Wireless Carriers Chip Away at Phone Subsidies

[Dulanic]

I would consider page plus, but again it's just not enough of an incentive to switch. For example, I've got two iPhones, a 700 minute family plan, two 500 text packages, an unlimited data plan and a 3 gig data plan. I pay $125 a month for that with an employer discount at VZW.

With page plus I'd lose the ability to use the iPhones, I'd take a massive hit to data limits, and my wife would lose 2 gig of data use to save $15 a month.

Just not worth it.

Don't blame you, page plus doesn't have much of any kind of decent plan for smartphone users.

 

[notposting]

Craig Moffett is a pretty well established jackass. He pops up in the news on DSL Reports every other day with his fantasy scenarios for bending over the consumer.

 

[alent1234]

And for the same price you could get data on four smartphones with Straight Talk. And not have to worry about anyone hogging minutes. Why would you go with an AT&T family plan?

and then i will need to buy new iphones at $650 each and up plus tax

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

carriers need to stick to service and phones need to be sold as phones. the more they spend on cell phones, the less incentive we have to use unlocked phones

 

[x26]

Straight Talk. $45 a month, unlimited talk, text, ~2gb monthly data. Works with any GSM phone.

Can you get a Micro-Sim for the iphone??

 

[Dulanic]

Can you get a Micro-Sim for the iphone??

Yes

 

[kaerflog]

Can you get a Micro-Sim for the iphone??

Don't even need to.
Just trim it down.

 

[kaerflog]

All these prepaid are decent if you are an individual but if you can get people on a family plan, it makes more sense to be on contract.
There are 4 of us on T-mobile sharing 1000 mins, unlimted texting, 3 with 2gb data and 1 with 200mb. All smartphones.
Total every month is $165($42 per) so no prepaid plan can touch that.
Plus I get the latest phone for cheap/free. And I get can get Tmobile to provide unlock codes for me.
I've been thinking about breaking away for just myself and go to straightalk just so I'm able to use ATT phones but T-mobile is going to cure that problem with adding HSPA+ to the 1900mhz band.

 

[SunnyD]

I would consider page plus, but again it's just not enough of an incentive to switch. For example, I've got two iPhones, a 700 minute family plan, two 500 text packages, an unlimited data plan and a 3 gig data plan. I pay $125 a month for that with an employer discount at VZW.

With page plus I'd lose the ability to use the iPhones, I'd take a massive hit to data limits, and my wife would lose 2 gig of data use to save $15 a month.

Just not worth it.

Why would you lose the ability to use the iPhones on PagePlus? The Verizon iPhone works absolutely fine with PagePlus.

 

[shortylickens]

I wish all the carriers would be more up front and honest about exactly how much everything will cost.

 

[vi edit]

Why would you lose the ability to use the iPhones on PagePlus? The Verizon iPhone works absolutely fine with PagePlus.

That must be something new then. Originally when I looked at it I thought they were prohibited.

 

[vi edit]

Just read this:
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/v...zon-iphone-pageplus-cellular-8238/index2.html

Last post in that thread:
"I am a PagePlus Cellular Authorized dealer (and have been for a 3 1/2 years now), and had verified this a while back with Denny Scher (Marketing Director at Page Plus), while iPhones are not approved to be on Page Plus Cellular (PPC), they have not at this time removed any from the network.

Also, the warning sent out to dealers last year was for dealers to let their customers know that standpoint that PPC has on iPhones (due to agreement with Verizon, as they are an MVNO of Verizon), and for us to let our customers know that at any time in the future, they may at their discretion choose to remove iPhones from their network. The exact quote again was "Should an iPhone activate on Page Plus, it will be subject to suspension or deactivation. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter."

I personally will not activate any IPhones for customers, however, there is one place that I know of, who is also a dealer, that I recommend my customers to for this called beigephone. They are reputable in all respects, and have an excellent repoire with my customers who still buy the cards from me for their Iphones. Now please note again that they are subject to suspension or deactivation (the very reason I won't activate them), however, Denny Scher verified that to at last check with him (approximately 2 months ago), they had not deactivated any Iphones on the network.

Also, to other dealers, this can all be verified on Page Plus' official facebook page. Just search the forum itself for iPhone, and you will find notes from Denny Scher regarding this, as well as Dealer support themselves will verify the same thing for you through the Dealer web portal Chat, or Dealer Support number.

I did not place the link for beigephone in here, as I am not sure whether it is allowed or not, however, they are easily found through Googling them.

If you are going to go this route, I highly recommend you to use the $55 Plan (Unlimited Talk and Text with 1GB Data) as the iPhone does use allot of data. Currently this is the best data plan they have, however, it has been suggested by Dealer support that an even higher data plan is on the way.

I hope this helps to properly answer anyone's questions concerning this matter.

Also, Blackberry's are now allowed on Pageplus, and have been since the middle of last year, (after the time a previous post was made about their ban), so I suspect the same thing will eventually happen with the iPhones, however, that part is really mere conjecture on my part, and can in no way be inferred from any conversation with Pageplus Execs. "

 

[lothar]

Just read this:
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/v...zon-iphone-pageplus-cellular-8238/index2.html

Last post in that thread:
"I am a PagePlus Cellular Authorized dealer (and have been for a 3 1/2 years now), and had verified this a while back with Denny Scher (Marketing Director at Page Plus), while iPhones are not approved to be on Page Plus Cellular (PPC), they have not at this time removed any from the network.

Also, the warning sent out to dealers last year was for dealers to let their customers know that standpoint that PPC has on iPhones (due to agreement with Verizon, as they are an MVNO of Verizon), and for us to let our customers know that at any time in the future, they may at their discretion choose to remove iPhones from their network. The exact quote again was "Should an iPhone activate on Page Plus, it will be subject to suspension or deactivation. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter."

I personally will not activate any IPhones for customers, however, there is one place that I know of, who is also a dealer, that I recommend my customers to for this called beigephone. They are reputable in all respects, and have an excellent repoire with my customers who still buy the cards from me for their Iphones. Now please note again that they are subject to suspension or deactivation (the very reason I won't activate them), however, Denny Scher verified that to at last check with him (approximately 2 months ago), they had not deactivated any Iphones on the network.

Also, to other dealers, this can all be verified on Page Plus' official facebook page. Just search the forum itself for iPhone, and you will find notes from Denny Scher regarding this, as well as Dealer support themselves will verify the same thing for you through the Dealer web portal Chat, or Dealer Support number.

I did not place the link for beigephone in here, as I am not sure whether it is allowed or not, however, they are easily found through Googling them.

If you are going to go this route, I highly recommend you to use the $55 Plan (Unlimited Talk and Text with 1GB Data) as the iPhone does use allot of data. Currently this is the best data plan they have, however, it has been suggested by Dealer support that an even higher data plan is on the way.

I hope this helps to properly answer anyone's questions concerning this matter.

Also, Blackberry's are now allowed on Pageplus, and have been since the middle of last year, (after the time a previous post was made about their ban), so I suspect the same thing will eventually happen with the iPhones, however, that part is really mere conjecture on my part, and can in no way be inferred from any conversation with Pageplus Execs. "

That "official" stance from PagePlus regarding iPhones contains more bark than bite.
However, they won't deactivate any iPhone from their network. That would be like cutting off their nose to spite their face.


They are only putting all these warnings and disclaimers because Verizon requires them to. By Verizon making them put these warnings/disclaimers up, Verizon minimizes and prevents a mass exodus of people from considering to leave the more profitable post-paid contracts on their own network.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Getting rid of subsidies- Good in the long run.
Getting rid of subsidies and not lowering plan prices- ludicrous.

They have to give the consumer something, even if it doesn't add up to what the subsidy was over the life of the plan. Great thing is that it allow competition strictly base on monthly rates then. Move carriers if their service sucks, or data speeds drop (hello sprint!)

the ** in the article say the new plan with no phone subsidy (for the same price as the old) come with more min, texts and data. Which I'll guess benefit 1% of the users and does nothing for the rest. So they pay more for something they don't need.

We see this when at&t state that something like 95% of people use less than 1-1.5 GB of data. Yet they still only offer a 3GB plan for $30. Why not half the GB for half the $? I have thousands of rollover minutes, but there is no way get a lower plan, it's all a scam.

 

[Phokus]

the carriers could benefit more from the smartphone boom if they succeed in raising prices for service plans and slowing the rate at which customers buy new phones.

WHAT!?!? Are they on crack? Monthly plans are fucking expensive enough as it is. Data plans are a complete ripoff.

 

[AstroManLuca]

the ** in the article say the new plan with no phone subsidy (for the same price as the old) come with more min, texts and data. Which I'll guess benefit 1% of the users and does nothing for the rest. So they pay more for something they don't need.

We see this when at&t state that something like 95% of people use less than 1-1.5 GB of data. Yet they still only offer a 3GB plan for $30. Why not half the GB for half the $? I have thousands of rollover minutes, but there is no way get a lower plan, it's all a scam.

Yeah, that's the same problem I ran into with Sprint. They seem great at first - wow, their family data plan is 1500 shared minutes and unlimited texting is included! But the fact is we've never even gotten close to needing that many minutes, especially since calls to any other cell phone and all evening and weekend calls are free. The price is the same as Verizon and AT&T... you get more minutes but it's not any cheaper and there's no way to save money if you are a light user.

Last thing I care about is larger voice/text buckets I'll never use. This is why prepaid is great. You pay for what you need. If you go over, you pay extra - but only as much as you use. Only a tiny percentage of super heavy users are going to be better off paying out the ass for an unlimited plan.

It's fairly easy to calculate how much a phone subsidy is worth, but only against T-Mobile really since they're the only carrier that drops your monthly rate once you pay off your phone. You pay $480 more over the course of a 2-year contract if you buy a subsidized phone from them. If you buy an HTC One S, you pay $200 with a contract renewal - so in total you're paying $680 for a phone with an MSRP of $600. Basically the same as buying the $600 no-contract phone with a credit card (assuming you don't pay it off right away).

After all the research into the cost of owning a smartphone that I've done over the past month, I'm basically certain that I'll be switching to T-Mobile sometime this year. Hopefully, some more bring-your-own-phone MVNOs start popping up. Prepaid smartphone plans are becoming more and more common these days.

 

[Phokus]

I think everyone should go on prepaid to teach these asshats a lesson. There are some really good options out there. I think i might jump on T-Mobile's $30 a month plan, 100 minutes and 5 GB of data. You can use the Galaxy Nexus on it too.

 

[Red Storm]

I think everyone should go on prepaid to teach these asshats a lesson. There are some really good options out there. I think i might jump on T-Mobile's $30 a month plan, 100 minutes and 5 GB of data. You can use the Galaxy Nexus on it too.

This is the only cheap plan I've seen that's actually worthwhile for a smartphone because it actually gives you a good amount of data. But T-Mobile's reception is lacking...

My Verizon plan is $80 per month. I get really good coverage, as well as really good data speeds (LTE). Except for that T-Mobile plan, all the others I see completely neuter the data and just give you more minutes and text, and that's pretty useless for a smartphone.

 

[ImDonly1]

Just read this:
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/v...zon-iphone-pageplus-cellular-8238/index2.html

Last post in that thread:
"I am a PagePlus Cellular Authorized dealer (and have been for a 3 1/2 years now), and had verified this a while back with Denny Scher (Marketing Director at Page Plus), while iPhones are not approved to be on Page Plus Cellular (PPC), they have not at this time removed any from the network.

Also, the warning sent out to dealers last year was for dealers to let their customers know that standpoint that PPC has on iPhones (due to agreement with Verizon, as they are an MVNO of Verizon), and for us to let our customers know that at any time in the future, they may at their discretion choose to remove iPhones from their network. The exact quote again was "Should an iPhone activate on Page Plus, it will be subject to suspension or deactivation. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter."

I personally will not activate any IPhones for customers, however, there is one place that I know of, who is also a dealer, that I recommend my customers to for this called beigephone. They are reputable in all respects, and have an excellent repoire with my customers who still buy the cards from me for their Iphones. Now please note again that they are subject to suspension or deactivation (the very reason I won't activate them), however, Denny Scher verified that to at last check with him (approximately 2 months ago), they had not deactivated any Iphones on the network.

Also, to other dealers, this can all be verified on Page Plus' official facebook page. Just search the forum itself for iPhone, and you will find notes from Denny Scher regarding this, as well as Dealer support themselves will verify the same thing for you through the Dealer web portal Chat, or Dealer Support number.

I did not place the link for beigephone in here, as I am not sure whether it is allowed or not, however, they are easily found through Googling them.

Doesn't sound like they care, just something they say.
What that guy is saying that pageplus was blocked from activating iPhone 4's when they were released on verizon. This was true, they told dealers that they can revoke their dealer license if they activate the iphone 4 at release.

Now, though, the iphone 4 is older since the 4s was released and they allow it to be activated. The 4s I am not sure about. Usually pageplus is not allowed to activate brand new phones that vzw still sells, but older (last year's phones) are fine. This is from what I read a while ago about this.

 

[Dulanic]

I think everyone should go on prepaid to teach these asshats a lesson. There are some really good options out there. I think i might jump on T-Mobile's $30 a month plan, 100 minutes and 5 GB of data. You can use the Galaxy Nexus on it too.

The only crappy part is the big carriers still make the money even off prepaids.

 

[MrX8503]

I hate carriers.

I'm planning on migrating to straight talk. Does anyone know if Apple's iPhones come unlock from the apple store? Also does AT&T unlock iPhones if I got it from eBay?

 

[jpiniero]

I'm planning on migrating to straight talk. Does anyone know if Apple's iPhones come unlock from the apple store?

Apple sells unlocked iPhones now. You do have to pay full price though.

 

[Dulanic]

This is the only cheap plan I've seen that's actually worthwhile for a smartphone because it actually gives you a good amount of data. But T-Mobile's reception is lacking...

My Verizon plan is $80 per month. I get really good coverage, as well as really good data speeds (LTE). Except for that T-Mobile plan, all the others I see completely neuter the data and just give you more minutes and text, and that's pretty useless for a smartphone.

I've been debating between the TMo 100/5GB plan and the straight talk plan. I live in the northeast and TMo has good coverage here so that's not a concern. TMo's 4G seems to be rather quick so I am still trying to find out how well GrooveIP does on Tmo 4G /2 the Gnex.

 

[lothar]

I hate carriers.

I'm planning on migrating to straight talk. Does anyone know if Apple's iPhones come unlock from the apple store? Also does AT&T unlock iPhones if I got it from eBay?

I believe all AT&T phones works on Straight Talk. Does not matter if the phone is locked or unlocked.

-Lothar

 

[dehemke]

What about TING for the win?

Buy in at $0 per month + $6 dollars per phone, and then get charged according to use. Their data pricing might make stand alones a little better than family for a data family family, and they don't have the latest phones (yet), but this is the model we have all been begging for!

If I weren't on a now-defunct Tmobile no contract 1500 min, 5GBx2, unlimited text, +1 dumb phone plan for $120, I'd be all over Ting.