Im on Verizon but long story short paying way too much. I wanted to jump onto my familys shared plan on ATT. I was told by the manager i could trade in my Verizon iphone 5 then pay like 80 bucks for a 64 GB iPhone 6 and only pay 45 a month for data on their plan. So when i went in with my mom to officialy do it i got a run around the likes of which ive never experienced. I was told the phone costs 750 even with a 2 year agreement, and that over 2 years i would end up paying 1300 for the phone NOT INCLUDING the data plan, unless i did ATT next in which case id only pay 900 for a (apparently) 750 dollar phone, not including data plan. So even with my trade in i would pay 40 dollars a month over 24 months JUST FOR THE PHONE ITSELF and my data would be like 60 dollars extra. They kept writing down numbers that made no sense and being defensive when i asked simple questions like, isnt the phone supposed to be $299 with 2 year agreement? To which they kept saying no and writing down more ridiculously high numbers. What on earth is going on with ATT's pricing? i left flabbergasted and didnt make any purchase.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Somebody please explain ATTs pricing nonsense to me?
- Thread starter clivewarren
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Here's an article that I think will help:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/technology/199-apple-iphone-6-is-fiction-if-not-fantasy.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/technology/199-apple-iphone-6-is-fiction-if-not-fantasy.html?_r=0
That is not right and not sure why they told you that. A 2 year contract starts from $199 (for the 6) and $299 (6 Plus) and depends on what model you get. You never pay a full price with a 2 year contract. The rep you talked to probably has no idea what he/she is talking about.
However, maybe the rep was talking about the total cost per 2 year? Like $299 for the phone + $40 for the line?
I'll exclude the shard data plan cost and here is the run down. If you go with a contract it is $40 per month for 2 years and after that it goes back down to 15 a month. So for 2 years it's $940 that you pay for the line. Plus the initial cost of the device so add 299 plus tax to that. $1259. And if you are paying portion of the shared data plan you need to add that into the equation as well.
Last edited:
Yeah I dealt with their ****... Basically they **** up the 2 year contract so badly its impossible to do 2 year. Its ******** I know. But if you do ATT next basically you only pay the price of the phone in your case $750. But your paying in over the course of a year or 18 months or whatever. OR you could just pay the the cost of the phone outright in the store the day you get it (thats what i did) that way your monthly bill doesn't go up. Whatever you do don't get 2 year.
To clarify, in case you don't read the article, iPhones DO NOT cost $200-400. They cost A LOT more than that. You have three options: 1) enter into a contract and pay high rates that include paying for the phone, 2) enter into a 0% financing agreement like AT&T next, which will mean that you will pay off the phone over a set period, coupled with a no-contract service plan or 3) buy the phone outright for its full retail price and have a no-contract plan.
Option 1 (contract) is the most expensive over 2 years. Your bill will be exactly the same over 24 months. You are locked into the contract and subject to high early termination fees if you leave.
Option 2 (Next 12 or 18) is good because it's pretty fair: you're paying off the phone at 0% interest over a set period. When you're done making payments, your bill will go down because you will only be paying for service. You pay for the service separately from the phone. You are not locked into a contract for the service, you can leave at any time. However, if you do leave, you owe the remaining balance on the cost of the phone, but once you pay off the balance, you get to keep the phone and either sell it, or use it on another carrier. It also works out cheaper than a 2 year contract!!!
One thing that is a little hard to understand is upgrade eligibility on the Next 12 and 18 plans. Next 12 means you make payments on the cost of the phone for 12 months, at which point you are eligible to simply hand your existing phone over to AT&T (in settlement of the payments you still owe) and finance a new phone ('upgrade') on a new AT&T Next installment plan. Next 18 is the same, except you can only upgrade at 18 months, not 12.
If you don't want to upgrade your phone, and instead just keep it and keep using it, on the Next 12 plan, you will pay off your phone in 20 months at which point you will own it and not owe any more payments on it, and on the Next 18 plan, this will happen after 24 months of payments. This is why the Next 18 plan is a little cheaper, because it spaces out the payments into 24 months instead of 20 months.
Option 3 (buying the phone outright) is the same as option 2, except instead of spreading out the cost of the phone over a period of time, you pay the cost of the phone upfront, and just pay for the service.
It bears saying that Verizon also has plans like this, called Verizon Edge.
Option 1 (contract) is the most expensive over 2 years. Your bill will be exactly the same over 24 months. You are locked into the contract and subject to high early termination fees if you leave.
Option 2 (Next 12 or 18) is good because it's pretty fair: you're paying off the phone at 0% interest over a set period. When you're done making payments, your bill will go down because you will only be paying for service. You pay for the service separately from the phone. You are not locked into a contract for the service, you can leave at any time. However, if you do leave, you owe the remaining balance on the cost of the phone, but once you pay off the balance, you get to keep the phone and either sell it, or use it on another carrier. It also works out cheaper than a 2 year contract!!!
One thing that is a little hard to understand is upgrade eligibility on the Next 12 and 18 plans. Next 12 means you make payments on the cost of the phone for 12 months, at which point you are eligible to simply hand your existing phone over to AT&T (in settlement of the payments you still owe) and finance a new phone ('upgrade') on a new AT&T Next installment plan. Next 18 is the same, except you can only upgrade at 18 months, not 12.
If you don't want to upgrade your phone, and instead just keep it and keep using it, on the Next 12 plan, you will pay off your phone in 20 months at which point you will own it and not owe any more payments on it, and on the Next 18 plan, this will happen after 24 months of payments. This is why the Next 18 plan is a little cheaper, because it spaces out the payments into 24 months instead of 20 months.
Option 3 (buying the phone outright) is the same as option 2, except instead of spreading out the cost of the phone over a period of time, you pay the cost of the phone upfront, and just pay for the service.
It bears saying that Verizon also has plans like this, called Verizon Edge.
check this out for an explanation. http://www.cnet.com/news/why-at-ts-new-pricing-plans-are-only-a-bargain-for-some/ It's really not that complicated. Pay $40 per line with a subsidized phone with down payment and a $40 upgrade fee or pay $15 per line on the mobile share value plan (bring your own phone, pay outright or use the Next program for 0 down and 0 interest for 20 -24 months. The Next program is separate from a MSVP, it is there if you want to upgrade and stay at $15 per line and pay monthly for the phone over time. It is 0 interest so you are not paying anymore than the price of the phone plus it takes you off contract.
You can subsidize a phone on a mobile share value plan, but your line will remain at $40 per month instead of $15 and be on a 2 yr contract.
The Mobile share plan charges you for data separately than your phone line. 10gb for all lines to share is $100. ATT is doubling data right now until 10/31 for 15gb or more. So, 15g is $130 per month and is doubled to 30gb for the same price.
You can subsidize a phone on a mobile share value plan, but your line will remain at $40 per month instead of $15 and be on a 2 yr contract.
The Mobile share plan charges you for data separately than your phone line. 10gb for all lines to share is $100. ATT is doubling data right now until 10/31 for 15gb or more. So, 15g is $130 per month and is doubled to 30gb for the same price.
AT&T told me that the $40 charge a month is not for 24 months its until you buy a new phone or something like that. Its really really stupid
I just went through this process when switching from my old plan to a new mobile share plan. Everything said above is generally correct. One thing to note, however, is that the math changes slightly if you have a plan for less than 10GB/month vs more than 10GB for month. Since I just did the math for the 64gig iPhone I'll include it here. This doesn't include the price of the actual data plan, just per phone.
10GB+ Plans
On 10GB plans you get a $25 discount if you pay full price for the phone (either up front or through next). So the way i think about it is using an upgrade costs me $25 extra dollars per month until i'm out of contract (i.e. in 2 years)
2 Year Contract: $299 + $40 activation (may be waived) + $25*24 ($600) = $939 (potentially $899 if you get activation waived)
vs.
Full price: $749 (either up front or AT&T Next)
So in a 10 GB plan, you're going to be better off in the long run paying full
Less than 10GB Plans
For plans less than 10GB you only get a $15 discount when you pay full price for the phone (i.e. an upgrade costs you an extra $15/month).
2 Year Contract: $299 + $40 + $15*24 ($360) = $699 (or $649 if activation waived)
vs.
Full price: $749
So if your mobile share plan is under 10GBs it makes sense to keep using an upgrade, but if you're on one of the higher plans you should start buying the phone full price.
A separate consideration is that if you're coming from Verizon, your iPhone 5 is unlocked (http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/21/verizon-iphone-5-unlocked-att-t-mobile-video/). So if you don't care about getting an iPhone 6, you can just get an AT&T sim, pop it into your phone, and be on your way.
10GB+ Plans
On 10GB plans you get a $25 discount if you pay full price for the phone (either up front or through next). So the way i think about it is using an upgrade costs me $25 extra dollars per month until i'm out of contract (i.e. in 2 years)
2 Year Contract: $299 + $40 activation (may be waived) + $25*24 ($600) = $939 (potentially $899 if you get activation waived)
vs.
Full price: $749 (either up front or AT&T Next)
So in a 10 GB plan, you're going to be better off in the long run paying full
Less than 10GB Plans
For plans less than 10GB you only get a $15 discount when you pay full price for the phone (i.e. an upgrade costs you an extra $15/month).
2 Year Contract: $299 + $40 + $15*24 ($360) = $699 (or $649 if activation waived)
vs.
Full price: $749
So if your mobile share plan is under 10GBs it makes sense to keep using an upgrade, but if you're on one of the higher plans you should start buying the phone full price.
A separate consideration is that if you're coming from Verizon, your iPhone 5 is unlocked (http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/21/verizon-iphone-5-unlocked-att-t-mobile-video/). So if you don't care about getting an iPhone 6, you can just get an AT&T sim, pop it into your phone, and be on your way.
Yeah, I just found out the hard way after the fact that I lost my $25 discount on my 10gb family share plan. Each line was $15 each. Doesn't make sense since in the past forcing you to be tied up with them for a 2 year contract was enough of a penalty.
Make sure you go to an AT&T corporate owned store.
The way to identify is a corporate store just says AT&T.
A franchise AT&T store will say "Authorized Retailer" under the logo.
The AT&T website identifies corporate as company owned when you do a search.
These are the only stores that I would trust besides Apple and select Best Buy locations.
Read my explanation again. You can choose to buy a new phone at 12 or 18 months depending which plan. But if you DON'T then you only have to make payments until your phone is paid off, which is at 20 or 24 months depending on the plan.
IMO, there is virtually no difference between AT&T and Verizon when it comes to pricing (or "how it's done") with these Share plans. So in that sense, nothing's going on with AT&T's pricing.
If you can tell us how big (in GB) the data plan is on the AT&T family plan you're joining, we should be able to easily show you how much it costs on a 2-year contract vs Next.