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Some years ago, in a fit of unbridled stupidity, I let my family rope me into their shared phone plan. It's been nothing but misery and headache since with untold hours of scratching and clawing to actually get bills right and overcharges fixed. I'd switch in a heartbeat to literally anyone else but, apparently, I hate AT&T marginally less than I hate arguing with my family. I am as shocked and appalled as you are. Right now, I've got a years old S3 that cannot keep up with my lovely mobile games, never, ever held a charge worth a drat, and is harassing me constantly to put some Samsung crapware on it. Still, it's less offensive than other phones I've had. I need to find a new big, meaty phone for my big, meaty goonhands. Preferably one that gets reception 5 miles deep into the earth, since that's approximately the location of both my apartment and my job, as far as cell reception is concerned. I'm using a microcel at home, but if Comcast gets flaky, I fall back on whatever "E" service is since 4g can't penetrate my 18" thick stone walls. At work, I'm in the center of a secure government facility in the woods, so a single bar fades in and out, depending on which direction I am facing. I kind of assumed that I wanted an S5, because despite wishing that Samsung as a whole would be flung into the Sun, I have had better luck with this S3 than I ever had with LG or Motorola. But honestly, I don't follow new phone developments at all and am largely basing that on the fact that I looked at my friend's new S5 and it had a 4 row keyboard instead of 3 rows and that seemed super convenient. I don't mind paying up-front for the phone if necessary or doing a 2 year whatever, but I loathe the concept of treating a phone like a leased car. So, how does this whole thing work? Is the S5 a good pick, or is there something better I should be looking at? What are the key words and phrases to lob at my AT&T rep so I don't have to spend hours getting them to actually bill it properly for once? When's a good time to buy? Where should I look for Black Friday/Holiday sales?
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Nov 22, 2014 06:25
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Toshimo posted:Some years ago, in a fit of unbridled stupidity, I let my family rope me into their shared phone plan. Either pay for the phone outright or get next. If you're on a MSV plan 2-year pricing is a joke and you're basically paying a $25/mo installment anyways. I use the S5 for my personal use, and while touchwiz is a joke, you can flash it pretty drat easily to your 5.0 using your image of choice in a couple days/weeks anyways. If you want something beefier, I've heard good/semi-good things on the note-4 but to be honest I've not gone looking into it too deeply beyond the pending 3D headset (which I'll be honest, I'm totally fan-boying over). The Nexus 6 is also available, which isn't terrible from what I understand. Honestly, I'm out of an iPhone center (because I hate joy) so I don't get a lot of exposure to anything that isn't out of Cupertino. As far as coverage, I'll have to level with you...you're likely kinda hosed, regardless of your carrier. Unless your pretty much underneath a tower, LTE no likee thick walls or any kind of substantial obstructions. I could give you a better idea if I knew your general location, but from what you're describing, a new handset won't really change much in your coverage situation. EDIT: Also, if you've got bad coverage at a government facility and it's of any kind of importance, you haven't made enough noise. I was just talking with a network engineer over lunch the other day about how they redirected the coverage of three counties to ensure that none of the attendees of the Clinton weddding had 5 bars of service to and from the event and travel hubs. Possibly bullshit, but I've seen similiar crap pop up from time to time. Bwank fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Nov 22, 2014 |
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Nov 22, 2014 06:39
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So get this. I finally found an AT&T store that had PIN cards for a second gen 32gb MotoX. Unfortunately, when I entered the PIN on the Motorolla website, they are out of stock. That isn't the problem (supposedly they are going to have more in stock on the 24th). The problem is that because this order is still processing, I'm unable to take advantage of the free upgrade from a 10gb plan to 15gb plan. Getting this phone has been a MASSIVE pain in the rear end.
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Nov 22, 2014 12:04
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Toshimo posted:Some years ago, in a fit of unbridled stupidity, I let my family rope me into their shared phone plan. I'd recommend looking at buying the new moto x or a nexus outright if you don't want pre installed BS. It's amazing how much better it is with our bloatware. I have a moto x and s5.
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Nov 24, 2014 05:40
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Is it possible to pay off the contract on a phone and reduce the mobile share monthly price from $40 to $15? I have two phones (one is unlimited data and one is 200 MB plan) that I'd like to switch to mobile shared. Both phones were recently upgraded using two-year contract pricing. If I switch to Mobile Shared, here is what my pricing would be: $100/mo - 10 GB (now 15 GB with promotion) $40/mo - iPhone #1 (under two-year contract) $40/mo - iPhone #2 (under two-year contract) I was told that iPhone #1 has 22 months left on contract and the ETF is $305 dollars. That's approximately $14/mo over the 22 months. However, reducing the $40/mo to $15/mo is going to save me $10/mo even after figuring in the ETF fee!
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Nov 24, 2014 15:11
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Perhaps some current ATT customers can check my work here. I'm looking to start two new lines of service on 2 LG G3, as today my Sprint contract is finally over (FUCKSPRINTFOREVER). I only need the 3GB data plan It looks like I have two options: 1. pay $0.02 for both phones on Amazon with no NEXT. Pay $168/mo for the 3 GB plan through Amazon. Get no bill credits 2. Pay $19.34 for 24 mos on NEXT = $464, -$300 in billcredits for 2 new lines = $164. Pay $128/mo for the 3 GB plan through ATT. With what I save on the bill, I'd make up the $164 in roughly 4-5 months. Am I missing some hidden fee/charge, or is #2 not the vastly superior option? Also, my wife and I only use about 1.5-2 GB of data per month maximum since we've been on Sprint. Is there any reason to think we'd use more data on ATT? We're both connected to WiFi all day usually, but I take 1 business trip for 4-5 days monthly where I'm not on WiFi and dicking around with my phone quite a lot.
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Nov 24, 2014 19:35
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coronaball posted:Perhaps some current ATT customers can check my work here. I'm looking to start two new lines of service on 2 LG G3, as today my Sprint contract is finally over (FUCKSPRINTFOREVER). I only need the 3GB data plan If you can get both phones for basically $80 down (2x $40 activation fee would apply), it looks like going on contract instead of Next is actually the better deal. I don't know what Amazon is telling you but AT&T would charge you $120/month for 2 phones on contract with 3GB.
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Nov 24, 2014 20:50
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Haerc posted:So get this. I finally found an AT&T store that had PIN cards for a second gen 32gb MotoX. Unfortunately, when I entered the PIN on the Motorolla website, they are out of stock. In the ongoing saga of Haerc's search for a MotoX 2nd gen in 32gb: Called Motorolla customer service again because the phone was still out of stock. The person suggested I ignore the pin card instructions (go to motorolla.com/designit) and just try to design the phone from the Motorolla homepage and enter the pin at the end. I pick out what I want, I enter the PIN and... "Sorry, the Redemption PIN you entered was created for a different product. The correct product can be found here." (here took me to the moto x 1st gen page). I asked the AT&T rep point blank before exiting the store: "Is this a PIN for a MotoX second gen, or am I going to go home and find out it's for a 1st gen (because I had such problems actually locating a 2nd gen card).". She assured me it was a 2nd gen. Her manager assured her it was a 2nd gen. What the hell is going on? I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. (I'm not asking anyone for help, I'm just very  right now)
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Nov 24, 2014 21:45
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I think your problem is going to motorolla.com.
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Nov 24, 2014 22:08
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Endless Mike posted:I think your problem is going to motorolla.com. Believe me, I wish I didn't have to use that piece of poo poo, but I have to in order to get it in 32gb through NEXT. Edit: Just got off the phone with the store I ordered it from, we had a threeway convo with the Motorolla rep. The Motorolla person pretty much just said I had no options except to cancel the order and have the store manager specifically order a card for me (which he already did two weeks ago or so when I bought it). gently caress Motorolla forever.
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Nov 24, 2014 22:56
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motorolla
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Nov 24, 2014 23:50
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nimper posted:If you can get both phones for basically $80 down (2x $40 activation fee would apply), it looks like going on contract instead of Next is actually the better deal. I don't know what Amazon is telling you but AT&T would charge you $120/month for 2 phones on contract with 3GB. You're right, that $120 is the same price Amazon is quoting. And then tax and bullshit probably makes it the $128 number. I'll do that then. I have no use for NEXT since I always wait at least 2 years to upgrade.
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Nov 25, 2014 00:03
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Haerc posted:So get this. I finally found an AT&T store that had PIN cards for a second gen 32gb MotoX. Unfortunately, when I entered the PIN on the Motorolla website, they are out of stock. Contact customer care. They can put a flag on your account so you can still get it.
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Nov 25, 2014 04:35
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coronaball posted:You're right, that $120 is the same price Amazon is quoting. And then tax and bullshit probably makes it the $128 number. I'll do that then. I have no use for NEXT since I always wait at least 2 years to upgrade. $128 would be your pretax monthly charge on Next. $120 is pretax on contract.
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Nov 25, 2014 04:47
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Vinlaen posted:Is it possible to pay off the contract on a phone and reduce the mobile share monthly price from $40 to $15? Super gray area. Officially you have to wait out the contract. Most managers don't know it, but it is possible to change the contract and manually charge the ETF. Personally, most probably won't do it. And if they did, most would do the math on two year va next and factor in that you got a savings on two year contract vs out right price. For instance, the iPhone you got a $450 savings, the ETFS is only $325. I would factor that in, and I think it's fair to. I don't think it will hurt to ask, but I doubt you will find someone who will do it for those numbers.
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Nov 25, 2014 04:59
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Beefstorm posted:Contact customer care. They can put a flag on your account so you can still get it. I ended up cancelling the order and got the 15gb upgrade. Thanks though.
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Nov 26, 2014 03:42
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Raimondo posted:Worked for me on the website. Under the Overview tab look down at the Group Shared Usage box, click "Change Rate Plan". It will have your current plan on the left (10 GB for me), and then what you want to change to on the right, by default it was comparing me to the 15 GB plan. Down one was 6 GB, and up one was 30 GB. From there just keep clicking continue until your plan is changed. You'll get a confirmation email. So I went to do this and everything looks like it stays the same except the one tablet on my plan goes from $15 to $40 and I don't know why. Any takers? 
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Nov 26, 2014 05:21
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OldPueblo posted:So I went to do this and everything looks like it stays the same except the one tablet on my plan goes from $15 to $40 and I don't know why. Any takers? I think your tablet is accidentally provisioned as a smart phone, so the system sees two year and smartphone and does $40. Call or stop by a store to confirm and get it fixed.
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Nov 26, 2014 06:23
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but how do you disable the address book sync on the LG Xpression, before I murder somebody? I don't have data access.
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Nov 27, 2014 01:39
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Starting to see people renew Mobile Share Value plans and get sticker shock when their price goes from $15 to $40 per line. Not sure how they thought $15 per subsidized line was sustainable, that's only $360 to AT&T over the contract length vs. a $450 phone subsidy. Also, still amazing to see so much misinformation out there about Next. "They force you to turn in your phone after a year and you get nothing!" So people make bad decisions to just renew contract because they are scared of Next, instead of exploring options.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:16
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Toshimo posted:So, how does this whole thing work? Is the S5 a good pick, or is there something better I should be looking at? What are the key words and phrases to lob at my AT&T rep so I don't have to spend hours getting them to actually bill it properly for once? When's a good time to buy? Where should I look for Black Friday/Holiday sales? Why is no one mentioning the iPhone 6 for this guy? I think it's a very solid phone, and it's a newer spec than the S5. Unless he's a diehard droid fan I think it's worth serious consideration. Anyway, stupid question: If I upgrade my phone to an iPhone 6 with a 2 year contract and subsidized phone price of $200, does that mean I own the phone immediately? Meaning, in 2 months if I want to sell the iPhone 6 and get something else, I can do that with no penalty? Is there a better option to accomplish the same thing, like would Next be worth it in this case? I'd be selling the iPhone private party on Craigslist or Facebook, which is a pain but doable. I'm on a shared family plan by the way.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:38
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smackfu posted:Starting to see people renew Mobile Share Value plans and get sticker shock when their price goes from $15 to $40 per line. Not sure how they thought $15 per subsidized line was sustainable, that's only $360 to AT&T over the contract length vs. a $450 phone subsidy. The toughest hurdle is Apple, their employees just don't know how the different plans work and don't care.
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Nov 27, 2014 21:11
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Next has been a good choice for me. My only complaint is that you pay full price and the phone isn't unlocked, but it's basically 0% financing on an off-contract phone. If I could have paid $16/mo instead of $400 for my N5 with the option to pay it off at any time, why not? The fact that I save monthly since it's not subsidized makes it a no brainer.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:01
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Mr. Powers posted:Next has been a good choice for me. My only complaint is that you pay full price and the phone isn't unlocked,
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Nov 28, 2014 00:21
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smackfu posted:Also, still amazing to see so much misinformation out there about Next. "They force you to turn in your phone after a year and you get nothing!" It's because Next is marketed for poo poo, every AT&T employee I've every talked to ins-store or online has been garbage at explaining it, and it doesn't make logical sense as a promotion. I just looked over the explanation on the AT&T site and in this thread, and while I think I get the hang of NEXT, it's incredibly difficult to use it as a comparison tool (mostly because the AT&T pricing structure in general always seems to be based on smoke and mirrors). For instance, personally, as I understand it: I'm paying $15/mo right now, I'm hosed if I decide to get a new phone no matter what I do, because I'll lose that rate. If I go to buy a Moto X2 right now, I can get it: NEXT: $527 + $15x30months = $977 2yrr contract: $199 + $40 + $40x30 = $1439 So I save almost $500 over 30 months going with NEXT, but that's largely because I get dicked on monthly plan pricing if I don't take NEXT, which feels scummy as hell. Also, speaking of scummy, apparently they charge activation fees for people who have had accounts since the dawn of time because ~reasons~. gently caress that noise. That looks like the most blatant of money grabs.
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Nov 28, 2014 04:31
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Toshimo posted:It's because Next is marketed for poo poo, every AT&T employee I've every talked to ins-store or online has been garbage at explaining it, and it doesn't make logical sense as a promotion. Next is marketed terribly, but otherwise I think you are overreacting. The $15 plan is a no contract monthly rate. If you sign a contract, yes the non contract rate goes away. I don't get why this is hard to grasp. Your comparison overall is new plans vs old plans. Given that a customer will save on next vs the older two year plans (as your numbers correctly prove), I'm not sure why you are complaining that you are paying less money. And upgrade fees are only charged on two year contracts. So if you are doing Next, which is cheaper anyway, you are fine. I get that ATT does do stupid poo poo and sucks at marketing next, but you are otherwise complaining that ATT lowered rates and made the plans work better.
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Nov 28, 2014 04:47
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Duckman2008 posted:Next is marketed terribly, but otherwise I think you are overreacting. It used to be that you got a discount by taking the contract. That was the whole point of the contract. You paid less overall, but the company guaranteed their take. It worked out for everybody. Now they've flipped it. You pay more for a contract. That's nonsensical. The problem is, that they've taken the old contract rates, RAISED them, and then set the NEXT stuff at a rate higher than the old contract rates. So, no, they aren't offering you a deal. Everything is more by comparison than it used to be and they've slyly gotten people like you to drink the Kool-Aid that they've somehow done you a favor.
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Nov 28, 2014 04:54
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Well, the old rates were complicated. http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/pdf/att_mobile_share_plans.pdf So a 10 GB plan was $120 + $30/phone. Now it's $100 + $40/phone. 1 phone: old plan was $10 more overall 2 phones: break even 3 phones: new plan is $10 more overall 4 phones: new plan is $20 more overall etc. But personally I think the lowered off contract rate more than makes up for that. Practically, we can now add a smartphone line for $15 a month by buying an unlocked $100 phone on Amazon. Couldn't do that on the old plans.
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Nov 28, 2014 05:35
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Toshimo posted:It used to be that you got a discount by taking the contract. That was the whole point of the contract. You paid less overall, but the company guaranteed their take. It worked out for everybody. Ok, well I'm not going to argue with you since you're obviously the math genius on this one. It's very simple though: it varies person to person. Some older plans are less for phone purchase plus plan, some aren't. In my experience working with it day by day, the newer plans tend to be better, with exceptions of older individual plans and unlimited data plans. It's not necessarily Kool aid, it's just math plus more flexibility on what you can buy, where and how. And quite frankly, even with the amount of misinformation out there, people wouldn't be switching to non contract plans across the board (ATT, Tmobile, etc) if it didn't work out better. But if you are so certain, then vote with your wallet, switch to one of the other carriers, and stop making GBS threads up this thread.
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Nov 28, 2014 05:38
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I probably know the answer to this, but... I bought the HTC One M8 and renewed a two year plan in March/April. As much as I like this phone, I really miss my Galaxy Note. Is there any way to get a discount on either a Note 3 or Note 4? I wouldn't want to go the Next route either. I see that Verizon has the Note 4 for $199 tomorrow, and my ETF is around $250 or so, but they're offering a $150 discount if you switch your line. Don't know if I want to go through that and drop an unlimited data plan for a 2GB simple plan, but it's slightly tempting, I won't lie.
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Nov 28, 2014 06:08
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You never "got a discount" for being on contract, though? You paid less up front (although not really, since I paid like $40 for this Nexus 6 (tax) vs the $200 or whatever it would have been with a contract) and your monthly rate "didn't change". Except the price was already built in to the phone plan and you were paying it whether you had a new phone or not. And with an ETF if you canceled, so you paid the balance of your "paid for" phone. NEXT isn't "better", but it's more transparent. But also better
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Nov 28, 2014 07:36
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Silly Burrito posted:I probably know the answer to this, but... Yeah, no discount through ATT. You can dial *SAVE and ask, but you're pretty early in so I doubt it.
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Nov 28, 2014 12:58
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obeyasia posted:You can get it unlocked after you're done paying for it. Not sure why you'd expect it be unlocked from the jump, if I'm understanding you properly. Because I'm not obligated to continue paying ATT for phone service, but I am obligated to pay the rest of the phone off. By not unlocking it, you're under an implicit service contract, just with a different ETF.
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Nov 28, 2014 14:10
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Mr. Powers posted:Because I'm not obligated to continue paying ATT for phone service, but I am obligated to pay the rest of the phone off. By not unlocking it, you're under an implicit service contract, just with a different ETF. So you want to unlock a phone you don't own and haven't paid for? That's silly. AT&T is doing you a giant favor by letting you finance a phone at 0% over up to 30 months. If those terms aren't agreeable, then buy it outright up front, then you can unlock it anytime. You aren't entitled to an unlocked phone until its paid for entirely. http://www.fcc.gov/device-unlocking-faq quote:Q: When Is My Device Eligible for Unlocking?
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Nov 28, 2014 14:30
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obeyasia posted:So you want to unlock a phone you don't own and haven't paid for? That's silly. I think saying I don't own the phone is like saying I don't own my condo or car because they are financed. I own all of them. In the case of the house and car there are liens on them. I'm not prevented from repainting the house before I pay it off, nor am I prevented from swapping a different engine into my car before paying it off. I'm obligated to pay for it and if I don't they will repossess/foreclose it, mark down my credit rating, and send any further balance to collections or seek a judgment. Unless the Next contact is truly lovely, these are my phones and I am obligated to pay for them. I believe if I cancel my service I owe them the balance right away, which also seems a little silly, but I understand that since they lose the profit on the service. Basically they've still got you locked into basic service so the only reason to keep the phone locked is so they can profit on their inflated international plan pricing. Like I mentioned before, when I travel I will probably just pay off the Moto X so I can get it unlocked before we go, it just seems silly to me to keep the phone locked when they still have you on the hook for either service plus the full amount of the phone, or at the very least, the full amount of the phone if you cancel service.
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Nov 29, 2014 01:29
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Mr. Powers posted:I think saying I don't own the phone is like saying I don't own my condo or car because they are financed. I own all of them.
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Nov 29, 2014 01:45
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adorai posted:I think the NEXT thing is more like a rent-to-own deal. There is no lien on the phone preventing you from reselling it like there is with a mortgage or car loan. True enough - you will still owe the balance, however if anyone consciously buys a phone that's under a NEXT plan, they deserve to be screwed. All you have to do is default on payments (and ruin your credit) and it's a paperweight. The buyer is then screwed. http://swappa.com/esn This will tell you a phone's IMEI/serial status. Never buy an in-contract/NEXT/JUMP/EDGE whatever plan phone. You are bound to get hosed in the first several months of ownership unless the seller has it in the kindness of their own heart to continue paying ~$30/month until the financial obligation is fulfilled. ... that would never happen, BTW.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:26
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hotsauce posted:True enough - you will still owe the balance, however if anyone consciously buys a phone that's under a NEXT plan, they deserve to be screwed. You're an idiot if you think getting screwed is buying anything at MSRP. You're an idiot if you think lay-away or NO INTEREST financing is getting screwed. Good luck out there.
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Nov 29, 2014 04:18
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Mr. Powers posted:I think saying I don't own the phone is like saying I don't own my condo or car because they are financed. I own all of them. In the case of the house and car there are liens on them. I'm not prevented from repainting the house before I pay it off, nor am I prevented from swapping a different engine into my car before paying it off. I'm obligated to pay for it and if I don't they will repossess/foreclose it, mark down my credit rating, and send any further balance to collections or seek a judgment. Unless the Next contact is truly lovely, these are my phones and I am obligated to pay for them. I believe if I cancel my service I owe them the balance right away, which also seems a little silly, but I understand that since they lose the profit on the service. How can you own something you haven't paid for in their entirety? You may be trusted by some organization to use those properties unsupervised while you make payments on them, but you do not own them.
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Nov 29, 2014 04:20
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obeyasia posted:You're an idiot if you think getting screwed is buying anything at MSRP. You're an idiot if you think lay-away or NO INTEREST financing is getting screwed. Good luck out there.
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Nov 29, 2014 05:28
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