Carrier Saving money on AT&T - switch to new plans

[netnothing]

I know this is slightly old news since these came out in March, but I didn't realize fully until today.

If you are on a regular AT&T Family Share plan, you might be able to save some money by switching to the new mobile share plans.

My wife and I were on a current contract with our original iPhone 5. We were in the 1GB plan and were paying $130/month (before taxes/fees).

I logged in today and switched us to the new 2GB plan, for a total of $90/month (before taxes/fees). This price is good for the life unless we sign a new contract with a new phone in the future.

My parents were on the same plan with the 5s and they switched.

Basically AT&T is giving current customers the non-subsidized per phone rate of $25/phone instead of the normal $40/phone.

Regardless.....even the new 2GB plan as a new customer would be $120/month for the 2 phones....still $10 less than what I was paying.

Basically.....it's worth it to login and check.....only going to save money.

-Kevin

 

[jclardy]

I did this last month and ended up saving $20/month on my single line, plus I can now tether with my data (Before I would have had to pay $25 more to get the 5GB plan)

It looks like the $20 will go away if I do a normal contract upgrade though which is a bit unfortunate, but either way I still like the plan a lot better.

 

[netnothing]

I did this last month and ended up saving $20/month on my single line, plus I can now tether with my data (Before I would have had to pay $25 more to get the 5GB plan)

It looks like the $20 will go away if I do a normal contract upgrade though which is a bit unfortunate, but either way I still like the plan a lot better.

Yeah, we are saving $40/month under our current contract.....and even if we decide to get the iPhone 6 subsidized under a new 2yr plan....the 2GB option will still be $10 less per month than what we've been paying AT&T for over a year.

People just have to be careful and realize that they can get into some great deals if you are under contract now....but if you choose to get a new subsidized contract and you get used to having that data....you will pay more. We looked at the 4GB plan which right now would have cost us $10 less per month....but if we were used to having that 4GB and decided to get the iPhone 6.....then our bill would jump to $150/month, which in the end is $20 more than what we are used to paying now.

-Kevin

 

[T5BRICK]

Basically.....it's worth it to login and check.....only going to save money.

Yup. I signed up the day these new plans were released and consolidated my AT&T account with my 1 line, my parents AT&T account with 3 lines and my wife's Verizon account with her 1 line. Overall we went from $290 per month to $175 per month. Plus I have a FAN account so I save an additional $25 per month.

 

[BJMRamage]

I just went into ATT today and was totally confused with this news.

My wife had a single phone plan and it was around $120 which was only $10 less than when we were both on it.
She went to 1GB and it was around $75. The guy today said that was a retired plan and she should be close to $50 and if I went on close to $75 for a shared 1GB which will probably be too little)

Anyway, I was VERY confused over the whole thing because the last time we went into ATT to talk about the bill it was only a couple months back and they had a new plan going on then.

It seems they get new plans every 6-8 weeks.

 

[netnothing]

I just went into ATT today and was totally confused with this news.

My wife had a single phone plan and it was around $120 which was only $10 less than when we were both on it.
She went to 1GB and it was around $75. The guy today said that was a retired plan and she should be close to $50 and if I went on close to $75 for a shared 1GB which will probably be too little)

Anyway, I was VERY confused over the whole thing because the last time we went into ATT to talk about the bill it was only a couple months back and they had a new plan going on then.

It seems they get new plans every 6-8 weeks.

Yeah, even when the 5s came out, they had a couple different plans.

What all the carriers are doing is moving towards plans that emphasize data. Gone are the days of XX minutes and XX texts.....all that's unlimited now.

Now it's broken up into 2 basic parts....the charge for data and the charge per device. The charge for data is usually constant, meaning 2GB of data costs you XX regardless of devices (they all share it).

Then devices are now broken into full subsidized pricing under a 2yr contract, or un-subsidized pricing (if you bring your own device or pick their crzy ATT Next plans).

Part of this is very good news for people who don't upgrade phones every two years. Now at least you can lower the phone cost because you are outside the subsidy period.

-Kevin

 

[BJMRamage]

Yeah, I kinda wish they did this approach with TV carriers/cable/dish. Basically say this is the Speed into your house.

use it to watch any channel (except for premium or sports packages, whatever) and if you want phone or internet, it will be slowed down when HD TVs are on.

 

[rui no onna]

People just have to be careful and realize that they can get into some great deals if you are under contract now....but if you choose to get a new subsidized contract and you get used to having that data....you will pay more. We looked at the 4GB plan which right now would have cost us $10 less per month....but if we were used to having that 4GB and decided to get the iPhone 6.....then our bill would jump to $150/month, which in the end is $20 more than what we are used to paying now.

I actually made a spreadsheet with all the numbers and variables plugged in to calculate my total cost. For my situation, the new plans are just better all around.

Old Mobile Share with 2-Year Contract
Monthly Plan Cost: $240
2-Year Plan Cost: $5,760
Upfront Cost (iPhone 32GB): $299*4=$1,196
Upgrade Fee: $36*4=$144
Total 2-Year Cost: $7,100

New Mobile Share Value
Monthly Plan Cost: $160
2-Year Plan Cost: $3,840
Device Cost (iPhone 32GB): $749*4=$2,996
Total 2-Year Cost: $6,836

That's a total savings of just $264 or $66 per line assuming a 2-year upgrade cycle. The monthly payment is higher for the first 20 months with Next 12 ($310) but that's offset by the fact that I don't have to pay an upfront fee of $299 per phone ($1,196) and there's no additional $36 upgrade fee per line ($144) on the first bill.