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vbetts's profile

Contributor

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2 Messages

Monday, May 5th, 2014 7:08 PM

Not too happy with my upgrade options

Hello, just wanted to voice a concern about our upgrade options.

 

I was ready to upgrade my device to the Nokia Lumia 1520 using the Next program, and doing the 18 months at $22.50 a month for the phone. But there was a very big snag right before we did it, and here was the snag. Let me explain more first.

 

We were on the 4gb Family Share plan then we switched over to the 10gb Mobile Share Value Plan, and since we did our device access fee for each device instead of being $40 were $15 per AT&T's promotion for this. 

 

I was told that if I upgraded my line using the Next program from AT&T, we would lose the $15 access fee and our device access fee would go up to the $40. This also is the case if we waited to do the 2 year upgrade as well. 

 

My issue with this, No where in the original advertisements for switching over from the family share plan to the mobile share value plan did it state that you would lose your $15 device access fee if you upgrade any of your devices. We wouldn't lose it on just one line that upgrades(Even if we did, the cost would still be too high to consider it), we would lose it on all devices. We have 3 devices on our plan.

 

$100+$15+$15+$15=$145

$100+$40+$40+$40=$220

 

I was told that for doing the upgrade, we would have a monthly $25 bill credit.

$220-$25=$195

 

Let's say I did the upgrade, and we kept our $15 a month access fee.

$100+$15+$15+$15+$22.50-$25=$142.50

 

Now let's say the upgraded line would lose the $15 access fee.

$100+$40+$15+$15+$22.50-$25=$167.50

 

If I do the upgrade I would lose all $15 device access, putting it at $40 per device.

$100+$40+$40+$40+$22.50-$25=$217.50

 

What I don't understand is why can I not keep my device access fee if I do the next program? Again, no where in any advertisements or fine prints on the Next Program, or the Mobile Value Share.

 

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/next.html#fbid=PQXzN65leuF

 

*Requires 20-month or 26-month 0% APR installment agreement & qualifying credit. Sales tax due at sale. Qualified wireless service plan (voice & data) required. If you cancel wireless service, remaining device balance is due. Qualifying smartphones only; excludes tablets. Limit 4 financed devices (including devices financed via AT&T NextSM or other installment agreement) per wireless account. Select locations only. If financed smartphone returned/exchanged within 14 days, restocking fee up to $35 may apply. Upgrade: Upgrade requires minimum of 12 monthly installment payments on 20-month agreement or 18 on a 26-month agreement & account in good standing plus trade-in of current financed device in good & functional condition & purchase of new qualified device/wireless service plan. After upgrade, remaining unbilled installment payments are waived. All terms subject to change. All marks used herein are the property of their respective owners

 

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=PQXzN65leuF?hashlink=tab2

 

Pricing: Prices shown do not include AT&T Nextsm installment charges or other device costs. Additional monthly charge per device and for additional data. If you exceed the amount of data in your plan during your billing period, an additional 300MB, 500MB or 1GB is automatically provided as specified in your rate plan. All data allowances, including overages, must be used in the billing period in which the allowance is provided or they will be forfeited. Device Limits: Up to 10 per plan for consumers and IRUs. For business and government customers, up to: 10 CRU devices per plan up to 20GB; 15 CRU devices per 30GB plan; 20 CRU devices per 40GB plan; and 25 CRU devices per 50GB plan. Tethering and mobile hot spot use is permitted with up to 5 simultaneous devices. Other Monthly Charges: Apply per line and may include applicable taxes, federal and state universal service charges, a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge (up to $1.25), a gross receipts surcharge, an Administrative Fee on consumer and IRU lines, and other governmental assessments which are not taxes or government-required charges, including without limitation a Property Tax Allotment surcharge of $0.20-$0.45 per CRU’s assigned number. Additional monthly charge per device may not be eligible for discounts. Domestic use only. Activation fee may apply. Additional deposits and other restrictions may apply. 

 

 

With this, we're stuck any the only way we would keep our current rates is to buy a device out right instead of financing the device monthly, or waiting until the 2 year upgrade mark. This makes me not want to stay with AT&T if there's going to be very big catches such as this, because of this I am considering other phone companies which I'd hate to do but at this point I have to if my rates going to jump up that much. It's not a difference of $5-$10 either, it's a big difference.

 

All the information was given to me about upgrading and losing the device access fee at a local AT&T corporate store in Toledo Ohio.

4906 Monroe Street

Toledo, Ohio 43623

419-473-9756

Master

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4.1K Messages

10 years ago

I believe that you were mislead, or misunderstood what was said.

 

You are correct that with the Mobile Share Value Plan, if you upgrade with a 2 year contract, the line which you upgrade will increade from $15/month to $40 per month for your voice & text fee.  The increase will only be for the line you upgrade with the contract subsidy.

 

If you purchase a new phone outright, or if you purchase using the NEXT program, then you do not see that increase in your fee, and it will remain $15/month.  Once again, the changes only impact the one line you are changing.  So if you upgrade with a contract phone, you will be paying:

$100+$15+$15+$40 = $170

If you purchase your phone using AT&T NEXT then you will be paying:

$100+$15+$15+$15+$22.50 = $167.50

If you purchase the phone outright you would be paying:

$100+$15+$15+$15 = $145 (plus the cost of the phone which you pay upfront).

 

This is included in the web site, but it is difficult to understand if you don't go over it in great detail.

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

10 years ago

Confirm everything Geekboy said is accurate. Whoever at that store told you that the access fee would increase to $40 when upgrading via Next is just flat wrong.

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

Thank you for your replies, I'm happy to see that this is not the case. If I print this out and take this to an at&t store, or link this topic to the customer support page where would that get me then? I still would like to upgrade my device.

Contributor

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3 Messages

10 years ago

I think the confusion is partially related to the term "upgrade". With the older generation contracts you would typically upgrade your phone every two years.  You then paid a nominal fee for the phone ($0 - $200 usually) and your monthly bill did not change. If you kept the phone for more than two years, you did not get a break on your bill (the cost of the phone purchase subsidy was buried in your bill).

 

In the new model, they are separating the cost of the phone from the plan. If you want to "upgrade" using the old model, you would pay $40 for that line (rather than $15) to cover the cost of the purchase subsidy plus the initial fee for the phone (the $0-$200).  And you would end up paying $600 - $800 for the phone after two years.

 

With the Next program, you keep paying the $15 rather than $40, because there is no purchase subsidy. With the Next program you purchase the phone outright, but AT&T bills you over the 20 or 26 months (depending on the plan you choose) an amount that is equal to the cost of the phone divided by the number of months (so no markups).

 

If you take the higher end smartphones, under the Next program you would pay about $650 (cost of the phone) over either 20 (so $32.50/month) or 26 months (so $25/month). Under the "upgrade" program you would pay $199 + $25/month (the "surcharge" from $15 to $40 to do the upgrade) for two years or a total of $799 (for the phone worth $650).

 

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago


@vbetts wrote:

Thank you for your replies, I'm happy to see that this is not the case. If I print this out and take this to an at&t store, or link this topic to the customer support page where would that get me then? I still would like to upgrade my device.


just go to the web site, it states it there, just make sure it is a corporate store and not a authrozied retailer

 

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