Yeah I've got 4 iphones, and 1 tablet, I would love to be able to bundle them together, and apply my 25 percent, if its just off the phones/tablet price and not data, I'd rather stay where I am at...I don't need unlimited minutes, this isn't 1999
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AT&T's 'Mobile Share' Service Plans Launching August 23
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Yeah I've got 4 iphones, and 1 tablet, I would love to be able to bundle them together, and apply my 25 percent, if its just off the phones/tablet price and not data, I'd rather stay where I am at...I don't need unlimited minutes, this isn't 1999
I'll give you one. Charging for data encourages the provider to give you better service.
If you're paying for 3 GB/month, it is in the provider's best interest to make it as easy as possible for you to use that 3 GB and pay them more money. Therefore if they make your service faster, you blow through the 3 GB earlier in the month and either upgrade to a bigger plan or pay an overage.
If you're paying a flat rate for unlimited bandwidth, there is no motivation to improve the service because faster service costs them money (for infrastructure and in their own bandwidth costs-- they're paying by the GB for their backbone!) and no matter how fast they make it, they get the same amount from the customer every month.
Definitely not a bargain!
I'll try to make a quick analogy with electricity, which is what I think more closely resembles the pay per amount consumed that cell phone companies like.
This is the same as a power company giving you 1000Kw/h per month at a given rate, let's say $100 and then charging you $20 to plug your TV, and another $10 to plug your phone charger, and so on. It is ridiculous! If you are paying for 6GB, it shouldn't matter if it is used by one or many devices.
I understand that there is a small incremental cost on supporting more devices, but not what they are charging for it. Perhaps, the only other justification would be the subsidies, but it is not much of an excuse, as these monthly charges will still be there after the contract has expired.
I think we should all start contacting our congressperson because I don't think as consumers we stand a chance. There is not much real competition in the cellular network space. The incumbents seem comfortable with their non-competitive tactics.
I'll try to make a quick analogy with electricity, which is what I think more closely resembles the pay per amount consumed that cell phone companies like.
This is the same as a power company giving you 1000Kw/h per month at a given rate, let's say $100 and then charging you $20 to plug your TV, and another $10 to plug your phone charger, and so on. It is ridiculous! If you are paying for 6GB, it shouldn't matter if it is used by one or many devices.
I understand that there is a small incremental cost on supporting more devices, but not what they are charging for it. Perhaps, the only other justification would be the subsidies, but it is not much of an excuse, as these monthly charges will still be there after the contract has expired.
I think we should all start contacting our congressperson because I don't think as consumers we stand a chance. There is not much real competition in the cellular network space. The incumbents seem comfortable with their non-competitive tactics.
Both my wife and myself are grandfathered in under unlimited status. Any conversation I've had with AT&T reps about altering our plans has, upon specific inquiry, uncovered that doing so would revoke our unlimited status. Example: in preparatin for the new iPad (wifi), I spoke with an AT&T rep about adding Hot Spot functionality to my iPhone plan. After their generic rundown, I specifically asked if I would lose my unlimited status if I added this functionality to my plan and their answer was "yes." Lame.
It's pretty clear AT&T is looking to rid their portfolio of as many unlimited clients as possible. The state of mobile in the U.S. is not good - for consumers. We have zero leverage. And the service providers know it.
Let's see if I got this straight...
I have (3) iPhones
1, unlimited data
(2) on 2GB each
Family plan shared 700 MIN. (never use them all)
have 10k roll over (stupid gimmick)
unlimited mobile to any *mobile, nights & weekends
$30 unlimited txt.
Fan discount.
Total curent bill 168 incl. tax (and this is high IMO)
New and improved plan
$ 70 for 4GB (shared) notice it's less than what I have
Unlimited calling (don't need it), unlimited texting (again- not needed)
$ 40 per phone (x3)
190.00 per month (before tax)
w/ fan discount (applied to data ONLY), $56 + 120.00 = 176.00 + taxes.
Where do I sign up?
I have (3) iPhones
1, unlimited data
(2) on 2GB each
Family plan shared 700 MIN. (never use them all)
have 10k roll over (stupid gimmick)
unlimited mobile to any *mobile, nights & weekends
$30 unlimited txt.
Fan discount.
Total curent bill 168 incl. tax (and this is high IMO)
New and improved plan
$ 70 for 4GB (shared) notice it's less than what I have
Unlimited calling (don't need it), unlimited texting (again- not needed)
$ 40 per phone (x3)
190.00 per month (before tax)
w/ fan discount (applied to data ONLY), $56 + 120.00 = 176.00 + taxes.
Where do I sign up?
FAN discounts are only applied to the data portion of the plan. You can do the calculation with this calculator:
http://www.usdataplans.com
Same here. This is why I chose AT&T over Verizon, because my FAN discount applied to each line's data, not just the primary line, which is how Verizon has been doing it already. This is a HUGE reduction in the discount benefit for families.
Edit: What *******s. I was actually doing the math and considering this new shared plan until that came up.
Why would they? They get subsidies from carriers so they can make $400 in profit on each phone. What incentive do they have to give up such a ridiculous profit?
it won't matter if they confirmed it or not, but most of them don't have a clue what the FAN actually applies to. right now, FAN only applies to $50 data plan but they are telling everyone it applies on the $30 which is not true. IT used to apply but not anymore. I'm sure the FAN discount will only apply to the main shared price, the extra lines won't apply.
Maybe I'm the odd one but.....
....If I put three phones on 10gb of data its $210 and currently I'm payong over $300 for two unlimited data (but throttled at 3GB) and 1 phone on the 3GB plan.
I don't know but to me this works out well. the three of us will not eat 10GB a month (I will do 5GB and the other two can share 5GB easy)...
Rippey
....If I put three phones on 10gb of data its $210 and currently I'm payong over $300 for two unlimited data (but throttled at 3GB) and 1 phone on the 3GB plan.
I don't know but to me this works out well. the three of us will not eat 10GB a month (I will do 5GB and the other two can share 5GB easy)...
Rippey
This is an OPTION folks
ATT is offering this an an OPTION.....unlike Verizon which is forcing their more expensive Shared Data Plan down the throats of their customers. Sprint is even worse...requiring each iPhone user to buy Unlimited Plans even if they are casual users.
For me, this plan works. I have 5 iPhones, and 5 iPads on my family account.
The costs are almost the same yet each one of my devices can share 10GB. Today, each one of our iPhones is restricted to 2GB and each iPad 200MB. It will be nice to have a lot more GBs for the iPads.
ATT is offering this an an OPTION.....unlike Verizon which is forcing their more expensive Shared Data Plan down the throats of their customers. Sprint is even worse...requiring each iPhone user to buy Unlimited Plans even if they are casual users.
For me, this plan works. I have 5 iPhones, and 5 iPads on my family account.
The costs are almost the same yet each one of my devices can share 10GB. Today, each one of our iPhones is restricted to 2GB and each iPad 200MB. It will be nice to have a lot more GBs for the iPads.
I switched to Straight Talk from AT&T about 6 weeks ago and haven't looked back. (Still waiting to get my ETF bill in the mail, though.
Also: you don't have to get the phone unlocked to switch to Straight Talk. Since Straight Talk is an AT&T MVNO (reseller), their SIM cards work just fine in AT&T-locked phones. But since your contract is almost up, you might as well, since it will probably increase the resale value down the road.
Good to know
Thanks!
Any reason to add $10 for tablets
If you are allowed to tether or hotspot off your iphone or smartphone on this new plan, does it make sense to spend the extra $10/month for a tablet when you can just tether off your phone to connect the tablet if i'm understanding this correctly? Thank you
If you are allowed to tether or hotspot off your iphone or smartphone on this new plan, does it make sense to spend the extra $10/month for a tablet when you can just tether off your phone to connect the tablet if i'm understanding this correctly? Thank you
Well, my iPad 3 is LTE and has a 10 hour battery. I'm much rather tether my laptop off of that than my phone. So....we still have the open question of whether or not this allows tethering/hotspotting of the iPad 3.
Let's see if I got this straight...
I have (3) iPhones
1, unlimited data
(2) on 2GB each
Family plan shared 700 MIN. (never use them all)
have 10k roll over (stupid gimmick)
unlimited mobile to any *mobile, nights & weekends
$30 unlimited txt.
Fan discount.
Total curent bill 168 incl. tax (and this is high IMO)
New and improved plan
$ 70 for 4GB (shared) notice it's less than what I have
Unlimited calling (don't need it), unlimited texting (again- not needed)
$ 40 per phone (x3)
190.00 per month (before tax)
w/ fan discount (applied to data ONLY), $56 + 120.00 = 176.00 + taxes.
Where do I sign up?
How do you guys use your FAN Discount? Mine is not applied, we are on a business premier
We have 3 iPhones two are $15 data and one is $30 unlimited with 700 mins and $30 for unlimited text. our totals with taxes is $187.50
This sounds good, until I consider how much data my teenaged son uses on his (currently) "unlimited data" plan.
Without the ability for the account holder to set quotas for individual devices, this is useless.
Just a guess: No teenagers in your household?
Make your teenager pay for his own cell phone bill...