AT&T far too expensive

[ivanthomson]

I'm currently on an AT&T contract for an Android phone, and I will ride out the contract until completed.  However, once completed I will not be returning to AT&T, nor will I upgrade my phone.  I find the whole contract experience with AT&T far too expensive for what you get.  The charges should be about 50% of what they currently are in my opinion.  I do not talk a lot on my phone, I do not text a lot and I do not use a lot of data through the network (primarily because it just costs far too much for network data).  The smartphones are great and I really like my Android device (even though it will never be updated and I am stuck on an achient version of Android), but the wireless carrier is ruining the whole experience.  I have learned to live with seeking out WiFi spots and rarely using network data.  I also spend my time helping and teaching friends to do the same to avoid massive data charges and expensive data plans.  Anyway, I have seen no benefits from being a contract user instead of a pre-paid user at all since I am in the habit of rarely using network voice, texting or network data.  So, after the contract is up it will be a google Galaxy Nexus (unlocked) on an affordable pre-paid carrier for me.  This contract business is idiotic, it is far cheaper to buy the phone outright, plus have pure android that actually gets updated and save a ton of money.  Anyway, I want to thank AT&T for wising me up to the how to do Android the right way; it has been a real education with AT&T in how not to get ripped off for basic service and a phone.

[AnnB1211]

You should be on Nation 450 calling plan which is 39.99 a month. If you don't text a lot, you can have your texting set as pay-per-use at 20 cents per text and your data should be 300MB for 20.00 a month. That's 59.99 plus text usage, since you don't text a lot. If you need a texting plan, you are looking at a total of 79.99 per month. Is that too much?

[dune17856]

Right there with you Ivan. The employee answered you with what really is a final quote of $79/month like that was a good thing.

I'm seriously considering other options myself. I have a plan with one android and two flip phones and it's pushing $200/month. totally rediculous. I've got all the paired down services and unlimited text because the pay as you go was close enough anyways,

Problem is it's a frakin car payment for three cell phones. Just ain't worth it anymore (or these days I should say)

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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dune17856 wrote:

Right there with you Ivan. The employee answered you with what really is a final quote of $79/month like that was a good thing.

I'm seriously considering other options myself. I have a plan with one android and two flip phones and it's pushing $200/month. totally rediculous. I've got all the paired down services and unlimited text because the pay as you go was close enough anyways,

Problem is it's a frakin car payment for three cell phones. Just ain't worth it anymore (or these days I should say)

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not sure what you plan is but have one family plan with 700 minutes, 1 smartphone with a grandfathered data plan, 4 qmd devices, unlimited texting and the total monthly bill is only 201.00.

Maybe you would be better off with with a gophone or a NVM carrier, the top 3 carriers are just about at the same price point.

[josephz2va]

There's always going back to a regular flip phone if you aren't using data and text much. But consider the implications. No emails from the faculty unless you have a school and home computer. No apps based on school to share. Like the way you see iPad videos on textbook interactions.

You can set your plan down to $90 average by cutting yourself down to 450 minutes, 0 texts and 3 gb data. Note that if you signed up to a shared plan it can only be set to minimum settings of $120 average.

[harryspar]

No question about it, ATT is not for low usage customers.

Look at ting.com, it may be a better deal for you.

Depending on your usage it may even pay to bail out of your contract.

[cholcobo3]

I really enjoy the iPhone 5.  It is indispensible.  I also have been impressed with ATT's speed, particularly with LTE and mobile hotspot on my laptop.  Being able to be on the phone line and access online data to look things up simultaneously sets ATT apart from Verizon and Sprint.

What does NOT set ATT apart from the other two are the prices and its participation in this horrifying oligopaly, the squeezing of every last cent from Americans, because there's a monopoly on utilities.

Great for shareholders, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/technology/americans-paying-more-for-lte-service.html?_r=0

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32560401/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.URtmSaU4tWY

http://techland.time.com/2011/08/19/how-u-s-wireless-rates-compare-to-the-rest-of-the-world/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halsinger/2012/10/19/are-4g-lte-prices-in-the-united-states-too-high/

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Consumers-In-US-Canada-Pay-More-For-Wireless-103905

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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cholcobo3 wrote:

I really enjoy the iPhone 5.  It is indispensible.  I also have been impressed with ATT's speed, particularly with LTE and mobile hotspot on my laptop.  Being able to be on the phone line and access online data to look things up simultaneously sets ATT apart from Verizon and Sprint.

What does NOT set ATT apart from the other two are the prices and its participation in this horrifying oligopaly, the squeezing of every last cent from Americans, because there's a monopoly on utilities.

Great for shareholders, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/technology/americans-paying-more-for-lte-service.html?_r=0

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32560401/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.URtmSaU4tWY

http://techland.time.com/2011/08/19/how-u-s-wireless-rates-compare-to-the-rest-of-the-world/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halsinger/2012/10/19/are-4g-lte-prices-in-the-united-states-too-high/

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Consumers-In-US-Canada-Pay-More-For-Wireless-103905

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Definition of monoply is only one provider for the service that locks you in - sorry does not fit. Funnyu on those articles, see nothing regardig financial reasoning, have you taken the time to research the financial reasons behind the higher costs - lot harder, about 70 percent more expensive, and 1000 percent more regulated to get permission to put up a tower in the US then it is in the rest of the world, estimated costs to put a tower up in a foreign country is about 150k US, in the use upwards of 500K.

For wirelines in the foreign countries they have no regulations required the lines be buried, the majority of the cities in the US now requre new cable to be buried and old cable to be restrung and buried - major difference in cost and time.

All of the links you make are going to the standard wow factor for the 5th estate, make the story sell their rag and forget about actually putting facts that can disprove their articles - facts don;t sell newspapers, magazines or internet website hits - sensationalism does.

On other note - the iphone 5 is not indispensible, you can have wireless communication by any of the thousands of cell phones out there, the iphone does nothing more then any other smartphone in existance. The service can be considere indepsensible, not the phone model.