I was just in the AT&T store last night adding 3 more lines to my family plan, added the in-laws to save them money.
They were on VZ originally, family members gave them old i5 phones which were VZ phones and we attempted to add them to their VZ account the entire time while in the VZ store the try to convince the in-laws to scrape the phones and get a subsidized plan with i6s phones which would have double their bill. We decide to give them our old AT&T i5 phones we were keeping as backups and walk into the AT&T store and asked them is we could add them to our account and activate the i5's again. We were in and out in an hour, AT&T is so much more helpful than their counter parts. They are now on a smart phone from older flip phones with base texting and we cut their bill in half, a lost for VZ and gain for AT&T. I see more of this happening, it not worth people having their own plans anymore.
Now for the cost, those added lines were $15 per month which shares our unlimited Voice and Text and our $100 15GB plan. On our plan we have 2 i6 on contract those phone cost $199 for new, plus $40 per month each until the contract runs out after 2 yrs. We also have a i6s phone which we brought directly from Apple with an apple care plan and I can tell you our costs are less on that phone than the two under contract. Trust me AT&T still making their $100 plus $15 for each phone even if you buy the phone somewhere else or bring in your own phone.
This will just start showing the real cost of phones to consumers and I the competition being hurt by this, than apple since people will not want to put the full cost of a poor quality android phone up front.
I just upgraded my wife's Iphone 5S to an 6S in late December and since it's just the two of us (I have unlimited data and she has 3GB plan), the math just didn't work out for us to go to AT&T Next and/or Mobile Share plan... it's still much cheaper for us to stay on the 2-year contract (they still offered then).
The math works out where if we were to keep our phone for more than 2 years, AT&T would stand to make more money from us since they don't lower the monthly rate when we are on month-to-month. If we moved to Next and/or Mobile Share, monthly rate would drop after 24-month (if we are on AT&T Next)... since my wife and I ALWAYS get a new phone every 2 years, we are doing pretty good. Plus the math works out that I would still save about $25 per month right now... it's crazy.
I hope they still let me keep my unlimited data plan and the 2-year contract come next September when I am ready for iPhone 7.
So, will I get to keep my unlimited data plan, even if I have to switch to AT&T Next? It's still worth the $5 a month increase, but I'm unclear as to whether I can do both, or if I have to buy the phone outright to keep my unlimited plan. Anybody read the fine print yet?
Family share or the Next plan as an individual will cancel your unlimited. All you can do now is buy them outright if you want to keep your unlimited plan.
Wrong. The Next plan and your cellphone plan are separate, meaning you can still upgrade to a new device on the Next plan and still keep your unlimited data plan. Also the only way you would ever lose your current unlimited plan is if you did make the choice to switch to a mobile share value plan. Upgrading a phone on the Next plan will not change your unlimited data plan.
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They were on VZ originally, family members gave them old i5 phones which were VZ phones and we attempted to add them to their VZ account the entire time while in the VZ store the try to convince the in-laws to scrape the phones and get a subsidized plan with i6s phones which would have double their bill. We decide to give them our old AT&T i5 phones we were keeping as backups and walk into the AT&T store and asked them is we could add them to our account and activate the i5's again. We were in and out in an hour, AT&T is so much more helpful than their counter parts. They are now on a smart phone from older flip phones with base texting and we cut their bill in half, a lost for VZ and gain for AT&T. I see more of this happening, it not worth people having their own plans anymore.
Now for the cost, those added lines were $15 per month which shares our unlimited Voice and Text and our $100 15GB plan. On our plan we have 2 i6 on contract those phone cost $199 for new, plus $40 per month each until the contract runs out after 2 yrs. We also have a i6s phone which we brought directly from Apple with an apple care plan and I can tell you our costs are less on that phone than the two under contract. Trust me AT&T still making their $100 plus $15 for each phone even if you buy the phone somewhere else or bring in your own phone.
This will just start showing the real cost of phones to consumers and I the competition being hurt by this, than apple since people will not want to put the full cost of a poor quality android phone up front.