Screwed by my mobile plan

[Ironman273]

A while back I gave up my unlimited data plan because the family plan I got into (AT&T in the US) would save me some money and give me 10GB shared data, which has been more than enough even now.  With the new iPhone announcement and my wife up for an upgrade (she has the 5) I started looking into my plan.  Previously I would extend the plan for 2 years and pay the subsidized price, which on the iPhone tends to be $199.  Now if I pay that price and extend my contract I lose a "value plan saving" of $25/line.  So for 3 lines (mine, hers and my son) my bill would go up $75!  The other option to keep the discount is to use their AT&T Next plan where I have to pay $30 for 2 years so my monthly bill also goes up.

 

I've checked Verizon and T-Mobile (won't touch Sprint) and they both have similar pricing structures.

 

Now I feel screwed for having taken the family plan.  It almost feels like a bait and switch.  I'm sure it was in the contract somewhere but they sure sold it differently when I got it.

[FloatingFatMan]

Caveat emptor, dude.  Should have read the small print.

 

Don't worry... By the time your plan runs out, you'll be able to get an iPhone 8 and an iWatch 3! ;)

[Draconian Guppy]

This is why if possible, buying unlocked phones is a must.

[Ironman273]

Caveat emptor, dude.  Should have read the small print.

 

Don't worry... By the time your plan runs out, you'll be able to get an iPhone 8 and an iWatch 3! ;)

Indeed.  I guess I'm venting because usually I'm pretty good at checking things out thoroughly and this one completely slipped past me.

 

This is why if possible, buying unlocked phones is a must.

I agree, and applaud the efforts of the Nexus phones and even the One+1 that are bringing unlocked phone prices down from the $700 range.

[Draconian Guppy]

Indeed.  I guess I'm venting because usually I'm pretty good at checking things out thoroughly and this one completely slipped past me.

 

I agree, and applaud the efforts of the Nexus phones and even the One+1 that are bringing unlocked phone prices down from the $700 range.

Yeah  I made the mistake once of commiting to a 2 year contract around 2006ish... never again. I'd rather save up, pay up front, then have the freedom to switch between providers whenever I need to + not paying phone subsidy 

[Ironman273]

Yeah  I made the mistake once of commiting to a 2 year contract around 2006ish... never again. I'd rather save up, pay up front, then have the freedom to switch between providers whenever I need to + not paying phone subsidy 

Well, the thing is I've been with AT&T now for 15 years and I never really had a problem.  I would need to have service with somebody and they've been pretty good up to now.  I used to have unlimited data before switching.  As for the subsidy, the plan price was generally good and getting an iPhone for $199 meant that I paid a little over $8 a month for the phone since after 2 years I could do with it what I wanted to.  If I got the relatively cheap Nexus (great phone) I'd still be double that over the same time.

[T3X4S]

I hate AT&T as a company, and hate their products.

I'd love to ditch them as a cell carrier, but my fiance gets a discount because she works at a certain hospital.

 

[tsupersonic]

I hate AT&T as a company, and hate their products.

I'd love to ditch them as a cell carrier, but my fiance gets a discount because she works at a certain hospital.

I too get a 24% discount, but it's still expensive. I got thrown into the Mobile Share "Value" plan, but still pay $91 freaking every month. 1 account with 2 GB of data, and unlimited talk/text. I would love to switch to T-mobile, but their reception is meh. T-mobile has a plan that's $30/month prepaid that is 100 minutes, and unlimited text, with 5GB of 4G data.

[Joe User]

A while back I gave up my unlimited data plan because the family plan I got into (AT&T in the US) would save me some money and give me 10GB shared data, which has been more than enough even now.  With the new iPhone announcement and my wife up for an upgrade (she has the 5) I started looking into my plan.  Previously I would extend the plan for 2 years and pay the subsidized price, which on the iPhone tends to be $199.  Now if I pay that price and extend my contract I lose a "value plan saving" of $25/line.  So for 3 lines (mine, hers and my son) my bill would go up $75!  The other option to keep the discount is to use their AT&T Next plan where I have to pay $30 for 2 years so my monthly bill also goes up.

 

I've checked Verizon and T-Mobile (won't touch Sprint) and they both have similar pricing structures.

 

Now I feel screwed for having taken the family plan.  It almost feels like a bait and switch.  I'm sure it was in the contract somewhere but they sure sold it differently when I got it.

 

Buy the phone outright and then you can keep your discount. The amount you save on the discount will be more than the value of the phone over two years.

[Draconian Guppy]

Buy the phone outright and then you can keep your discount. The amount you save on the discount will be more than the value of the phone over two years.

pretty is his only choice, for long term savings.

[Skiver Veteran]

+1 for the unlocked phones

 

I have a work contract so I don't need to worry too much about costs but i did buy my own handset to replace the horrible Blackberry that was the standard issue at the time. The other half was recently stung by changing her contract too, She "downgraded" on her contract at the end of the renewal instead of upgrading however now when she has come to look at upgrading she has found that many of the offers that are available to existing customers aren't available to her because of the "lower contract". Customer loyalty means absolutely nothing considering she has been with Orange for around 10 years now and if it was up to me she would have been on a slightly cheaper Virgin Media plan but her "loyalty" kept her to Orange when they made her an offer when she tried to leave.

[SMELTN]

Dude. I am in the same boat. I just a few months ago changed over to the mobile shared plan, but what you have to think about is this.. For my case, for instance. I was paying $225 and that was for 3 iphones and 2 dumb flip phones.. Wasn't unlimited texting or talking either.. Was like 1400 minutes a month.   Now though, with the mobile share plan, I am paying $155 and I have 5 iphones (wife, son, daughter, mother and myself) all with unlimited talk and text and we share the 10 gigs.. Now.. With the extra money you are saving every month on that plan FOREVER, as long as you have AT&T you can count that towards the new device.. See you used to pay $199 for the device + tax + $40 activation/upgrade fee when you bought the phone. Now of course your bill was higher as well AND you were tied in for 2 years. No questions.  

NOW you can buy the phone that first day and pay just $30-50.. Just whatever the tax is on the phone.. No activation/upgrade fee.. no $199.. Just the tax. According to Apples store website:

 

With AT&T Next, you can buy iPhone 6 for as low as $0 down and from $27.05 per month. Available for existing AT&T customers replacing a phone on their account with a new iPhone. Prices will vary based on model and capacity

 

 

So now your bill goes up $27.05 a month for 24-28 months or so and your done. No 2 year commitment. It doesn't stay at 27.05 after the 2 years. AND.. You can pay it off early. So lets say income tax comes around and you decide to go ahead and pay $300 that you owe on the phone and get it paid off early.. Guess what... Bill goes back down -$27.05 and you are done. You can upgrade THEN, or in 12-18 months when the new ones comes out.. Your bill in the long run is still cheaper and your device is unlocked after that as well because you paid for it. Its yours. 

 

Its actually cheaper on you. You aren't paying the extra monthly fee's for nothing, you aren't paying the initial $199..   Its better overall.   I don't see it as a loose. Its fine. I plan on just getting mine, using the extra money to get a case, then paying it off in a few months or so and be done with it.. Bill goes back down to normal like nothing every happened. 

[tsupersonic]

Dude. I am in the same boat. I just a few months ago changed over to the mobile shared plan, but what you have to think about is this.. For my case, for instance. I was paying $225 and that was for 3 iphones and 2 dumb flip phones.. Wasn't unlimited texting or talking either.. Was like 1400 minutes a month.   Now though, with the mobile share plan, I am paying $155 and I have 5 iphones (wife, son, daughter, mother and myself) all with unlimited talk and text and we share the 10 gigs.. Now.. With the extra money you are saving every month on that plan FOREVER, as long as you have AT&T you can count that towards the new device.. See you used to pay $199 for the device + tax + $40 activation/upgrade fee when you bought the phone. Now of course your bill was higher as well AND you were tied in for 2 years. No questions.  

NOW you can buy the phone that first day and pay just $30-50.. Just whatever the tax is on the phone.. No activation/upgrade fee.. no $199.. Just the tax. According to Apples store website:

 

 

So now your bill goes up $27.05 a month for 24-28 months or so and your done. No 2 year commitment. It doesn't stay at 27.05 after the 2 years. AND.. You can pay it off early. So lets say income tax comes around and you decide to go ahead and pay $300 that you owe on the phone and get it paid off early.. Guess what... Bill goes back down -$27.05 and you are done. You can upgrade THEN, or in 12-18 months when the new ones comes out.. Your bill in the long run is still cheaper and your device is unlocked after that as well because you paid for it. Its yours. 

 

Its actually cheaper on you. You aren't paying the extra monthly fee's for nothing, you aren't paying the initial $199..   Its better overall.   I don't see it as a loose. Its fine. I plan on just getting mine, using the extra money to get a case, then paying it off in a few months or so and be done with it.. Bill goes back down to normal like nothing every happened. 

Well, it's more expensive with ATT Next, or any of the other carrier's early upgrade plans, at least individual plans (not sure about family) 

 

http://lifehacker.com/are-at-t-and-t-mobiles-frequent-upgrade-plans-worth-it-814398856 and http://lifehacker.com/are-early-upgrade-plans-worth-it-1369868915

 

Ideally, I would like a cheap plan (with either AT&T or Verizon) with unlimited or a sufficient amount of data (5-10 GB is optimal for me), unlimited texting, and 100 minutes. T-mobile has a prepaid plan that is like this for $30/month and you can BYOD = cheap plan, but it's T-mobile... :\ 

[Ironman273]

Dude. I am in the same boat. I just a few months ago changed over to the mobile shared plan, but what you have to think about is this.. For my case, for instance. I was paying $225 and that was for 3 iphones and 2 dumb flip phones.. Wasn't unlimited texting or talking either.. Was like 1400 minutes a month.   Now though, with the mobile share plan, I am paying $155 and I have 5 iphones (wife, son, daughter, mother and myself) all with unlimited talk and text and we share the 10 gigs.. Now.. With the extra money you are saving every month on that plan FOREVER, as long as you have AT&T you can count that towards the new device.. See you used to pay $199 for the device + tax + $40 activation/upgrade fee when you bought the phone. Now of course your bill was higher as well AND you were tied in for 2 years. No questions.  

NOW you can buy the phone that first day and pay just $30-50.. Just whatever the tax is on the phone.. No activation/upgrade fee.. no $199.. Just the tax. According to Apples store website:

 

 

So now your bill goes up $27.05 a month for 24-28 months or so and your done. No 2 year commitment. It doesn't stay at 27.05 after the 2 years. AND.. You can pay it off early. So lets say income tax comes around and you decide to go ahead and pay $300 that you owe on the phone and get it paid off early.. Guess what... Bill goes back down -$27.05 and you are done. You can upgrade THEN, or in 12-18 months when the new ones comes out.. Your bill in the long run is still cheaper and your device is unlocked after that as well because you paid for it. Its yours. 

 

Its actually cheaper on you. You aren't paying the extra monthly fee's for nothing, you aren't paying the initial $199..   Its better overall.   I don't see it as a loose. Its fine. I plan on just getting mine, using the extra money to get a case, then paying it off in a few months or so and be done with it.. Bill goes back down to normal like nothing every happened. 

The old plan of extending my contract for 2 years and paying nothing extra is still better.  I pay $199 and the phone is mine after 2 years (that works out to ~$8/month).  OK, so I understand that NO carrier is subsidizing phones any more.  What annoys me about what happened with AT&T is that when I signed up for my family plan they in no way informed me that future upgrades would not work the same way they had been working for the previous 15 years I was with AT&T. 

 

So with AT&T I have a "base" bill of  $170/month for 4 lines and 10GBs of data.  Come upgrade time that will start going up depending on the phone I get.  It will probably end up at $240 after 3 upgrades (one line is a tablet).

With T-Mobile, my base bill is $100/month for 4 lines and 10GBs of data.  I still need to pay per month on top of that but that'll end up being about the $170 I'm paying now as a base charge with AT&T.  Plus I get to upgrade in a year and all that, the phone is mine, yadda, yadda, yadda.  The differences are the coverage (which seems to be pretty good in Florida) and that the 10GBs is split up 2.5GB per line, not shared.  However, I will never get charged for overages, just the data will be slowed to 2G (ugh).

 

So I've come to terms with the no more subsidized phones but it seems that under that new arrangement the TMobile plan is cheaper with similar features.