To not pay the higher amount you needed the phone number under contract BEFORE Feb 2, meaning the cutoff is Feb 1st.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Launches Lower-Cost Mobile Share Value Plans for Families
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
To not pay the higher amount you needed the phone number under contract BEFORE Feb 2, meaning the cutoff is Feb 1st.
I changed to the new mobile share 10GB plan over the weekend.. & i have one iPhone 5 off contract & one iPhone 5s (wife's) that was purchased by subsidy in september ($199 down).. i'm immediately eligible as i was before to upgrade to next, buy using subsidy with 2 yr commitment (+$25 for 24 months), or bring my own. My wife's phone is upgrade eligible as follows:
AT&T Upgrade Status:
• This line is ineligible for an installment plan upgrade. This line may be eligible for an upgrade on 03/01/2014
• You are eligible to upgrade to a new phone at full price today. This line may be eligible for an upgrade on 09/29/2015
I'm curious to see what her options will be on March 1st?
The way i see it she just got a discounted iPhone 5s (worst case we'll end up paying $199+whatever we paid for the last few months+19x15) - even better savings for those that just bought new phones on subsidies in the last few days!
It's worked out well for us staggering one new phone between each of us each/every other release - so I have a 5, she has a 5S, I'm planning to get a 6, she'll get a 6s & that'll help reduce the sticker shock if we decide to buy off-contract (Apple direct), or if we buy using next but payoff plan & re-sell (imho this is the only way to use next - pay it off & resell, do not trade in or you will lose money)
fyi - i don't see off-contract pricing listed on ATT website, but, i'd probably rather buy from Apple anyway
Hope that helps..
adding a note that i just noticed it says she is eligible to buy a new device at full price - i wonder if that forgoes any outstanding money owed via subsidy? hmm....... anyone??
Last edited:
That's my point. US customers were getting screwed. They're still getting royally screwed, only slightly less so and people seem to be jumping for joy instead of finding an alternative.
A phone plan should be as simple as $40 for unlimited talk, unlimited text and 5GB of data.
One monthly fee. No excess usage charges. Txt warnings when you approach your Data limit. No contracts.
Wrong.
You just STOP paying. What is paid in the past is of ZERO relevance. You can not change that. Even if it was flushed down the drain. You can not change the past. You can only change today and tomorrow.
Even if you paid $8,500 for your last phone, it does not matter.
You can not change the past. You can not change the past. The past does not matter at all.
----------
The past subsidy issue is in the past. Do what you want going FORWARD.
Not arguing with you, but, if that's the case & I can go buy my wife a new 5s, albeit full price or next (& pay it off immediately), then we just turned a subsidized phone into a profit..?
Was just thinking ... If I stick with the two line unlimited plan (I dropped off some extra stuff to get down to $135 today) what happens when I'm ready for an upgrade? Do we now need to either use Next or buy full price? Will our option remain to purchase 32GB iPhone @ $299 with normal $135 monthly plan charge?
Also recalculated $115 for the new plan with %15 FAN discount. I forgot about that earlier!
Chris
Also recalculated $115 for the new plan with %15 FAN discount. I forgot about that earlier!
Chris
I think this is a win win. Lower per month costs now and when the new iPhone comes out I can buy it outright and sell my old one and not be out much more than what the subsidized cost was.
No more pain in the ass upgrade swaps among lines.
If other people hold onto their phones longer this will make the resale market for used iPhones better as well.
I'd rather just pay AT&T for data and let me worry about the hardware. Just seems simpler.
No more pain in the ass upgrade swaps among lines.
If other people hold onto their phones longer this will make the resale market for used iPhones better as well.
I'd rather just pay AT&T for data and let me worry about the hardware. Just seems simpler.
Your option to upgrade should remain how it always has if you aren't switching plans. 2 subsidized lines with unlimited data for $135 can't be beat.
$40 or $15
I apologize if I missed this somewhere but I have talked to 2 AT&T reps already and been told 2 different things.
2 Phones both subsidized (iPhone 4S). My wife has unlimited data on her phone so I really don't want to switch without understanding fully the 10gb switch. If we switch now, it will be $15 per line for the 10GB plan. I have been told that by both reps. Now, when a new iPhone comes out and we want to subsidize those phones, does it go to $40 a line or does it stay at $15 a line? One rep told me $15 and one told me $40 which is why I am confused.
I apologize if I missed this somewhere but I have talked to 2 AT&T reps already and been told 2 different things.
2 Phones both subsidized (iPhone 4S). My wife has unlimited data on her phone so I really don't want to switch without understanding fully the 10gb switch. If we switch now, it will be $15 per line for the 10GB plan. I have been told that by both reps. Now, when a new iPhone comes out and we want to subsidize those phones, does it go to $40 a line or does it stay at $15 a line? One rep told me $15 and one told me $40 which is why I am confused.
Hope so! We have the old 450 Family plan with unlimited text. So most of our minutes are actually mobile-to-mobile. I could probably count on one hand how many times I've called someone on a landline phone in the past month.
If you buy the iPhone yourself and leave AT&T out of it, you'll pay $15/month.
If you buy the iPhone through AT&T's NEXT plan, you'll pay $15/month + a monthly charge depending on which plan you choose.
If you buy the iPhone on contract (i.e. the 2-year agreement), you'll pay $40/month.
Maybe this will prompt folks to ask Apple to reduce the price of their devices (once Verizon switches).
I remember believing that Apple was going to revolutionize phone pricing (and phone contracts) when the original iPhone came out. Sadly the following year they went with the subsidy model instead.
I remember believing that Apple was going to revolutionize phone pricing (and phone contracts) when the original iPhone came out. Sadly the following year they went with the subsidy model instead.
I, like a lot of you was hesitant to lose my the family's unlimited data plans. But I pulled the trigger and I am not looking back. We have 4 iPhones, a flip phone and a mifi. I am saving about $100 a month. I wanted the Netgear Unite Pro mobile hot spot but wasn't due until March but I called AT&T and asked and they upgraded me early on Jan 27. So instead of paying $50/mo less 14% discount I am paying $20. I am really glad I didn't wait until March as I would have had to pay the full price of $200 for the device. I will continue to use the midi device instead of tethering my iPhone as the Unite Pro comes with a 16 hour battery. My daughter however can now use the tethering.
Now I will just put the money I'm saving each month aside and use it to buy new phones.
Now I will just put the money I'm saving each month aside and use it to buy new phones.
So if you don't upgrade early and just pay off NEXT, than that is actually cheaper than buying a phone outright/subsidized because they axe the $36 activation fee? If so, that is a better deal than T-mobile's financing since you have an option of upgrading early without having to pay an extra $10 a month.
Just change from my old plan, 4 iPhones 2 with unlimited, to the family share 10gb. It does include hot spot. Bill dropped from $235 to $160 a month. That's $2,820.00 a year to $1,920.00 a year. That's a $900.00 a year savings! Plus I got to keep my 18% fan discount. How could anyone bad mouth that? I'm a happy camper.
I changed my family plan (2 lines) on the day this was announced to this new plan. Just got my bill and it went up by $25. Total bill used to be about $180, now it's $205. Ugh!
Where do you go on the site to see what your total bill is going to be if you just switched?
Not sure about where you see a future bill, but this is my actual bill for the month with an amount due of $205 when it's always $180 (there are no overages). I don't see anything that says there was a fee to change plans. It makes sense that the plan charges wouldn't really kick in until next month, but if that's the case I would think my bill would the same. On chat with them now and the agent is worthless.
edit:
Chat:
Christine: And I'm seeing that you just changed your plan into the new mobile share plan last February 2?
Travis: yes
Christine: So the changes on the new plan will be appearing on your next bill.
Travis: then why did my bill go UP?!?
Travis: if it doesn't appear until the next bill, then this bill should be the same as usual
Christine: Because previously you have the Family plan 700. Then you moved into the 10GB.
Christine: But I can assure you that the discount for the 10GB will be showing in your next bill.
Travis: if I switched from a plan to a less expensive plan, then the bill should be the same or less. not more. this doesn't make any sense
Christine: Oh!Because from previous plan you had the Family plan for $60 (primary line)+ $30 (Family messaging unlimited) + $30 (unlimited data) +$9.99 (additional line) + $25 (Data pro 2GB)= $154.99 base charge.
Christine: Compared to the old 10GB shared plan that is $120 (10GB shared data)+$40(smartphone 1)+ $40(smartphone 1)= $200 base charge.
Christine: That's why it was higher this month.
Travis: the plan should be $130 for 2 lines. Not $200.
Travis: nevermind. thank you for your time.
I must be missing something. Any thoughts?
Last edited:
I just posted this in the other thread but looks like you were in the same boat as me. They back-dated the change to 2/1 (the last day of my last billing cycle) so the old mobile share plan price was charged for the entire month I didn't have it. I ended up getting a $50 credit.......
Thanks for the info. I'll give them a call today and argue again now that I am more convinced there is an error on their part and not mine. I never wanted to let go of my unlimited data plan, and I'm regretting doing that now.
Uh, well the old plan included the cost of your phones, and the new one doesn't. Looks like you'll work out exactly the same as the old plan if you pay for phones full price up front, or sign up for the NEXT plan at $32.50/month/iPhone, which, when all 4 phones eventually roll into NEXT would up your bill to $290/month. This is exactly what AT&T is counting on.
HEADS UP!!!I got the ATT notice that my bill was ready (Feb 2 to Mar 1)...and it was HUGE!!!
Effectively they upgraded my data from 6 to 10 gB and my charge went up form $90 to 100 a month...that is okay.
But my per line went up from $35 to $40 a month!!!! WTF? Not $15?
So i called. They were very nice and said that it takes 2 billing cycles before you see the discount. ???
So I said, NOOOOO way. After 20 minutes back and forth...they were saying it wasn't explained clearly...and I said no, it wasn't written that way...the bill is just wrong...you gave me half of the upgrade: one type for the data and it looks like the 2yr subsidy rate for the lines.
Anyhow, they agreed and reduced my bill to the $15 per line...So my bill for this cycle went from $260 down to $176 (taxes etc made the difference..still it went down $84).
The thing to note? The online bill was wrong, but it clearly said that my current plan was only $145 ( $100 + 3* $15).
So it is all mixed up...check your bill...
P.S. I did confirm with ATT that come Oct, I can go back to the subsidy (2 Year) per line..for $40... no other line affected. And it is NOT $40 + $15 per line.
BUT..I can do the NEXT option today (even saw that on line)...don't have to wait for my regular upgrade in Oct. And then it is about $32per line plus $15...So effectively I could get out of the ETF...well they didn't say anything about turning in my current iPhone 5.
Just some info for the 'rest of us'...
But you also just lost 2 phone subsidies/year (4 over 2 years), and I think those are generally worth like $450 each. So it sounds like you sort of broke even (unless you like using old phones).