Contributor
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2 Messages
Trapped!
Don't get trapped in Att's new wireless cell phone program which started after February. I'm paying 25.00 a month for 26 months, totalling $650.00. I come out cheaper paying 500.00 to get out of the contract. In the past I paid $199.00 for a new upgraded phone, with a 2 yr contract. I'm making sure to tell all my friends and family to stay away from ATT, especially those looking to buy phones for their children. Too costly! The devil is in the details. I bet ATT won't post this blog.
Patty
kdfederer
ACE - Expert
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13.1K Messages
10 years ago
AT&T changed their pricing on the mobile data share plans. If your phone is out of contract, you save money, up to $25 per line. Once you get a subsidized upgrade and enter into a contract, you lose that discount for the length of the contract or if you don't get the subsidized upgrade, you pay for the phone and keep the discount.
With the new plans, there is no longer subsidized phones.
Everyone complains about losing the discount, but for most people, it is about the same as it was before the price changes. You can't have it both ways, cheaper prices and subsidized phones.
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GeekBoy
Master
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4.1K Messages
10 years ago
Reading the original post, it appears as though they signed up on a NEXT agreement, which is causing them to not lose their line discount on their phone line, but it causing them to pay the full "no obligation" price of the phone (probably a 16GB iPhone 5s).
In any case, they are now complaining becuase AT&T chose not to "hide" the cost of the phone in the monthly charges any longer and is fully disclosing that you either pay full price for the phone, or you pay more for your monthly service if you get your phone at a discount. It doesn't seem to matter what AT&T does, people complain about it. First they complain because AT&T wraps the cost of the phone into the monthly service and doesn't give them a discount once they've completed the contract, so AT&T changes to do just that. Now people complain that AT&T is charging them more money just because they got a huge discount on a phone, or because AT&T is charging them the full price of the phone. THey can't be bothered with the details when they sign the agreements, they just want AT&T to lower their bills and give them free phones.
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GeekBoy
Master
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4.1K Messages
10 years ago
You were not "trapped" into anything.
When you got a new phone, you still had a choice of getting an AT&T subsidized contract phone, or to use the NEXT program to pay for your phone at full price over time without paying any interest or financing charges. Either option has consequences, but it was fully your choice as to which one you chose.
When AT&T released the new plans in Feb, they disclosed then that the discounted pricing they were advertising was for phone that were not under contract. They understood that not everyone would want to (or be able to) shell out $650 all at once to get a new phone, so they came up with the NEXT agreements allowing you to purchase the phones over time without paying interest or finance charges. No matter which way you go, you pay for the phone. If you sign a contract, your voice & text service will cost $40/month (instead of the discounted $25 or $15). If you go with a NEXT agreement, you keep the lower line cost, but you pay monthly for the new phone. Either way you go, you pay for the phone. Which coice costs you more depends upon what level of data subscription you have (which determines how big your "out of contract" discount is). If you have the higher discount, you can save at least $150 using a NEXT program. If you have the smaller discount, then you can save a little more signing a contract and paying $15/month more for 24 months (vs the $25-35 monthly phone payment, but don't forget that you might also be paying $199.99 for that contract phone too so you may only save $50-150 over the 2 years).
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