Family plans, one person wants to upgrade, the other doesn't

[tigress666]

Ok... anyone know how this will work? I get the feeling I'm just going to be stuck with my iphone unfortunately.

I share a plan with my roommate who apparently is totally not impressed with the new phone. He wants to just wait and says his 3G works fine (ironically, his 3G is working way less well than mine as the screen randomly fades and it buzzes when you press in a corner. But apparently he's just that unimpressed). He tells me he wanted better battery life for mobile internet (but won't tell me what else he was hoping for).

I want to upgrade. Thing is, he is the main holder of the account. So I have no idea how that would work and I suspect he'd have to agree to sign a 2 year contract (and maybe leave an upgrade available in the future for him if AT&T gets a phone he likes). And I don't know if he'd wnat to do that (if he's holding out for a better phone I could see him not wanting to get stuck on AT&T's selection only).

I can't really afford to just decide to get my own plan, I'm on the second line cause it's cheaper that way (we just split the whole cost 50/50).

Am I just stuck then?

 

[wikoogle]

He doesn't have to sign a contract, only you do.

My mom is on my account. She's been out of contract for an year and still is, while I am still in contract, and am about to renew my contract again but she is still out of contract.

All it means is that if he wants to leave ATT next year, you would be forced to get your own plan.

But seriously, how could anyone not be impressed with the phone. The only thing it's missing is a 4.3 inch screen. Otherwise it's perfect and gorgeous. Did you explain to him it has 1 Ghz processor, twice the ram, 16gbs of storage, 720p video recording, a 5 MP camera with flash and a much bigger light aperature etc etc.

 

[tigress666]

But seriously, how could anyone not be impressed with the phone. The only thing it's missing is a 4.3 inch screen. Otherwise it's perfect and gorgeous. Did you explain to him it has 1 Ghz processor, twice the ram, 16gbs of storage, 720p video recording, a 5 MP camera with flash and a much bigger light aperature etc etc.

He could care less about video chat, apparently doesn't really care about speed increases (I don't know how much faster it is over the 3G to be fair), doesn't use the camera much..

I dunno, I asked him what he was hoping for, the only answer he could give me was better battery life (??? honestly, I think it's cause he never remembers to charge his phone. But it's a smart phone, I don't think a battery life that will last as long as he would need it to compensate for him forgetting to charge it often while still staying thin which is also important to him is going to happen anytime soon). I know that what he most uses it for is internet and the GPS (he would be interested if they could say the GPS is better).

Anyways, he's lightened up some. Now he's sayign he's gotta look at it first. Me being impatient wants to pre order it. But this is a lot better than when he first was sayign he wanted to wait 6 months and see what comes out then (and I think he was thinking they'd release a new one in 6 months). I mean he's not unhappy with his iphone, I know he really likes it. Apparently this isn't a big enough jump to really excite him (he's got a 3g like me so it's not even like we are coming from 3GS's). I personally want a better camera and video capability (and I like the gyroscope). I actually liked a lot of what I was hearing (and want to be able to take full advantage of iOS 4). I mean I really like the no plastic cause I'm really becoming of the opinion that Apple picks sh*tty plastic (cracking problems with the iphone, cracking problems with the plastic macbooks). And the glass screen of our 3G has been pretty damned tough (no scratches yet).

My only disappointment is 32GB max (especially with the video capability and imovie ). Oh, and I think the phone would have looked better with a rocker switch than those round buttons.

 

[dave006]

He doesn't have to sign a contract, only you do.
....

Just to clarify, each line on a FamilyTalk rate plan has an individual contract. So you could opt for the iPhone 4 and renew just your line of service witout impacting your roommate's line or contract.

Dave

 

[tigress666]

Just to clarify, each line on a FamilyTalk rate plan has an individual contract. So you could opt for the iPhone 4 and renew just your line of service witout impacting your roommate's line or contract.

Dave

Oh, cool. I just assumed that since it was an add on line that it was hinged on the main contract. Of course if he does decide to go to another carrier later on that would leave me screwed (as I can't really afford a data plan on my own). But only a little more (I don't want to change. It woudl have to be a really snazzy phone to get me away from iphone solely cause I have a lot of itunes + I'm not at all unhappy with my phone so it's not like I have any reason to not want it. It's not even like I'm unhappy with AT&T either).

Big differnece is I'd at least still be able to have a smart phone even though I'd be very unhappy to leave my iphone (and I'd rather not spend the money on a new phone if it either isn't an iphone or isn't so snazzy I can give up ipod capability).

So anyone know if AT&T would at least let me switch to a cheap phone and no data plan for hte rest of my contract if I did sign up for the two year, my roommate didn't, and he found a better phone on another carrier?

 

[dave006]

Well if your roommate runs to another carrier, you can always change your data plan to the lower $15 data plan if you keep using an iPhone or a Smartphone. If you switch to a standard phone that would not require a data plan, you can drop the data plan. Data plans are not part of the contract so you can drop or change based on the device you have active on the line.

Just a reminder: you will also have the new $325 ETF fee if you sign a new contract for the iPhone 4 or other AT&T Smartphone.

Dave

 

[tigress666]

Well if your roommate runs to another carrier, you can always change your data plan to the lower $15 data plan if you keep using an iPhone or a Smartphone. If you switch to a standard phone that would not require a data plan, you can drop the data plan. Data plans are not part of the contract so you can drop or change based on the device you have active on the line.

Just a reminder: you will also have the new $325 ETF fee if you sign a new contract for the iPhone 4 or other AT&T Smartphone.

Dave

Forgot about that smaller plan. I think I could swing that (wouldn't be happy about it but better than nothing, right?).

And, the ETF I doubt would be an issue with me. I've been with Cingular/AT&T since 2002/3 and never really had an issue with them (except the first year their webpage was so atrocious that it had me slightly considering changing. Mainly cause you had to use IE in Windows to pay your bill online. Any other browser in any other OS wouldn't work right. Apparently their webpage team didn't believe in testing their webpage in anything but what they wanted to use and apparently they wanted to use the worst of the bunch!).

And as I said, don't really want to leave the iphone (even if I was stuck with the old iphone). I'm happy with mine. I just want the better camera and video capability.

So would they let me grandfather in the unlimited plan ?