Unlimited Minutes Plans - Why so much more than Verizon?

[schafga]

All -

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to come out with new unlimited anytime minutes plans to compete with Verizon's?  For example, if you have 5 smartphones on AT&T with unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting it will cost $300 + data.  With Verizons new plans, the same thing costs $200 + data.  That's a HUGE difference?  I know a number of colleagues are outraged by the pricing difference and are strongly considering switching to Verizon if AT&T does not come out with similar plans.  If anyone has ideas about this please post.

Thanks!

[youngjm ACE - Master]

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schafga wrote:

All -

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to come out with new unlimited anytime minutes plans to compete with Verizon's?  For example, if you have 5 smartphones on AT&T with unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting it will cost $300 + data.  With Verizons new plans, the same thing costs $200 + data.  That's a HUGE difference?  I know a number of colleagues are outraged by the pricing difference and are strongly considering switching to Verizon if AT&T does not come out with similar plans.  If anyone has ideas about this please post.

Thanks!

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This is a customer forum and ATT is not going to come out and explain their reasoning nor provide any hints of what is coming until they are ready.  Until they announce something officially, everthing is just a guess on anyones part.

[drumn_bass]

I estimate that less than 2% of my customers have unlimited plans anymore (probably because of mobile to any mobile feature), and any other plan on AT&T is cheaper than Verizon's "Share everything", and how much will your data plan cost on VZ? When those plans came out we looked at them, did some math and, yes, figured out they only benefit families with 4-5 unlimited lines. If those make financial sense to you, by all means, but 98% of the time those plans are a giant rip off, let's hope AT&T never decides to match them.

[anton697]

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youngjm wrote:

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schafga wrote:

All -

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to come out with new unlimited anytime minutes plans to compete with Verizon's?  For example, if you have 5 smartphones on AT&T with unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting it will cost $300 + data.  With Verizons new plans, the same thing costs $200 + data.  That's a HUGE difference?  I know a number of colleagues are outraged by the pricing difference and are strongly considering switching to Verizon if AT&T does not come out with similar plans.  If anyone has ideas about this please post.

Thanks!

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This is a customer forum and ATT is not going to come out and explain their reasoning nor provide any hints of what is coming until they are ready.  Until they announce something officially, everthing is just a guess on anyones part.

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Hence why OP stated, "Does anyone know if AT&T...", not "Does AT&T know..." or, "Does anyone at AT&T know"--I don't believe OP was expecting that some official AT&T person was gonna come out and make an official statement regarding corporate policies and procedures in this forum.  I reckon OP knows that anything offered by anyone here may very well be at best speculation, hence his/her "If anyone has ideas about this" statement.

[anton697]

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drumn_bass wrote:

I estimate that less than 2% of my customers have unlimited plans anymore (probably because of mobile to any mobile feature), and any other plan on AT&T is cheaper than Verizon's "Share everything", and how much will your data plan cost on VZ? When those plans came out we looked at them, did some math and, yes, figured out they only benefit families with 4-5 unlimited lines. If those make financial sense to you, by all means, but 98% of the time those plans are a giant rip off, let's hope AT&T never decides to match them.

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Who are you exactly referring to when you say "we"?  Just curious, given your signature...

[drumn_bass]

My signature states that I'm not representing AT&T here... So "we" is me and my friends, not AT&T if that's what you thought I meant. Sorry for any confusion.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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schafga wrote:

All -

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to come out with new unlimited anytime minutes plans to compete with Verizon's?  For example, if you have 5 smartphones on AT&T with unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting it will cost $300 + data.  With Verizons new plans, the same thing costs $200 + data.  That's a HUGE difference?  I know a number of colleagues are outraged by the pricing difference and are strongly considering switching to Verizon if AT&T does not come out with similar plans.  If anyone has ideas about this please post.

Thanks!

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that is verizon's new plans that where just introduced on 06/28/2012, the major difference outside of the unlimtied vocie at text @ 40.00 a phone is the data plans that are avaialble are shared throughout every device that is on the plan, so if you choose the minimum 2GB plan you are sharing 2GB betwen 5 smartphones.

Thse same os coming to att but they appear to be waiting to see how it is accepted at verizon - so far the posts on the various forums have not been to complementary it

be careful what you wish for you just might get it and it will not be exactly what you want. Verizon built in the removal of the grandfathered unlimited data plans for smartphones when you upgrade - unless you are willing to pay full retail price for the device, if not you choose the new shared data plans.

Currently, unlimited voice and texting plans are pretty much eye candy anymore,  I dropped one of the family plans to a 700 minute plan for 5 phones with unlimited texting that gives me mobile to any mobile and still roll over an average of 500 minutes of voice every month. The other plan is going to be dropped from unlimited to 700 minutes the next time the billing end date is 4 days away.

[AnnB1211]

I sure hope not... I cannot imagine the calls about who used the most data..

[youngjm ACE - Master]

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anton697 wrote:

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youngjm wrote:

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schafga wrote:

All -

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to come out with new unlimited anytime minutes plans to compete with Verizon's?  For example, if you have 5 smartphones on AT&T with unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting it will cost $300 + data.  With Verizons new plans, the same thing costs $200 + data.  That's a HUGE difference?  I know a number of colleagues are outraged by the pricing difference and are strongly considering switching to Verizon if AT&T does not come out with similar plans.  If anyone has ideas about this please post.

Thanks!

---

This is a customer forum and ATT is not going to come out and explain their reasoning nor provide any hints of what is coming until they are ready.  Until they announce something officially, everthing is just a guess on anyones part.

---

Hence why OP stated, "Does anyone know if AT&T...", not "Does AT&T know..." or, "Does anyone at AT&T know"--I don't believe OP was expecting that some official AT&T person was gonna come out and make an official statement regarding corporate policies and procedures in this forum.  I reckon OP knows that anything offered by anyone here may very well be at best speculation, hence his/her "If anyone has ideas about this" statement.

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Thanks for playing!  Given that only ATT knows what ATT is going to do, there is very little anyone other than ATT can say and they don't hence my response.

[schafga]

I suspect AT&T will announce their new plans very soon as I am sure they will want to stay competitive with the largest wireless carrier, Verizon.

[mikewho]

I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

[anton697]

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drumn_bass wrote:
My signature states that I'm not representing AT&T here... So "we" is me and my friends, not AT&T if that's what you thought I meant. Sorry for any confusion.

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I posed the question because your previous post started off with, "...less than 2% of my customers" (bold/underline my emphasis).  "Your customers"?  Obviously you must be running some kind of other business on the side...not unless it's become vogue all of a sudden to refer to friends and/or acquaintences as "customers"...

[anton697]

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

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You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

[youngjm ACE - Master]

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anton697 wrote:

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

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You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

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I would agree.  To all those looking for these types of plans, be carefull what you ask for.  ATT or any other company is not about to reduce their revenue overall.  There will be some that this make sense for but I bet it will be a small group.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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anton697 wrote:

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

---

You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

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For once I agree with you - after all ATT is a for profit business, pricing is going ot be set to what will maintain suitable profit margin on the services - basic business 101 and stockholder dividends.

Offering unlimited voice and texting for a low cost if nothing but eye candy, voice and text is not the profit producer. Have the lowest 5 phone voice plan on the familty accounts along with unlimited texting and end up rolling over about 650 minutes a month. Data is the profie producer, att might be a few bucks lower then verizon when they offer it, or theey might offer 1 more GB for the the same cost that Verizon offers a single GB  shared plan for.

[anton697]

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wingrider01 wrote:

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anton697 wrote:

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

---

You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

---

For once I agree with you - after all ATT is a for profit business, pricing is going ot be set to what will maintain suitable profit margin on the services - basic business 101 and stockholder dividends.

Offering unlimited voice and texting for a low cost if nothing but eye candy, voice and text is not the profit producer. Have the lowest 5 phone voice plan on the familty accounts along with unlimited texting and end up rolling over about 650 minutes a month. Data is the profie producer, att might be a few bucks lower then verizon when they offer it, or theey might offer 1 more GB for the the same cost that Verizon offers a single GB  shared plan for.

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Although I won't necessarily disagree with you as far as data being a big profit generator, I think that, until the iPhone came around, text plans were a major profit generator--texts don't consume a ton of data, they more or less piggyback off the same cellular network as voice--i.e., you don't need a 3G network to send/receive text messages--so no bandwidth issues there.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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anton697 wrote:

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wingrider01 wrote:

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anton697 wrote:

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

---

You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

---

For once I agree with you - after all ATT is a for profit business, pricing is going ot be set to what will maintain suitable profit margin on the services - basic business 101 and stockholder dividends.

Offering unlimited voice and texting for a low cost if nothing but eye candy, voice and text is not the profit producer. Have the lowest 5 phone voice plan on the familty accounts along with unlimited texting and end up rolling over about 650 minutes a month. Data is the profie producer, att might be a few bucks lower then verizon when they offer it, or theey might offer 1 more GB for the the same cost that Verizon offers a single GB  shared plan for.

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Although I won't necessarily disagree with you as far as data being a big profit generator, I think that, until the iPhone came around, text plans were a major profit generator--texts don't consume a ton of data, they more or less piggyback off the same cellular network as voice--i.e., you don't need a 3G network to send/receive text messages--so no bandwidth issues there.

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umlimited texting with mobile to any mobile feature is a money loser for them with me - I originally had unlimited voice prior to this coming into affect for multiple family plans, now I have them all at 700 minute with unlimited text and M2AM and still roll over about an average of 550 - 600 minutes, so in effect they lost the income from two unlimited family plans with 5 phones each. Again the Iphone had little bearing on this, it needed a texting plan also

wont be long before edge is gone and 3g is the minimum network connectivity, t-mobile is already phasing it out for their lte netwrk

[anton697]

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wingrider01 wrote:

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anton697 wrote:

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wingrider01 wrote:

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anton697 wrote:

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mikewho wrote:
I don't like the new plans at all so hopefully if AT&T does come out with their own, they price them better.

---

You can bet your bottom dollar that they will price them better...for themselves (AT&T).  Think I'm wrong?  Wait until the pundits and/or pro-AT&T folks come out and argue that companies are in business to make money first, not make customers satisfied first.

---

For once I agree with you - after all ATT is a for profit business, pricing is going ot be set to what will maintain suitable profit margin on the services - basic business 101 and stockholder dividends.

Offering unlimited voice and texting for a low cost if nothing but eye candy, voice and text is not the profit producer. Have the lowest 5 phone voice plan on the familty accounts along with unlimited texting and end up rolling over about 650 minutes a month. Data is the profie producer, att might be a few bucks lower then verizon when they offer it, or theey might offer 1 more GB for the the same cost that Verizon offers a single GB  shared plan for.

---

Although I won't necessarily disagree with you as far as data being a big profit generator, I think that, until the iPhone came around, text plans were a major profit generator--texts don't consume a ton of data, they more or less piggyback off the same cellular network as voice--i.e., you don't need a 3G network to send/receive text messages--so no bandwidth issues there.

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umlimited texting with mobile to any mobile feature is a money loser for them with me - I originally had unlimited voice prior to this coming into affect for multiple family plans, now I have them all at 700 minute with unlimited text and M2AM and still roll over about an average of 550 - 600 minutes, so in effect they lost the income from two unlimited family plans with 5 phones each. Again the Iphone had little bearing on this, it needed a texting plan also

wont be long before edge is gone and 3g is the minimum network connectivity, t-mobile is already phasing it out for their lte netwrk

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My point was that before the iPhone came out, text plans were a larger profit generator than data plans--I mean, how much more profit was AT&T making off of data plans BEFORE the iPhone came out, compared to what they were making off of texting plans?  You can't tell me that, before the iPhone, there were more subscribed data plans than there were text plans...and remember, the $30 (unlimited) smartphone data plan hadn't even come out yet.  If there were no such thing as smartphones, would you still think that data plans would be a wireless carrier's most-significant profit-generator?

Re: 3G being the minimum network--I would hope if that were the case, then that would hopefully result in wireless phone companies improving their 3G network in more than a few places; 3G (signal strength) in my neighborhood is weak, at best...and heck, even in more than a few places (and I'm not just talking about being out in the middle of nowhere) I've seen my 3G signal drop down to EDGE...and in a few cases, even down to GPRS.