Explain at&t's billing policy to me

[Harry_Yambag]

I just signed up in December and changed my plan about 2 weeks ago. I paid my 1st bill on Jan 18th and i have my next bill due on Feb 16th. When looking online it looks like they are both for 12/22-1/21. I called them up and they say they bill for a month in advance. How you bill for a month in advance without knowing if I will go over my minutes or not doesn't make much sense to me, but anyway.

Does at&t usually bill a month in advance? My coworker went online when I asked her about this and her bill does not show this. She is getting billed for her current cycle. Did they change the way they bill or is my bill screwed up?

[blueyestm]

they always bill 1 month in advance. if you go over your minutes you will see it on the next bill.

[Totalimmortal363]

On AT&T, there is "advance" or arrears". You're on advance billing, therefor youre billed in advance.

[mark_rivers19]

Originally Posted by Harry_Yambag

I just signed up in December and changed my plan about 2 weeks ago. I paid my 1st bill on Jan 18th and i have my next bill due on Feb 16th. When looking online it looks like they are both for 12/22-1/21. I called them up and they say they bill for a month in advance. How you bill for a month in advance without knowing if I will go over my minutes or not doesn't make much sense to me, but anyway.

Does at&t usually bill a month in advance? My coworker went online when I asked her about this and her bill does not show this. She is getting billed for her current cycle. Did they change the way they bill or is my bill screwed up?

you are billed in advance.. but you can change your plans every month ( you are allowed to change your plan one time every month)
they will credit you the balance if you chose to lower your minutes, data etc etc.

[Mister Xiado]

You can change your plan every ten minutes if you want.

Advance billing just means that if you cancel, you won't get another bill unless you had overage or usage charges, or an ETF. You are billed for your service upfront, then use it, and hopefully pay for it before the bill is due.

When you eat at a fast food restaurant, do you pay AFTER you get your food? No.

[Harry_Yambag]

Originally Posted by Mister Xiado

You can change your plan every ten minutes if you want.


When you eat at a fast food restaurant, do you pay AFTER you get your food? No.

I would say your analogy better describes a pay as you go, no contract phone. When you are locked into a contract, its more like eating at a restaurant...you don't pay after the appetizer, then the entree and every round of drinks.

But thank you all for explaining that at&t does bill in advance. I just don't know why my co-workers bill is not like that. Oh well, no biggie.

[mark_rivers19]

^ i think it's not only AT&T but Most if not ALL phone companies in the US..
i was with T-mobile for 3 years and i'm pretty sure we were billed in advance.

[bigsteveatt]

Originally Posted by mark_rivers19

^ i think it's not only AT&T but Most if not ALL phone companies in the US..
i was with T-mobile for 3 years and i'm pretty sure we were billed in advance.

This is true, even for landline companies, cable companies, and satellite companies. My Time Warner bill would have my monthly charge for the NEXT month and then any extra charges (movies, etc.) from the previous month. AT&T works this way, as does Verizon and Sprint (not sure about T-Mo). My DirecTV billing works the same way as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mark_rivers19]

that's why the term post paid plan is misleading..
pre-paid/ pay as you go with 2 yrs commitment is a more appropriate terminology.

[TheQ805]

Yes just standard advanced billing (some at&t customers have been grandfathered into 'arrears').
You pay your MRC (monthly recurring charges) a month in advance, and if you have any overages or usage charges, they'll show up with the accompanying date set al printed right there on the bill.

[Mister Xiado]

Even if you're billed in advance, it's still postpaid, because you're not shut off the instant your bill is printed. You have almost until the end of the billing cycle to pay for the services you were allotted.

And nobody is forced into a contract. Consumerists always cry about them, but imagine the whining there would be if everyone had to pay full retail price for their phones instead?

I'd still have a BlackBerry, but I'd bet that less than ten thousand people would have an iPhone.

[cavingjan]

Originally Posted by Mister Xiado

Consumerists always cry about them, but imagine the whining there would be if everyone had to pay full retail price for their phones instead?

Personally I wish we would get cheaper monthly bills and pay full price for the phones. People won't be as surprised later when they have to buy a replacement phone because they did not take care of it.

[mark_rivers19]

Originally Posted by cavingjan

Personally I wish we would get cheaper monthly bills and pay full price for the phones. People won't be as surprised later when they have to buy a replacement phone because they did not take care of it.

my thougths exactly.
nobody bothers to check or challenge these phone companies with their outrageous pricing. ( not just AT&T but everyone of them esp Verizon)
ex: SMS if you go over it's 20-25cents/ text over your SMS limit.
and they charge you for both SMS sent and received.

and the true cost to send an SMS is less than 5 cents.
article maybe 2 yrs old.. but you get the picture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/bu...digi.html?_r=1

[Mister Xiado]

The true cost for the delivery of a text message is somewhere around a hundredth of a mill, but the fact is, people want the service, and the market will bear the rates charged.
It takes no training to assemble a computer, but people pay to have it done. It doesn't take ASE certification to change your car's oil, but people pay to have it done. Cooking only takes the ability to follow instructions, even if you know next to nothing about it, but people still eat dinner at fast food restaurants.

Here's a good tip, though. If you want to send text messages or MMS messages to an international number, use THIS as a guide.
List of SMS gateways - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I recommend buying locked phones on eBay and unlocking them yourself. Good way to have usable backup phones on the cheap, skipping insurance and upgrades entirely. Consumerists mean that there will always be cheap phones for sale online, since they don't seem to fully grasp the actual cost of the phones they're buying and selling.