Att gave me unlimited minutes on my 700 Family plan. No reason to count minutes, we should count money.
Yep, I count $450 more expensive for us so of course they were happy to give us unlimited minutes
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AT&T to Stop Offering Two-Year Phone Contracts Starting January 8
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Yep, I count $450 more expensive for us so of course they were happy to give us unlimited minutes
Agree, I didn't ask them.Yep, I count $450 more expensive for us so of course they were happy to give us unlimited minutes
I think they should throw the old plan people unlimited text too, then we could drop whatever text options we have (I have 2 of my 3 lines on old $5.00 each plans).
The Mobile Share Plans at ATT I just don't get. Cricket Wireless might not be a bad option for some people. They are an AT&T company now and of course use their network. They have individual plans with discounts for multiple lines, instead of "sharing." The middle and top tier plans even get calling, text, and data in Canada & Mexico. The bummer to a pre-paid service like it is no international roaming offerings beyond Canada and Mexico.
The Mobile Share Plans at ATT I just don't get. Cricket Wireless might not be a bad option for some people. They are an AT&T company now and of course use their network. They have individual plans with discounts for multiple lines, instead of "sharing." The middle and top tier plans even get calling, text, and data in Canada & Mexico. The bummer to a pre-paid service like it is no international roaming offerings beyond Canada and Mexico.
They better "throw" us away and proudly borrow more, connect your car and send you a ticket for a wrong parking in a smart Mexican city under DirectTV antenna.
Also they send part of the fine to T-mobile, they like to pay them. And... If you don't pay they don't chase you, this is their official policy don't chase every customer. Free SMS, you want too much, my friend, too much. May be you want lower roaming rates?!
True, before T-Mobile made it's splash and ended contracts and subsidies for their customers, nothing on your phone bill indicated or hinted at repayment -- as any good magic trick would. But, recently, in response AT&T and VZW, at least, started to offer discounted service to many of their customers. I'm sure you've seen this. Specifically, I'm going to choose AT&T for my example.
If you are instant that for your 2-year service commitment you are getting (or have gotten) an unadulterated $450 signing bonus -- that isn't recovered or charged back to you surreptitiously -- To make be believe that; You will then need to explain to me why 2-year contract holders are the only post-paid customers that pay AT&T $40/mo for the "Mobile Share Value Device Access Charge". Where as other get a $15 or $25 discount on their monthly service depending on the amount of data they choose.
Bought your phone outright for full price? Discount. AT&T Next? Discount. Bring your own phone? Discount. Out-of-contract, now month-to-month, or in other words a contract completed customer? Discount. It's almost as if customers who signed a 2 year contract and were given a $450 subsidy are being charged a hidden fee to reclaim that amount over a two year period. 2-year contract holders are the only ones with an ETF.
There is also the matter of this text from AT&T's website that you'll need to explain when you attempt a purchase: "Smartphones on AT&T Next, month to month, purchased at full price or BYOD also receive this discount. If you upgrade to a new 2-yr agreement this discount will be lost."
Now, why would you lose the monthly discount if the $450 subsidy is a gift as a result of obligating yourself to two years of cellular service. The way I read that text is that completing your 2-year contract moves you to a month-to-month customer and gains you the discount and "upgrading" (contracting for a new smartphone) removes the discount. To me "it doesn't get much more transparent than that" as to whether or not you pay for your subsidy.
So again, if you feel AT&T's subsidy to pay for your smartphone is a gift for your 2-year obligation and is not an interest free $450 loan to help pay for your smartphone then you'll have to explain why on-contract customers are the only class of customer to pay the full "Mobile Share Value Device Access Charge".
It's no wonder to me why they (just today) eliminated them -- It's entirely to easy to show the 2-year contract is smoke and mirrors.
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I think you have bought into the marketing propaganda.
First people that use NEXT have to pay a $15 upgrade fee so no discount. In fact inverse discount if the phone gets traded in under NEXT. Reason for this resale value. More money will be recouped by paying for the full price of the phone and selling it on Craigslist than trading it in. So it's always better to just buy the phone outright.
Second, before it was buy a phone with subsidy and pay off the subsidy (ETF) fee to leave. Now it's buy a phone with monthly payments and pay off those payments to leave. It's the exact same scenario for a person, the ETF for all intents and purposes is still alive and well and just rebranded.
Lastly, the discount for bringing in your own phone only applies to people on new MSV plans. For people locked into FamilyTalk plans this is completely different. Let me just show you the quick math.
I paid $250 for phone service (5 lines, 2 UDP, 25% fan discount). Out of that $84.38 (450 subsidy - 45 upgrade fee * 5 lines / 24 months) is the "hidden" subsidy cost. So my true cost of service is 165.62 a month.
On MSV I would need 25GB plan. $131.25 ($175 * .75 fan discount) + $75 access fee ($15 * 5) = 206.25 a month for service.
As you can see, my service should be reduced to 165.62 a month because the subsidy is removed, instead it's only reduced to 206.25. In other words AT&T is pocketing $40.63 from the former "hidden" subsidy fee, at least in my case.
This is the reason a lot of us will fight to defend the 2 year contact because it was a better deal overall.
Let me be clear here -- was not arguing newer plans are better then older plans or that Next or BYOD or whatever is the best deal. My post was regarding a portion of a post by "myscrnnm", where they seemed utterly convinced that no repayment or any recollection *what so ever* of the carrier subsidy, to any extent, was happening. I wanted to make as clear a case as I could that this isn't the case. You aren't getting an unfettered $450 "signing bonus" or whatever.
I have no doubt the new MSV AT&T plans are more expensive relative to your old contract plans. (AT&T did just fold unlimited calling and unlimited text prices in, if not increase prices for their benefit, as well) And, I'm sure that for you re-committing to a new 2-year agreement is less expensive. But not because you are getting a "free" $450. Instead that because of your contract, or case, or due to the size of your data package size, an early pay off, or a combination of such: You come out ahead, repaying less then full $450. (And likely being an additional reason why AT&T disallowing new 2-year agreements) But, repayment of your subsidy is happening. Which the person I was responding to seemed to be flatly denying was happening, in any circumstance. To which I'm convinced repayment is happening and, as such, was making my case.
It's kind of a moot argument. Cuz of the hidden subsidy is cheaper, it might as well not exist for me.
They better "throw" us away and proudly borrow more, connect your car and send you a ticket for a wrong parking in a smart Mexican city under DirectTV antenna.
Free SMS, you want too much, my friend, too much. May be you want lower roaming rates?!
I guess I was doing too much wishful thinking, $5 would just be too kind for them Ha. Sadly, tried to watch a video on my iPad pro on T-Mobile Saturday and it wouldn't play for more than five seconds. Looking like I can't go there, yet. That got me wishful for some kind of att discount. I know, it was pure delirium.
The flaw here is that you think there is some magic cut and dry formula that applies to every single customer. There isnt. It doesn't exist. As many people have stated before, the savings of msv vs family talk plans varies per customer and may not be the same for you. However, as I personally have said before, the majority of subscribers don't fall into the same boat as a few of the people of these forums and indeed save money on the new plans when directly compared to the old.
And if it's cheaper for you, it might as well not exist for AT&T -- I'm not trying to be an ass, but let's be honest here. The carrier subsidy was never about providing inexpensive phones. At best the carriers wanted it to be an even trade, but secretly really wanted to make money on it when they could -- by just not explaining the details and letting the customer think they were getting a really great deal. You were to think that $350 / $450 for your 2 year commitment was a good concession. When it really was just a magic trick.
But, the cat is out of the bag now. The magic trick is completely exposed. Not only exposed, but weaknesses in the program (or contract details) are being exploited (ala: you). And with T-Mo and, seemingly, VZW now offering to pay off and refund a customers ETFs -- they aren't even a heavy boat anchor or customer retention tool anymore.
Again, I get that you want the 2-yr contract because it's cheaper for you. But, the 2-yr contract was never about that. It was supposed to be a sales mechanic, customer retention tool, and profit center. A 2-yr contract and subsidy isn't any good at that anymore. Therefore it's obsolete and going the way of the dodo.
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Smart move, but they sell internet if you buy their extra product , that means that their unlimited internet is in favor of Directtv. Net neutrality?
180x4 lines matches t-mo plan, but you have to pay and clean snow from antenna forever.
Buy a kettle and get a spare tire as a gift
At least they started to think at a right direction.
I know as far as our household is concerned (3 iPhone users and one AT&T employee) the move from on-contract pricing to Next pricing results in a huge windfall for AT&T.
It seems to me the switch to the NEXT structure is to boost their profits off refurbished phones, as well as giving those that want or don't care enough about spending more money, because they need the latest and greatest device as soon as it comes out, the opportunity to do so. NEXT gives the incentive to trade in your phone that wasn't there before, but still maintains the roughly same option for those that want to pay off their phone in a similar fashion to the 2 year contract.
For me, I was able to upgrade my 2 lines from FamilyTalk to MSV, get new iPhone 6s's and pay the same I was paying before each month. We will likely pay ours off in full, then take advantage of reduced monthly cost of our plan w/o NEXT payments. Win, win in my book.
For me, I was able to upgrade my 2 lines from FamilyTalk to MSV, get new iPhone 6s's and pay the same I was paying before each month. We will likely pay ours off in full, then take advantage of reduced monthly cost of our plan w/o NEXT payments. Win, win in my book.
At&t Plans Are the worse in the business
Yeah, what he said above.
Your price hasn't increased yet so that's not terms to get out of contract without the etf.
You pulled out prematurely man
I just wanted to update you guys to say I did it. It was a pain tho. I had to get the ETFs credited for each line manually, likewise I had to file separates cases to get the iPhones unlocked too; they even screwed up my unlock request and unlocked the same iPhone twice. Apparently AT&T retentions has no way to directly communicate with the unlocking department so it' a total hassle. But ya, I did it, got the ETFs credited and the iPhones unlocked.
Highly unlikely. It's full price or Next if you want an iPhone 7. If AT&T did it for some customers and it came out, it would be trouble for the company, so everyone has to be in the same boat.
But they aren't giving out early 6s upgrades to everyone who got a 6 either. A lot of people have not had success in calling retentions and getthing the 6s. But the major factor is that a lot of people DID get early 6s upgrades at the $199 price (myself included).
But that was at a time when the subsidized pricing was still available (before January 8th).
A more correct analogy to your wishful thinking is a new customer trying to get on unlimited after AT&T has ditched it. To date, not a single customer has managed to accomplish this.
They've resurrected the legacy FamilyTalk plans with the $30 (soon to be $35) unlimited data?
You said nobody has been able to get u limited after ATT ditched it. They now offer it. So it is again available.
I'm still conflicted about ditching my grandfathered unlimited data plan. I don't prefer NEXT. I don't like the idea of having a cap on my data that is constantly fluctuating in use. I'm intrigued by the directtv customer unlimited data plan (current subscriber), but do I get a subside with that plan?