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If that were the case then AT&T wouldn't have talked about how much the subsidized prices hurt them over the years.
Of course they would. They want to always be the victim when speaking about profits because they want to give the consumer as little as they possibly can.

All that was really done with contracts is the pricing was shuffled around a bit and it was made a lot more transparent what you are actually paying for every month (how many dollars go towards service, towards your handset, etc).

In many cases (unlimited plan not withstanding) the newer (Next) plans actually do save those who have 2+ lines money, especially with how they've reworked corporate discounts. There isn't really s right answer. Anyone with an old plan needs to sit down and do the math and see which way is cheaper. We gave up our unlimited lines in favor of 15gb (price of 10gb). More than enough for us, and we are saving about $40 per month.

What kind of baffling to me is that they are still continuing with this two year thing. Verizon dropped it and it hasn't hurt them. I don't see it hurting ATT either. They want fewer people on unlimited, this much is clear. Why would you continue locking people into that contract?
 
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What kind of baffling to me is that they are still continuing with this two year thing. Verizon dropped it and it hasn't hurt them.
VZW did not entirely drop the subsidized pricing, current customers on contract can still get their new iPhones that way. Likewise ATT has all but dropped subsidized pricing as well. The only place you can get subsidized pricing on ATT is directly from ATT and not from their satellite stores or apple.com

In a sense both have dropped that program but only partially. ATT went one route, and VZW another. Maybe I'm splitting hairs but I think its a natural progression and this time next year, there will be really no subsidized pricing.
 
Google is an amazing tool.

Searching "AT&T OLAM," the first result is https://www.att.com/olam, which resolves to AT&T's Online Account Management.

I did use that "amazing tool" and searched OLAM which was the exact term used, not AT&T OLAM. Speciificity when searching, using any search engine, yields the best results.

This is exactly what was posted:
"This can be confirmed by checking OLAM after September 1."
 
Looks like they bumped me up to full subsidy as of September 1st, was 9/21. I guess customer service doesn't have any idea how their system works because I talked to two different reps as well as one live chat last week and they all said there was no way I could upgrade before the 21st without having to pay the reduced subsidy price of $250 unless of course I wanted to use the NEXT program.
 
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Looks like they bumped me up to full subsidy as of September 1st, was 9/21. I guess customer service doesn't have any idea how their system works because I talked to two different reps as well as one live chat last week and they all said there was no way I could upgrade before the 21st without having to pay the reduced subsidy price of $250 unless of course I wanted to use the NEXT program.

I am was in the same boat, 9/21, but I am eligible now.
 
The comparisons become apples and oranges when you throw in UDP users. Those without UDP don't understand and those with UDP don't understand how NEXT benefits others. Throw in that some had UDP on one line and now their spouse wants a smartphone.... and everything goes to hell.

Old UDP users with single or dual lines benefit from the subsidy.

New users/ multiline users/ and anyone without UDP benefit from the NEXT plan or current pricing.
 
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Of course they would. They want to always be the victim when speaking about profits because they want to give the consumer as little as they possibly can.

All that was really done with contracts is the pricing was shuffled around a bit and it was made a lot more transparent what you are actually paying for every month (how many dollars go towards service, towards your handset, etc).

In many cases (unlimited plan not withstanding) the newer (Next) plans actually do save those who have 2+ lines money, especially with how they've reworked corporate discounts. There isn't really s right answer. Anyone with an old plan needs to sit down and do the math and see which way is cheaper. We gave up our unlimited lines in favor of 15gb (price of 10gb). More than enough for us, and we are saving about $40 per month.

What kind of baffling to me is that they are still continuing with this two year thing. Verizon dropped it and it hasn't hurt them. I don't see it hurting ATT either. They want fewer people on unlimited, this much is clear. Why would you continue locking people into that contract?

U just don't get it.

Getting people into At&t next 18/24/30 month installment plans essentially is locking them into a contract as well.

Most people don't pay off their installment plans early especially with zero interest.

Why do u think att added the 30 month payment plan. Cause they noticed consumers were realizing how expensive iPhones were and tried to make it look cheaper by spreading the payments over 30 months.

Going back to 2 year subsidy contract. U can always pay it off early as well with ur etf. .

So these att next plans are defector contracts with 90 percent of the public.
 
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I pay $132 total including taxes on 2 lines with rollover any mobile plus 10 landlines of my choice plus unlimited texting and data.

That's with a subsidy. Plus i get chance to add a line for $9.99 and and buy an iPhone for 199 plus 45 upgrade fee. And cancel the data plan and put a flip phone back on it.

So att is offering 15gb data for $100 plus 15 per line access.

So it would cost me $130 for 15gb data for 2 lines no subsidy. My 24 percent corp discounts essentially wipes out the cell phone taxes on either type of plans.

So the math for me is easy. .
$130 for 15gb no subsidy 2 lines.

Or $132 for unlimited data for 2 line with 2 subsidies.

Easy math. Old plan saves me a lot of month over 24 months.
 
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Yesterday my eligibility was 9/22. Bumped up so I'm now eligible.

I spent some time yesterday running the math of my current subsidized contract plan vs. the new mobile share/next plans. Also asked some questions on other threads here, as there were a few things that confused me.

Sticking with the subsidized contract plan saves me money, as I have an old family talk nation plan with no device access fees.

I'm hoping many people will switch to NEXT so they can order directly from Apple, leaving a little more stock for those of us who want to stay on our old contract plans. I'll try to pre-order from the website, but if I can't get a release-day delivery date that way, I'll take release day off and queue up at an AT&T store. If I still can't get the phone I want (128GB silver/white 6S+), I'll be stuck waiting. Won't be the end of the world.
 
The comparisons become apples and oranges when you throw in UDP users. Those without UDP don't understand and those with UDP don't understand how NEXT benefits others. Throw in that some had UDP on one line and now their spouse wants a smartphone.... and everything goes to hell.

Old UDP users with single or dual lines benefit from the subsidy.

New users/ multiline users/ and anyone without UDP benefit from the NEXT plan or current pricing.

Bingo! This is a great response/explanation.

I don't understand why it so hard for people to understand this. Perhaps they never graduated from math class back in school...
 
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VZW did not entirely drop the subsidized pricing, current customers on contract can still get their new iPhones that way. Likewise ATT has all but dropped subsidized pricing as well. The only place you can get subsidized pricing on ATT is directly from ATT and not from their satellite stores or apple.com

In a sense both have dropped that program but only partially. ATT went one route, and VZW another. Maybe I'm splitting hairs but I think its a natural progression and this time next year, there will be really no subsidized pricing.

I absolutely agree about subsidy. I'm surprised it has lasted this long, to be honest. I'm surprised contracts, in general, have lasted this long.

With vzw I thought that those on unlimited plans were ineligible to sign a contract. We left Verizon over three years ago because it was inferior to ATT here despite my wife having a great company discount (she was laying $40 unlimited everything for a corporate line and given a free phone (non Apple) every two years; they've since gotten rid of that deal as well, to the best of my knowledge.
 
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