AT&T exec sees end of phone subsidies on horizon

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 92
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    There are NO "subsidies". What there has been is a hidden, often mandatory loan from the carrier to pay for the phone over the life of the contract (e.g. AT&T's iPhone contracts during their period of exclusivity).

    Separating the phone price and the service price is a good thing. But before AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson claims all the credit for this shift he needs to remember that he wasn't the one that instigated it - that was T-Mobile's John Legere.
  • Reply 22 of 92
    swiftswift Posts: 436member
    They all limit bandwidth. My original, Steve-Jobs negotiated AT&T Unlimited plan costs $50 plus financing for the phone. Never seen it slow down, even when I go over 6 or 7 GB a month.
  • Reply 23 of 92
    armandxparmandxp Posts: 10member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ARMANDXP View Post



    The thing I don't understand is:



    I have an iPhone 6 Plus, paid $428.00 after taxes on a two year subsidy. I'll sell it when the new phone comes out and probably pay around the same amount or a little under for a new 2 year subsidy.



    If I were to get an iPhone 6 Plus under Next program, I'll pay $42.50 a month for 12 months and then trade the phone back into AT&T. This ended up costing me: $510.



    As someone who is always going to trade up to a new phone each year, can someone please help me rationalize what really is better for me. I'd seriously like to know which avenue I should go next time. I do still have unlimited data, also.



    Anyone????

  • Reply 24 of 92
    swiftswift Posts: 436member

    Also, me again, when is a major carrier -- or maybe a municipality? -- put up the Artemis system? Instead of four or five towers costing millions of dollars apiece, you have hundreds of little things the size of stereo speakers on the top of all the tallest building. You receive signals from 3 or 4 transmitters at the same time, and the interference patterns creat "pcells", personalized reception that goes with you. 50,000 people in a stadium could be wathing 50,000 different streaming movies. Unlimited bandwidth, for all practical purposes. 

     

    Look at it on YouTube in case you missed it.

     

    Think the cell companies are more interested in creating false scarcity of bandwidth? Me too. 

  • Reply 25 of 92
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inside_line View Post



    Carriers sell 2 things, services and devices, bundled into a single product. If you don't take the subsidized device every 2 years, you are effectively paying more for the service portion of the product. If they stop providing subsidized devices, the end cost of the product should drop, since they will only be selling services at that point. But make no mistake, the monthly fee will not drop, which means we will all be getting less for our dollar when they start charging extra for the devices we are already paying for.



    Do not let the carriers fool you into thinking they only want to sell services.. Everyone wants a piece of the profits in selling the devices.

     

    Yeah, right.  AT&T is just trying to save us some money.  That's why the CEO of AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions is named Ralph de la Vega Altruista.

  • Reply 26 of 92
    hardclehardcle Posts: 11member

    When the 6 came out I ran the numbers from all the carriers 6 ways to Sunday and the best deal was still my old AT&T discounted subsidized plan.  I plan to stick with it for as long as they let me.

     

    One thing I never see in these comparison tables is the value of the phone at the end of the contract.  On the payment plans, you have to return the phone to the carrier unless you pay it off.  On contract, the phone is yours to sell or whatever you want.  I've been selling mine, and that money largely pays for the subsidized cost of my new phone.

  • Reply 27 of 92
    Honestly doing a two year contract you spend more money you need to do the math and next plan is cheaper down the road you save 250 every two years and plus the people on the grandfathered plan ruin it for other people that has the att service
  • Reply 28 of 92
    numba1numba1 Posts: 23member
    In terms of moving away, I believe people will move away from AT&T and Verizon.

    Under the subsidy model, you bought the phone for $200 and traded in for $300 to $350 if you did it early enough. Under the "Next" type of plans, the carrier gets the $100 to $150 trade in.

    Since the carrier paid the subsidy initially, many will say it is only fair that they get the trade in money. Of course many will also say, "Life is not fair."

    One final note. What if you want to keep your present phone to use as a wifi remote, but want to get the next model of phone. I guess you are then stuck with present phone until it is paid off.
  • Reply 29 of 92
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,035member
    hardcle wrote: »
    When the 6 came out I ran the numbers from all the carriers 6 ways to Sunday and the best deal was still my old AT&T discounted subsidized plan.  I plan to stick with it for as long as they let me.

    One thing I never see in these comparison tables is the value of the phone at the end of the contract.  On the payment plans, you have to return the phone to the carrier unless you pay it off.  On contract, the phone is yours to sell or whatever you want.  I've been selling mine, and that money largely pays for the subsidized cost of my new phone.
    But it's my understanding that by September AT&T won't give us a subsidized price option any more. Am I mistaken?
  • Reply 30 of 92
    totaltotal Posts: 83member
    i miss TOTAL COST in that comparision table and i suspect that 12,18,24 plans are more expensive than 2year contract?
  • Reply 31 of 92
    lundkemanlundkeman Posts: 87member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post

     

    Seems a lot more sensible to me, I never really understood where the subsidy model had come from.

     

     

    Something funny going on with that table though - for one, it doesn't match the one on Apple's site at http://store.apple.com/us/carrier-financing-overlay/att?product=MGF02LL/A (initial phone cost on the 2 year contract), and two, (going by Apple's site) it can't be right that you can get an iPhone for just $40 activation fee, with no real commitment (a 2 year contract is hardly meaningful if the monthly cost is $0).  Very strange.




    It's because they are showing for purchasing an iPhone 5c 8GB white, which I think is the free model with new contract.  Which also means that most likely the monthly payment numbers for the other plans would be higher if buying a newer phone versus the oldest.  Isn't the iPhone pricing model, newest is full prices, last years is $99.00 (but with reduced GB availability), and third is $0.00 with 8GB.

  • Reply 32 of 92
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    In other words, sounds like they're moving to the model that the telcos use here. You pay your service fee, and a nominal handset repayment charge, which can be $0 for an expensive enough plan, and at the end of the contract period, you own the phone. No upfront cost, but your early termination fee includes the remainder of the cost of the phone.
    It will be interesting to see what it does for your plan charges.
  • Reply 33 of 92
    -los-los Posts: 15member
    The main reason there is a rise in customers getting the NEXT plan is because that's what the sale reps are pushing. When I picked up my iPhone 6 plus the sales rep was pushing me hard towards there NEXT plan. I said no thank you I'll just take my standard 2 year upgrade please. ????
  • Reply 34 of 92
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    I've bought the iPhone 6 at the Apple Store, unlocked. I pay 3.5 euro monthly (yeah, that's one digit on either side of the comma).

    I'd love to see AT&T beat that. Hah.
  • Reply 35 of 92
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Lord Amhran View Post



    This guy needs to be deported



    He's already in the USA. Also, the rest of the world doesn't want him.

  • Reply 36 of 92
    eric08eric08 Posts: 1member
    Most of phones are without subsidies in Europe. Specially in France where 80% of the plans are without subsidies.
    The result is a cheaper solution for customers and unfortunatly the end of physical phone shops that do not make money anymore.
    For example, in France, a full unlimited voice text mms and 3 Gb to 20 gb of data (depending on operator) cost between 15.99 to 19.99%u20AC (15.99 if you have home internet with the same operator). So around 22$ for full unlimited (20GB data)
    Then , you either pay your unlocked smartphone about 12% cheaper than on AppleStore in 1 payment, or 4 payments (4 months) without interest.
    You can change operator when you want but one operator will rent you an iPhone 6 for example at : 149%u20AC first payment 23 x 16%u20AC then after 2 years, you send back your phone or pay about 250%u20AC to keep it. That's in fact a free credit as the sum of all equal the cost of the phone. If you quit the operator before 2 years, you pay an extra 5%u20AC per month remaining.
    That will probably be the future. For once, we are a little bit in advance over USA on this.
    Commitment is the past, all of new phone plans are without commitment now so operators are all upgrading their network to keep their customers %u2026
  • Reply 37 of 92
    I'll just pay full price from now on. Screw the subsidies. I'm not going to make payments on my iPhone. That's stupid.
  • Reply 38 of 92
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member

    I think that this is the right way to go. Let the carriers compete on price for their services and let the manufacturers compete on price for their phones. Unbundling the two will create more competition.

  • Reply 39 of 92
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RichL View Post

     

    I think that this is the right way to go. Let the carriers compete on price for their services and let the manufacturers compete on price for their phones. Unbundling the two will create more competition.




    Well, I'd say "let the carriers compete on service" and "let the manufacturers compete on their phones". Price is not always the right competitive edge to pursue ;)

  • Reply 40 of 92
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post

     



    Well, I'd say "let the carriers compete on service" and "let the manufacturers compete on their phones". Price is not always the right competitive edge to pursue ;)


     

    That's a better way of putting it, yes. :)

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