Just online chat from your account page and they'll tell you what your new rate would be under the new plans. Don't overthink a simple switch with all the numbers in your head.
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AT&T Launches Lower-Cost Mobile Share Value Plans for Families
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Just online chat from your account page and they'll tell you what your new rate would be under the new plans. Don't overthink a simple switch with all the numbers in your head.
They are of course welcome to upgrade. I wasn't suggesting they couldn't.
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Can someone make sure I'm not missing anything here?
(Everything below does not include any taxes)
Current
10 GB shared + 4 lines + 22% FAN discount
$120(0.78) + $120 = $213.60/month
$299 x 4 = $1196
$1196/24 = $49.83/month
Year One: $3759.20
Year Two: $2563.20
Total in 2 years: $6322.40 or $263.43/month
New plan buying phone outright (selling after 12 months)
10 GB shared + 4 lines + 22% FAN discount
$100(0.78) + $60 = $138/month
$750 x 4 = $3000
Sell each phone for $400: $3000 - ($400 x 4) = $1400
$1400/12 = $116.67
Total in 1 year: $3056 or $254.67/month
So it seems like we'd be paying about $210 less over the course of two years (dependent on how much the phones sell for, but I think it's safe to say they'd sell for a minimum of $400 each), but we'd be getting a new phone every year. Am I missing any fine print here or anything, or is this correct?
Thanks
You didn't sell your phones in the old plan. So the old plan should also include.
Sell each phone for $400: $3000 - ($400 x 4) = $1400
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Still not sure I see that down side...
...of this.
Basically, I upgrade every two years. I don't need the latest phone. I'm content with upgrading every other year.
So, even if they DID force me to go to AT&T Next by switching over, I'm still only paying an extra $25 a month for two years to purchase a new phone, which is basically what I'm paying now with my subsidized plan.
Then if I decide NOT to get a new phone every year, but pay it off, that phone is mine to keep, and re-sell on ebay, etc.
I'm only "out" the interest free loan of $25 a month to buy my phone.
And in the meanwhile, since 4 of us just upgraded, and have brand new 2 year contracts, I'm saving about $75 a month for a year and a half.
Again, I'm failing to see the downside. I understand ATT doesn't do anything without their best interests in mind in the long run.
But this deal doesn't seem to hurt me at all.
And I still don't think the ATT reps know WTF is going on. I just chatted with a rep and they repeated what a bunch of people on this forum have heard:
"Right, but will each phone still be $15? in other words, if at the end of the contract, one of us wants a new iphone, and only wants to buy it at the subsidized rate, usually ATT makes up that amount of the phone by charging more for the next 2 years of the contract. Will my $15 per month fee for that phone go up to $40 a month instad?
Vanessa Jones: It will be $15 as long as you stay with the Mobile share 10gb plan"
hmmm...
...of this.
Basically, I upgrade every two years. I don't need the latest phone. I'm content with upgrading every other year.
So, even if they DID force me to go to AT&T Next by switching over, I'm still only paying an extra $25 a month for two years to purchase a new phone, which is basically what I'm paying now with my subsidized plan.
Then if I decide NOT to get a new phone every year, but pay it off, that phone is mine to keep, and re-sell on ebay, etc.
I'm only "out" the interest free loan of $25 a month to buy my phone.
And in the meanwhile, since 4 of us just upgraded, and have brand new 2 year contracts, I'm saving about $75 a month for a year and a half.
Again, I'm failing to see the downside. I understand ATT doesn't do anything without their best interests in mind in the long run.
But this deal doesn't seem to hurt me at all.
And I still don't think the ATT reps know WTF is going on. I just chatted with a rep and they repeated what a bunch of people on this forum have heard:
"Right, but will each phone still be $15? in other words, if at the end of the contract, one of us wants a new iphone, and only wants to buy it at the subsidized rate, usually ATT makes up that amount of the phone by charging more for the next 2 years of the contract. Will my $15 per month fee for that phone go up to $40 a month instad?
Vanessa Jones: It will be $15 as long as you stay with the Mobile share 10gb plan"
hmmm...
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FWIW, I stopped into an AT&T store last night, and they are definitely pushing the Next plan hard. It look some persistence to get the guy to pare back the plans he was showing me to include just the unlocked phones I already have.
RE: FAN discounts. He showed me that my FAN discount would net me a $20 monthly savings, no matter how many lines I added (it applies only to the core plan, not additional lines). They didn't have any problem carrying the discount forward from one plan to another.
Also, my local AT&T store was offering a $100 account credit to add additional lines (my current grandfathered unlimited plan is for one phone) to show up on a later billing cycle. I didn't ask if that was only for new lines with Next.
Fair enough.
I didn't mean that to sound as terse as it probably did. I've just been frustrated with having to jailbreak my phone just to get the hotspot feature to work (which is probably what AT&T wants).
RE: FAN discounts. He showed me that my FAN discount would net me a $20 monthly savings, no matter how many lines I added (it applies only to the core plan, not additional lines). They didn't have any problem carrying the discount forward from one plan to another.
Also, my local AT&T store was offering a $100 account credit to add additional lines (my current grandfathered unlimited plan is for one phone) to show up on a later billing cycle. I didn't ask if that was only for new lines with Next.
Fair enough.
I didn't mean that to sound as terse as it probably did. I've just been frustrated with having to jailbreak my phone just to get the hotspot feature to work (which is probably what AT&T wants).
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Fair enough.
I didn't mean that to sound as terse as it probably did. I've just been frustrated with having to jailbreak my phone just to get the hotspot feature to work (which is probably what AT&T wants).
Np..
Did you end up switching to the new plan?
It is funny - a colleague with AT&T was camping in a cube near me last week and when she needed data was standing near the window looking for anything ... while Verizon has full LTE through the whole region. Crap ... had heard it was getting better I said; not really, a little better in certain areas she remarked.
Sadly Verizon has a monopoly in our area or I would jump in a heartbeat - we would save ~$75 a month.
Sadly Verizon has a monopoly in our area or I would jump in a heartbeat - we would save ~$75 a month.
No. The contract discount plans which have the latest iphone on major carriers is rather new in the US. This is why everything is shaking up. Before this shake-up. You could but the iphone for $199 on 2 year contract and pay $120/month in service. Or you could buy the iphone for $649 with no contract and pay the same $120/month service. So at the end of the day there was no reason to pay full price.
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10GB Old Plan includes $36x4 = $144 activation.
10GB New Plan if you use Next waives the activation fee. You can use Next as your interest free financing and save activation fees without trading in your phone.
Np..
My son is on VMobile, so he'd need a new phone (of his choosing) to be added to my account. It'll happen, but I went ahead and topped up his prepaid account for another month while I work out the details. By this time next month, I'm sure we'll be on the new plan.
It was a hard decision giving up unlimited, but as others have stated, Im sick of waiting for the hammer to drop. I'll never even get to use the full potential as I've only used about 3 gigs max. Thats what I get for trying to be future proof... Anyways, looks like I'll save about 50 bucks between the two of us (though I guess I'll have to buy the phone at full price now) and its nice to have hotspot working already.
Sorry I failed to include that option. Yes, the math for Next 18 puts the 2yr total right in there with the old and new 10GB plans, much better than the subsidy option, and so not entirely unreasonable. Next 12 is just a little pricier, but you are getting the newer models sooner for the premium.
What Next ignores is phone resale value. All the options I listed didn't show this part of the equation because it was equally applicable and thus not differentiating. Apple's in-store trade-in program makes the process almost effortless, and with that factored in, Next pricing is only on par with buying it yourself. But if you are committed to upgrading your device every 12 or 18 months, on par isn't bad at all. If you're content waiting 24+ months, you'll save compared to Next.
Well, I just got off phone with AT&T. If you are still under contract for a subsidized smart phone, you pay $40 for that phone ($15 + $25 for the subside). I have 5 smartphones, 3 of which are under contract still. She told me that my bill would be $250 a month until those 3 phones were no longer under contract (100 (10GB) + (2*15) + (3*40))
I did not ask about my fan discount, but I know it's not allowed on my 3GB plan I have on one of my smart phones, but is on the other smartphones data plans. I just don't have faith that they will honor my FAN discount on the new Value Shared Plan.
I have already read in here that someone called AT&T and they offered to buy out their ETF on their smartphones so they could get into the family shared plan, I just don't see that happening.
You're missing it. Use Next only to finance the phone and waive activation. Once the finance is paid off you DONT trade your phone in on Next. You can sell your phone on ebay and get another through next again.
Do it this way if you prefer. Go to ATT and get a phone on Next. When the bill arrives pay them the full $650, which you would have paid before. Done, no contract, no activation fee, no requirement to trade your phone and paid the same full price.
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Well I actually did it, and my phones all say $15 and they are all under contract. The Reps are confused and here is why. If you transfer over during this intro period they will give you the $15 pricing for your existing contracts. If you subsidize a phone purchased after 2/1/2014 you will pay $40/phone. So depending on how you ask the question they will either answer $15 or $40.
The FAN does apply. It only applies to the Data portion. So you will get your discount on the $100/mo data portion. Each $15 line does not get a discount.
I think your rep is confused. My "MyATT" page clearly shows $100 for the 10GB plan, and $15 per phone. All 3 of my phones are within the original 2 year contract\subsidy thing. Just set it up on line, you will see what you are going to be charged before ever clicking submit.
Oh, I also verified my FAN discount - 20% off the first $100 so I'm actually looking at $125 total for 3 iphones. That's awesome, especially since my company covers cell usage up to $125 per month via reimbursement. (So yeah, I'll still have to output the tax and fees, but this is VERY cool)!
I do not believe you were given the correct information. Have you tried going online to change your plan to see what the system says?
You might want to call back and talk to a different rep. I changed ours yesterday and after reading some posts where some people said that that have to pay $40 per phone instead of $15, I call AT&T. The rep that I talked to assured me that, even thought we had just signed a new contract in Sept when we got new subsidized iPhones our bill for 3 smartphones would be $145 plus taxes, minus FAN discount. I went online and checked our account and it shows the same thing. I also have a screenshot from when I changed the plan that reflects the same. From what I understand, during the intro time, anyone already on a contract with AT&T can switch to this new plan and be grandfathered in without worrying about whether your phones were bought on subsidy or not. What I am not clear about is what will happen when it is time to upgrade to a new phone. The rep did tell me that anyone with a 10GB or higher data plan can still get a subsidized phone. I did not think to ask if it would be $40 a month or would continue to be $15. If it will be $40, we will just sell our current iPhones and straight out buy new ones. That is on down the road and I am just going to focus on the big bucks this change is saving us over the next year or two.
AT&T has mostly been lowering prices
When have they been raised their prices? Your statement implies they do this all the time (or at least often).
All I've ever done is lower my price. I've been with them 5 or 6 years. All they've done is offer options to save me money.
With A-List (free) I was able to use less minutes, so I lowered my minutes which saved me money.
When they added the unlimited messaging with free cell-to-cell to any US carrier (cost was either what I was paying for texting already or $10 more) and I saved $20 by dropping my plan down to less minutes (net gain might have only been $10). At this point I realized you couldn't get A-List on a 700 minute Family plan, but they did it for me anyways (I've learned it never hurts to ask).
They've also recently dropped the price of unlimited text / cell to cell calling by $10 (family and individual) BUT you have to ask to get this offer (10 minutes on the phone and I saved $10 a month for the rest of my life). I believe the pricing was $30 and $20 and now they're $20 and $10. I read about this here or SlickDeals and made the call a few months ago.
Yes, these were all reactionary, but they've been saving me money for years.
If they hadn't lowered these prices, I might be with another company by now. But they haven't been raising my prices.
They've raised the prices of data plans (on the older plans), but they've they've always let us keep our old data plans (which doesn't raise my prices).
The above info is all based on my experiences on my US AT&T Family plans for the last 5-6 years.
They've also been offering several new plans over the years (mobile share and this new updated plan) which all seem like pretty good deals except that switching would cause me to lose my unlimited data so for me, they're not so great. They've been close to make me consider switching my plan with all my grandfathered services.
They've also lowered international data prices several times. 300MB for $60 is pricey, but handing when traveling.
They've also got new cheap iPad data pricing too. Instead of 250MB per month at $15 a month ($45 for 750MB for 3 months) they now have a 3 month plan with 1GB of data (33% more) for $25 (44% less) which sort of gives you a little bit of roll over the first two months.
Again these cheaper offerings are reactionary, but it is cheaper offerings. I get 200MB free from T-Mobile for my iPad.
Gary
When have they been raised their prices? Your statement implies they do this all the time (or at least often).
All I've ever done is lower my price. I've been with them 5 or 6 years. All they've done is offer options to save me money.
With A-List (free) I was able to use less minutes, so I lowered my minutes which saved me money.
When they added the unlimited messaging with free cell-to-cell to any US carrier (cost was either what I was paying for texting already or $10 more) and I saved $20 by dropping my plan down to less minutes (net gain might have only been $10). At this point I realized you couldn't get A-List on a 700 minute Family plan, but they did it for me anyways (I've learned it never hurts to ask).
They've also recently dropped the price of unlimited text / cell to cell calling by $10 (family and individual) BUT you have to ask to get this offer (10 minutes on the phone and I saved $10 a month for the rest of my life). I believe the pricing was $30 and $20 and now they're $20 and $10. I read about this here or SlickDeals and made the call a few months ago.
Yes, these were all reactionary, but they've been saving me money for years.
If they hadn't lowered these prices, I might be with another company by now. But they haven't been raising my prices.
They've raised the prices of data plans (on the older plans), but they've they've always let us keep our old data plans (which doesn't raise my prices).
The above info is all based on my experiences on my US AT&T Family plans for the last 5-6 years.
They've also been offering several new plans over the years (mobile share and this new updated plan) which all seem like pretty good deals except that switching would cause me to lose my unlimited data so for me, they're not so great. They've been close to make me consider switching my plan with all my grandfathered services.
They've also lowered international data prices several times. 300MB for $60 is pricey, but handing when traveling.
They've also got new cheap iPad data pricing too. Instead of 250MB per month at $15 a month ($45 for 750MB for 3 months) they now have a 3 month plan with 1GB of data (33% more) for $25 (44% less) which sort of gives you a little bit of roll over the first two months.
Again these cheaper offerings are reactionary, but it is cheaper offerings. I get 200MB free from T-Mobile for my iPad.
Gary
WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG
Why do people NOT believe others that have switched to the $15 plan. Stop calling. Go to your account online and BOOM - there it is.
We had 3 phones under contract, 1 was not. They are all now billing at $15. Total bill $160 for 10gb. Did it online in about 5 minutes. Completed 4 hours later with confirmation email. Have already done the hotspot too.
If your phone went under contract after Feb 2nd, then you do pay the higher amount. I had two from last fall. 1 longer than that. As to buying out the ETF... not sure if they did or not and really do not care. What I am saying, my new pricing and that of hundreds of other posters is now $100 plus $15 per phone, on or off contract.
PLEASE READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE ALREADY DONE.... OVER AND OVER.
I just switched my plan from the Mobile Share 4GB to the 10GB plan. One of my lines is using Next and the other was on a standard 2-year upgrade that was just upgraded when the 5s came out.
I was able to get the 2 lines at the $130 a month and both of my iPhone access lines are $15/month.
With my next payment I'm only saving ~$5 a month BUT I'm going from 4GB to 10GB which I'm more than happy with.
I was able to get the 2 lines at the $130 a month and both of my iPhone access lines are $15/month.
With my next payment I'm only saving ~$5 a month BUT I'm going from 4GB to 10GB which I'm more than happy with.
I have a iPhone5 currently on GoPhone (will work with T-Mobile).
I have an iPad 3 (Verizon) and an iPad Air (Verizon).
I have been thinking of moving all 3 to this 10 GB AT&T plan.
I get with the iPad 3 I will not get AT&T LTE with it as it is "Verizon" based. The GSM side of it will work great I am thinking still. It is only for the wife and I do not think she will notice the difference. The Air will work with AT&T LTE so I am not worried about that guy.
My question is will the $100 credit apply to my iPads? I do not think it will apply to my GoPhone based i5.
I have an iPad 3 (Verizon) and an iPad Air (Verizon).
I have been thinking of moving all 3 to this 10 GB AT&T plan.
I get with the iPad 3 I will not get AT&T LTE with it as it is "Verizon" based. The GSM side of it will work great I am thinking still. It is only for the wife and I do not think she will notice the difference. The Air will work with AT&T LTE so I am not worried about that guy.
My question is will the $100 credit apply to my iPads? I do not think it will apply to my GoPhone based i5.
Ok, just talked to another rep and they confirmed that I would qualify for the $25 discount on the 3 phones still under contract. This is great news...
Thanks guys for not bashing me and making look/call again. In fact, I found this in the FAQ under the new plan
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I DON'T BECAUSE
1. I DON'T ALWAYS BELIEVE EVERYTHING I READ ON THE INTERNET
2. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE WORK FOR AT&T.
However, I did find out that I do qualify by calling again and talked to someone that did verify I did qualify.
Thanks guys for not bashing me and making look/call again. In fact, I found this in the FAQ under the new plan
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I DON'T BECAUSE
1. I DON'T ALWAYS BELIEVE EVERYTHING I READ ON THE INTERNET
2. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE WORK FOR AT&T.
However, I did find out that I do qualify by calling again and talked to someone that did verify I did qualify.
I understand some doubt, but when 10-20-30 people all confirm it, maybe you should start to believe. Or, you should not come to places like this in the first place. People were trying to help you.
So over the years I have normally been eligible for a new subsidy on each line every 18 months. Now it seems that has been bumped up to every 2 years. Since I have 4 lines (with staggered contract dates), that used to average out to 1 new phone every 4.5 months, but now it's more like every 6 months...
Anyways - my real point is that at any given time, I have already paid a bunch of subsidy money on each of my lines. If I switch to this new plan, it seems like all of that money I have already forked over gets flushed down the drain, and I start over with no subsidies moving forward. If I choose to join one of the "next" plans, am I eligible sooner on the lines that are already close to achieving a subsidy, or am I starting from scratch on all of my lines?
My head hurts...
Anyways - my real point is that at any given time, I have already paid a bunch of subsidy money on each of my lines. If I switch to this new plan, it seems like all of that money I have already forked over gets flushed down the drain, and I start over with no subsidies moving forward. If I choose to join one of the "next" plans, am I eligible sooner on the lines that are already close to achieving a subsidy, or am I starting from scratch on all of my lines?
My head hurts...
So out of curiosity, after the completed switch to this new plan I went to shop for a new phone on att website through the Upgrade device option, it gave me the option to get the device a discounted price with 2 year contract or with the Next plan. I didn't see where I could do the option to buy it at full price and then activate it to replace my current iphone. Is this option there that I am not seeing? Could I still get a full price iphone from Apple like we normally do at full price?
Also do you get FAN discounts on iphones? I wouldn't think so but I just now got my FAN 14% discount activated on the account so I wasn't sure.
Also do you get FAN discounts on iphones? I wouldn't think so but I just now got my FAN 14% discount activated on the account so I wasn't sure.
I know that the Next trade-in value ends up being less than Gazelle, which is less than a private sale. How do Apple's in-store trade-in prices compare?