[roba5263]

I will be switching to AT&T from VZW once the passport becomes available. The AT&T website is very confusing and makes it difficult to view the actual price of their plans. I'm trying to get an idea of how much I would be paying each month for service. I would be looking for unlimited talk / text and 1.5gb of data for a single line.

Does anyone have a similar plan now and knows how the pricing per month works? I would be signing two year contract. From what I can tell, that is cheaper in the long than their "next" program which would cost full retail when you add up all of your installments.

Thank you!

Posted via CB10

[Carl Estes]

I don't think anyone has unlimited data these days. Unlimited voice and text, sure, but the data is the kingpin. I have had my unlimited voice/text and data with VZW for years, and every other month, they are trying to push me out of it. I purchased my Z30 outright last year to keep my unlimiteds, and at first. they took it away and I spent 2 months to get them to begrungingly re-instate it.
Also, watch out for the "data throttling" disclaimer from ATT.

[Mister Xiado]

AT&T Mobile Share Value 3GB - $40, no tax in most states
$40 for a smartphone line in this plan with unlimited messaging (and international long distance messaging) with unlimited minutes.
Assume 12% tax on that $40, and between $2 and $10 for federal, state, and local charges.

If you have no contract, you get a $15 (plus tax) discount on your line's charge. If you have a 10GB or larger plan, that discount increases to $25 + tax. Having an installment plan for a phone counts as having no contract.

The installment options are 20 months, 24 months, or 30 months. Simply divide the no-contract price for the phone by 20, 24, or 30 to see what your monthly installment charge would be. What you pay at the time of activation is the sales tax on the full retail cost of the phone, to meet your state's sales tax payment requirements in one go. A phone that is $600 would be $20 per month on the 30 month installment plan. After paying the second installment charge, you may elect to accelerate the installments for early payoff, or just pay up to the point where you could trade your phone in for another NEXT program upgrade. There were promotions for porting a new line into AT&T from another provider, while activating a new phone with the NEXT program. I'm not sure if it's still running, but it should be.

With a contract, you pay the two-year price of the phone, the sales tax, and you are billed $40.00 + tax per month for your talk and messaging, instead of a discounted rate as mentioned above. You cannot pay off your contract to become eligible for upgrade. You cannot upgrade with a full equipment discount (two year pricing) until your contract has expired by time, barring excessive suspensions for non-payment.

The NEXT program is indeed the full price of the phone, over time. The contract is basically a discounted price for the phone, sales tax, upgrade or activation fee, and depending on your plan, either $360 + tax, or $600 + tax in "lost" discounts. On smaller plans, this may save money in some circumstances, but on larger plans, it's almost always better to be out of contract. If nothing else, you save on the initial purchase of the phone.

I recommend browsing the AT&T site and reading about the NEXT program, and plans and services. Calculate what your costs would be, and make an informed decision. Don't allow anyone looking to make a sale to make your mind up for you.

[Mister Xiado]

I purchased my Z30 outright last year to keep my unlimiteds, and at first. they took it away and I spent 2 months to get them to begrungingly re-instate it.
Also, watch out for the "data throttling" disclaimer from ATT.

Anyone who had unlimited data removed involuntarily can get it back, especially if a store removed it. Always check your bill statement after making any changes to your account, and if something went sideways, calmly state what had happened, and what should be. Speed throttling happens at 3GB on a 3G phone, and 5GB on an LTE phone.

I'll be terse and say that if one has taste, they won't be using that much data on a cell phone. There just simply isn't that much great content to see in a month, no matter your preferred genres of music or whatever. If you have a phone with a memory card slot, load a memory card up with media for viewing when you've got nothing better to do, and bam, no data used. 64GB MicroSD cards cost less than a lot of useless things people buy all the time.

[playpen007]

I have 15GB for family share plan for $100. AT&T will roll it over the remaining bandwidth I don't use.

[ChainPunch]

AT&T does not have 1.5 GB option for a single line. The best option is either the 1GB or 3 GB offering.

[Mr4aces]

AT&T Mobile Share Value 3GB - $40, no tax in most states
$40 for a smartphone line in this plan with unlimited messaging (and international long distance messaging) with unlimited minutes.
Assume 12% tax on that $40, and between $2 and $10 for federal, state, and local charges.

If you have no contract, you get a $15 (plus tax) discount on your line's charge. If you have a 10GB or larger plan, that discount increases to $25 + tax. Having an installment plan for a phone counts as having no contract.

The installment options are 20 months, 24 months, or 30 months. Simply divide the no-contract price for the phone by 20, 24, or 30 to see what your monthly installment charge would be. What you pay at the time of activation is the sales tax on the full retail cost of the phone, to meet your state's sales tax payment requirements in one go. A phone that is $600 would be $20 per month on the 30 month installment plan. After paying the second installment charge, you may elect to accelerate the installments for early payoff, or just pay up to the point where you could trade your phone in for another NEXT program upgrade. There were promotions for porting a new line into AT&T from another provider, while activating a new phone with the NEXT program. I'm not sure if it's still running, but it should be.

With a contract, you pay the two-year price of the phone, the sales tax, and you are billed $40.00 + tax per month for your talk and messaging, instead of a discounted rate as mentioned above. You cannot pay off your contract to become eligible for upgrade. You cannot upgrade with a full equipment discount (two year pricing) until your contract has expired by time, barring excessive suspensions for non-payment.

The NEXT program is indeed the full price of the phone, over time. The contract is basically a discounted price for the phone, sales tax, upgrade or activation fee, and depending on your plan, either $360 + tax, or $600 + tax in "lost" discounts. On smaller plans, this may save money in some circumstances, but on larger plans, it's almost always better to be out of contract. If nothing else, you save on the initial purchase of the phone.

I recommend browsing the AT&T site and reading about the NEXT program, and plans and services. Calculate what your costs would be, and make an informed decision. Don't allow anyone looking to make a sale to make your mind up for you.

Do you or anybody know why the 9900 should be classified as smart phone and not just a phone, I would like to use the 99 as a second device for MMS/SMS and email only but the want a data plan, seem a little dumb when if you dont have data they would charge you any way.

[Dave Bourque]

I have 15GB for family share plan for $100. AT&T will roll it over the remaining bandwidth I don't use.

That's amazing....

Posted via CB10

[Mr4aces]

I'm also on the Family Plan have the lower 3gb data limit because of Wifi. If someone had a phone only with reasonable minutes and no restriction on smart phones there would be more 2nd phones being used.

It would be like buying ice cream and paying extra for toppings,

Nobody will add a 2nd phone at $300/year but I would at $75-100 on a prepaid card.

And Dave,
I think BBM uses data? Or could it be use through a phone only?

[Dave Bourque]

I'm also on the Family Plan have the lower 3gb data limit because of Wifi. If someone had a phone only with reasonable minutes and no restriction on smart phones there would be more 2nd phones being used.

It would be like buying ice cream and paying extra for toppings,

Nobody will add a 2nd phone at $300/year but I would at $75-100 on a prepaid card.

And Dave,
I think BBM uses data? Or could it be use through a phone only?

BBM is connected through Internet connection so WiFi would work if you are using phone only.

Posted via CB10

[joeldf]

Do you or anybody know why the 9900 should be classified as smart phone and not just a phone, I would like to use the 99 as a second device for MMS/SMS and email only but the want a data plan, seem a little dumb when if you dont have data they would charge you any way.

Because the 9900 IS a smartphone. It uses data and can run apps... I don't know what else to tell you.

It doesn't matter how you use it, it's how AT&T sees it. My old Pearl 8100 was considered a smartphone.

Also, you need a data plan to get email. The 9900 would need to be provisioned for BIS, which is a data plan connecting you to the BlackBerry NOC so it can send you your emails.

Plus, while SMS uses your cellular voice line to send texts, I think MMS uses the data line. That's why MMS was usually charged separately from SMS.

Posted via CB10

[Mr4aces]

Because the 9900 IS a smartphone. It uses data and can run apps... I don't know what else to tell you.

It doesn't matter how you use it, it's how AT&T sees it. My old Pearl 8100 was considered a smartphone.

Also, you need a data plan to get email. The 9900 would need to be provisioned for BIS, which is a data plan connecting you to the BlackBerry NOC so it can send you your emails.

Plus, while SMS uses your cellular voice line to send texts, I think MMS uses the data line. That's why MMS was usually charged separately from SMS.

Posted via CB10

Thanks for the information.

I have a friend on Straight Talk the message on SMS Does this mean they are not using data? Doesn't Straight Talk rent lines from ATT?

Posted via CB10

[raino]

I have a friend on Straight Talk the message on SMS Does this mean they are not using data? Doesn't Straight Talk rent lines from ATT?

It has nothing to do with the network. It's just AT&T enacting a policy that phones they deem as smartphones--especially ones they sold to you--need to have a data plan. If you don't add one, they will add it for you. Other carriers (and MVNOs) may or may not have the same policy. I know that before TMO added data to all its postpaid plans, they didn't care if you were using a smartphone for just calls and texting; they would not add on a data plan if you BYOP.

[ChainPunch]

I believe straight talk rent their lines from AT&T mainly, but they do have other agreements in place where they rent lines from others. Typically on the phone packaging it says what company straight talk is leasing their lines from. AT&T and other carriers are in business to make money, so requiring all smartphones to have data plans generate cash for them as that is reoccurring income for them.

You can send sms/mms message from flip phones (non-smartphones), so your friend may not have data on their phone depending how their line/sim is program.

[Mr4aces]

It has nothing to do with the network. It's just AT&T enacting a policy that phones they deem as smartphones--especially ones they sold to you--need to have a data plan. If you don't add one, they will add it for you. Other carriers (and MVNOs) may or may not have the same policy. I know that before TMO added data to all its postpaid plans, they didn't care if you were using a smartphone for just calls and texting; they would not add on a data plan if you BYOP.

Just the man I've been wanting to ask. See below. What do you think a plan under $10./ mo

Try US Mobile. You can get a text/data combo for pretty cheap, if they have service in your area.

unlimited text $7, 100mb data $2, and monthly service fee $2 = $11 for the month.

https://gousmobile.com/

Or - Consumer Cellular
1000 text and 100mb data for $5 per month. That seems like a great deal....

https://www.consumercellular.com/Inf...FRCTfgodz7AANA

[raino]

Just the man I've been wanting to ask. See below. What do you think a plan under $10./ mo

Those are pretty good plans. I know that USM is a TMO MVNO, whereas CC is AT&T. This information shouldn't matter too much if all you're planning to do is calls and texts, but if data is involved, you may want to sign up with whichever one your 9900 would get you 3G on. Also, CC is postpaid, and I believe USM is prepaid.

But regarding data, I doubt either offers BIS. So at best, you'd be doing everything on Opera web browser. No BBM, no push email.

[Mr4aces]

Those are pretty good plans. I know that USM is a TMO MVNO, whereas CC is AT&T. This information shouldn't matter too much if all you're planning to do is calls and texts, but if data is involved, you may want to sign up with whichever one your 9900 would get you 3G on. Also, CC is postpaid, and I believe USM is prepaid.

But regarding data, I doubt either offers BIS. So at best, you'd be doing everything on Opera web browser. No BBM, no push email.

I'm thinking a middle plans so under $100/year just so I can have the option of a smaller phone while playing cards and using BBM7. The 99 is nice because I can one hand while doing other things. However, the more I use the classic the better I'm liking it.

Ty

Posted via CB10

[enik]

I will be switching to AT&T from VZW once the passport becomes available. The AT&T website is very confusing and makes it difficult to view the actual price of their plans. I'm trying to get an idea of how much I would be paying each month for service. I would be looking for unlimited talk / text and 1.5gb of data for a single line.

Does anyone have a similar plan now and knows how the pricing per month works? I would be signing two year contract. From what I can tell, that is cheaper in the long than their "next" program which would cost full retail when you add up all of your installments.

Thank you!

Posted via CB10

Next is usually cheaper depending on your plan. It would be $1165 on next 24 over the course of 24 months and it would cost about $1214 to do a regular two year contract. The numbers break down like this, on next your line would cost $25 a month and the phone would add $21.67 a month making your total per month bill for only that line $46.67 a month plus taxes will be due at time of purchase, which will range from $30-$50 depending on your state. With a two year contract your line is $40 a month, the phone costs $200 plus tax, and there would be a $40 activation fee. Disclaimer I am quoting on Georgia sales tax, but in your use case next would be a cheaper option.