used up first on the next billing cycle? It makes a difference if that is used first then your new cycle of data.

If you read the article posted, it states you will use your roll over after you use your data for that month...

 

[beany boy]

I feel I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.

 

[larrylaffer]

They don't have to. You never see Verizon be the first either. In fact, they've been the last to adopt things lately, due entirely to them being the biggest and strongest network. I'm glad AT&T at least did something to match T-Mobile. And I'm glad that T-Mobile and Sprint are pushing around the big guys a little. It's better for all of us.

While I agree with that in principal, slamming the brakes on the innovation-mobile does not bode well for your future. I submit RIM as evidence.