To be fair, this also made their devices much more straightforwardly compatible with AT&T (and vice versa). HSPA on PCS, LTE on (among other things) AWS... look familiar? It should.
To be fair, this also made their devices much more straightforwardly compatible with AT&T (and vice versa). HSPA on PCS, LTE on (among other things) AWS... look familiar? It should.I get so frustrated at them because they focused on trying to get their LTE network.
Correct, they realized increasing numbers of people would no longer need texting, so instead of allowing you to opt out to save money, they just priced everything at the same levels it used to cost to get unlimited. So if you don't need it, too bad you're paying for it anyway.
They don't give anything away....compare the price of a mobile share plan for an individual with 2 GB data to what it used to cost under the old plans to get 400 minutes + unlimited text + 2 GB data. They're the same. All they did was remove the ability to choose anything less than unlimited minutes and texting and the prices reflect that. This is how they protect themselves from declining revenue as people begin to need these things less - just charge you for it anyway. When people say minutes and texting are now "free," you are just thinking exactly along the lines they wanted you to. Look at your bill - it has only gone up.
There is no better example of corporate greed, corruption, and a lack of a competitive free market than in the US postpaid telecom industry. Vote with your wallet - stick with prepaid.
This is all fine and good if it's just one device for yourself. How about a plan with 6 phones a few tablets? Pre pay them all?
It has. I chat with AT&T yesterday and the representative confirmed it without additional fee. It's tempted, but it is a little over the cost of my plan right now (about $20) and don't use much of data I have right now on my plan (1 is 2GB and the other is 3GB, the 3rd one is dumb phone).So I'll be switching shortly since we're starting a 3rd line and the new 10GB value plan will help us save about $45. It's worth it as even on my grandfathered unlimited plan, I rarely go over 3.5GB a month and the 2nd line only uses about 1.5GB.
1. Has it been confirmed that tethering is included in the mobile value plans? No additional fees?
2. I'm having a tougher time figuring out what to do regarding devices. I think the following makes sense.
Phone 1 - my wife's iPhone who is OK with 2 year upgrades. Switch to Next when the new iPhone comes out (assuming 32GB model for $818 after taxes). Pay the per month cost and fully pay off the phone. In 2 years, use the Next upgrade for the new iPhone and sell the paid off iPhone which should still fetch at least $350 due to their good residual value. Total cost of $468 every 2 years. Basically it's the same as buying it myself but at free $0 financing.
Phone 2 - my Note 3 with upgrades every year. What makes the difference is how the residual holds up as it's historically not as good as the iPhone or even the Galaxy S series (I always assumed since it's more of a niche product which hopefully seems to be changing). If after 1 year I can get $400 for my Note 3, then it seems to make sense to just buy the N4 for $763 after taxes, partially offset by the $363 in selling the phone (after swappa, paypal fees, and shipping). Total cost of $400 per year. If I only get $350 for the phone, then the cost goes up to $448 per year.
Going with the Next 12 plan, I'd pay $475 per year. It's probably worth some hassle to save $75 per year, less so to save $28 a year.
Phone 3 - going to buy a mint/new G2 on swappa for $400 and not upgrade it until it breaks.
I heard otherwise. Verizon is losing its budget-consious customers to rivals. About 900,000 new customers Verizon added, half of them was actually for current customers using tablets in addition of their smartphones. They are definitely feeling the heat!unfortunately Verizon doesn't have to lower any price if they continue to gain new customers at the current pace.....
The subscriber shortfall caused some concern that the company, the first U.S. telephone operator to report this quarter, was losing market share to rivals such as T-Mobile US Inc.
New Street analyst Jonathan Chaplin said that while Verizon's financials were "outstanding," "there were clear signs that a resurgent TMUS is impacting even Verizon."
Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo conceded some lower-spending customers moved to rival services in the quarter even as he told analysts on the company's quarterly conference call that "we continue to gain market share."