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Someone Explain ATTs Pricing in a way that makes sense

marty1980

marty1980

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 22, 2011
742
654
For those of us who have not grandfathered into the unlimited data plan...
*data and prices per month
200MB = $15
2GB = $25

Now lets break this down. 2GB for $25 == $12.50 per GB

If you have the 200MB plan and you go over you get charged $10 per 1GB you go over.

So is 1GB a value of $10 or $12.50?

Is 200MB a value of $2.00 or $15.00?

I'm sure that most everyone will agree that something is really jacked up with this pricing.

Otherwise, please explain to me how any of this makes any sense.
 
There is no sense involved. Its just tiered pricing. Same thing goes for minutes and text messaging. It is always the best deal to go with the top level plan, that is how companies get you to pay the larger monthly fees. The overage fees scare you into the top level plan.

If you have the 200MB plan and you go over its 10 dollars for 1 GB. Well in turn you are paying 25 dollars for 1.2GB. Obviously the 2GB for 25 is the better deal even if you don't use it entirely.
 
It's the same psychology behind say, movie theater soft drink prices according to size.

Many people will go for the 2 GB plan to get "the better deal," even if they don't use more than 200 MB (+1 GB) a month. The best way would be to see how much data you use normally, then go for the right plan.
 
It does make sense, because they want you to go with the 2GB/$25 plan by making the 200MB/$15 plan a terrible/non-sense deal.

Data usage is not consumable goods like milk and bread, it does not cost AT&T more whether they give you 200MB or 2GB, so if they can get more money by making you choose the 2GB plan, they win.
 
Chat with AT&T Rep

So I decided to take this question directly to an AT&T rep and here's how it turned out
att_data_plans_chat.png
 
vincenz said:
It's the same psychology behind say, movie theater soft drink prices according to size.

Many people will go for the 2 GB plan to get "the better deal," even if they don't use more than 200 MB (+1 GB) a month. The best way would be to see how much data you use normally, then go for the right plan.
Click to expand...

When I first got the iPhone I was in an unlimited plan and I used about 3.5GB per month. I know that's nuts, but I stream a lot of music while on the road and at the time I was downloading every free app I could find in the app store.

I needed to cut down my phone bill so I dropped down to the $15 plan forever giving up the unlimited plan. I've been able to hit up wifi to keep my data low, but I have to constantly monitor how I use my phone so I don't go over.

I also had to give up streaming music and movies while on the go.

It's not about how much data I use. I can control my habits to fit my bill. I know I would use a lot more data if I had a larger allotment.

Why not give me 1GB for that $15? The only reason is to force people to pay $25 which nullifies the reasoning behind the "affordable" data plan.
 
OP, I don't know what answer you're looking for, but if you're asking for it to "make sense," then you should look at it from the corporation's (AT&T) standpoint.

It makes sense for them to do tiered pricing because of the usage habits of a majority of users. As stated, 98% of their users don't go over 2 GB/month, so for those (who use more than 200 MB, but less than 2 GB), the $25 is the "best deal."

Technically, $30 for unlimited data is NOT "worth it" if you don't use more than 2 GB/month. You'll essentially be paying an extra $5/month in that case for peace of mind that you'll never have to deal with data overage charges. Whether that is important to you depends on the person, but from purely a financial perspective, the $25 plan makes the most sense.

As for the fact that they charge $10 for each additional 1 GB over 200 MB, that's just business, unfortunately.
 
OP: I think you are really over analyzing this. This is just the way it is, there is no logic or sense behind it. They charge what they want because its an oligopoly. There is very little competition in the market, so they get away with it and they always will. Logic/Sense will never be a factor in setting up pricing for data plans, or any type of plans.
 
marty1980 said:
When I first got the iPhone I was in an unlimited plan and I used about 3.5GB per month. I know that's nuts, but I stream a lot of music while on the road and at the time I was downloading every free app I could find in the app store.

I needed to cut down my phone bill so I dropped down to the $15 plan forever giving up the unlimited plan. I've been able to hit up wifi to keep my data low, but I have to constantly monitor how I use my phone so I don't go over.

I also had to give up streaming music and movies while on the go.

It's not about how much data I use. I can control my habits to fit my bill. I know I would use a lot more data if I had a larger allotment.

Why not give me 1GB for that $15? The only reason is to force people to pay $25 which nullifies the reasoning behind the "affordable" data plan.
Click to expand...

Right, I understand where you're coming from. So if you can control your habits to fit the plan you're on, then you don't really need the unlimited. But it sounds like you no longer want to tailor your usage like that anymore.

There's no right reason behind why they don't offer 1 GB for $15. It's just business. Like I said, there's no real reason why a small soda would cost $4.00 whereas a large costs $4.25.
 
I guess I just wanted to vent.

What I'd really like is for AT&T to change their plans. The problem is that their data is going to continue to back up their claims, validating their current pricing structure. The only reason that data will continue to back up their claims is because they are forcing customers to be cautious with their plans.

I think that this whole tiered pricing thing has started off horribly wrong and its all thanks to AT&Ts lack of ability to support a large data network.

In that context the T-Mobile buyout is a potentially good thing for customers because they might possibly have a better network to increase their data cap on the low-end data plans.
 
It's really simple.
It's just a way to reach out to more people, and get a lot of money. It's almost like a six pack of paper being cheaper than six 1 pack. Its cheaper if you plan on using it.


I think T-Mobile should be its own company. AT&T will probably increase the rates to match it's current offerings, and then there will be no cheaper GSM network to hop on to. If people on T-Mobile want an iPhone, they should probably just switch to AT&T because they'll end up paying the same anyways. IMO

It's not like AT&T can't handle giving us more data, they just want to charge us for it. It's pretty evident carriers are getting more greedy especially that they are charging more money for the same phone if you buy it through them
 
vincenz said:
There's no right reason behind why they don't offer 1 GB for $15.
Click to expand...

if the offered 1gb for $15 then I suspect alot of people who are on the 2gb for $25 data would jump ship... Hence costing them money (something Att doesn't want)
 
vincenz said:
Right, I understand where you're coming from. So if you can control your habits to fit the plan you're on, then you don't really need the unlimited. But it sounds like you no longer want to tailor your usage like that anymore.

There's no right reason behind why they don't offer 1 GB for $15. It's just business. Like I said, there's no real reason why a small soda would cost $4.00 whereas a large costs $4.25.
Click to expand...

Of course there is no reason why they shouldn't offer this, but there is no reason why they should. If the T-Mobile/AT&T merger goes through, they will be the largest carrier in the US. I'm sure they could care less if they lose a few customers because there is no logic involved in their tiered level pricing. Verizon is no different.

Fact of the matter is they have no one to answer to, no real competition threat, so they will set the prices as they want. They could charge $20 for 200MB and $35 for 2GB, people will still pay the prices because AT&T offers faster data and the ability to talk and browse at the same time. But they don't because they don't want to be seen as a monopoly taking advantage of the market.
 
A novel idea would be Apple allowing T-Mobile USA the iPhone. Then they wouldn't need to merge and competition would be better. But no. So get ready for higher rates, pay the extra $10-20 and stop your whining.
 
macinnv said:
A novel idea would be Apple allowing T-Mobile USA the iPhone. Then they wouldn't need to merge and competition would be better. But no. So get ready for higher rates, pay the extra $10-20 and stop your whining.
Click to expand...

T-Mobile is a UK mobile company, sadly you Americans get the chance of using one of cheapest, highly reliable carrier :d
 
It's called buying in bulk. The more you buy, the cheaper it is. That's why at Costco, you might by a 3 pack of something, but it costs less than if you were to go into the grocery store and buy 3 of the same item individually. It's not a new concept.
 
marty1980 said:
So I decided to take this question directly to an AT&T rep and here's how it turned out
Click to expand...

As you probably knew before you even got into the chat, the rep didn't have the answers you sought.

The prices only make sense in that this what AT&T is charging, and you either pay it or you go somewhere else. Like, Verizon.

All you really succeeded in doing is trolling a rep, wasting that person's time, yours, and posting a really really huge screenshot on the forum.

Feel better now?
 
scaredpoet said:
As you probably knew before you even got into the chat, the rep didn't have the answers you sought.

The prices only make sense in that this what AT&T is charging, and you either pay it or you go somewhere else. Like, Verizon.

All you really succeeded in doing is trolling a rep, wasting that person's time, yours, and posting a really really huge screenshot on the forum.

Feel better now?
Click to expand...
Yes; as a matter of fact I do feel better. AT&T wastes my money, so I waste their time :p

I was just in a mood to bitch at somebody today. If you don't like my thread then let it die instead of continuing to help push it to the top.

Sorry about the large picture. My screen is running at 1680 x 1050 and I didn't shrink it before posting.
 
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