Incorrect. They actually had big loss last quarter. The only company that makes big money here is Apple. All US wireless providers that carry iPhone had losses last quarter in part because of high subsidies that they pay to Apple. Since money is fungible this fee hike is simply a attempt to recover what they lose when they sell every iPhone. So, this anger is misdirected. You should blame Apple. Follow the money trail. AT&T has big loss, Apple has huge profits. Where did your money go?
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AT&T Doubles Upgrade Fee from $18 to $36! [Was: At&t - go screw yourself!]
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Incorrect. They actually had big loss last quarter. The only company that makes big money here is Apple. All US wireless providers that carry iPhone had losses last quarter in part because of high subsidies that they pay to Apple. Since money is fungible this fee hike is simply a attempt to recover what they lose when they sell every iPhone. So, this anger is misdirected. You should blame Apple. Follow the money trail. AT&T has big loss, Apple has huge profits. Where did your money go?
In 2011, wireless brought in $15.2 billion in profit ($63 billion revenue, $47.9 billing operational costs), and overall AT&T made $3.9 billion in profit. Granted, overall as a company AT&T made less profit than the last two previous years, but still $3.9 billion in profit isn't bad at all.
http://www.att.com/Investor/Growth_Profile/download/master_Q4_11.pdf
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That's for entire year. AT&T did have loss in Q4 (when iPhone 4S was released). For more information on this situation read this article from LA Times: Apple's iPhone takes big bites out of wireless carriers' profits
Because you do not DESERVE to get out of your ETF.
It is called MORALS, which you seem to lack!
No one is forcing this $36 fee on anyone. They choose to pay it when the sign a NEW contract. Why would this be a reason to get out of your CURRENT contract.
Did any of you people go to school?
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/26/att-posts-fourth-quarter-loss-on-charges-revenue-increases/
http://www.bgr.com/2012/01/26/at-7-6-millon-iphones-activated/
The second article tries to be as rosy as the one you posted, but you'll still notice the line "but it posted a loss of $6.7 billion."
Actually, if I were a shareholder I would be kinda ticked with what AT&T posted.
And not to be rude, but I hope some of the people talking about AT&T's supposedly awesome quarter are aware that when an article places a dollar figure in parentheses that means the number is a negative. For example, the first line of the article posted from AT&T's site " $(1.12) diluted EPS in fourth quarter compared to $0.18 diluted EPS in the year-ago period." That means down $1.12 when last year it was up $0.18.
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I couldn't agree with you more. The amount of whining every time the carriers change their pricing is staggering.
I want to be clear that I definitely believe carriers charge too much and are greedy. However, none of this is necessary. We don't *have* to upgrade, we don't *have* to use their service, and we don't *have* to have smartphones. It's all choice.
This ain't rent, folks. Or the heating and electric bill. You can do without it if you wanted to.
You have morals, I look out for me. Lets see who has more money in their pocket when everything is said and done.
Chances are if you have a corporate discount, your upgrade/activation fees are probably waived? At least mine are...
I'm from Germany and I find this to be quite amusing. If I'm getting this right, AT&T charges you a fee when you stop using your current device and what to use another...
I sell iPhones with contracts and I can say that this is surely a ripoff. Even if they aught to charge you 5$ it would still be a ripoff. The "cost" of switching devices does not exist. Sending e.g. device configuration to you via their network costs a company less than 0.01%. As a customer I would simply cancel my contract with them when they try to charge for something stupid. God knows I have done so in the past...
I sell iPhones with contracts and I can say that this is surely a ripoff. Even if they aught to charge you 5$ it would still be a ripoff. The "cost" of switching devices does not exist. Sending e.g. device configuration to you via their network costs a company less than 0.01%. As a customer I would simply cancel my contract with them when they try to charge for something stupid. God knows I have done so in the past...
It's a fee to upgrade at the subsidized cost rate. If you bought one outright they wouldnt charge you the activation fee
Sprint has their $36 activation fee, but I haven't paid that in years.
Sprint has their $36 activation fee, but I haven't paid that in years.
No.
You can buy an iPhone from Apple direct, without a contract, for $650. If you buy one from a carrier (and sign a 2 year contract), you pay $200 thanks to subsidies.
After 2 years, you will be eligible for an upgrade... ie, to buy a new phone at the subsidized price (along with signing a new 2 year contract). This fee applies to that.
If the throttling wasn't enough - http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/10/atandt-doubles-its-upgrade-fee-to-36-come-february-12th/
Please explain to me how it costs $36 dollars for me to move my sim from one phone to another? Exactly how in the hell does AT&T justify that?
Why let them have so much power over you, that it makes you miserable?
The solutions simple.
Take your business elsewhere
Why let them have so much power over you, that it makes you miserable?
The solutions simple.
Take your business elsewhere
Exactly! I wasn't happy with ATT with the data throttling and fee charging so I took my business else where. I'm a person of action rather than staying here and crying about them - while continuing to pay them.
What school teaches morals? This is a serious question by the way. Morals, I always thought, were avoided like the plague in school, almost as much as religion.
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First of all, 0.01% of what? Once you have answered that, where are you getting these numbers? Third, assuming you are right, what makes people think that a product or service's price is or should be directly related to the cost the company incurs in getting that good or service to you?
For the record, I find the fee to be ridiculous myself, but just because there is no cost involved, doesn't mean the company cannot charge it.
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Anyone ever eaten at a nicer restaurant? Have you ever seen the cost of splitting a plate with another person in your party? I have seen the cost of splitting a plate upwards of $10. It's an arbitrary fee that is charged, because it can be charged.
Need another example? I will be getting married in October and am intimately aware of silly additional fees. We can bring our own wine, or buy from the venue, but there is a $15 corkage fee, per bottle, either way. Unless they are paying their waiters $15 a minute, my cost is going to be exponentially higher than the actual cost of popping that bottle. I could take my business elsewhere, but they are all the same.
When it is "all said and done" I will always have more money in my pocket than you and NEVER find the need to list all of my Apple hardware in my signature!
Just "looking out for one's self" is low life!
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We agree. The point is ALL of the carriers charge these fees and moving from one carrier to another will gain little. To many here, smart phones are not an option as it seems to be part of their identity and given a choice between their phone and rent . . . well they better get packing!
When it is "all said and done" I will always have more money in my pocket than you and NEVER find the need to list all of my Apple hardware in my signature!
Just "looking out for one's self" is low life!
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We agree. The point is ALL of the carriers charge these fees and moving from one carrier to another will gain little. To many here, smart phones are not an option as it seems to be their identity and given a choice between their phone and rent . . . well they better get packing!
Yup. They're all the same. If people want to get angry at something, they should get angry at how obvious it is that there's a pseudo collusion in the industry because there's no competition. I wouldn't even waste time changing carriers, it's best to just stick with whichever one gives you service you've been happy with. As smartphone consumers we just have to accept there is a certain "cost of doing business" associated with this stuff. Upgrade fees, changing data tiers, ETF's are all part of our "cost of doing business" due to wanting these devices.
Yep, the one poor guy who is "No Expert", is so proud to have switched carries might "feel" better but in the end we will all pay for bandwidth used. The throttle thing is only the beginning to the end of the "unlimited plans" unless you what your speeds to be compared to dial up!
And THAT is the how you cause change. Talking about things on a forum isn't going to get you very far. At some point you've got to take action. If enough people take action too change will happen. Example: The bank fees on debit cards. People took action and the banks had to change it.
Phone companies are like politicitans. It doesn't matter which one you have, they are going to jack with you.
y.a.t. ?
he seems to be very pro #attFail in his posts, actually if you sell your 4 on craigslist / ebay, the price difference is ... about the same $300
there's plenty of advantages in buying the phone at the full price
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h2o wireless & consumer cellular, both have 3G
- h2o uses #attFail's network, so don't even need to unlock
- $60 / month w/ taxes & 2gb of data (since ironically, you'll get Edge with att after 2gb of data those days anyways)
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they actually have "managed" to lose 6.7 billion, while acquiring a record, 9.4 million of new subscribers
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ha, ha, ha - read around & you'll figure out why those 2 commenting on each other is hilarious (but very accurate
btw, if you got the 4S recently on apple.com website, it stated in the small print that fee at $175. see my sig / cancel link - for a copy of that screen-shot.
he seems to be very pro #attFail in his posts, actually if you sell your 4 on craigslist / ebay, the price difference is ... about the same $300
there's plenty of advantages in buying the phone at the full price
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h2o wireless & consumer cellular, both have 3G
- h2o uses #attFail's network, so don't even need to unlock
- $60 / month w/ taxes & 2gb of data (since ironically, you'll get Edge with att after 2gb of data those days anyways)
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they actually have "managed" to lose 6.7 billion, while acquiring a record, 9.4 million of new subscribers
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ha, ha, ha - read around & you'll figure out why those 2 commenting on each other is hilarious (but very accurate
btw, if you got the 4S recently on apple.com website, it stated in the small print that fee at $175. see my sig / cancel link - for a copy of that screen-shot.
Yes I'm proud to have switched. I'll take my business else where instead of getting punked into record low cell speed and pay full price. I'll leave that up to you.
ohh, ok ... it's just greed then
ps: im sure they feel, we the customers should pay for their failed attempt to acquire t-mobile
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I guess Greta Van Susteren is not too happy with AT&T
http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com...rnal+-+Gretawire+-+Blog)&utm_content=My+Yahoo
http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com...rnal+-+Gretawire+-+Blog)&utm_content=My+Yahoo