AT&T to Stop Offering Two-Year Phone Contracts Starting January 8

[tbill1]

You have looked at interest rates since the 2008 crash have you? It has almost got to the point where the customer is paying the bank to look after their money rather than the banks paying interest.

There's no such animal as a interest free loan from the carrier. Believe me when I tell you the carrier is getting that money back somewhere, they are not running a charity.

My money market funds pay .01%. $750 X.01%= .075 x2 years is 15 cents interest you will save using Next

 

[ToroidalZeus]

How will i freaking find out if my premier account will be one of the accounts that will continue that let me upgrade? I ask because I need to know whether to not to burn my 3 early upgrades then.

Second question, how would pricing work? So my plan would still be identical (I have 5 lines. 130 base line + 10 add a line and one of them having UDP) but I just do upgrade pricing anymore? Does NEXT require me to switch my plan? So many unknowns..

I'm on an IRU FAN and because I have no way of knowing if I'll be included in the 2 year upgrade/contract I used my last eligible upgrade on Friday. I have 3 lines and the plan was that mommy got a new phone every year...
Hoping for a subsidized 7 in September with my IRU, but happy enough with my 6s plus if it doesn't happen.
And I know my daughter will love the RG 6s I just grabbed for her 13th birthday next week!
Worse case I pay out of pocket every year and everyone else gets a hand me down.. As long as mommy is happy everyone else is!

It kinda doesn't matter if your FAN account will still receive a 2 yr upgrade. Eventually your 2 year contract option will be phased out too when your company renegotiates it's deal with AT&T. So it's just a matter of time.

The problem with staying on your current plans without the subsidy is that you are no longer getting a good deal. For every line you have, you are losing the equivalents of $450 2 years. So with 3 lines, your net cost is going up by $56.25 a month. With 5 it's $93.75. + the $5 a month increase per line with unlimited data. Even if you have unlimited data you are most likely not using more than 20GB a month. So you are probably better off just switching to a new shared everything plan, either on AT&T or Verizon. Or going over to T-Mobile.

FYI you can get 5 lines of unlimited everything on T-Mobile for 220 a month right now. (180 for 4 lines).

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

It kinda doesn't matter if your FAN account will still receive a 2 yr upgrade. Eventually your 2 year contract option will be phased out too when your company renegotiates it's deal with AT&T. So it's just a matter of time.

Well, I don't know how long these deals are but if the typical length is 3-5 years, that's still quite a bit of time to stay with AT&T before looking elsewhere.

However, someone mentioned that Custom IRU isn't the same as IRU so it's not looking good for most FAN customers (who are regular IRUs).

 

[Fernandez21]

According to pocket now, this is the last week to get a subsidized phone at at&t , starting the 8th you have to pay full price or used at&t next which is based on full price. Plan on getting an iPhone for my last upgrade, kinda sucks I was hoping it would still be around for when the next iPhone and note come out, or at least until the S7.

http://m.pocketnow.com/2015/12/30/contracts-gone-at-att

 

[pooleman]

The people on cheap grandfathered unlimited data plans (UDP) and use _a lot_ of data care because now they have to pay full price for their new iphones (and $5/month more) if they want to keep their UDP which makes total cost of phone and plan for 2 years not so cheap anymore. AT&T doesn't care if you switch, that's why they don't offer those plans any more. No one is going to sympathize with UDP users.

If someone has a good thing (like an UDP) why are they not worthy of sympathy if it is lost? I feel sympathy for anyone who loses a good thing. People are too cold and jaded these days.

 

[normanfox]

AT&T is playing carrot and stick game with us to force us off unlimited plan. first a small $5/month stick, then 22GB/month carrot, now this big stick.

the one of the main reasons that I stay with AT&T is unlimited data and subsidized plan. without these, we are not tied down to any carriers anymore.

I will wait until Sep when iphone 7 is released. if AT&T would not give any new carrots to make up those sticks above, I would definitely leave AT&T (for Tmobile).

 

[pooleman]

AT&T is playing carrot and stick game with us to force us off unlimited plan. first a small $5/month stick, then 22GB/month carrot, now this big stick.

the one of the main reasons that I stay with AT&T is unlimited data and subsidized plan. without these, we are not tied down to any carriers anymore.

I will wait until Sep when iphone 7 is released. if AT&T would not give any new carrots to make up those sticks above, I would definitely leave AT&T (for Tmobile).

I'll probably switch to Cricket if I can't get a good deal on the iPhone 7 or keep my UDP. I do think the AT&T network is good. Ive been with AT&T for over 10 years (when it was still Cingular). I hate to leave after that long a time.

 

[btrav13]

Yeah who wrote these FAQs? This is my ONLY question: Do I get unlimited interwebs still?

Yes, but just like Verizon you'll have to pay full price up front. You can't finance it out with payments and keep unlimited. If you walk in and pay for the entire thing outright then yes you keep it.

 

[kas23]

I never said your grandfathered $65/month 2-year contract was more expensive than Next.

So let's do the math. AT&T sold you a $749 phone for $299. There's a $450 difference (loss on AT&T's part) there. Perhaps not exactly $450 (as AT&T undoubtedly buys the phone from Apple for a bit less than $749) but there's a several hundred dollar difference (loss) happening here.

The way wireless carriers make up that difference is to inflate the price of the monthly bill (on 2-year contracts) to include the cost of service and the cost of recouping that several hundred dollar loss.

That's 'how in the universe' part of your $65 monthly bill is "going towards (paying for) your phone". Most of the $65 goes towards paying for the service, and a portion of it goes towards paying towards recouping that several hundred dollar loss.

That's the rub with 2-year contracts. At the end of the contract (when AT&T has recouped the money that loss), your monthly bill doesn't decrease. So if you're not constantly renewing these contracts and buying new subsidized phones, you're overpaying in the sense that the part of your $65 monthly bill that previously went towards recouping the loss on that phone now goes to AT&T for .. nothing.

This is simply just not true, but people who are now on NEXT or bought their phone outright are still spreading this myth. If I am paying a hidden monthly cost to cover my subsidized phone, why doesn't my monthly bill go down after my contract? If I started using an old phone (not the subsidized ones), why doesn't my monthly bill go down then?

Finally, I have family members on my plan that still use dumb phones. I get a subsidized phone every year by using their upgrade eligibility. AT&T is basically selling me a subsidized phone every year. Why doesn't my bill then go up?

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Yes, but just like Verizon you'll have to pay full price up front. You can't finance it out with payments and keep unlimited. If you walk in and pay for the entire thing outright then yes you keep it.

Not necessarily. You can finance with Apple and keep unlimited. Or do the NEXT program and still keep unlimited. It'll just be more expensive compared to 2-year contract (to the tune of $450).

 

[Rigby]

There's no such animal as a interest free loan from the carrier. Believe me when I tell you the carrier is getting that money back somewhere, they are not running a charity.

Of course they are not a charity, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an interest free loan. Perhaps they have negotiated bulk prices for the phones that individuals don't get, or it's hidden in a fee somewhere. In the latter case the losers are those who are eligible for the interest free loan but don't take advantage of it, because they pay for those that do.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

This is simply just not true, but people who are now on NEXT or bought their phone outright are still spreading this myth. If I am paying a hidden monthly cost to cover my subsidized phone, why doesn't my monthly bill go down after my contract? If I started using an old phone (not the subsidized ones), why doesn't my monthly bill go down then?

Finally, I have family members on my plan that still use dumb phones. I get a subsidized phone every year by using their upgrade eligibility. AT&T is basically selling me a subsidized phone every year. Why doesn't my bill then go up?

That's exactly why we say you're throwing money away when you don't renew your contract.

 

[Rigby]

My money market funds pay .01%. $750 X.01%= .075 x2 years is 15 cents interest you will save using Next

Take a look at savings accounts with reputable online banks such as Ally or Barclays. You can currently get interest rates around 1% (and the funds are FDIC insured). Not that it's a huge amount of money if you park $750 there, but if you have larger amounts in your money market fund it's worth a look.

 

[Rigby]

This is simply just not true, but people who are now on NEXT or bought their phone outright are still spreading this myth. If I am paying a hidden monthly cost to cover my subsidized phone, why doesn't my monthly bill go down after my contract?

Because they rip you off if you don't get a new phone every two years on this type of contract. You just keep paying for the "subsidy" without getting anything in return.

 

[thermodynamic]

The day these unsubsidized plans first came out was the day anyone could have predicted this "new" development.

Like how BYOD will have workers, already strapped for cash, paying for the software and equipment the employer wants and while the employer getting full control over a device it does not own.

 

[thermodynamic]

I know full-priced phones aren't cheap, but contracts are so ****ing overpriced that they need to get removed eventually.

I imagine the cost of equipment costs and maintenance, reducing hacking risk, et cetera, are not cheap.

If you are about complain about labor costs in with "****ing overpriced", then can we say your wages are too high in return?

And if profits reach a certain level while maintenance and labor costs go down, then there's seemingly another issue going on...

 

[AppleRobert]

Their full prices have and always will be outrageous, I have gone elsewhere mostly to tell the truth for smartphones off contract.

 

[kagharaht]

According to pocket now, this is the last week to get a subsidized phone at at&t , starting the 8th you have to pay full price or used at&t next which is based on full price. Plan on getting an iPhone for my last upgrade, kinda sucks I was hoping it would still be around for when the next iPhone and note come out, or at least until the S7.

http://m.pocketnow.com/2015/12/30/contracts-gone-at-att

So my wife who is Grandfathered original iPhone 2007 contract expires March. She wants to upgrade to the new iPhone 6s Plus. Basically she is out of luck then? I've talked to her and she is not comfortable with T-Mobile and wants to stick with AT&T for now. But it looks like she has no choice in the matter with AT&T screwing us Original iPhone Grandfathered customers.

 

[Fernandez21]

So my wife who is Grandfathered original iPhone 2007 contract expires March. She wants to upgrade to the new iPhone 6s Plus. Basically she is out of luck then? I've talked to her and she is not comfortable with T-Mobile and wants to stick with AT&T for now. But it looks like she has no choice in the matter with AT&T screwing us Original iPhone Grandfathered customers.

What you might be able to do if your still on the old family plan is add a line for $10 and get the 6s. Then get a $10 basic gophone flip phone and activate that on the new line and put the sim in the 6s. While you'll end up paying an extra $240 over the length of the contract, you'll still be getting cheaper than full price.

 

[Eldiablojoe]

I have an ATT "grandfathered" unlimited data plan with unlimited texts and Nation 900 rollover talk minutes.

I don't talk much, hahaha, using an average of 732.5 minutes over a 15 month period. (I have 9000 sitting in my rollover account).

I have occasionally topped out a billing cycle in the 5000's but my max data usage in the past 15 months has been 5940MB (or around 6GB). My average data usage is 3.7GB

For a mid-40's male, I text like a teen-aged girl. I have topped out at around 1800 texts a month, but average just under 1000. This is mostly due to my co-workers and I using group-texts frequently during our work day as part of our employment.

I have an iPhone 6. I plan to upgrade to iPhone7 when/if it is released in Fall 2016. AT&T gives me a discount based on my employer (NAD) of $15.30 per month.

My bill is essentially:
Nationwide 900 plan:......................$59.99
Unlimited Data on 4G LTE w/ VVM.....$30.00
Unlimited Messaging........................$20.00
NAD Discount................................(-$15.30)
Surcharges and Fees.......................$4.37
Government Fees and Taxes..............$3.13
-------------------------TOTAL-----------$102.19

I would prefer to stay on AT&T simply because the area I live in and the area where I work (mobile throughout a small geographic region) I almost always have adequate coverage and because I am comfortable knowing where the poor-coverage areas are and work around them as needed.

What plan should I go with when I upgrade to the 7 and they have killed off subsidies?

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

What you might be able to do if your still on the old family plan is add a line for $10 and get the 6s. Then get a $10 basic gophone flip phone and activate that on the new line and put the sim in the 6s. While you'll end up paying an extra $240 over the length of the contract, you'll still be getting cheaper than full price.

Or do the early upgrade which is nearly the same at $250 more.

 

[kagharaht]

What you might be able to do if your still on the old family plan is add a line for $10 and get the 6s. Then get a $10 basic gophone flip phone and activate that on the new line and put the sim in the 6s. While you'll end up paying an extra $240 over the length of the contract, you'll still be getting cheaper than full price.

Can't add another. We are already maxed out with 5 lines on AT&T and none of them are available for renewal before the cut off. I was lucky to be able to do it around September. I was able to renew with my Grandfathered and Subsidy.

 

[Markoth]

.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Can't add another. We are already maxed out with 5 lines on AT&T and none of them are available for renewal before the cut off. I was lucky to be able to do it around September. I was able to renew with my Grandfathered and Subsidy.

Then take advantage of the early upgrade if your grandmother is eligible. It'll cost nearly the same as adding a dummy line ($250 vs. $240).

I recently bought a 16GB 6S for someone, and you actually get $15 off of your bill every month when you buy it unsubsidized. Since the unsubsidized price for the phone is $650, after the same two years that most people tend to wait before upgrading, you save $360 on your bill. The net cost of the phone being $290. You mean to tell me that saving $10 on your phone is a price increase? And that you'd drop AT&T when the change actually saves you money? This is why our education system is bad. People don't learn basic arithmetic. Go switch your carrier if it makes you happy. I'll keep my carrier, and save $10.

That's beside the point for grandfathered unlimited customers. You get no service discount if you want to keep unlimited even if purchasing outright.

 

[Fernandez21]

I recently bought a 16GB 6S for someone, and you actually get $15 off of your bill every month when you buy it unsubsidized. Since the unsubsidized price for the phone is $650, after the same two years that most people tend to wait before upgrading, you save $360 on your bill. The net cost of the phone being $290. You mean to tell me that saving $10 on your phone is a price increase? And that you'd drop AT&T when the change actually saves you money? This is why our education system is bad. People don't learn basic arithmetic. Go switch your carrier if it makes you happy. I'll keep my carrier, and save $10.

That only applies if your on the new data share plans, if your on the older plans that had a set limit on your minutes you get no monthly discount. So let's say your on an older 450 min plan with unlimited data. That's $70 a month. You can buy a phone with AT&T next, but that'll run your bill up another $20-$30 month and there is no discount. But with the 2 year contract your bill is the same.