AT&T shared data plans launch late August, start at $45 per smartphone

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Comments

  • Reply 121 of 164
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DustinLH00 View Post


     


    Nobody gets a discount from Apple, why do you think AT&T could?



    did some quick math and you're probably right 


     


    either way expect a big part of your bill to go to advertising, new customer costs and the retail stores as well as decent support


     


    in my 3 years with AT&T i only called in 5 times at most so i don't feel like paying for this

  • Reply 122 of 164
    mbfan85mbfan85 Posts: 11member


    While Sprint may not have a large subscriber base or the fastest service, I find it somewhat amusing that AT&T and Verizon continue to be at each other's throats like this and for the most part, ignore them (which they do at their own peril IMO).

  • Reply 123 of 164
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Xao View Post


    Damn, still cut-off...


     


    In short, current bill $284.97, with the 6GB plan $245, or the 10GB plan $260.  Plus the more devices the better the value gets.  At first glance the plan seemed ridiculous, but taking the time and really calculating it out, it makes sense, at least for us.



     


     


    You should only pay $240 as the 2 pads can tehter to a phone to get the data saving you $10 each per month plus the up front cost of $129 to buy the ipad.

  • Reply 124 of 164
    filburtfilburt Posts: 398member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Xao View Post


    Believe it or not, is will actually make sense for us to finally switch off of our Unlimited plans on our iPhones.  But as someone stated, you need to have a lot of devices, which we do.  In our family, we have two iPads, three iPhone 4s' and a dumb phone for dad.  Here is the spreadsheet on how I calculated it out.  I checked our data usage and the 6GB or 10GB will work for the family, and all of currently use iTunes Match to stream too.


     


     



















































































































































































































    Device

    Phone Plan

    Data Plan

    Txt Plan

    Total

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Mine

    80

    30

    20

    130

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Wife

    9.99

    30

    20

    59.99

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Son

    9.99

    15

     

    24.99

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Dad's

    9.99

     

    5

    14.99

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    iPad (3)

     

    25

     

    25

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    iPad (1)

     

    30

     

    30

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Grand Total

    109.97

    130

    45

    284.97

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Plan

     

    Device Cost

    Dumb Cost

    Tablet Cost

    # Smart Phone

    # Dumb Phone

    # Tablet

    Ext Phone Cost

    Ext Dumb Phone

    Ext Tablet Cost

    Total

    6GB Plan

    90

    35

    30

    10

    3

    1

    2

    105

    30

    20

    245

    10GB Plan

    120

    30

    30

    10

    3

    1

    2

    90

    30

    20

    260


    Why are you paying $45 for text when you can opt for unlimited family messaging plan for everyone at $30?

  • Reply 125 of 164
    onhkaonhka Posts: 1,025member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


     


    If you aren't privy to their costs, how do you figure it isn't enough?


     


    AT&T's Q1 2012 profits were ~$3.6 billion. Verizon's Q1 2012 profits were ~$3.9 billion. They are operating on publicly owned radio spectrum, given to them to use for the public good. I think they could charge $50/month and continue to operate at a healthy profit, even while building out the networks to support consumer demand.


     


    The only reason they are charging the rates they do is because there is no real competition in wireless in this country, and the FCC, FTC and DoJ turn a blind eye.



     


    Given to them? You have to be kidding. 


     


    Try a few billion for just one part of the broadband spectrum license

  • Reply 126 of 164
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by swpalmer View Post


    As usual, a total rip-off.


     


    Why we don't have an uprising against these ridiculous "data plans" is beyond me.


     


    Guess what AT&T?  1GB of data on my iPad looks the same to your network as 1GB of data on my iPhone!  Having a discrepancy in the pricing of data between the two should be illegal!  If only you could be fined billions to compensate those that you are overcharging.


     


    Telecom on this continent sucks.



     


    Telecom on this continent has entire families of people wanting to walk out of stores with iPhones while paying only one-third of the cost up front. That gets expensive.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleZilla View Post


    Ahem....


     


    BOOOOOOOOO!


     


    Sticking with our 'unlimited' plans or jumping to Verizon.



     


    You won't save a dime on Verizon.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kendals View Post


    Last month I switched my iPhone over to straight talk (www.straighttalksim.com) and I get unlimited talk/text & 2Gb of Data for $45.00 / month...no contract...no hidden fees, taxes, etc...works perfectly for me and uses the AT&T Towers!



     


    Clearly prepaid is the way to go. My family has four smartphones all owned outright and our monthly cellphone bill is $112.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RedGeminiPA View Post


    We go with Straight Talk:


    4 @ $45 for unlimited talk, text & web (capped around 2GB each) = $180


    1 @ $30 (1000 minutes & texts and 30MB data) = $30


                                                                           $210



     


    All iPhones would need to use the $45 plan.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    i knew at&t was going to do this once verizon did it


     


    going prepaid with my wife, even paying an ETF for my 4S. going to straight talk. $40 a month unlimited everything. already gave a heads up to my inlaws who are on the same plan that they are on their own starting in september.


     


    my wife is keeping her iphone 4 for probably another year and i'll be keeping my 4s for 3 years as well.


     


    the app store is like windows software, 2-3 years behind the hardware


     


    i'm reading a lot about prepaid now and this is bad news for apple and samsung. its a bigger nut to spend $650 or more on a phone than the $199 minus the trade in of your old phone



     


    You make a good point. The cost disparity between prepaid and post-paid is becoming huge but most people have sucked it up because they want new $650 phones. The second they decide they don't want to keep subsidizing a $650 phone it could be very bad for Apple. Samsung might suffer but they actually make plenty of phones across all cost points.


     


    As I said above, my own bill is $112. We use two iPhones (4s and 4) on Straight Talk for ($45x2) and the kids have to suffer with a Blackberry Curve and LG Vortex ($12x2) which are used with Page Plus cellular.


     


    When I read on here what people are spending on their cell phones a month, it just seems insane to me. One of the reasons my kids can get by on their plans is I installed Whatsapp on every phone. It uses so little data to provide what amounts to unlimited family texting that it is astonishing to think what people are paying in markup to have an easier solution or that they tolerate the cell companies declaring unlimited texting an expensive feature.


     


    People need to wise up and wake up. Sure a few years ago many of us may have carried around multiple devices but we were told to consolidate them into one device and save money. Now the one device is close to costing more than all the previous devices. I can carry around an iPod Touch and a cell phone for as little as $10-20 a month and that even includes enough data to check email and a few web pages a day, especially if you use Opera Mini.


     


    I don't think Apple, Samsung, AT&T and Verizon need to worry though. America will still be the place where everyone is broke and unemployed while carrying around $650 cell phones (including the kids.) No thinking to save cash required.

  • Reply 127 of 164
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wovel View Post


    You arbitrarily lowered AT&Ts prices and came up with a strictly per GB plan.  I like the per GB idea but your structure where each GB costs more than the one before it is silly.  You have the model upside-down.  Otherwise your plan is what they offered today.  It is infinitely simpler than any previous plans they had.



     


    It was an example, not meant to be real prices.  Yes, what I'm proposing is close to what they announced today, except it makes more sense to the customer. The following is how the cost breaks down for the new plan as opposed to the old:


     


    Let's say you have two phone sharing a plan:


     


    OLD


    Unlimited talk = $70 + $50 for an additional line


    Unlimited text = $30


    3GB Data * 2 = $60


    -----------------------------


    Total = $210


     


    NEW


    6 GB Data + Unlimited Talk + Unlimited Text = $90


    Per Smartphone Charge * 2 = $70


    ----------------------------


    TOTAL = $160


     


    Forget my prior post for a second and let's just use AT&T's established prices.  What's different here? Well, the new plan includes tethering, which you didn't get unless you upgraded to the 5 GB plan for $50.  The new plan also drops the $50 additional line fee of the old unlimited talk plan.  But why not just SAY that? If you're valuing data at $10 / GB and unlimited text at $30 / month and unlimited voice at $70 / month, why not just say that?  What's simpler than saying "UNLIMITED VOICE AND TEXT for $100 and $10 / GB for DATA THAT YOU USE!!!!"  Why do we need to charge per phone at all? You already have the individual lines tied to the account.  They're already letting you share everything.  Why not just frame it like that instead of making people do math in their heads.  I say that as an engineer with a math minor.  Tell me you wouldn't love to see an ad from AT&T saying:


     


    UNLIMITED TALK and TEXT $100


    DATA $10 / GB


    CELLULAR CONNECTED DEVICES (Not including smartphones) $10 / month


    *Up to 10 connected devices per account


     


    Aaaaaaaand that's it...


     


    That's a crap ton easier for someone to sign up for than what they rolled out today.  As for why charge more rather than less the more data you consume ... well, why not? AT&T has said that people who use an excessive amount of data clog the network. Make them pay for it ... of course, they may have just been talking out of their ass, too.  If what they were saying was true, charging more for excessive data use seems fair.  Right now, they're giving you a $2 / GB discount between the 10 GB and 20 GB tiers. Hey, it'd be really nice if they prorated that $10 / GB if you use less than 1 GB, so people with dumbphones aren't paying for a large amount of data that they're likely not using.


     


    It might be semantics, but semantics do matter to customers.  Giving a price for unlimited talk + text and a certain amount of data is a little misleading, since the unlimited voice is really divvied up in the "per phone" cost. The only way you're really getting a deal is if you use this with a single smartphone.  In that case you're getting a discount on the unlimited voice.  If you have a single smartphone and use 20 GB, you're basically getting your unlimited voice for free.  Don't get me wrong ... I think this is an overall positive move by AT&T. It WILL simplify things.  I just wish they would call a spade a spade.  It's clear that minutes are almost worthless to them.  The money is in texts and data, with a majority of it being in serving up the data.  If that's what you want to emphasize as a company, then do it! Charge a flat rate for unlimited voice and text, then highlight your per GB data price.  It seems like they're moving in that direction - I only hope that they'll finally get there in the next couple of years...

  • Reply 128 of 164
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by trumptman View Post


    I don't think Apple, Samsung, AT&T and Verizon need to worry though. America will still be the place where everyone is broke and unemployed while carrying around $650 cell phones (including the kids.) No thinking to save cash required.



    And young people (29) like me who save will be taxed to the hill come retirement age because the majority will need the government/SSI to live on because they had to buy a $6 coffee every morning instead of invest in a Roth.  The majority of the population = the majority of votes.  So do I think for a second they are going to do what isn't in the best interest of a reelection?  Not looking forward to 36 years from now.....

  • Reply 129 of 164
    tshorttshort Posts: 46member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by josephwinters View Post



    I have 5 lines. 4 smartphones, and 1 dumb phone.

    Knowing what I pay every month for all my phones and the separate data plans they currently have, none of these plans save me a dime. That's a damn shame AT&T. My average bill is $260 a month without taxes. And I'm curious what the cost is if you go over your data? :-/.

    I've been waiting for this... But not like this. There is essentially still a premium and split out costs for having data on your phones. Grr.


    I have the same set of phones, but we are on the grandfathered data plans (2x 2GB and 2x 200MB) and this plan doesn't save us anything at our current $220 pre-tax price point. The new plan would cost us $260; switching my son to a smartphone would drive the new plan price to only $265, but it would mean we all have 6GB of data to share.

  • Reply 130 of 164


    Screen Shot 2012-07-18 at 2.55.42 PM.png


     


    Here is an easier to understand table of the real costs.


    The first column is the # of smartphones on the plan.


    These shared data plans make the most sense if you have 4 or more users.


    If you are looking to minimize cost, the plans highlighted in blue mke the most sense.


    This is assuming only smartphones and no iPads or notebooks.

  • Reply 131 of 164
    tshorttshort Posts: 46member


    If you have 5 iPhones:


     


    Old Plan:


    700 Shared Minute Plan: $70


    4 Additional Lines: $40


    Unlimited Texting: $30


    5 Data Pro Plans: $150 (15 GB total, but nothing is shared)


    Total: $290 + taxes


     


    New Plan (includes tethering):


    10 GB Shared Data + Unlimited Voice + Unlimited Text: $120


    5 iPhones: $150


    Total: $270 + taxes


     


    If you try to make them more evenly matched (i.e. tethering and unlimited Voice):


     


    Old Plan:


    Unlimited Shared Minute Plan: $120


    4 Additional Lines: $40


    Unlimited Texting: $30


    5 DataPro Hotspot Plans: $250 (25 GB total, but nothing is shared)


    Total: $440 + taxes


     


    New Plan (no 25GB plan):


    20 GB Shared Data + Unlimited Voice + Unlimited Text: $200


    5 iPhones: $150


    Total: $350 + taxes


     


    Now... THERE'S some savings! *eyeroll*

  • Reply 132 of 164
    tshorttshort Posts: 46member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella View Post


    Screen Shot 2012-07-18 at 2.55.42 PM.png


     


    Here is an easier to understand table of the real costs.


    The first column is the # of smartphones on the plan.


    These shared data plans make the most sense if you have 4 or more users.


    If you are looking to minimize cost, the plans highlighted in blue mke the most sense.


    This is assuming only smartphones and no iPads or notebooks.



    This, of course, assumes you want to use this shared data plan. It's strange that the sweet-spot is at 10GB; the lower-GB plans make no sense, and would actually cost more money with 4 more more devices.We have to wonder if AT&T went through the same exercise you did? Or are they hoping that people will believe a lower data limit will save them money?

  • Reply 133 of 164


    What a deal! I need to rush out and buy this before the sale ends. Where does the line start?

  • Reply 134 of 164

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DustinLH00 View Post


     


    How on earth do you feel that they should provide you with unlimited data, text, and talk for $50 per month? Are you out of your mind? 



    Virgin Mobile has a $55 unlimited everything plan.  So I can't be that out of my mind!

  • Reply 135 of 164
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DustinLH00 View Post


     


    You are asking them to cut the rate that they charge in half (at least). Why should they have to go from $3.6 billion to $1.8 billion? On another post I explained the subsidization as well. At $50 a month, the first 8 months of your service would go directly to Apple (or other phone manufacturer). Then they only have 12 months to get money from you ($600) to apply toward the cost of providing you service, retail overhead, customer service, expanding their network, etc...before you upgrade your phone and they lose another 8 months of income.


     


    Apple made $11.62 billion last quarter, over 3 times more than AT&T. I don't see you jumping on them for greed.



     


    Apple isn't utilizing public property, leased to them for the public good, to operate a necessary public utility. AT&T is.


     


    Letting a small group of companies, utilizing a publicly owned resource, gouge consumers and hold back innovation and progress is not in the public interest.

  • Reply 136 of 164
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Onhka View Post


     


    Given to them? You have to be kidding. 


     


    Try a few billion for just one part of the broadband spectrum license



     


    So, they paid a few billion. If they aren't operating that spectrum in the public interest, the Feds need to step in.

  • Reply 137 of 164
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacVertigo View Post


    Virgin Mobile has a $55 unlimited everything plan.  So I can't be that out of my mind!



     


    See, I rest my case. AT&T and Verizon are clearly gouging the public and standing in the way of innovation, progress and the public good.

  • Reply 138 of 164
    onhkaonhka Posts: 1,025member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacVertigo View Post


    Virgin Mobile has a $55 unlimited everything plan.  So I can't be that out of my mind!



     


     


    You do realize that it is only 3G capable. And you will have to fork over at least $550 for the iPhone.

  • Reply 139 of 164
    onhkaonhka Posts: 1,025member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


     


    So, they paid a few billion. If they aren't operating that spectrum in the public interest, the Feds need to step in.



     


    Did you, or better yet can you, read the link. And that was just for 700 MHZ spectrum in 2008.


     


    An who's to know what the next auction will garner. 


     


    Quote:


    In February, Congress approved legislation allowing the FCC to conduct "incentive auctions" to sell underutilized spectrum to meet the nation's growing mobile broadband needs. Genachowski called these an opportunity to "unleash vitally needed spectrum" as well as one to raise billions of dollars for deficit reduction. Over the last two decades, spectrum auctions, he said, have raised more than $50 billion for the Treasury—though economists regard the value created by the auctions as being closer to $500 billion.


  • Reply 140 of 164
    iguesssoiguessso Posts: 132member


    Two things not discussed much:


     


    1.  Dumbphone -> Smartphone only costs a $5 premium.  They're reducing the smartphone premium substantially.  Lots of dumbphone family plan members will be moving up to a smartphone next upgrade, including I'm sure the two dumbphones on my plan.


    2.  Overage increased by 50% ($10 to $15).  When all the dumbphones become smartphones they will be collecting this more often than ever.


     


    I worked out my particular situation (iPhone @ 5GB+tethering, 1 iPhones @ 3GB, 1 iPhone @ 300MB, two dumbphones, unlimited text, 1400 minutes, one iPad) and I will save a whopping $5 a month for 10GB versus the 11.3 GB I have now, at least until the two dumbphones move up.


     


    EDIT: 1. actually no premium at all on 10GB and above plans.

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