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Teacher

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1 Message

Friday, February 21st, 2014 2:48 AM

Mobile Share Value Plans Questions and Discussion

Beware.. The $160 per month plan for 4 smart phones with ATT is pretty shadey. They don't tell you that you are required to pay for 4 smart phones at full retail price. Maybe that small detail is buried somewhere in the fine print when the adds on TV play, but make sure you know exactly what you are paying for before jumping onto this.... It's very, very tricky. 

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

I saw an advertisement on TV advertising a plan for 10 gigabyte for five lines for $175 a month in the month of february. After seeing that commercial l contact the customer service line at 611 to find out more information about it, the representative told me that for 5 lines and 10 gigabytes of shared data would be $175 +tax and fees and would approximately total $185. She told me that I can upgrade my new phone so that way they can be smart phones. I wanted to wait until my new bill cycle started to begin the new plan to avoid any prorated fees. I wanted to start on the beginning of my new bill cycle so I wouldn't have any confussing issues with the bill. When I receive my new plan phone bill the amount was completely nowhere near what I was told I would pay.I've been an AT&T customer for over 10 years and have always been treated farely and all my issues resolved until now. Had I known that I was going to be over charged I would not change my plan. I've contacted AT& T customer service line multiple times to try to get it resolved, out of the four representative that I spoke with, one representative did confirm that the plan that I signed up for was the $175 for 5 lines with 10 gigabyte mobile share unlimited talk and text, he told me that he was goin to call me next month in April to make sure that my bill was correct, he never called me back like he promised.I called at&t again today and spoke with Stacy, this representative was not helpful at all even though she claim to be a manager she refused to allow me to speak with someone higher up in management.She kept on repeating herself and did not listen to what the issue was. When I signed up for this mobile Share Plan the representative never explained to me that I was going to be charged a different price because I upgrade the phones afterwards.Can someone in the management team help me get this resolved this is not fair for me as a loyal AT&T customer to be told one thing and be charged a different price. If things can't get resolved then unfortunately I will to have to cancel all of my services that I have with AT&T.

ACE - Expert

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13.1K Messages

10 years ago

Unfortunately, the price you were given was for out of contract pricing.If you use a subsidized upgrade and start a new contract, the price increases for that line by $25 per month. The ONLY way to avoid higher monthly pricing is to buy the phone outright at non-subsidized price, which for smartphones can be $400 - $600.

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

See no one had explained that the price was going to change by me upgrading my phones.The representative that I spoke to even stayed on the phone with me while I order the phone online to get order number so she can wavied the activation fee. The representative told me by me getting the new smartphones my phones will be compatible with the new 4g network that I will be using with a new plan.

Former Employee

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636 Messages

10 years ago

Plans, upgrades have gotten just a tad more complex. Usually, if you take the time to figure it, it makes sense.

 

Use this site to get a good idea about the various details.

www.myattrpc.com

Spend some time looking at your plan, and the alternatives.

Sometimes the specials (contracts starting before XX/XX for smartphones), will make some plans better than others temporarily.

 

 

-Alex

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

10 years ago


@kdfederer wrote:
Unfortunately, the price you were given was for out of contract pricing.If you use a subsidized upgrade and start a new contract, the price increases for that line by $25 per month. The ONLY way to avoid higher monthly pricing is to buy the phone outright at non-subsidized price, which for smartphones can be $400 - $600.

The thing is, based on the OP's post we don't know if the higher bill they are seeing is because of buying subsidized phones and paying $40 per phone instead of $15 or because of buying phones on the Next program. It's also possible that higher bill is because of monthly installments for their new phones. Since the OP said the activation fee was waived, I would tend to think it's the latter since activation fees are waived when upgrading via Next.

Teacher

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7 Messages

10 years ago

I'm glad I called before signing up for the $160 - 10gb family of 4 plan.

 

My current bill is $259 for 4 phones with 3gb data for each and Unlimited text. We never use our minutes each month, we always have rollover minutes.  We are all either close to or ready for an upgraded phone.

 

She told me the plan is $100 plus $15 for each of the 4 phones ($60) we "currently" have.

 

She explained that if I signed up now at the $160, each phone I upgraded after signing up would cost $40 instead of $15.

 

Which will be an additional $160 instead of $60 after upgrading all of our phones.

 

Which would bring my total monthly bill to $260. So I will be right back where I started but with 2gb data less than when I started.   

 

Just another crazy plan that doesn't make any sense to switch too because eventually we will all upgrade our phones.

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

10 years ago


@kede341 wrote:

I'm glad I called before signing up for the $160 - 10gb family of 4 plan.

 

My current bill is $259 for 4 phones with 3gb data for each and Unlimited text. We never use our minutes each month, we always have rollover minutes.  We are all either close to or ready for an upgraded phone.

 

She told me the plan is $100 plus $15 for each of the 4 phones ($60) we "currently" have.

 

She explained that if I signed up now at the $160, each phone I upgraded after signing up would cost $40 instead of $15.

 

Which will be an additional $160 instead of $60 after upgrading all of our phones.

 

Which would bring my total monthly bill to $260. So I will be right back where I started but with 2gb data less than when I started.   

 

Just another crazy plan that doesn't make any sense to switch too because eventually we will all upgrade our phones.


That is only true if you upgrade at the 2 year contract subsidized price. You also have the option of upgrading via the Next program which would keep your per phone cost at $15. You also don't have to pay the $36 upgrade fee on Next. Of course, then you have to factor in paying a monthly installment for each phone. Which way is cheaper? That all depends on when and how often you upgrade but for some people (myself included), it works out cheaper to go with the mobile share plan and upgrade via Next. If you absolutely intend to upgrade all 4 phones at the same time and also upgrade them every 2 years, you probably won't save anything with the new plan and Next but you really should do the math. If you keep your phones longer than 2 years, you may find that mobile share and Next actually works out cheaper in the long run.

Teacher

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7 Messages

10 years ago

Having been a customer for many many years, I have never had to pay over $50 for a phone. I use the 2 year upgrade option for every phone. Most phones we have had were free this way. We all have iphones.  I plan never to pay $600 for a phone. That's a house payment! So NEXT is completely out for us. But for those who must have the most recent "cool" phone, I suppose NEXT is the way. I'm alright not being "cool". 🙂

 

Was just wanting those who enjoy their discounted 2 year plan upgrade phones to understand the new $160 plan before signing up. 

Former Employee

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636 Messages

10 years ago

The $160 price is advertised as no contract, basically each line gets a $25 discount when they're out of contract.

 

So, the guys you talked to were offereing to change you to this plan that's normally only $1 more than your current one, AND offered to get you those discounts now?

 

So you'd save quite a bit of money until you've completely upgraded all the lines, and you'd continue to save money later if one of your lines ever didn't immediately upgrade when their contract was done?

 

I'm not sure what math you're doing, but in my book that few hundred dollar temporary savings over the course of months would more than make up the $1 increase.

 

Edit:

@kede341, your old plans have been inflated to cover the cost of your phones. I expect your totals won't be much different whether you keep payment what you're paying now vs the Mobile Share value plans + AT&T Next.  For some people, it's a little more, others a little less than their current rate, but it usually pretty close. It's worth a shot checking, but one way or another, the phone's gotta be paid for.

These new plans are are aimed at being more transparent than the old ones essentialy

-Alex

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago


@kede341 wrote:

Having been a customer for many many years, I have never had to pay over $50 for a phone. I use the 2 year upgrade option for every phone. Most phones we have had were free this way. We all have iphones.  I plan never to pay $600 for a phone. That's a house payment! So NEXT is completely out for us. But for those who must have the most recent "cool" phone, I suppose NEXT is the way. I'm alright not being "cool". 🙂

 

Was just wanting those who enjoy their discounted 2 year plan upgrade phones to understand the new $160 plan before signing up. 


Most smartphone owners are more into the latest and greatest cool new toy, so a low monthly payment with no finance charge but with the ability to trade up every 12 months is more enticing then getting a 649.00 for for 199.00 a 2 year commitment with ETF charges and not being able to upgrade the next year when the new version comes out. The US market is moving in the same direction as the overseas market has been using for years - no subsidized phones and a price cut in the plan charges

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