Another change effective this month... they now charge a late fee the day after your payment is due. They used to wait until the next billing statement, which was in effect a 10 day grace period. No more.
Blah, blah, blah, rant, rant rant, rave, rave rave. AT&T is evil, a profiteer, anti-consumer, anti-competitive, and so forth. Yet AT&T’s subscriber base continues to grow. So how is that possible? Why isn’t T-mobile growing at an exponential rate? Why are T-mobile and Sprint talking about a merger? One theory might be that since only stupid people buy Apple products then maybe only stupid people subscribe to AT&T, right? Does getting it out of your system make you feel good? I’m not defending AT&T. I’m chuckling at your impotent rage.
Thank goodness there's some sanity here in the UK.
Wonder how much of that sanity remains after Brexit and some desperate trade deal between the UK and US.
Brace for impact...
Some believe sanity left at the vote, meaning there is none now left to lose, and this is evident in the way Ms. May is so gleefully inserting her tongue into the Cheeto Hairfop's arse hoping for, as you say, some desperate trade deal with the US.
And something more relevant to this thread is the cost of roaming charges post-Brexit, which may make phone ownership and usage more expensive for UK consumers, though some carriers have committed not to increase them, but how much weight should we place on what a company promises, especially telcos?
It's shocking to read the monthly payments Americans make for their phones, it's like people are not listing their monthly phone payment details but rather their car payments, they're huge and utterly ridiculous. Thank goodness there's some sanity here in the UK.
I was just in London visiting family and decided to get a Vodafone 20GB pay-as-you-go plan while I was there. It was £30 ($40). My T-Mobile plan in the US has four unlimited lines for $116/mo.—I got two free lines last year but even the original $58/line which I got at the end of 2014 was quite good.
And I was just reading about someone on an Ars forum who paid $350/mo. for his family phones - that is utterly insane, and it's figures like that which aren't uncommon, the internet is filled with people spouting such figures, and I've never read about anyone here paying such exorbitant sums (perhaps I'm out of touch here?). Sometimes I read people surmising that it's how MVNOs differ here, I'm not sure, though I personally do use one.
(BTW, PAYG and contracts probably aren't fair to compare.)
People paying bills like this are LAZY! They just continue to use the service they've used forever and then get suckered into these kind of costs. Maybe it was a family of 10 people for $350? Maybe they got 4 iPhone X's on a monthly plan, Paying $50 for each. That's $200, plus the calling plan for 4 people, another $150. Now it's $350 a month!!! See how that adds up fast. Without more info, who knows.
It's shocking to read the monthly payments Americans make for their phones, it's like people are not listing their monthly phone payment details but rather their car payments, they're huge and utterly ridiculous. Thank goodness there's some sanity here in the UK.
One note about AT&T and it's history, remember this is the behemoth that was broken up into the baby bells (landmark case) - btw, that was the second time I believe an antitrust accusation and case was levelled against the company. AT&T is an ugly evil corporation that does nothing except suck the blood out of its customers, legally and illegally, it matters not.
Ah yes, the sanity in the UK. For how much longer will you be permitted to own a kitchen knife? When you turned 18, did you celebrate by going out to buy your first pair of scissors? Or perhaps a dinner place setting with a fork, spoon, and butter knife? All prohibited until you reached the age of majority?
It might surprise you to know that Americans are not required to be customers of AT&T. I'm guessing the company does provide services other than sucking customer blood. I'm not sure customer blood sucking is a sustainable business model. I was an AT&T customer for many years (started with Cingular before they were bought by AT&T). The fees were generally reasonable and the service was good enough. I switched to T-Mobile a few years ago. Very pleased with that decision. Purely voluntary on my part. Paying $114 or 87 pounds at the current rate for 4 lines of service.
I found that unlimited plans in the UK cost about the same as in the US. We do have some very cheap pay-as-you-go options as in the UK, but many people choose not to avail themselves of that option. If you don't have any money at all, you can even get free cellular service in the US.
Kitchen knives? Are you serious? Seems a strange pro-US cheer to lead with, but perhaps it'd feature better as a tourism-based advertisement campaign?! ;-)
You can defend AT&T (and other telcos) all you want (and other silly American ways of life - btw, I lived there more than 30 years, was even born there, so I don't need a lesson in all things American), but you're just coming across very defensive and partisan and very apologetic (as in apologism not remorse), if you want to argue that telcos in the US are reasonable in their charges, well, I think you argue an odd position.
My point is that AT&T is not your friend, it's so utterly anti-consumer I'm amazed it still exists. One very good reason (aside from the other one I mentioned earlier): just a few years ago it illegally spied on its (and others') customers, then bribed congress to write a law that would absolve it of past crimes, which it did. Defend that.
No, the point of your first paragraph was America, and I believe that’s where you got off on the wrong foot with this guy.
Just another way to nickel and dime people, AT&T operating costs should be factored into the standard costs you pay for the phone. there is no requirement to have separate line item like taxes and access fees the Local & Federal Governments requires to be charges and shown so people know the taxes they are paying. This allows AT&T to look competitive on the stand fees but make it up elsewhere.
And this is why consolidation is a problem. There is already extremely limited choice in carriers. In my area, I can basically choose ATT or VZ. For TV and internet, it’s Comcast or Verizon. I predict you’re going to see anti-trust breakups within the next 10 years.
It's shocking to read the monthly payments Americans make for their phones, it's like people are not listing their monthly phone payment details but rather their car payments, they're huge and utterly ridiculous. Thank goodness there's some sanity here in the UK.
One note about AT&T and it's history, remember this is the behemoth that was broken up into the baby bells (landmark case) - btw, that was the second time I believe an antitrust accusation and case was levelled against the company. AT&T is an ugly evil corporation that does nothing except suck the blood out of its customers, legally and illegally, it matters not.
Ah yes, the sanity in the UK. For how much longer will you be permitted to own a kitchen knife? When you turned 18, did you celebrate by going out to buy your first pair of scissors? Or perhaps a dinner place setting with a fork, spoon, and butter knife? All prohibited until you reached the age of majority?
It might surprise you to know that Americans are not required to be customers of AT&T. I'm guessing the company does provide services other than sucking customer blood. I'm not sure customer blood sucking is a sustainable business model. I was an AT&T customer for many years (started with Cingular before they were bought by AT&T). The fees were generally reasonable and the service was good enough. I switched to T-Mobile a few years ago. Very pleased with that decision. Purely voluntary on my part. Paying $114 or 87 pounds at the current rate for 4 lines of service.
I found that unlimited plans in the UK cost about the same as in the US. We do have some very cheap pay-as-you-go options as in the UK, but many people choose not to avail themselves of that option. If you don't have any money at all, you can even get free cellular service in the US.
Kitchen knives? Are you serious? Seems a strange pro-US cheer to lead with, but perhaps it'd feature better as a tourism-based advertisement campaign?! ;-)
You can defend AT&T (and other telcos) all you want (and other silly American ways of life - btw, I lived there more than 30 years, was even born there, so I don't need a lesson in all things American), but you're just coming across very defensive and partisan and very apologetic (as in apologism not remorse), if you want to argue that telcos in the US are reasonable in their charges, well, I think you argue an odd position.
My point is that AT&T is not your friend, it's so utterly anti-consumer I'm amazed it still exists. One very good reason (aside from the other one I mentioned earlier): just a few years ago it illegally spied on its (and others') customers, then bribed congress to write a law that would absolve it of past crimes, which it did. Defend that.
They still exist because they're real "clients" are politicians they incencessantly lobby so they keep their local monopolies or duopolies that depend on government largesse.
Blah, blah, blah, rant, rant rant, rave, rave rave. AT&T is evil, a profiteer, anti-consumer, anti-competitive, and so forth. Yet AT&T’s subscriber base continues to grow. So how is that possible? Why isn’t T-mobile growing at an exponential rate? Why are T-mobile and Sprint talking about a merger? One theory might be that since only stupid people buy Apple products then maybe only stupid people subscribe to AT&T, right? Does getting it out of your system make you feel good? I’m not defending AT&T. I’m chuckling at your impotent rage.
Did it feel good to get that rant out of your system? ;D
Comments
Brace for impact...
And something more relevant to this thread is the cost of roaming charges post-Brexit, which may make phone ownership and usage more expensive for UK consumers, though some carriers have committed not to increase them, but how much weight should we place on what a company promises, especially telcos?
People paying bills like this are LAZY! They just continue to use the service they've used forever and then get suckered into these kind of costs. Maybe it was a family of 10 people for $350? Maybe they got 4 iPhone X's on a monthly plan, Paying $50 for each. That's $200, plus the calling plan for 4 people, another $150. Now it's $350 a month!!! See how that adds up fast. Without more info, who knows.