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

[QUOTE=codenamecueball;41484823]it's $384 a year + the value of the phone[/QUOTE] No it isn't. It says that exactly nowhere in the article, and that wouldn't even make sense. Why would you pay the value of the phone and then still pay a monthly fee?

[QUOTE=Take_Opal;41485068]I don't see any problem with this. At all.[/QUOTE] Considering you pay $200 (plus activation and taxes bringing it close to $250) for a subsidized S4 on a 2 year expensive contract Agreeing to do this means you pay an additional $34/mo which is around $384 a year you pay for the "privilege" of upgrading your phone in a year Boom you already are at/around $600 spent on the phone itself, on top of your contract which is meant to subsidize the cost of the phone in the first place. Why not just... buy the phone off contract? Then in a year if you want to upgrade (or anytime sooner) you just sell the phone off for a good chunk of cash and etc (earning back a chunk of your initial investment) and buy the upgraded phone while continuing to stay off contract. That said this makes less sense for AT&T, because their prices aren't any cheaper off contract than on. You could do the above, but the new phone would still cost hypothetically $600 or so. So if you spend $600 on the first phone, sell it for $400 (total cost: $200), you'd be buying another phone again for $600 bringing the total price of all this around $800 if you never end up selling that The trade in deal on the otherhand means the total cost of doing that would be around $600/year Which is still pretty expensive, either way. That's the price you pay if you feel like AT&T is your thing, for some reason.

Pretty much every network provider in Australia does this, it's pretty common guys. I prefer to have my pay-as-I-spend unlocked contract with Telstra, but I can see why people would like to pay monthly and pay a device fee as well. It's pretty common, it's not for me, so everyone should all just calm down. Literally nothing has changed.

T-Mobile is doing a much better version of this called JUMP

[QUOTE=demoguy08;41486821]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).[/QUOTE] You're forgetting the huge lack of government oversight to regulate everything, because these behemoths have wormed themselves so tightly into government that, like the "too big to fail" banks, they're largely held unaccountable for their actions and therefore do everything they can to spend as little as possible while making as much profit as possible. Government oversight is necessary for a capitalism-based economic system to function properly without swelling to the point of uselessness. A lot of Right-wingers, Left-wingers, and Libertarians forget that. Without government oversight, you get a Mercantilist system, which basically lets companies do what they want, how they want, when they want, with no say from anyone else. It produces bloated monopolies and oligopolies, and is awful for the consumer market.

[QUOTE=KorJax;41487109]Considering you pay $200 (plus activation and taxes bringing it close to $250) for a subsidized S4 on a 2 year expensive contract Agreeing to do this means you pay an additional $34/mo which is around $384 a year you pay for the "privilege" of upgrading your phone in a year Boom you already are at/around $600 spent on the phone itself, on top of your contract which is meant to subsidize the cost of the phone in the first place. Why not just... buy the phone off contract? Then in a year if you want to upgrade (or anytime sooner) you just sell the phone off for a good chunk of cash and etc (earning back a chunk of your initial investment) and buy the upgraded phone while continuing to stay off contract. That said this makes less sense for AT&T, because their prices aren't any cheaper off contract than on. You could do the above, but the new phone would still cost hypothetically $600 or so. So if you spend $600 on the first phone, sell it for $400 (total cost: $200), you'd be buying another phone again for $600 bringing the total price of all this around $800 if you never end up selling that The trade in deal on the otherhand means the total cost of doing that would be around $600/year Which is still pretty expensive, either way. That's the price you pay if you feel like AT&T is your thing, for some reason.[/QUOTE] I'm confused the bolded part makes me think it's just a phone loan, you get the phone free and pay it off monthly rather than all at once. Where's does it say the S4 is $200 + $34 monthly?

Still waiting for Google Fiber to come through the rest of the south so I'm not reliant entirely upon AT&T

[QUOTE=Shadaez;41488481]I'm confused the bolded part makes me think it's just a phone loan, you get the phone free and pay it off monthly rather than all at once. Where's does it say the S4 is $200 + $34 monthly?[/QUOTE] It's an additional charge So you still have to pay $200 for the S4 on top of your normal subsidized contract phone bills for 2 years if you want an S4 However on top of that, you can choose to pay $34/mo extra on top what you already paid in order to get the option of upgrading your phone in a year without needing to do a down payment or anything, even though you effectively pay for that upgrade anyways via the additional monthly payments (and if you choose not to upgrade, its cash down the drain). So its $200 + activation/taxes/misc fees AT&T love to pile on + your contract phone bill + $34/mo additional to upgrade in a year

still not seeing where you're getting that info

[url]http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/16/4528404/att-next-phone-upgrade-plans-a-huge-ripoff[/url] an interesting take on this new plan

[QUOTE=Shadaez;41489020]still not seeing where you're getting that info[/QUOTE] It says it right there? You purchase the Galaxy S4. Purchasing means you pay for the phone just like you normally would (in this case, its around $200 on contract). On top of this, you are still paying your normal contract on the phone, in addition to this new charge if you decide to hop on

[quote] customers [b]purchase a smartphone or tablet with no down payment[/b] 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.[/quote] no down payment, aka a loan, instead you pay a monthly fee for the phone

[QUOTE=KorJax;41487109]Considering you pay $200 (plus activation and taxes bringing it close to $250) for a subsidized S4 on a 2 year expensive contract Agreeing to do this means you pay an additional $34/mo which is around $384 a year you pay for the "privilege" of upgrading your phone in a year[/QUOTE] What? Did you read it? This is instead of activation fees, outright purchases etc. So the phone is $0, the activation is $0, and therefore the tax at the start of the contract is also $0. Instead, you pay your monthly fee, plus $34 for the phone. That's it. Pretty much how the rest of the world operates. It's not that bad.

[QUOTE=DogGunn;41491466]What? Did you read it? This is instead of activation fees, outright purchases etc. So the phone is $0, the activation is $0, and therefore the tax at the start of the contract is also $0. Instead, you pay your monthly fee, plus $34 for the phone. That's it. Pretty much how the rest of the world operates. It's not that bad.[/QUOTE] Ah good point. I read "no down payment" as you don't have to do a down payment to upgrade, which was the whole point. It's a little better than what I thought but it's still not worth it, read the above verge article as to why. You basically pay the price of a fully unlocked/non-contract phone over the period you pay for this in a single year, except you don't actually own the phone because you have to trade it in after a year for a newer phone while still continuing to pay the $34/mo additional charge on top of your subsidy. If you choose not to upgrade then your contract is renewed for 20 months (I assume without the $34/mo charge on it), meaning you throw almost $400 down the drain and get re-contracted.

No, that's not correct. After 12 months they give you the [I]option[/I] to upgrade your device, in which case you must return it, otherwise, after 20 months of paying $X per month (depends on the phone), the phone becomes yours, and no more payments remain. I have no idea what The Verge is on about. So essentially, for the S4, you'll be paying $34/m for the phone. After 12 months or $480, you may return the phone to ATT, and pick a new one and start the cycle again. Instead, if you wish, you may continue paying the $34 for another 8 months ($272) at which time the phone becomes yours. If you chose to keep the phone, you'll pay a total of $680 of the whole 20 months, which isn't too bad if you don't have the money to buy the phone outright. According to The Verge, it's $60 difference from retail over the life of the contract, but for 20 months... eh. It's good to have choices, and it's really not that bad of a choice at all.

[QUOTE=DogGunn;41494806]No, that's not correct. After 12 months they give you the [I]option[/I] to upgrade your device, in which case you must return it, otherwise, after 20 months of paying $X per month (depends on the phone), the phone becomes yours, and no more payments remain. [/QUOTE] This is how phone contracts normally work though. Your contract and the cost of your plan is what pays your phone, which is why you can get phones for "free" often on contract, as around $20 of that monthly bill when you get put on a contract goes to pay for your phone over the period of 20 months. Once your contract is up, you own the phone and can do whatever you want with it (sell, tinker, keep it longer, etc). This is how the contracted phone business works. You pay for your phone through a subsidized phone plan, which is why for Tmobile (for example) a plan on contract might cost you $70/mo, but the same plan off contract and doing month-to-month only costs $50/mo. In the end its always cheaper to just get a phone off-contract, but then you have to shell $500-$600 for your phone to buy it upfront instead of paying it over a period of 2 years for a total cost of around $680-$700 [quote] So essentially, for the S4, you'll be paying $34/m for the phone. After 12 months or $480, you may return the phone to ATT, and pick a new one and start the cycle again. [/quote] Correct. By paying an extra $34/mo on top of your contract cost, you get to trade in for a new one after a year. [quote] If you chose to keep the phone, you'll pay a total of $680 of the whole 20 months, which isn't too bad if you don't have the money to buy the phone outright. According to The Verge, it's $60 difference from retail over the life of the contract, but for 20 months... eh. It's good to have choices, and it's really not that bad of a choice at all.[/QUOTE] Not quite, the $680 is how much that phone would cost over the whole 20 months/2 years/etc if you were just paying your contract, thats where the $20/mo on average in your bill goes to cover. None of this includes AT&T next's pricing plan. Going with NEXT, you pay $34/mo ON TOP of whatever you are already paying off to subsidize your phone, making it so by the end of 12 months (upgrade time!) you've effectively spent the same amount of money twoards your phone as it would have been to buy it outright, except unlike in a normal contract where you keep your phone and do whatever you want with it after you've paid it off, you have to return it for a new phone. This means, the moment you decide to stop upgrading every year for a new phone, AT&T pockets an easy $400 or so in payments you've made or will make when you renew your 2 year contract at the end of the year with your upgrade phone, but this time without the $34/mo charge

-oh shit, meant preview, not edit- -editing- [editline]18th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=KorJax;41495042]This is how the contracted phone business works. You pay for your phone through a subsidized phone plan, which is why for Tmobile (for example) a plan on contract might cost you $70/mo, but the same plan off contract and doing month-to-month only costs $50/mo. In the end its always cheaper to just get a phone off-contract, but then you have to shell $500-$600 for your phone to buy it upfront instead of paying it over a period of 2 years for a total cost of around $680-$700[/QUOTE] T-Mobile have a different pricing structure to AT&T. If you want a phone on T-Mobile, you must pay an upfront fee for the phone, a wireless plan, activation fee, and a monthly fee for the phone too. AT&T's plans are that you pay an upfront fee for the phone, a monthly fee for the wireless service and an activation fee. The difference is, AT&T customers do not pay for anything extra per month after the activation fee and upfront phone fee - it's only their wireless service charge. [QUOTE=KorJax;41495042]None of this includes AT&T next's pricing plan. Going with NEXT, you pay $34/mo ON TOP of whatever you are already paying off to subsidize your phone, making it so by the end of 12 months (upgrade time!) you've effectively spent the same amount of money twoards your phone as it would have been to buy it outright, except unlike in a normal contract where you keep your phone and do whatever you want with it after you've paid it off, you have to return it for a new phone. This means, the moment you decide to stop upgrading every year for a new phone, AT&T pockets an easy $400 or so in payments you've made or will make when you renew your 2 year contract at the end of the year with your upgrade phone, but this time without the $34/mo charge[/QUOTE] Again, this is not correct. I think you're getting confused between the differences with AT&T and T-Mobile. For an example, we'll use the cheapest plans available for the 16GB S4 on both T-Mobile and AT&T (without NEXT at the moment) on a 2 year contract: [table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"] [tr] [td]-[/td] [td][B]T-Mobile[/B][/td] [td][B]AT&T[/B][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Upfront fee[/td] [td]Monthly plan (including any data plan)[/td] [td]Monthly phone fee[/td] [td]Activation fee[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]$149.99[/td] [td]$50[/td] [td]$20[/td] [td]$35 although often waived[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]$199.99[/td] [td]$59.99 ($39.99 for plan + $20 for 500MB data)[/td] [td]$0[/td] [td]$36[/td] [/tr] [/table] With NEXT (which is a 20 month contract vs T-Mobile's 24): [table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"] [tr] [td]-[/td] [td][B]T-Mobile[/B][/td] [td][B]AT&T[/B][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Upfront fee[/td] [td]Monthly plan (including any data plan)[/td] [td]Monthly phone fee[/td] [td]Activation fee[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]$149.99[/td] [td]$50[/td] [td]$20[/td] [td]$35 although often waived[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]$0[/td] [td]$59.99 ($39.99 + $20 as before)[/td] [td]$32[/td] [td]$0[/td] [/tr] [/table] Then at 12 months, you have the capacity to stop payments for that phone ($34) if your phone is in good condition, your account is in good order, and you're willing to pay whatever amount of phone repayments for the new phone, and to sign a new contract. Otherwise, if you keep on the initial contract, you will be paying month to month after 20 months, at which time the phone is yours, and you are not required to hand it back to AT&T at the termination of the contract. Essentially, AT&T are giving you an interest fee loan for the outright payment of the phone if you stay with it for 20 months. [editline]18th July 2013[/editline] Derp derp... I really fucked up the tables there and I can't edit it because the tables are now showing up with their formatting rather than BB code - so ceebs redoing it. The first line of prices is for T-Mobile, and the second AT&T.

If AT&T/Verizon change anything about their plans, you can bet they are screwing you harder than the previous plans. Those companies are incapable of changing anything in a way that benefits the consumers.

Is giving the consumer more options screwing you harder? If I couldn't put up the lump sum for a new phone, but could pay it off overtime, then why not?

[QUOTE=DogGunn;41497270]Is giving the consumer more options screwing you harder? If I couldn't put up the lump sum for a new phone, but could pay it off overtime, then why not?[/QUOTE] Because everything about AT&T's plan just ends up costing you more money, and they definitely aren't advertising it that way. Besides, smartphone tech advances appear to be slowing down, and the market is getting saturated. The carriers would love to sell you a new phone every year, especially if it results in them getting your old phone back to resell overseas. Really, I can't imagine a reason my S4 won't be perfectly fine for 2 years. Why hand AT&T free money just so I can have a very incremental upgrade every year?

Because some people hold a different opinion to you? You might be okay with having a phone for two years, as am I, but someone else might rather a phone year and this gives them valid option.