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AT&T to Begin Offering Shared Data Plans in Late August

I think I may switch over and I was expecting to hate these plans. I guess it all depends on your situation. I have an iPhone, always have the latest iPhone and I opened a 2nd line and gave a basic phone to my mother so she would always have a phone with her no matter what.

Im on the 700 minute level for $60 + 9.99 for the 2nd line and then I pay $20 for the 300mb of data. I don't pay for texting since she doesnt use it and I've used google voice for several years now. So its basically $90 for my bill. But with these shared plans I can go to unlimited minutes, unlimited text and 1gig of data for just $25 more if I understand them correctly. That might be worth it to me.
 
Corrode said:
You'd think with the huge adoption of smart phones and the increased revenue from the already ridiculous data prices, they might lower their prices?? Like when high speed Internet was unaffordable but now has come way down in price.

I hate telecommunications companies.
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Speaking from past experience, high speed internet from years past was rarely "unaffordable" as it were.

When the @Home Network was first launched, there was no cap, no limit, and you paid roughly $100-$150/month. While that may seem a bit steep, again, there was literally no limit. You didn't have a "speed" it was whatever was allowable based on how many people were on the node. Well worth the dollars compared to now where $120/month peaks you out at 50Mbps.
 
MacDav said:
Your beef is not with big companies making big undeserved profits, or people talking out of both sides of their mouths. Your beef is with the universe itself. Capitalism is an extension of evolution. It is "Natural Selection" at work. You seem to want life to be "fair". Life has never been fair, is not fair now, and never will be fair. People are not equal, and never have been equal. You can really only blame the universe for this. If everyone living were at a level of enlightenment on par with "Mother Teresa" then we would have "Heaven on Earth". Unfortunately, most humans are selfish, envious, hateful, greedy etc. Karl Marx thought he could force people to be unselfish. The Soviets bought into his ideas and they gave it their best shot. The Soviet Empire imploded, as you might recall, because that system turned out to be a worse fit for humans than Capitalism. Look at the Euro-Socialists, how is that working out? Yes, our system is far from perfect. It is only as perfect as the people who populate it. We can and will improve things. We will argue with each other about which method is best to improve things. However; one thing I know for sure, whining about how bad things are, is a waste of time. Doing something positive in your life (even a small thing) is not a waste of time. It may be all that most of us can do.
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Your still missing you point, probably because I'm not communicating it as clearly as I should.

Let me try again. I have no problem with capitalism. My observation, not even a complaint, is that people tend to choose where they selectively want unabashed capitalism to apply. With companies they like (like Apple), they support the market setting prices and happily pay it - with companies they don't (like ATT) they bash them and feel they are greedy and corrupt. Read through this or any other thread on a cell carrier and you see that dichotomy.

You say that I'm whining, but I'm one of the few not whining about ATT setting a policy for their own interest. I expected it. (That doesn't mean I like it....but I wasn't naive enough to think they were going to cut their revenue.)

If you support and understand capitalism, then you can't be fine with Apple maximizing their profit and be surprised or upset when ATT does the same thing. That was my point...not that neither of them had a right to do so.
 
mantan said:
Your still missing you point, probably because I'm not communicating it as clearly as I should.

Let me try again. I have no problem with capitalism. My observation, not even a complaint, is that people tend to choose where they selectively want unabashed capitalism to apply. With companies they like (like Apple), they support the market setting prices and happily pay it - with companies they don't (like ATT) they bash them and feel they are greedy and corrupt. Read through this or any other thread on a cell carrier and you see that dichotomy.

You say that I'm whining, but I'm one of the few not whining about ATT setting a policy for their own interest. I expected it. (That doesn't mean I like it....but I wasn't naive enough to think they were going to cut their revenue.)

If you support and understand capitalism, then you can't be fine with Apple maximizing their profit and be surprised or upset when ATT does the same thing. That was my point...not that neither of them had a right to do so.
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No, I'm afraid you're missing my point. People are self-centered and most are also hypocritical, and just about every other negative thing you can think of. So getting upset about the fact that they are hypocrites, is a waste of time. You are wasting your time thinking people should be different than they are. They will always be exactly the way they are, and you bemoaning it is a waste of time. I hope this is clear enough.
 
Better Plan for Me

It seems like this will save my wife and I $60/month:

Old Family Plan
First Phone 1400 min = $90
Second Phone = $10
First Phone Data = $30
Second Phone Data = $30
Unlimited Texting = $30
Total = $190

New Shared Data Plan
1 GB Data = $40
iPhone 1 = $45
iPhone 2 = $45
Talk = Free
Text = Free
Total = $130

My wife uses 200-300 MB/month and I use 500-800 MB/month. I could easily cut mine back by not downloading app updates and big email attachments.

Seems like a no-brainer if we manage our data well, no?
 
solarkismet said:
It seems like this will save my wife and I $60/month:

Old Family Plan
First Phone 1400 min = $90
Second Phone = $10
First Phone Data = $30
Second Phone Data = $30
Unlimited Texting = $30
Total = $190

New Shared Data Plan
1 GB Data = $40
iPhone 1 = $45
iPhone 2 = $45
Talk = Free
Text = Free
Total = $130

My wife uses 200-300 MB/month and I use 500-800 MB/month. I could easily cut mine back by not downloading app updates and big email attachments.

Seems like a no-brainer if we manage our data well, no?
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Yeah, I'd say you're one of the lucky ones this will benefit quite a bit.

Wish I could say the same.
 
MacDav said:
No, I'm afraid you're missing my point. People are self-centered and most are also hypocritical, and just about every other negative thing you can think of. So getting upset about the fact that they are hypocrites, is a waste of time. You are wasting your time thinking people should be different than they are. They will always be exactly the way they are, and you bemoaning it is a waste of time. I hope this is clear enough.
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I think the part you're missing is thinking i'm upset. Unlike a lot of people (everybody) here - I accepted that and moved on. You called me out on it...
 
mantan said:
I think the part you're missing is thinking i'm upset. Unlike a lot of people (everybody) here - I accepted that and moved on. You called me out on it...
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Say whatever you like. Your not fooling anyone but yourself. End of discussion.
 
MacDav said:
Say whatever you like. Your not fooling anyone but yourself. End of discussion.
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'end of discussion'....You totally missed what my point 4 times. But that's OK, you seem like the type that wants to win an internet argument more than engage in thoughtful dialogue.

I'll tap out and say you won...since that's what it seems you like you want.
 
FAN Shared Data Plans

Hello everybody -

I had some issues today with my FAN account and went into an AT&T store to make the changes. The gentleman that helped me out was the store manager, and he told me that he was just in a training that indicated where the discounts apply to FAN accounts.

According to him, he said that the FAN discount percentage would ONLY be taken off the base price, NOT the device add-on amounts. So if you go for the most expensive (20 GB) for $200 a month and have a 20% discount, you're going to have a $40 discount and that's it.

I asked the guy if he was sure, and he said that he just heard this the other day. Don't know what it's worth or if somebody else has posted it, but I saw the question asked a while ago and I thought I'd put up what I know.

MM
 
mathman said:
According to him, he said that the FAN discount percentage would ONLY be taken off the base price, NOT the device add-on amounts. So if you go for the most expensive (20 GB) for $200 a month and have a 20% discount, you're going to have a $40 discount and that's it.
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Which would be the data part of the plan, right? I understand that's the way Verizon does too.
 
Is ATT allowing tethering in this without additional cost? Its my data and I should be able to access however I want...right?
 
With AT&T Mobile Share plans, customers start by choosing how much data they want each month, then choose up to 10 devices to attach to their shared plan, one of which must be a smartphone. Each plan includes tethering and unlimited domestic calls and texts for smartphones and basic or quick messaging phones. This information are useful with ours site.
 
Am I understanding this right....it costs $30 a month to add a non-smart phone to the account?
 
I called this morning to switch to the new plan and was told than my FAN discount applies to the entire bill. I asked her to confirm that and she said she was sure. She put me on hold and 5 minutes later, she came back and said the discount is for the 1st line only ($30).

I went online to switch and there was no information online as to what the discount was. I tried to make a new purchase of 5 lines through Premier and was given a discount off the shared data.
 
techiegirl said:
I called this morning to switch to the new plan and was told than my FAN discount applies to the entire bill. I asked her to confirm that and she said she was sure. She put me on hold and 5 minutes later, she came back and said the discount is for the 1st line only ($30).

I went online to switch and there was no information online as to what the discount was. I tried to make a new purchase of 5 lines through Premier and was given a discount off the shared data.
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I THOUGHT that discounts only applied to the base share plan, not the device charge. As a manager at AT&T we don't any discounts on the shared plan at all yet so I can't tell you for sure.
 
I received an email confirming my order and the email says....

All existing voicemails will be deleted within 24 hours once the Mobile Share update is complete.

Why do they need to delete my voicemails?
 
techiegirl said:
I received an email confirming my order and the email says....

All existing voicemails will be deleted within 24 hours once the Mobile Share update is complete.

Why do they need to delete my voicemails?
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Not sure why, but another good question is why do you need to keep your voicemails?

If you do need to keep them forward them to a google voice account or something.
 
techiegirl said:
I received an email confirming my order and the email says....

All existing voicemails will be deleted within 24 hours once the Mobile Share update is complete.

Why do they need to delete my voicemails?
Click to expand...

Just another reason to move to something like Google voice for voice mail. Hell all I use my google voice number is for voice mails or a number I give companies/people I really do not want to deal with phone calls from.

I have not used AT&T's voice mail system for nearly 3 years. I do not miss it at all.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
I have not used AT&T's voice mail system for nearly 3 years. I do not miss it at all.
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Agreed, I am even on the verge of turning off my text messaging (would have done it already if it wasn't for my wife being on the plan too).

I want to port my number to GV, but I wish it would display the GV number to other people when I dialed from the default dialer.
 
techiegirl said:
I received an email confirming my order and the email says....

All existing voicemails will be deleted within 24 hours once the Mobile Share update is complete.

Why do they need to delete my voicemails?
Click to expand...

Umm, that sounds odd. I moved to the shared plan on Sunday and I still have all of my voice mail messages going back to Feb 2011. The voice mail messages are still on my device at least, which is the only way that I access them.
 
Penn Jennings said:
I THOUGHT that discounts only applied to the base share plan, not the device charge. As a manager at AT&T we don't any discounts on the shared plan at all yet so I can't tell you for sure.
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I've been told several times that each FAN contract is different. It depends on the terms AT&T and the company negotiated.
 
ericrwalker said:
Agreed, I am even on the verge of turning off my text messaging (would have done it already if it wasn't for my wife being on the plan too).

I want to port my number to GV, but I wish it would display the GV number to other people when I dialed from the default dialer.
Click to expand...

well that is your fault for using an iPhone. Android I can route everything to go threw GV is I wanted to.
 
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