Carrier WTF is ATT trying to pull?

[Clete2]

I gave up on contracts, financed phones(LOL!), two years ago.

I advise you do the same.

For AT&T it's actually cheaper, and even advantageous if you don't plan on upgrading for 2 years.

My iPhone 6 64GB costs $299 on-contract, which comes with a $15/month increase on my Mobile Share plan.

Off-contract, it would cost $749. Total cost off-contract: $749.
Total cost on-contract: $299 + ($15 * 24) = $659
Savings of $90 for being on a contract.

 

[shox2k2]

It's been a topic of this board for a couple weeks at least. I noticed it on att website back in August as I was planning. I don't like it but I did my research and was aware of it before I ordered.

 

[pdxmatts]

The carriers have found a way to not subsidize phones. Sucks. Not just ATT, look at Verizon Edge, too. They are all the same. They know how badly people want new phones. Why should they give us a discount if they don't have to? That's how they look at it.

Ever since T-Mobile became the un-carrier and they started losing customers to them, they implemented the same kind of plan. You never got a discount to subsidize, the full price of the phone is recouped by them through your 2 year agreement with an ETF and your down payment.

 

[nikhsub1]

Just more clueless uniformed subscribers filled with FUD. Nothing to see here except needless hysteria.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

I got the same text. I didn't do the research and was surprised by the text. Oh well, I would have upgraded anyway so it didn't really matter. AT&T gets a few more bucks from me.

 

[HEK]

I think the information has been readily available for some time those who checked out their options

Right, info readily available. Course if you don't like to read your contract, guess this would be a surprise. All they have done is be above board in separating cost of phone from cost of service. Before you paid the $40 per line for ever. When they gave me the option I jumped at it. Lowered my bill $80 per month for almost a year. If you thought the any mobile service providers were giving you phone for $199 before, well I have this bridge to sell you!
All of them got the balance of the phone cost back from you, with interest through monthly fee. But you never paid it off cuz the fee didn't drop once phone was paid off. More fair with new system.

 

[pdxmatts]

Right, info readily available. Course if you don't like to read your contract, guess this would be a surprise. All they have done is be above board in separating cost of phone from cost of service. Before you paid the $40 per line for ever. When they gave me the option I jumped at it. Lowered my bill $80 per month for almost a year. If you thought the any mobile service providers were giving you phone for $199 before, well I have this bridge to sell you!
All of them got the balance of the phone cost back from you, with interest through monthly fee. But you never paid it off cuz the fee didn't drop once phone was paid off. More fair with new system.

This^ Exactly!

 

[newone757]

The installments are interest free. And you can pay off early if you want to. After 12 payments you can upgrade again. With Next you in effect are leasing the phone with zero interest. And keep your low share plan pricing. If you want AT&T to subsidize cost of phone they raise monthly rate. How is this unfair?

Where in my post did I say it was unfair. I just said it was slick. This is a HUGE change to how things work. There was subtle notification and you had to look into it further to fully understand what was going on or else you truly wouldnt understand it (majority of consumers). So thats why they feel duped now. Its like any "business"...the fine print is all important. It's not unfair, its business.

There isnt full disclosure the way things are advertised. When they advertise the share plans on tv and elsewhere they always qoute you the price w/ discount. Example I JUST saw on TV :" 2-10 lines sharing 10gb data starting at $130. " But when they advertise phone prices they say "starting at $199"...those two deals arent compatible. You cant get an iphone 6 for $199 and with 10gb of data and pay $130 per month. Its not clear though untill you dig deeper into that there is, as always, a catch-- to both of those deals.

Like I said, its slick (not unfair), and like most other advertising it can be misleading at first glance...

 

[52485]

The $15 rate was for those before a certain date. After that, you won't get the $15 rate UNLESS you go for Next or pay full price for the device. This is their way of adding in the subsidy

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=bp85t3QxeTI

Image

 

[flynnst0ne]

I've never seen a $25 decrease for my "off contract" monthly rate...This just appears to be a $25 price hike for extending the contract by 2 years.

 

[Menel]

For AT&T it's actually cheaper, and even advantageous if you don't plan on upgrading for 2 years.

My iPhone 6 64GB costs $299 on-contract, which comes with a $15/month increase on my Mobile Share plan.

Off-contract, it would cost $749. Total cost off-contract: $749.
Total cost on-contract: $299 + ($15 * 24) = $659
Savings of $90 for being on a contract.

If your contract+fees is more than ~$41/mo youre overpaying and the financing is built in there.

The carriers arent giving you a free present.

 

[newone757]

I've never seen a $25 decrease for my "off contract" monthly rate...This just appears to be a $25 price hike for extending the contract by 2 years.

Right. I think he indicated he was getting a new iphone (I assume on contract?). If he is buying outright then there should be no rate increase

 

[freediverdude]

I gave up on contracts, financed phones(LOL!), two years ago.

I advise you do the same.

I agree. This year when the more everything plan plus edge ran the bill up over $220/month for just 2 lines, I said enough is enough, and switched to prepaid and buying the phones outright. Way cheaper.

 

[pdxmatts]

Right. I think he indicated he was getting a new iphone (I assume on contract?). If he is buying outright then there should be no rate increase

Right! Buying outright is great, but if you can't come up with the price of the phone all at once, you have the option to go on NEXT. Make monthly payments at 0 down and 0 interest. Getting your line contract free and option to upgrade every year or 18 mo's by trading your old phone in, waiving the remaining balance and starting over with the next phone without losing your Value plan. You can also just pay it off, be contract free and own the phone outright.

 

[webbuzz]

Right, info readily available. Course if you don't like to read your contract, guess this would be a surprise. All they have done is be above board in separating cost of phone from cost of service. Before you paid the $40 per line for ever. When they gave me the option I jumped at it. Lowered my bill $80 per month for almost a year. If you thought the any mobile service providers were giving you phone for $199 before, well I have this bridge to sell you!
All of them got the balance of the phone cost back from you, with interest through monthly fee. But you never paid it off cuz the fee didn't drop once phone was paid off. More fair with new system.

A year? I received the email in February/March of this year. When did you receive it?

 

[puma1552]

Dump AT&T.

For example, my wife and I were on a 4S launch day contract that was 2 GB data each, with unlimited talk and text for $160/month. I just preordered two Verizon iPhones (which at least here is a much better network anyway) and did them as separate single line plans, where we get - you guessed it - 2 GB data and unlimited talk and text - for $60/month, or $120 for the pair with a two year contract and $299 device price for 64 gig models.

AT&T is 33% more expensive than Verizon for the identical plan in this case.

Shop around, there's likely a better/cheaper option.

 

[rui no onna]

A year? I received the email in February/March of this year. When did you receive it?

Can't have been earlier since they only introduced it Feb/Mar. That said, I greatly appreciated the $80/mo discount for the 6 months after they introduced MSVP. Heck, I'm not repaying the remaining 1 year subsidy on 2 iPhone 5s so I'm a fairly happy camper.

 

[HEK]

The carriers have found a way to not subsidize phones. Sucks. Not just ATT, look at Verizon Edge, too. They are all the same. They know how badly people want new phones. Why should they give us a discount if they don't have to? That's how they look at it.

Think it through, they are still subsidizing, just not calling it that. And they clearly spell out cost of phone and duration now. I just ordered a 6 Plus and only paid the tax. Zero down, 20 installments, interest free. No early pay off penalty. AT&T is fronting me the phone "subsidizing" up front. I pay per month, and next September I upgrade to 6s Plus. I'm not out any more money than before. Best part I choose to pay off last eight payments and keep old phone, or not pay last eight payments and give them the phone. Easy peasy, my choice.

 

[miamialley]

The carriers have found a way to not subsidize phones. Sucks. Not just ATT, look at Verizon Edge, too. They are all the same. They know how badly people want new phones. Why should they give us a discount if they don't have to? That's how they look at it.

Ever since T-Mobile became the un-carrier and they started losing customers to them, they implemented the same kind of plan. You never got a discount to subsidize, the full price of the phone is recouped by them through your 2 year agreement with an ETF and your down payment.

Yeah, but how long do you think the discounted mobile share plans will last? Eventually, they'll phase those out and we'll be back to paying full price for phone AND plan. They know we want new phones and cell service. And competition sucks with only 2 "main" carriers, so they've got us by the ball$. Unless the smaller competitors get bigger, this is what will happen. Imagine if ATT had been able to buy Tmobile!? (wasn't that what was on the table a while back?)

 

[rui no onna]

I just preordered two Verizon iPhones (which at least here is a much better network anyway) and did them as separate single line plans, where we get - you guessed it - 2 GB data and unlimited talk and text - for $60/month, or $120 for the pair with a two year contract and $299 device price for 64 gig models.

Caveat with the Verizon single line, it's a limited time promotion that ends 9/30/2014. That said, it's a really awesome deal that comes with very good network coverage. Really great if you only have 1-2 lines.

 

[webbuzz]

Can't have been earlier since they only introduced it Feb/Mar. That said, I greatly appreciated the $80/mo discount for the 6 months after they introduced MSVP. Heck, I'm not repaying the remaining 1 year subsidy on 2 iPhone 5s so I'm a fairly happy camper.

Oh, I agree with the savings. It was the one year claim.

 

[miamialley]

Think it through, they are still subsidizing, just not calling it that. And they clearly spell out cost of phone and duration now. I just ordered a 6 Plus and only paid the tax. Zero down, 20 installments, interest free. No early pay off penalty. AT&T is fronting me the phone "subsidizing" up front. I pay per month, and next September I upgrade to 6s Plus. I'm not out any more money than before. Best part I choose to pay off last eight payments and keep old phone, or not pay last eight payments and give them the phone. Easy peasy, my choice.

I got you, but when I pay $200 for an upgrade and then just pay for my regular service, I am actually only paying $200 for a $600+ phone. Because regardless of my new phone, my plan would cost the same.

 

[dave420]

I've been with AT&T since the launch of the iPhone 3G. Should I be expecting it? Are certain people excluded?

If I won't be excluded and I just did the 2 year renewal, I take it I can expect my bill to jump by $25? Is that per iPhone?

Have you changed your plan this year? If not you should be fine. A lot of people switched to one of the new mobile share plans without knowing all the details. The old plans did not have any rate changes based on whether or not you used an upgrade.

 

[Stea1th]

Pretty sure mobile share plans were created to get people off unlimited and it started w/ a long game plan with unlimited being removed and 1/2/3/5gb plans replacing them. They gave 2gb for less and got people to lower their plan because it was cheaper.

Then they introduced mobile share were the combined plan would be cheaper and you would get a pool of data.

That wasn't working out so they decided lets try not subsidizing the phones but makes plans a ton cheaper.
That didn't work well so they said lets switch up the plans again and make it so they get a credit on their bill of $15/$20 if they do next and it kinda evens out but we still make more in the end.

Now you pretty much are forced to do next otherwise you lose a credit for being on a 2 year.

For some people they end up paying more even with the next payments. Otherwise save money because they go for long periods of time without upgrading.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah, but how long do you think the discounted mobile share plans will last? Eventually, they'll phase those out and we'll be back to paying full price for phone AND plan. They know we want new phones and cell service. And competition sucks with only 2 "main" carriers, so they've got us by the ball$. Unless the smaller competitors get bigger, this is what will happen. Imagine if ATT had been able to buy Tmobile!? (wasn't that what was on the table a while back?)

This is why I wish they'd just get rid of subsidy altogether and just make MSVP pricing of $15/line standard without the need for any discounts. Heck, they can get rid of the financing offers, too. I'm fine paying cash for my devices. The fact that it's a discount makes me a bit antsy. If they remove the discounts, I'm switching to prepaid.