They are adding the cost of the phones on next, but not the upfront cost of the phones on the current plan.
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Ok att you win. Take my unlimited plan this is a better deal.
- Thread starter mellofello
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They are adding the cost of the phones on next, but not the upfront cost of the phones on the current plan.
I am on unlimited with 4 lines. Here is how I look at it. First start with iPhone costs.
ATT is giving me $450/phone every 2 years. That is worth $18.75/month (450/24). Which is worth $75/month for 4 phones.
When I look at switching to Share Plans/NEXT it needs to save me more than $75/month. I know I don't get tethering but don't need it. Switching only saves me $60/month so in my situation is cost more to switch and I lose unlimited.
Am I missing something in my analysis?
ATT is giving me $450/phone every 2 years. That is worth $18.75/month (450/24). Which is worth $75/month for 4 phones.
When I look at switching to Share Plans/NEXT it needs to save me more than $75/month. I know I don't get tethering but don't need it. Switching only saves me $60/month so in my situation is cost more to switch and I lose unlimited.
Am I missing something in my analysis?
Yes (unless I am missing something), but did you check if you can upgrade to an iPhone 6 on contract AND keep your unlimited? It was my understanding that ATT requires you adapt a current plan if you upgrade your phone under contract. (update: article below says you CAN keep your unlimited if you get a new contract phone on ATT, but not Verizon).
But, basically, your analysis mentions nothing about cost of service...just what you think you are saving in phone costs.
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Good article with carrier examples that explain when it is good to keep unlimited and when to ditch it for larger data plans.
The iPhone 6 Marks a Fresh Chance for Wireless Carriers to Kill Your Unlimited Data
Exactly and we don't have to pay $40 or $15 more per line when getting a new phone. I'm going to stick with my unlimited for now and I just cancelled unlimited messaging which saves me $30 per month. I realized that most people I know own iPhones and 0.20 per message for non iPhone owners won't add up to $30
They're not acting in good faith though. That clause in the past was referred to true congestion and capacity issues -- it's reasonable not to expect more speed than the network is capable of. Nowadays AT&T just throttles you at a hard value, whether or not there is congestion in your sector (I know some claim that this changed in July, but I haven't seen an official AT&T statement to that effect). They also don't throttle limited data users even though they have the same effect on congestion as everyone else.
I kind of prefer the home internet model, where they sell you speed and you get an unlimited (or at least a large amount) of data at the speed you pay for. That would actually help manage the network better since most people don't need the 20+ Mbits LTE gets you
I got that amount straight from the ATT website, with 2 brand new phones that is the amount I would be paying monthly doing a new contract or switching over to NEXT from a 2 year contract. It was adding the monthly payments with the 2 new phones.
Yes granted, with my 2 year contract now I am spending money on buying the phone upfront, but I usually sell my used iphones and with that money it usually pays for my new iphone. Now I know that is not the ideal situation for everyone but it seems sticking with my current 2 year plan is cheaper than switching to ATT Next.
I was just trying to get information and picking you guy's brains to see if it's worth switching over or staying with my current plan...
All other things being equal, the best choice is the one that, over time, adds up to the least amount. In this case, IMHO, NEXT is the best option as you get the cheapest PER MONTH rate ($15) and you get to pay for your phone over time (0% interest for 24 months), and then you can sell your phone, AND there is no contract. The contract plan you pay at least $200 up front then an extra $25/mo for service ($40 vs $15), and then the phone isn't even yours until the contract is up. Add it all up and the contract plan is more expensive over two years, and either way you wind up with a phone you can sell so that cancels out.
Define "congestion". I bet your definition is different then mine, and I guarantee it's different than AT&T.
Their definition of "congestion" could be one user on one tower, it's still their definition and they have not published what it is.
By changing the wording the way they did in July, they are protecting themselves from government inquiries into throttling. They want people OFF unlimited. Throttling is obviously just to make unlimited users uncomfortable, EVERYONE knows it's not to stop congestion, but that's how they hide behind it.
It is what it is. I am loving my 40GB unthrottled. I will be passing 5GB soon, and it's great not having to even think about the impact it'll have. I tethered my son's iPod on a car trip and he could watch Netflix! I didn't even have to worry about AT&T sending me messages about not doing it.
Throttling is only going to get worse. AT&T wants to make UL as unattractive as they possibly can. Don't like it? That's ok, you have no contractual obligation to keep it, and neither do they.
Personally I don't use much data since I am always on wifi and when I'm not the 2 gigabytes I have per month are enough for youtube, forums, blogs.
I don't stream music either because the quality isn't very good, I store my music locally.
With how little I Sms and call my total cost for calls and sms is 3$ per month and the data is a onetime payment that gets you 2GB of data per month over a year, it's 100$ (it's one of those prepaid phone things that I bought data for)
100/12≈8,3$
8,3$+3$=11,3$
That makes my monthly cost, lets say 12$, which is great.
I don't stream music either because the quality isn't very good, I store my music locally.
With how little I Sms and call my total cost for calls and sms is 3$ per month and the data is a onetime payment that gets you 2GB of data per month over a year, it's 100$ (it's one of those prepaid phone things that I bought data for)
100/12≈8,3$
8,3$+3$=11,3$
That makes my monthly cost, lets say 12$, which is great.
Not for me. I can deal with 5 gbs then throttled cause I hardly go over and with me and my BF splitting the smallest minutes plan and no texting I'm paying 50 bux for the unlimited (which for me I like cause means gaurentee I won't get random extra charge if I go over which I barely ever do) and more minutes than I can use (and with imessage and most my friends having iphones I don't need texting).
I have 4 iphones on my plan, 2 unlimited, 2 with 3gb a month. To switch to next 15gb, I would pay ~$200 or so more over 2 years vs. my current plan, or it would be an extra $480 over 2years for the 20gb plan.
Getting throttled definitely sucks, but at the same time, although I can purchase my phones outright, I'd rather pay the small upfront cost and pay the rest over 2 years which is built into AT&T's contract.
I don't think people are understanding the $25 discount with the share plans correctly. If you really sit down with a spreadsheet, put in every single dollar into it, meaning the tax on the phones, the fees/taxes for your plan and compare your current 2yr plan to a Next plan, it may be exactly the same, or even more expensive.
There's definitely something that has to be going on for AT&T to all of a sudden offer these double data plans. Yes, it's to entice unlimited users to move to these plans, but also, I'm hoping the FCC is looking at their BS and ATT may be worried they might have to make their "unlimited" actually unlimited.
If not, I'm just hoping T-mobile gets their ish together and makes their LTE coverage better, cause I shall definitely move over to them, if not, I will definitely move over to Verizon seeing how they cost the same as ATT now (Verizon always use to be more expensive) and they have the best coverage in most places.
Getting throttled definitely sucks, but at the same time, although I can purchase my phones outright, I'd rather pay the small upfront cost and pay the rest over 2 years which is built into AT&T's contract.
I don't think people are understanding the $25 discount with the share plans correctly. If you really sit down with a spreadsheet, put in every single dollar into it, meaning the tax on the phones, the fees/taxes for your plan and compare your current 2yr plan to a Next plan, it may be exactly the same, or even more expensive.
There's definitely something that has to be going on for AT&T to all of a sudden offer these double data plans. Yes, it's to entice unlimited users to move to these plans, but also, I'm hoping the FCC is looking at their BS and ATT may be worried they might have to make their "unlimited" actually unlimited.
If not, I'm just hoping T-mobile gets their ish together and makes their LTE coverage better, cause I shall definitely move over to them, if not, I will definitely move over to Verizon seeing how they cost the same as ATT now (Verizon always use to be more expensive) and they have the best coverage in most places.
I wish when people are comparing plans that they would state EXACTLY what they are paying per phone line and what service they get, and whether or not they already own their phones and whether or not, if they switched to one of the double-data plans, they would be getting new iPhones.
Otherwise, all these "i'd pay $xxx more if I switched" is kind of meaningless because we can't do a fair comparison. There are lots of factors (taxes and fees, upfront costs of phones, monthly cost of installment payments, line costs, etc.) and it's hard to compare when all the numbers aren't known.
As far as taxes and fees go, my $15 lines on ATT Mobile Share run me $18 and change after taxes and fees. I'm not sure how taxes and fees would differ though on the old unlimited plans. I'd guess they were higher if they are a percentage of the line cost...
Yeah I get you but I would still be paying $230 a month with ATT Next vs $160 a month that I am currently paying now. I get that it's $15 per month but when you add the cost of the phone over time, it gets to be $230 a month. Maybe when you pay off the phone and you eliminate that phone payment, yes it will be cheaper, but since we are always getting new phones, this $230 is what we will be paying each month for a while and I think I care about the rate I pay monthly then what happens over time since each month I would have to shell out the $230 rather than just shell out the $160. So I still don't get how Next is cheaper.
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I agree!! I pay exactly $162.18 with all the taxes and fees a month for my unlimited data plan for 2 iphones, 700 minutes, lots of roll over (I think I know have 4000 minutes), unlimited text, mobile to mobile, nights and weekends.
Yes, we have 10 people on our account and two of us including myself gave up our unlimited data in order to save a few dollars back in February which happens to be around $48 per person as we split the bill evenly, with the condition that everyone got to keep their original data amount and the two of us got to split the reminding data due to our sacrifice. After everyone got their original amount the two of us got to split 19GB making it 9.5GB each as we got the 40GB plan. Due to this nice free perk we doubled our data to a whopping 80GB and everyone's data doubled. Since the promotion is called double the data and we didn't know how to split it everyone agreed to double the data we currently own which makes me and the other person have 19GB each and continue to pay $48 flat.
I'm excited that they did this because I was regretting giving up my unlimited since I cut it very close at the end of each month and have gone over my 9.5GB once already. The good thing is that I was not charged since I was allowed to borrow 1GB from the other person who used to have unlimited with me. Now with 19GB all for myself I don't have to constantly check the data usage website in order to make sure I'm not going over; I truly feel as if I have unlimited data again.
BTW my personal split of the bill went down $10 since giving up my unlimited. It used to be around $57.80 and it now is $47.75. Others in our account have saved around the same if not a little more than me individually.
it's not the point. it's peace of mined he can use as much as he want, if it was so good for ATT. They would keep it.
ATT knows that data eater running programs are growing and what is today 10GB for family is sufficient, in a year or two will be a joke.
I am keeping my unlimited data as long as i can.
just a reminder in the far past i had the international unlimited data for $64.95 a month. ATT took it away when we moved to iPhones, we got $300 for each line that switched to US unlimited.
now with this iPhone 6 ATT changed the data to 3GB and I am fighting with them for 2 weeks to get it back, any one ales in the same boat?
That's right! We have 10 people on our account with the previous 40GB now 80GB thanks to this upgrade. We split the bill evenly minus insurance and extra fees and our individual part of the bill is a little over $47.
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The only thing that sucks about 10 lines is that unless they just recently changed it, you can only do the 0% Next financing monthly payments on four of the lines.
That's true but anyone can also use their upgrade if available as long as he or she is willing to give up the NEXT discount for that line for the next 24 months. We have 10 people on our account and only 4 of us upgraded to the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. The other line that wanted to upgrade had to give up his $25 next discount for 24 months in order to get his iPhone 6 for $200. And the end he will have end up paying $800 for his iPhone 6 which is $150 more than using Next. In order to make it fare we let the people with the oldest devices use next and the rest who had recent gadgets used the upgrade fee. Note that even if you use your upgrade you can still use the share data with the other people. The only thing that changes is your bill for 24 months.
it's not the point. it's peace of mined he can use as much as he want, if it was so good for ATT. They would keep it.
ATT knows that data eater running programs are growing and what is today 10GB for family is sufficient, in a year or two will be a joke.
I am keeping my unlimited data as long as i can.
just a reminder in the far past i had the international unlimited data for $64.95 a month. ATT took it away when we moved to iPhones, we got $300 for each line that switched to US unlimited.
now with this iPhone 6 ATT changed the data to 3GB and I am fighting with them for 2 weeks to get it back, any one ales in the same boat?
Actually, I was asking Nolegirl01. I don't see what your personal experience with your international unlimited plan years ago has to do with this.
In California at least, taxes are charged based on the phone portion and not data services.
On our old Family Talk plans, tax is a percentage of the following:
Line 1: $60+30
Line 2: $10
Line 3: $10
Line 4: $10
On our Mobile Share Value plans, tax is a percentage of the following:
Line 1: $15
Line 2: $15
Line 3: $15
Line 4: $15
If you're in California and are on a 2-year contract, you get a double-whammy since you pay sales tax on full MSRP of device and get taxed on the subsidy portion, too (add'l $25/line on MSVP 10GB or higher).
I actually agree with AtillaTheHun, it's the peace of mind I can use how ever much I need. Between the 2 of us, we use sometimes as little as 10GB but when my husband goes away for work he streams movies from the Internet and uses his phone a lot and so it can go as high as 15-20GB.
I guess my point was, if you used less than 10GB, you could save money.
But, after 5GB you get throttled, right? How can you stream movies on such slow speeds then?
Yeah I understand, I get where you were coming from, we only got throttled once or twice with the latest one being last year, this year we haven't gotten throttled and we've been using it quite a lot but believe it or not they haven't really throttled us too much... As far as being able to stream, he said it works well, he hasn't gotten any issues really. He said sometimes, like once during a movie it might stop for a little bit just to buffer but then it continues on fine sometimes it doesn't even happen at all.
If my iPhone 6+ is grandfathered under Unlimited Data, but my wives is not and we pay for 3GB a month or something small for her, AND i only use 5GB or so per month, would it save us money to switch to a 10GB per month plan for both of us? Does that exist?
Right now for att you'd pay 40$ per line and 100$ for 10gb data so 180 total. I pay for my dads phone and I dropped unlimited since I use 7-8gb a month so my unlimited was getting capped at 5 and I couldn't even check emails. My dad was on a 2gb plan. I was paying 130 a month(mil discount) and I pay 172 for 30gb a month and I can tether and what not. Just matters what you want I guess