AT&T - give up unlimited plan for Next/shared data plan?

[tdaks]

I am another person trying to figure if it is better to keep our AT&T 2-year contracts and unlimited plans, or switch to Next/mobile shared plan.

I have 4 iphones on 2-year contacts. One with unlimited data and the 2-year contract has expired. Two have 3GB of data and the contracts have also expired. The last one has unlimited date and the contract expires December 2016.

Looking to replace the three expired contracts with an iphone 6S and two iphone 6S+.


Doing another 2-year contract with the 3 expired phones at subsidized costs would total $1,235 ($300, $400, $400 + $135 activation). Since we usually replace phones every 2 years, I was looking at Next 24. The total payments for 2 years on the same phones are $2,005 ($600, $680, $680 + $45 activation).

The current monthly cost for the data plans is $240. Switching to the 15GB mobile share plan is $185 a month or lower by $55.

The Next phone costs are $770 higher. But, the 15GB plan would be lower by $1,320 over 2 years.

Is changing plans resulting in lower costs of $550 or am I missing something? I know that I could sell the phones after the contract expires so the costs may actually be about the same. One of the reasons considering the change is the two phones usually get close to the monthly 3GB limit.

Also for the fourth line, do you know if the monthly shared data plan rate of $185 will be reduced by $25 once that contract expires?

 

[T5BRICK]

I am another person trying to figure if it is better to keep our AT&T 2-year contracts and unlimited plans, or switch to Next/mobile shared plan.

I went with a mobile share plan and it works out pretty well for me, my family doesn't need the latest and greatest, they're still using iPhone 5/5s.

Also for the fourth line, do you know if the monthly shared data plan rate of $185 will be reduced by $25 once that contract expires?

I'd double check with AT&T, but It should.

 

[lordofthereef]

If you're buying the newst phones, I would heavily consider Apple's financing option especially if you're out of contract on umlimited data. I really wish this was an option back when ATT started discontinuing this data

 

[DoofenshmirtzEI]

Consider that at the end of 2 years on the Next 24 plan, the residual that you will owe is $150 for the 6s and $170 for each of the 2 6s+'s, which is $490. If you pay those off, then you're in the same position on both sides, you own the phone outright, and the difference is now $60 cheaper with the shared plan and going Next. So it's kind of a wash, you'll have to weigh the other things.

On the shared plan, once phones are out of contract, they get the discount applied to their line, so yes, your bill will go down by $25.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

If you're buying the newst phones, I would heavily consider Apple's financing option especially if you're out of contract on umlimited data. I really wish this was an option back when ATT started discontinuing this data

It makes no sense to do that if you're still on grandfathered unlimited, since you don't get a discount off the $30/month, unless you meant doing the contract every other year and Apple's financing option every other year.

 

[jav6454]

I am another person trying to figure if it is better to keep our AT&T 2-year contracts and unlimited plans, or switch to Next/mobile shared plan.

The future is mobile data, you will regret losing your unlimited data plan. Like another poster stated here, you could easily go with Apple's own upgrade program if you intent is to upgrade every year.

 

[ZBoater]

Just don't mind all of AT&T's connection fees...

 

[lordofthereef]

It makes no sense to do that if you're still on grandfathered unlimited, since you don't get a discount off the $30/month, unless you meant doing the contract every other year and Apple's financing option every other year.

The latter

 

[ssls6]

Everyone is a little different....

I had unlimited for years, got a new phone every 2 years, could not tether, payed $400 at upgrade time. My bill was $110 bucks or so. If I add in the $400 over two years then maybe $127. With subsidies going away, this plan was headed to the $130-$140s in another year

I gave it up for a next 12 with 3GB plan. Now I get a phone ever year, can tether, payed tax at upgrade time. My bill is $127 (magic isn't it) with the tax over 12 months for a total of $132.

This year I'm going to t-moble unlimited north america. I will get a phone every year with jump, can tether 7GB, will pay tax at upgrade time. My total bill is $117 and with tax maybe $122.

T-mobile has good coverage where I am, I no longer worry about staying under 3GB, and can tether when I must. The international support is nice.

They make it confusing to say the least but it always totals up close to the same for me. It's really about the coverage and features they give you (like data limits, tethering, ...)

 

[macher]

If you're buying the newst phones, I would heavily consider Apple's financing option especially if you're out of contract on umlimited data. I really wish this was an option back when ATT started discontinuing this data

You're leaving $400+ on the table if you don't take the subsidy.

 

[lordofthereef]

You're leaving $400+ on the table if you don't take the subsidy.

I'm referring to the off year when they don't offer an upgrade.

 

[nostresshere]

Moved to shared data a year ago and saved a ton of money.
Big plus - data is shared, and rolls over
Another big plus - ability to tether hot spot. No more monthly for ipad.
Biggest mistake I made? Holding on to unlimited for so long.

 

[capitanbuzo]

Considering the upgraded unlimited policy and you can now have 22 GB of usage without being throttled, I wouldn't leave it.

 

[macher]

Moved to shared data a year ago and saved a ton of money.
Big plus - data is shared, and rolls over
Another big plus - ability to tether hot spot. No more monthly for ipad.
Biggest mistake I made? Holding on to unlimited for so long.

Between our 4 unlimited lines we use a total of at least 40GB a month. Not worth the switch to MSV. Data usage will increase I believe. None in the family plan never needed or wanted the ability to tether so that's irrelevant to our situation. Plus now without lifting a finger our unlimited data plans got better with the new non hard throttling policy

 

[Voodoofreak]

Just don't mind all of AT&T's connection fees...

What connection fees? My normal bill will go up?

 

[LFSimon]

...Also for the fourth line, do you know if the monthly shared data plan rate of $185 will be reduced by $25 once that contract expires?

When we first switched to the MSVP and Next we had contracts on all phones and they gave us the discount on all. It was on subsequent phone updates that we would have lost the discount if we used the subsidized contract plan rather than NEXT. I don't know if this was just part of the introduction on MSVP and Next or if it is still ongoing but it couldn't hurt to call and ask if they'd do it for you.

 

[ZBoater]

What connection fees? My normal bill will go up?

Every time you add a new device to your plan, you have to pay a fee.

 

[ssls6]

If I had to bet, ATT unlimited (within some level of reason) will make a return. Competition is driving these changes. T mobile with their new spectrum will make a dent in the ATT/Verizon market split. I'm glad to see ATT move in the right direction.

 

[jtrue28]

NEXT has nothing to do with your data plan. You don't need to change anything to sign up for NEXT.

This is our 2nd go around on NEXT and we're still UDP grandfathers on Family Share Nation plans....now with unlimited minutes!!

 

[DrewDaHilp1]

AT&T just changed the data cap from 5GB to 22GB. I wouldn't give up my unlimited data for anything.

 

[Pspressart]

I gave up the unlimited data on my iPhone and went to MSVP with my wife because we never went over 1Gb of shared data. On the other hand, I still have unlimited data on my iPad; no limits, no throttling, no need for wi-fi, priceless.

 

[LFSimon]

I gave up the unlimited data on my iPhone and went to MSVP with my wife because we never went over 1Gb of shared data. On the other hand, I still have unlimited data on my iPad; no limits, no throttling, no need for wi-fi, priceless.

Are you sure about all this? With the MSVP you pay $10/month for iPad. How much do you pay now?

Also, which MSVP are you on. the 15GB plan gets you up to a $25/home discount on monthly service so to cost, above the base MSVP is only $15/month per phone. I'd at least double check if that would save you money and if your iPad usage falls within this or not.

 

[Pspressart]

Are you sure about all this? With the MSVP you pay $10/month for iPad. How much do you pay now?

Also, which MSVP are you on. the 15GB plan gets you up to a $25/home discount on monthly service so to cost, above the base MSVP is only $15/month per phone. I'd at least double check if that would save you money and if your iPad usage falls within this or not.

We are on the base MSVP with 3 GB of shared data, so we have the $15 discount per phone. My iPad plan is completely separate. I almost never use Wi-Fi on the iPad away from home, so I do not have to be concerned about the security of public hotspots. In addition, videos play much better on LTE than public Wi-Fi. The $30 per month cost is well worth it because my monthly usage varies from 15 to 25 GB. If I went to the MSVP for 10GB (15GB current offer) my monthly cost would be $140 if I included my iPad. My current cost is $110 ($80 for MVSP and $30 for the iPad). I save and never have to worry about going over my data limit.

 

[dangerfish]

Everyones situation is different. You just have to do the math and see what works best for your situation. If you have multiple lines and don't use unreasonable amounts of data, then NEXT is a pretty good deal. I switch last year and chose a 10GB data plan since we had never gone over 10GB on ULD. Our monthly cost dropped significantly and I got tethering which is immensely valuable to me. A month of so later, they offered 30GB for the price of 15GB so I upgraded to that for purposes of future proofing. Now we have rollover on top of that. I'm very happy with NEXT. We get interest free financing on the phones, a huge bucket of data and tethering. I couldn't be happier.

 

[LFSimon]

my monthly usage varies from 15 to 25 GB

Well that clearly is a deciding factor in making the unlimited plan best for you!