AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint Launch New Carrier Deals for iPhone XS and XS Max

[cocky jeremy]

That's not entirely true. You mean you paid $529 down? You still have the balance to pay off over time.

If this year is like last, I never got billed anything on the remainder. I paid the same $120 for two lines that I paid before getting the X.
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You do realize you could have sold your phone on craigslist for $700? So you lost $150 bucks. None of these "deals" from carriers are deals at all.

Edit: Just saw you have a 256GB. Those are going for $800 now, so $250 lost.

I don't care about $250. I'd rather lose the money than have to deal with selling it.

 

[Arran]

All marketing BS that amounts to nothing.

Agreed, but it also means a $350 discount has been baked-into the launch prices - which explains why they are sky high.

So, by the time Black Friday rolls around, we could see at least $350 off with no strings attached (or at worst, a $350 Best Buy gift card or similar)

 

[deeddawg]

I calculated the cost for a Mobile Share Flex 10GB AT&T Plan and getting two iPhone XS Max 64GB.
It comes out to be $183.15/month + tax/fees.
($154 tax & $60 activation fee, $85 base plan + $40 device access fee + $73 phone fee - $23 credit)

Total cost of this AT&T BOGO "deal" is $5,861 ($6,561 - $700 credit)

For comparison, you can get 2 lines of AT&T Prepaid (6GB each) for $70/month or $2,240 for 32 months.
Including the full cost of the phones: 2 x $1,099 + $154 tax = $2,352

Total cost for 2 equivalent AT&T Prepaid lines and full price phones for 32 months = $4,592

Which is $1,089 cheaper than this "deal".

First, you're assuming postpaid and prepaid are identical services on AT&T. They're not. Mobile Share Flex provides benefits such as HD voice, Wifi calling, and other stuff. More info here https://forums.att.com/t5/Network-C...tween-postpaid-and-prepaid-plans/td-p/5467474

Whether the additional abilities make a difference to someone is up to them, my intent is just to point out that the two are NOT equivalent services.

As to your numbers -- no need to go to 32 months, AT&T normally backfills the initial credits in month two or three. By the time you hit the end of the term you're done.

So for a 30 month term we have:
Postpaid service: $60 activation plus $125/mo service (not incl tax/fees), total $3810. Phone cost $2198+tax less $700, total $1498. Grand total $5308 (plus phonesales tax). (I think you're adding in the Next phone fees for two extra months after they're paid off)

Prepaid service: $70/mo service (not incl tax/fees), total $2100. Phone cost $2198+tax. Grand total $4298 (plus phone sales tax).

Difference is $1010, or $16.83 per line per month over 30 months. How important the stuff like HD voice, wifi calling, roaming onto non-AT&T towers, etc is will depend on the person.

This also assumes someone doesn't have a FAN discount from work or their school, cutting the price of the Mobile Share Flex plan. In my case with a 20% discount, the mobile share flex plan cost is reduced by $17/mo bringing the total difference to $500 rather than $1010.

Question - how well does a cellular Apple Watch do with AT&T Prepaid? Can you get your phone's calls on the watch when you're not near the phone?

 

[Brien]

Agreed, but it also means a $350 discount has been baked-into the launch prices - which explains why they are sky high.

So, by the time Black Friday rolls around, we could see at least $350 off with no strings attached (or at worst, a $350 Best Buy gift card or similar)

There is no guarantee of that though. Deals for the 8 and X weren’t great, $100-200 in rebates for the most part.

 

[kjvmartin]

still better to sell your old phone on eBay

Till someone scams you on ebay.

 

[kildraik]

Rule #1 in finance marketing: KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS IN DEBT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

 

[campyguy]

Just an FYI, a new BOGO option being offered (around 6 hours ago from my post) by T-Mo straight from Legere's Twitter feed for those that didn't catch it this a.m. Add an additional voice line for ONE+ plans at no additional cost...

 

[Michael Scrip]

Do I have to sign up for a new line? What good is that when I have all the lines I need (me and my wife's).

I don't understand it either.

If you "add" a line... are you now paying an additional monthly fee for a 3rd phone number that you won't be using?

Or is this new phone number attached to this new phone? And you basically have to throw out the same old phone number you've had for a decade or more?

That seems like a lot of hoops to jump through to get this "discount"

Maybe someone can explain it better...

 

[x-evil-x]

it seems like a good deal for those not looking to trade in and want to jump to a unlimited family plan.
I currently have a grandfathered att plan for 90$ a month. my mom also has the unlimited plan for 90$.
I talked to Verizon and its 182$ a month before taxes for an xr max 256 gig and free iPhone 8+ on the 24 month installment plan.
So same price we are paying now with no phones on our contracts.
Att is the same at 186$ same phones.

Seems like a good deal to me my mom is using a iPhone 6+ and she would be happy with an 8+ and paying the same amount and paying for my xs max wouldnt be anymore than im paying now.

 

[Technarchy]

All these offers sound great...as long as you aren’t paying attention...

 

[x-evil-x]

All these offers sound great...as long as you aren’t paying attention...

why does what I said above your post ^ sound bad to you?

 

[tl01]

I have Verizon and att...but ordered through the iUP. So really we miss out on all the savings for the chance that we might switch carriers or travel out of the country and need a different sim right? Seems like it would be worth just buying the phone and paying it off on the carrier program.

 

[mlody]

All these offers sound great...as long as you aren’t paying attention...

What are you talking about? I will be porting my mom's number from T-mobile to my Verizon shared plan. Not only she will get a brand new phone, one of our existing lines will end up with a brand new phone al well and we will be able to sell one of the current phones or pass it down in the family. It is a win-win for us, but still holding off to see if Xr gets added to such deal when available.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I will be porting my mom's number from T-mobile to my Verizon shared plan.

For you... this will work great. You're literally adding a person to your account... so "adding a line" makes sense.

But what if you already have the correct number of lines for the correct number of people?

As a couple of us asked earlier... why do they make you "add a line" to get a discount?

I'm still fuzzy on this whole "add a line" thing...

 

[lparsons21]

I'm in the same boat as some others. I have 2 lines now and have no need at all for another. But in my case, even a BOGO that didn't require a new line wouldn't be a deal as my son who is on the 2nd line has no desire or money to move from his low end Android phone to any other. It does all his lack to tech skills can handle.

There just isn't any buy one iPhone deals out there at this point and I can't justify or rationalize moving up from my 7+ to any of the new X series. Other than screen size, most of the improvements are things that I don't use much.

 

[campyguy]

I'm still fuzzy on this whole "add a line" thing...

T-Mo's "voice" lines are typically what's attached to a smartphone - voice, text, data. ATTWS and VZW business call them "voice" lines as well. The other two consumer line types are "mobile internet" (for hotspots, tablets, and ODB-II devices e.g. auto wifi devices) and "wearables". In marketing speak, their idea is to sell you another phone for your new free line!

FWIW I have a few "mobile internet" devices on T-Mo and ATTWS business and keep getting bugged to "upgrade" them to "voice" lines but the SIMs are actually in MHS units that run an Android variant and they show up at times in my account portal as "smartphones" with data-only plans...

 

[Michael Scrip]

T-Mo's "voice" lines are typically what's attached to a smartphone - voice, text, data. ATTWS and VZW business call them "voice" lines as well. The other two consumer line types are "mobile internet" (for hotspots, tablets, and ODB-II devices e.g. auto wifi devices) and "wearables". In marketing speak, their idea is to sell you another phone for your new free line!

Thanks for your reply.

I'm just stuck on the fact that you might have a husband and wife, two phones, and thus two lines... yet they want you to "add a line"

I don't know why a family of two would agree to three lines in order to get a "free" iPhone.

So... will one of these iPhones be given a new phone number? That's hella inconvenient! Why would anyone want that?

I'd rather just pay for the phone.

 

[campyguy]

Thanks for your reply.

I'm just stuck on the fact that you might have a husband and wife, two phones, and thus two lines... yet they want you to "add a line"

I don't know why a family of two would agree to three lines in order to get a "free" iPhone.

So... will one of these iPhones be given a new phone number? That's hella inconvenient! Why would anyone want that?

I'd rather just pay for the phone.

You're welcome, and I get it with the frustration. I don't have any voice lines with T-Mo but several data-only devices, and am out of contract with both ATTWS and mostly out of contract with VZW (still rocking the old GFed UL plan). I'm really intrigued by T-Mo's push for low-frequency LTE which is why I'm not lurking here, roaming on ATTWS Band 12 and the upcoming Band 71 in my area seems like a good thing to me. I always carry two devices, and what I'm seeing is using the extra voice line as a secondary line in one of the XS handsets if I go with T-Mo (that's be 2+1 new lines to me) that would likely be the "data only" option once the update gets pushed to the iPhone XS handsets.

Costco mucked things up for me this morning with a in-store-only match for VZW for their $700 deal (now through 9/20). I'll check back on their landing page to see if they up the ante with T-Mo as well!

 

[ericg301]

the "new lines of service" are to get you to switch carriers. have 2 lines on ATT? switch to tmobile by porting you numbers and opening a new line of service with them -- viola! credits ahoy!

none of these deals have any benefit whatsoever for current customers. they're designed for switchers.

 

[campyguy]

I don't know why a family of two would agree to three lines in order to get a "free" iPhone.

I've been in touch with my T-Mo rep for my business account with them, they're getting updates/clarifications on this BOGO +1 line thing today in anticipation of getting slammed tomorrow, pretty much in line with the consumer side of it (which is what I'm interested in here). She doesn't work on commission so I've learned to trust her input.

The BOGO offer applies to two iPhones as we've read but - this is the newer bit - the new "free" line can be as a result of buying one line only, that's what they're clearer on now. Buy One voice line (new or existing) and Gift One new voice line at no extra charge. They're also clear now that there's a maximum of one new free voice line per account. She related that her clients are calling in asking about multiple free voice lines per account that led to the clarification even though the published literature is pretty clear about this limitation. So, the bit about buying two lines and getting one line that I wrote about is not correct though it was what I was sent in an email. She also related some frustration that this info is not clearly easy to reach on T-Mo's web portal.

There's some forums, like this one on Reddit, where employees are unofficially offering updated input today on this offer by T-Mo. I got the link from my rep. Two lines for the price of one, if it's good for the business group I might just port my 30-odd lines from ATTWS over to T-Mo this week...

 

[JuliusCaesar]

Don’t fall for this folks. If you can afford it buy it unlocked from Apple full price, or get a credit card with 0 % apr for a year, buy it from Apple, and get into a prepaid carrier plan. On the long run, 24 or 30 months you’ll end up paying less and you are free to change carrier anytime you want.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

More on the T-Mobile BOGO...

https://www.slashgear.com/t-mobile-...ogo-deal-includes-free-service-line-14545734/

FYI - the T-Mobile rep I just spoke with said the extra line is free (with yet more bill credits).
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Don’t fall for this folks. If you can afford it buy it unlocked from Apple full price, or get a credit card with 0 % apr for a year, buy it from Apple, and get into a prepaid carrier plan. On the long run, 24 or 30 months you’ll end up paying less and you are free to change carrier anytime you want.

I always advocate the same if all things are equal, but in this case, it's a $700 discount on 2 devices plus a free line. If you're 55 years or older, that means $70/month for full T-Mobile service on 3 lines. How are you possibly paying less in your scenario? If you decide to change carriers with this promo, you simply pay the full price are no worse off than if you were to buy it outright in cash.

 

[jxcl]

Curious to know what folks think about the offer from Sprint? I haven’t seen anyone comment on that offer, but it looks like a tempting offer if I were to trade in my iPhone 7 and switch from T-Mobile.

 

[deeddawg]

I always advocate the same if all things are equal

Folks also forget that prepaid and postpaid are often not equal services. Need to dig into the specifics for your intended carrier as well as considering your type of usage. Off the top of my head prepaid accounts typically can't share data between lines, may have slower data speeds, don't allow roaming to non-carrier towers, and don't support the LTE Apple Watch.

Whether those matter enough to a person to justify the price differences depends on individual circumstances.