re: AT&T and their new smartphone charges

Yes just takes a couple of days for the number to transfer.

Best MVNO is based on which carrier you prefer (ATT,TMobile or Verizon)

I pay 45.27 per line (this includes taxes and fees) for 3GB of data for each line with Net10. They have a 5GB plan as well.

Net10 and StraightTalk are both owned by Tracfone. You can choose Tmobile,ATT or Verizon but I don't believe you can get LTE on Verizon yet. Phone works every bit the same for me as when I was with ATT. However in very large crowds like an LSU game my service may be limited first for data. Customer service sucks. But I have only had to use them to get the latest APN settings and one time to get them to unthrottle me.

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AT&T and their new smartphone charges

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This is not new, this is how AT&T's pricing has been for years. What is new is that if you pay the phone in full instead of upgrading, then your monthly bill is less.

AT&T's mistake really seems to have been to let people switch to the new rate plans without upgrading a phone and therefore understanding the differences in their 2 different pricing structures, the old way and the new way. The old way is cost effective for people that regularly upgrade their phones, the new way is cost effective for people that don't. It's actually an improvement for customers but AT&T has poorly communicated it and now have tons of customers complaining about getting screwed with a new way when they are really complaining about the exact same system they've been under for years.

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I posted about this a month ago and people said I was crazy

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You aren't crazy, you people just don't know what you're actually complaining about. AT&T essentially had one plan, now they have 2, and uninformed consumers are going around screaming to high heaven about being screwed by the new plan which is actually the old plan.

I don't like defending the wireless carriers, they have a well earned reputation for screwing their customers, but in this case the only thing they've done wrong is not realized how much hand holding their customers needed to understand the improved choice they've been given.

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You aren't crazy, you people just don't know what you're actually complaining about. AT&T essentially had one plan, now they have 2, and uninformed consumers are going around screaming to high heaven about being screwed by the new plan which is actually the old plan.

I don't like defending the wireless carriers, they have a well earned reputation for screwing their customers, but in this case the only thing they've done wrong is not realized how much hand holding their customers needed to understand the improved choice they've been given.

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for people that were on the 2 year plans....what was the line access fee before NEXT came along? did these people's line access fee get reduced to 15 when the new plans came out, and now when they go to renew they are going back up to 40?

this is what most of the complaints lead me to believe, but I"m with verizon so i don't have firsthand knowledge

on a normal 2 year plan 1 year ago, I'd like to know the line access charge....was it 15, 40, somewhere in between?

if it was lower than 40, and now they are bumping it up to 40, then there are new charges and I can see why people are complaining....but I don't know for sure what it used to be



the people that think that the NEXT plans are a complete ripoff, simply aren't looking at it entirely

the NEXT plan really benefits high data users or large families/groups

the data is much cheaper in large quantities, which will lower the price per line quickly when you are sharing a large pool

The plans were just completely different before the NEXT plans. They were better for people that didn't use their phones much but the additional lines a long time ago used to only be $10 a month per line but then you had to pay for the data plan for that individual phone to go with it. Also, you had to pay for text messaging separate. Now you are getting unlimited talk and text with shared data. I know long term, it saves me a good bit of money.

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Over the 2 years, I save 150 going with my current plan, but the wife and kid are limited in data. I need to do some more research and maybe stagger the upgrades and could probably save some money.

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ATT keeps messing with the prices of the higher data plans making them more and more attractive too

verizon is doing the same


I believe that with the increasing amounts of data being used by streaming apps and the like, that the cost of data will continue to come down

there will come a time when the throttling limit will come to quick and people will be enticed enough to abandon the unlimited plans...JMO




eta: you are also obviously on an older plan...so its hard to compare apples to apples with the next plans, but for a person looking to start a new line with ATT, the differences are probably even smaller than 150 over 2 years




eta2: @sainteb....I'm sure that your work discount is also available for the NEXT pricing, so work that into your math

I'm trying to figure out how I can buy the iphone 6 plus under the next plan without my bill increasing anymore than $10 per month.
16GB Iphone 6 plus under the next plan is $25 per month onto my bill. Below is my bill breakdown. I'd also really like at least 5GB of data. I routinely go over the 3GB and get an $10 charge for an additional 1GB.

I'm not seeing a line access charge you are referring to that will decrease with the new plans.

Nation 450 with Rollover $39.99

Messaging Unlimited $20.00

DataPro 3GB for iPhone $30.00
Total Monthly Plan Charges $89.99

Total Surcharges & Fees $5.10

Total Government Fees & Taxes $5.65
Total $100.74

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On the share value plan, do minutes and text now count against your data?

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Voice no, text maybe. iMessage counts as data rather than text, so if you send someone else a picture via "text" and they have an iPhone too, that's coming out of your data. Texts sent to non iPhones would go over the normal texting system and not pull from your data.

Yep, just too bad I can't find the iphone 6 plus in stock anywhere

Call all radio shacks, you should find one.