AT&T Invents Yet Another Way to Gouge Money From You - Polidicks

[quote]Today, AT&T* introduces what’s next in wireless. Beginning nationwide on July 26, consumers can get a new AT&T smartphone or tablet every year with no down payment, no activation fee, no upgrade fee and no financing fees.** With AT&T Next, customers purchase a smartphone or tablet with no down payment and agree to pay monthly installments for the device. After 12 payments, they can trade it in and upgrade to a brand new device — again with no down payment — or they can keep using their device and have no more payments after 20 months. AT&T Next is available for new AT&T customers or existing customers who are upgrade eligible. “With AT&T Next, customers can get the newest smartphone or tablet every year with no down payment. That’s hard to beat, and it’s an incredible value for customers who want the latest and greatest every year,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. ------------ AT&T Next is available for any current smartphone or tablet in AT&T’s industry-leading selection of devices. The interest-free monthly device installments range from $15 to $50, depending on the device selected.[B] For example, a customer purchasing a Samsung Galaxy® S 4 would have no down payment and pay $32 per month, [U]in addition to the monthly wireless service plan they choose[/U], with the option to trade in their device and upgrade after 12 payments or to keep using the device and pay off the installment plan in full after 20 months. [/B]There’s no penalty for paying off the installment plan early. [/quote] [url]http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=24538&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=36749&mapcode=mobile-devices[/url] In other words, you can trade in your phone for free every year now instead of paying an upgrade fee or waiting for your phone to leave contract!!!*** ***Requires a monthly payment [I]on top[/I] of the payment you are already doing (to subsidize the cost of the phone you "purchased" for $200 on contract), that ends up costing you more money in the end. Or you could just buy the phone outright and off contract and then just selling it a year later for the "upgraded" phone to essentially get the same thing for less money. Also, have fun paying our expensive off-contract prices that are the same as the subsidized contract prices, because we like lots of easy money.

Holy fuck all the fees those greedy cunts Worst thing is I have AT&T cable, internet and cell phone

Being able to trade your phone every year is a step in the right direction, but this is probably not the way to do it.

I am so glad I don't have to deal with AT&T, with the shit they pull

[QUOTE=stupid07er;41483743]Being able to trade your phone every year is a step in the right direction, but this is probably not the way to do it.[/QUOTE] It's funny because Tmobile put in a similar plan recently, but the big difference is that it costs you $10/mo flat, so for an extra $120/year you get the option of deciding if you want to upgrade your phone for free or not, AFAIK (though being on tmobile I'd much rather buy the whole phone off-contract and then get in on their $30/mo unlimited+100min plan)

I refuse to buy phones and other things on payment plans. Of course I have to get some sort of plan for my cellphone but at least it is [I]my phone[/I] and not a phone that I am basically renting.

[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;41483958]Someone save me, At&t is the only provider where I live.[/QUOTE] Me too, at least I get a discount on their newest phones.

I bet you a lot of people will like this and make use of it. I don't see the issue, some people always want the cutting edge technology and will pay through the nose for it. $32*12months = $384 a year to always have the latest and greatest. I know families that spend a lot more than that when their kids inevitably smash their iPhone 4s or drop it in a pool, only to buy a 5 a few months later. Spoiled brats and what not, but their is plenty of interest. When it comes down to it, its a service that clearly is in demand. If you don't like it, don't use it.

Verizon's doing it too. Called VZW Edge. With how much I pay them monthly, I better be able to upgrade biannually for free :rolleyes:

Why are there no budget providers in the USA? We are a small country of 8 million people and have 4 major providers with their own networks. If you live somewhere away from all civilization where only the most expensive provider has coverage you can still just get a budget provider that uses the big providers network. I bought an SGSII off contract when it first came out and only paid 4-10€ per month for data+texts+calling since then.

It's a choice, so who cares? Let people waste their money if they want, no use crying over something you aren't even participating in. :rolleyes:

I use Simple Mobile where I am and its $40 for talk, text, and unlimited 3g. I get 500megs of 4g but my phone can't even do 4g so whatevs. and this is actually an improvement, it was $50 until they merged all their plans and made 3g unlimited on all plans. My only beef is it uses tmobile towers instead of ATT towers despite my phone coming from ATT originaly. Oh well, cheaper bill for me and helluva lot cheaper for parents.

[QUOTE=Robber;41484212]Why are there no budget providers in the USA? We are a small country of 8 million people and have 4 major providers with their own networks. If you live somewhere away from all civilization where only the most expensive provider has coverage you can still just get a budget provider that uses the big providers network. I bought an SGSII off contract when it first came out and only paid 4-10€ per month for data+texts+calling since then.[/QUOTE] There are cheaper providers The catch is, if you want a new-ish smartphone you are almost always locked to the major ones I.E. for basic talk/text it costs me maybe $75-$100 a year with my old Tracfone, which is pretty damn cheap for a mobile phone. No data of course If I want data (and a not bullshit "300mb a month" data that you'll burn through in a week), then Tmobile is really nice with their unlimited data (first 5GB being 4G), unlimited texting and 100m a month (who uses talk that much anymore anyways?) for only $30/mo. Catch is the plan is only available off-contract so you have to buy the phone outright (which is cheaper anyways in the long run).

[QUOTE=stupid07er;41483743]Being able to trade your phone every year is a step in the right direction, but this is probably not the way to do it.[/QUOTE] is it? seems rather wasteful to me.

[QUOTE=Socram;41484154]I bet you a lot of people will like this and make use of it. I don't see the issue, some people always want the cutting edge technology and will pay through the nose for it. $32*12months = $384 a year to always have the latest and greatest. I know families that spend a lot more than that when their kids inevitably smash their iPhone 4s or drop it in a pool, only to buy a 5 a few months later. Spoiled brats and what not, but their is plenty of interest. When it comes down to it, its a service that clearly is in demand. If you don't like it, don't use it.[/QUOTE] it's $384 a year + the value of the phone

I don't see any problem with this. At all.

The only reason I'm with at&t is because they only charge me $40 a month for 400 minutes, 400 texts, and 2gb of data. But now that they're getting rid of upgrades for 2 year contacts in a few months I may go to a prepaid nexus phone when I'm done with the HTC one that I'm going to get next month

sooooo... How is this shit still legal?

[QUOTE=GoldenDargon;41485302]sooooo... How is this shit still legal?[/QUOTE] Why on earth would it be illegal? Seriously, you guys are getting worked up over no big deal.

Also I find it interesting that every single article with some new business practice described in it gets at least one 'how is this shit legal' post.

Britbong masterrace, our carriers aren't greedy bastards. Unlimited Data, Unlimited Texts and 250 mins of calls for £12 a month and its PAYG!

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;41485383]Also I find it interesting that every single article with some new business practice described in it gets at least one 'how is this shit legal' post.[/QUOTE] Reminds me of the people that say, "I'll sue you!" to everything.

I've been turning the wheels to start a business that does [I]exactly[/I] this. Welp, fuck me I guess.

[QUOTE=Liem;41483753]I am so glad I don't have to deal with AT&T, with the shit they pull[/QUOTE] Lucky for you, i have no choice here, at least for internet, We have Suddenlink, which is shifty and shitty, satellite internet, which is shifty, shitty and expensive, and AT&T which is shifty, shitty but cheaper than the other two.

Phew. I'm on AT&T and I'm relieved to see that it's just optional stuff. I'm screwed over on my bandwidth cap of 150GB/Mo, but at least it's more reliable than the Windstream DSL we were stuck with in my old town.

[video=youtube;pCOCKS5AJI8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOCKS5AJI8[/video]

It's times like this when I wonder why the fuck my family still uses AT&T.

Yay Tracfone! Cheap and does all that I ask.

AT&T can go fuck themselves. My Cable ISP is pathetic. But they have a monopoly in my county. The only other people that offer internet is AT&T and 6mb DSL. My cable is so bad for gaming I got AT&T DSL, too. It was miles better for online gaming and it was cheap, too. $35 a month, Great. First bill: $300. On top of $20 they were taking for Geeksquad without permission. Call AT&T to get them to stop the Geeksquad bullshit and they say we don't know what that is, that's not us, you'll have to call Geeksquad. Call them, they don't know what it is, you'll have to call AT&T. Both refuse to acknowledge it. Go to bank, get them to stop the charge from happening next month, they say Ok. Next month, $20 more for Geeksquad. Cancel everything to do with AT&T, cancel the card and number and get a new one with the bank. Next month, $20 for Geeksquad. Luckily grabbing the highest guy at the bank and saying Look, this shit is going to stop, and he being a top notch helpful dude (For once) got it to stop So all I can say is Fuck AT&T. They're borderline illegitimate and a scam

It's interesting because out of all the countries in the world I'd expect the US to have the best possible services, given the circumstances (huge market, skilled workforce, lax regulations, historical anchorage to telecomms etc).