AT&T Wireless Plans Price Reduction

[elgerber]

same scenario as me except 1 less non-smart phone. seemed like a no brainer to switch it over. when I need to upgrade to a new phone, I just pay 25 instead of the 15. I'm confused on what all the talk is about on paying full price or over time for the next phone...

Everything I have read says that will be $15 plus $25 when you get a new phone. So $40 a month. If you all get new phones that monthly bill will go way up.

 

[gone2disney]

Ok...I called this morning.

everything is correct.

kept my eligible upgrades, changed to a shared 10 gig instead of individual 3 gig. no new contract ... cost 160.

THE ONLY kicker to this plan is if you want to upgrade your phone, you should do this before you change. after you upgrade a phone on the new plan, the charge per phone jumps from 15 to 25 or 40 ..

that didn't bother me as I have a 5s and both kids have 4s phones....

the rep kept calling it a "discount" plan meant to discourage you from upgrading...


I just want to give a BIG THANK YOU for posting this....

Can someone explain this to me-so if we switch to $15/phone, it will jump to either 25 or 40 when we upgrade to a new phone. Most people will upgrade at some point so I am just trying to understand if it's worth it to change plans to only have to pay a higher rate later.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Can someone explain this to me-so if we switch to $15/phone, it will jump to either 25 or 40 when we upgrade to a new phone. Most people will upgrade at some point so I am just trying to understand if it's worth it to change plans to only have to pay a higher rate later.

It will jump to $40/month (an increase of $25) per phone when you upgrade a subsidized phone (IE a $600.00 phone for $200.00).

Or you can keep the $15 per line by using AT&T next (which is unsubsidized), It's like "rent to own" for your cell phone - way overpriced for the total cost.

I will DEFINITELY be keeping my grandfathered plan. With 5 devices in the household we upgrade a device several times a year it seems. . .

The only way it would make sense to me to switch is if you were planning to switch from at&t at the end of the life cycle of your device - or settle for used devices off of e-bay perhaps. These might be viable options actually. But if you plan to stay with at&t and get new devices it's highly likely you will pay more in the long run.

 

[wenrob]

Can someone explain this to me-so if we switch to $15/phone, it will jump to either 25 or 40 when we upgrade to a new phone. Most people will upgrade at some point so I am just trying to understand if it's worth it to change plans to only have to pay a higher rate later.

The way I understand is the $15 per device is when you already have a phone and no longer have a contract. (Or no longer want to be under contract) If you choose the Next plan then you are essentially leasing your phone for $25 a month. You can "upgrade" every year but must turn that phone in to get a new one. If you do a traditional 2yr upgrade it would be $40 a month added to this particular value plan. What I don't see is if you pay the subsidized amount for the phone in addition to this.
We are grandfathered into an old family plan that would cost less than what this value plan is if we wanted to stick with 2yr service agreement.

 

[FamilyGuy]

If you choose the Next plan then you are essentially leasing your phone for $25 a month. You can "upgrade" every year but must turn that phone in to get a new one.

Exactly - and Next pricing can vary as much as $18/mo to up to $37/mo depending on device and length of Next plan. My $175.00 monthly bill could go up to as much as $300-350/mo after upgrades! Or I will be paying big bucks for the devices upfront (unsubsidized pricing).

The future model for modestly priced data and wireless service no longer includes subsidized devices. Can you imagine paying $650+ for a new Iphone5S? Or perhaps $400 for a new Samsung galaxy S3 (thats a 18 month old model)?

At&t may be taking a hit now by reducing incoming revenue now (lowering monthly bills), but they will make a significant overall increase in the long run by not having to subsidize phones in the future!

 

[Disneychick75]

If you have your phone before 2/2/2014, it's $15 month and no worries about whether or not you have a contract. I made sure to ask when I changed my plan to day.

Disneyfans222, thanks for posting, you saved me $150/month!!!

 

[FamilyGuy]

If you have your phone before 2/2/2014, it's $15 month and no worries about whether or not you have a contract. I made sure to ask when I changed my plan to day.

Disneyfans222, thanks for posting, you saved me $150/month!!!

Yes, regardless of when you upgraded your phone, as long as it's before Feb 2nd, 2014 it's only $15 per line (or even per new line, as long as you being your own device). We just upraded a phone in December and it would still only cost us $15 per line.

Rest assured that when and if you upgrade to a new device through at&t, it will cost you one way or another then! Pay now, or pay later!

Granted, in the above instance $150/month pays for a lot of upgrades and/or 'at&t Next' device plans!

 

[floridafam]

DH and I have unlimited data. Our two kids each get. 2gb of data for $25 a pop. Does anyone know of it would make sense for us to change plans?

 

[momof1princess]

Okay. We have 2 smartphones and 1 flip phone. Upgrades are due in May, 2014. Plan is 550 anytime minutes per phone per month. Unlimited texting for all phones ($30 per month) and 2 GB data each for the smartphones at $20 each. Our wireless bill is $150 per month! Would this new plan thing help us?

 

[descovy]

DH and I have unlimited data. Our two kids each get. 2gb of data for $25 a pop. Does anyone know of it would make sense for us to change plans?

On the 10gb plan you would pay $160. ($100+ $15x4 phones)
You didn't mention what you pay already. So you have to figure for yourself if it's worth it.

As others have mentioned, when you upgrade this does not include the price of a phone subsidy. So you either have to buy the phone upfront, do the next plan (20-26 payments) or get a subsidized plan at $40/mo instead of $15.

In my family, the kids get the hand me downs. So I'd at most would have 1 new phone at a time. I keep my phones and pass them to my kids. It works for me because my phones are in use for a good 4yrs or so.

But if all 4 of you must have new phones all the time, you have to decide if it's worth it to you.

It's worth it to me because I will only be the one with a new phone. My kids will always stay at $15/mo using my old phone. In the old days there was no incentive to keep a phone more than 2yrs because you kept paying for the subsidy whether in a contract or not. I like now that I am only paying for what I need. I should pay less for an old phone!

None of this will matter for awhile. I currently have an iphone 5s. It will be quite awhile before I have the urge for a new phone. In the meantime I will enjoy a bill that is $50 less than it was before.

 

[Disneychick75]

We're also getting a $25 credit per phone (4 phones) per month on our bill because we were paying $40 and now it's $15 because of the 10gb plan which will equal $2400 over 24 months- the life of the contracts. The sales person told me that started on Monday, Feb. 3.

 

[HisMinnie]

I just got a text message today from AT&T stating that they've lowered our monthly bill. But, I haven't gone online to take a look. I was going to call them but I guess I won't have to now.

 

[Ali]

I've been watching the ATT prices for months now and I still don't understand how you are all saying the phones are $25 per month - we have Iphones and it says $40 per month for smartphones on everything I see and in the store they told em the same thing. It would increase out bill to change to this plan based on what i"ve seen and read. What am I missing?

 

[DisneyFans222]

If you have your phone before 2/2/2014, it's $15 month and no worries about whether or not you have a contract. I made sure to ask when I changed my plan to day. Disneyfans222, thanks for posting, you saved me $150/month!!!

Oh, Yay!!!! Doing the Happy Dance for you!!!

 

[DawnM]

Can someone answer a couple of questions for me?

1. Does ATT still offer the old plan? I don't see it at all on their website.

2. Can you bring in a phone instead of buy it from them? If I go out and get us all iPhone 5s (five plural, not the newest 5s) as it will be cheaper, is that doable?

3. What about a tablet? Is that also $15 per month????

Thinking…….but still not sure. DH gets ATT through work and adding us has been cost prohibitive, but now it could be worth it. He also gets a 25% discount, so that $100 would be $75, then his work covers about $50 of the bill, so for us it would be $25 plus $15 per device.

Dawn

 

[descovy]

Can someone answer a couple of questions for me?

1. Does ATT still offer the old plan? I don't see it at all on their website.

2. Can you bring in a phone instead of buy it from them? If I go out and get us all iPhone 5s (five plural, not the newest 5s) as it will be cheaper, is that doable?

3. What about a tablet? Is that also $15 per month????

Thinking…….but still not sure. DH gets ATT through work and adding us has been cost prohibitive, but now it could be worth it. He also gets a 25% discount, so that $100 would be $75, then his work covers about $50 of the bill, so for us it would be $25 plus $15 per device.

Dawn

Not sure about the old plan. Except that you can choose to do a 2yr agreement and pay $40 instead of $15 and get the subsidized phone price.

Yes you can bring your own device and just pay $15/mo.

Tablets are $10. However, you can actually tether the tablet to your smartphone for free. Sucks up a lot of battery... But it's free. I have a cellular ipad with a tmobile SIM card. Tmobile gives 200mb free every month, and then shuts off. So I will continue with my free tmobile data and will tether (personal hotspot) with my phone if I need more. Not to mention tethering is great for the laptop on the go! Sometimes I need to do "real" computing tasks that a tablet isn't optimal for.

For these reasons I chose not to add my tablet. I will just tether it when necessary for free.

 

[msdaisy]

One thing that may be a problem for some that I learned yesterday. You can only have 4 phones on the next installment plan. I have 6 phones on my plan. So, I will be forced to buy two phones, have 2 phones on the subsidy and 4 on installment plan, or all 6 on subsidy. This is not going to save me money. My cell phone total is $315 right now including taxes. I am predicting around $350 when we have to get new phones. We were due for upgrades this coming September. This would have been great for people who just upgraded, but for me it stinks. Not sure how I will handle this. I know I can't afford to pay full price for 6 iPhones at once. I may switch to T Mobile. I need to call to see if they limit how many phones you can have on installment.

 

[wenrob]

One thing that may be a problem for some that I learned yesterday. You can only have 4 phones on the next installment plan. I have 6 phones on my plan. So, I will be forced to buy two phones, have 2 phones on the subsidy and 4 on installment plan, or all 6 on subsidy. This is not going to save me money. My cell phone total is $315 right now including taxes. I am predicting around $350 when we have to get new phones. We were due for upgrades this coming September. This would have been great for people who just upgraded, but for me it stinks. Not sure how I will handle this. I know I can't afford to pay full price for 6 iPhones at once. I may switch to T Mobile. I need to call to see if they limit how many phones you can have on installment.

What kind of plan do you have now? You do not have to move to these new shared plans or switch to the Next plans. We are grandfathered into an old, OLD plan and for now that's where I plan to stay. I have not read anything or seen any evidence that anyone will be forced to give up the plans they have now. What they're doing is giving the illusion that if you switch your bill will be better and for awhile it will be-until you need a new phone. Then things will get complicated and expensive.

 

[msdaisy]

These were my figures before -

120 - 22%(my company discount) = 93.60
30 X 6 phones = 180.00

273.60 + Taxes = $315 per month

That was for 10 GB shared Data Which is Plenty

We only got new phones at our upgrade every two years. We would get whatever was around $99 and sell our old phones so that the new ones were practically free.

Now this is what I am looking at because I know that we not keep these phones that are already close to two years old forever.

Option one buy 6 phones at $600 each and the bill be -
$100 - 22% = $78
$15 x 6 = $90

Around $200 with taxes


Now it will be

100 - 22% = 78
40 x 6 = 240

350 - 350 with taxes


Or with installments and two on subsidy combined.

100 - 22% = 78
15 x 4 = 60
40 x 2 = 80
32 x 4 = 128

Around 390 with taxes.

So if I am figuring correctly att has done me no favors. I will have to figure out another plan as we can't keep our phones from here on out. $315 didn't seem so bad to me to get new phones every two years. This seems a little ridiculous.

 

[msdaisy]

What kind of plan do you have now? You do not have to move to these new shared plans or switch to the Next plans. We are grandfathered into an old, OLD plan and for now that's where I plan to stay. I have not read anything or seen any evidence that anyone will be forced to give up the plans they have now. What they're doing is giving the illusion that if you switch your bill will be better and for awhile it will be-until you need a new phone. Then things will get complicated and expensive.

You are correct! On hold with Att now, and I am grandfathered into my current plan. So, they are canceling the request to switch plans effective 2/17/2014. I am very relieved. My $315 a month isn't looking so bad now.