AT&T Cell Phone Service.. Good Deal or ?

[Pardus]

Though a corporate discount, AT&T offered me the 16GB iPhone 4 with the Nationwide 450 mins rollover plan and 2GB of data. No texting or messaging.

The phone costs $99.00 and the monthly rate would be $48 including taxes.

I'm not sure if the iphone would be considered a smart phone. My other phone choices would be the Samsung Captivate for $50 or the BlackBerry Curve 9300 for $30.

I looked at Sprint and T-Mobile and there rates are higher.

Does this seem like a good deal or should i look elsewhere?

ATT tells me they only add local sales tax and nothing else.

 

[Strk]

Including taxes, that's pretty good.

I'd say the other question is how good at&t is around you. A lot of the country has issues with them.

 

[Pardus]

I had just returned the virgin mobile phone, service is terrible here in upstate new york, only when i was on a major highway did i have service. ATT coverage map seems a lot better then Sprint. Verizon has the most coverage but they rape you blind.

 

[alent1234]

go to the local at&t store and play with the phones. see if they get 3g of edge. see if you can do a speedtest

 

[pm]

I agree with the others. That is a good rate and a good price on a good phone... but only if AT&T provides decent service in your area.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

For 450 minutes + data including taxes that's a good price.

Normally its $40 voice + $25 data plus tax, call it $70 total with the BS fees, so for $48 that's 31% savings which is WAY more than I've seen/heard from other people. I get a 22% discount from work and am happy with that!

But, its all about coverage. Sprint could offer me free service and I wouldn't take it cause there is no coverage in my apartment.

 

[ImDonly1]

Though a corporate discount, AT&T offered me the 16GB iPhone 4 with the Nationwide 450 mins rollover plan and 2GB of data. No texting or messaging.

The phone costs $99.00 and the monthly rate would be $48 including taxes.

I'm not sure if the iphone would be considered a smart phone. My other phone choices would be the Samsung Captivate for $50 or the BlackBerry Curve 9300 for $30.

I looked at Sprint, ATT and T-Mobile and there rates are higher.

Does this seem like a good deal or should i look elsewhere?

I'm finding that a little hard to believe. The best discount I heard of is 30% off. That's only off the voice though. So 450 minutes = $40-30% off = $28+$25 for data = $53+tax. You don't get a discount on the data. Are you sure you priced it out right? If it is right, then that is a great deal.

Yes, the iPhone is a smartphone. You can't use the $10-15 featurephone data on it.

 

[Skott]

I just left AT&T this week. Phone was fine but they are getting bad about dropped calls. Watched their service grow worse over the two year contract period. Went to Sprint where they have true unlimited data plan. Got the HTC Evo 3D phone. Couldn't be happier. Yes, I pay more but Verizon and AT&T are in cahoots about their data plans. They got an unspoken monopoly going as far as I'm concerned. I won't support that. I won't touch an Apple product either but that is just how I am.

I will say that is a good rate and price they are offering. Ask around to find out if others in the area have the service and see how often they get dropped calls. If people are saying its low then go with them.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

dropped calls are overrated. i dont think i get enough dropped calls in the SF Bay Area to warrant leaving AT&T.

I do sometimes have problems with capacity, but the stadium where I watched college football used to have AT&T problems, but now that it's fixed I laugh at Verizon users who can't make calls. So it's not that bad. Stanford Stadium and AT&T park have no data issues for me, so clearly they're all upgraded to handle the large crowds. For the most part, convention centers have all been beefed up to handle large crowds. There's the occasional wtfux, but nothing I can't handle.

I do think that getting an iPhone 4 today is a huge waste given the new iPhone coming out. Sure Apple does a good job in preserving their older tech and phones and making sure they're not out of date already, but knowing Apple, you KNOW all the latest apps and features will only go into their new phones. So while Angry Birds and even the latest 3D games will obviously still run fine on the iPhone 4, I'm pretty sure the iPhone 5 will be able to unlock the high res textures and all that crap, kinda like the iPad 2

 

[foghorn67]

dropped calls are overrated. i dont think i get enough dropped calls in the SF Bay Area to warrant leaving AT&T.

I do sometimes have problems with capacity, but the stadium where I watched college football used to have AT&T problems, but now that it's fixed I laugh at Verizon users who can't make calls. So it's not that bad. Stanford Stadium and AT&T park have no data issues for me, so clearly they're all upgraded to handle the large crowds. For the most part, convention centers have all been beefed up to handle large crowds. There's the occasional wtfux, but nothing I can't handle.

I do think that getting an iPhone 4 today is a huge waste given the new iPhone coming out. Sure Apple does a good job in preserving their older tech and phones and making sure they're not out of date already, but knowing Apple, you KNOW all the latest apps and features will only go into their new phones. So while Angry Birds and even the latest 3D games will obviously still run fine on the iPhone 4, I'm pretty sure the iPhone 5 will be able to unlock the high res textures and all that crap, kinda like the iPad 2

Lol, drop calls overrated? No they aren't.

 

[ImDonly1]

I guess I was wrong and you do get a discount on the data. Looks cheap to me. If you don't mind ATT and they are good in your area I'd do it. Won't get anything cheaper unless you go prepaid, but you won't get an iphone or much data on prepaid.

 

[pm]

dropped calls are overrated.

Wow. I totally disagree with this statement. If you are trying to do business on your phone, dropped calls are an embarrassment, a hit to productivity, and if you get several in one call they are extremely frustrating. I once had over 6 dropped calls in one 20 minute phone call - in a place with full bars. If my phone didn't behave like such a perfect piece of machinery when I'm overseas, I'd be tempted to blame the phone, but, no, it's AT&T.

 

[JS80]

Lol, drop calls overrated? No they aren't.

Seriously...my boss (with whom I have the most amount of phone conversation with) has an iPhone on AT&T and every single, no exaggeration here, EVERY single conversation is either a dropped call or 5-10 seconds of "can you hear me now." Drives me crazy. Imagine when he's on a conference call on his iPhone.

 

[Pardus]

Seriously...my boss (with whom I have the most amount of phone conversation with) has an iPhone on AT&T and every single, no exaggeration here, EVERY single conversation is either a dropped call or 5-10 seconds of "can you hear me now." Drives me crazy. Imagine when he's on a conference call on his iPhone.

Thank you all for the comments, looks like ATT is off my list.

 

[foghorn67]

Thank you all for the comments, looks like ATT is off my list.

I wouldn't go that far. They have a trial period. It might work out fine in the areas you frequent. Does ATT have an inferior network? Yes. Is it bad for everyone? No.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I'd give them a try for that price, return it of you have problems.

Although, I'd wait for the next iPhone before I bought anything.

(especially if you're looking at iPhones)

 

[Rottie]

it depends on where you live. I live in southern california the coverage is so so...in my area there are lack of 3G network and in my friend's apartment building I could not get signal at all so I had to use wifi router.

 

[pm]

Thank you all for the comments, looks like ATT is off my list.

Yeah, I agree with the others. Try it out, or at least ask AT&T people near you. There is one bad tower about halfway between where I work and where I live that is causing me problems. Once I leave that tower's range and go anywhere else, things get better.

I travel a fair bit and I was happy with AT&T all of the cities that I've been to recently. In fact, driving through Wyoming on I25, the 3G service was good enough for me to call my wife and kids who are in Europe and talk to them over Skype. My only point is that my complaints about dropped calls is not whining or overrated or whatever... it really is extremely frustrating, and I think if you live an area that's oversubscribed, it can really make your life miserable. .

 

[Pardus]

Went to an AT&T store with a list of questions, Ian was working there with his slicked back greasy hair, opened collar shirt and baggy jeans {he looked like he was preparing to be an extra in a movie} was getting pissed at me. I was asking valid questions about there service compared to the other guys.

The Verizon store across the street wasn't any better, kept getting a lot of "uhhhhh...i don't know" and then come back tomorrow and speak to so and so.

Fed up, drove across town to the Sprint store, amazing.. they were not brain dead zombies. They showed me a demo of the Samsung Galaxy 2 demo that i loved, but won't be available for purchase till no one knew.

One would think a cell phone store would have a working cell phone a potential customer can use to make a test call on and use before locking in a 2-year commitment.. is that too much to ask?

Will stick with my crappy prepaid for a bit more.

 

[JS80]

Went to an AT&T store with a list of questions, Ian was working there with his slicked back greasy hair, opened collar shirt and baggy jeans {he looked like he was preparing to be an extra in a movie} was getting pissed at me. I was asking valid questions about there service compared to the other guys.

The Verizon store across the street wasn't any better, kept getting a lot of "uhhhhh...i don't know" and then come back tomorrow and speak to so and so.

Fed up, drove across town to the Sprint store, amazing.. they were not brain dead zombies. They showed me a demo of the Samsung Galaxy 2 demo that i loved, but won't be available for purchase till no one knew.

wait, wut?

One would think a cell phone store would have a working cell phone a potential customer can use to make a test call on and use before locking in a 2-year commitment.. is that too much to ask?

Will stick with my crappy prepaid for a bit more.

Why would AT&T let you make a test call? Then no one would sign up.

 

[Skott]

Went to an AT&T store with a list of questions, Ian was working there with his slicked back greasy hair, opened collar shirt and baggy jeans {he looked like he was preparing to be an extra in a movie} was getting pissed at me. I was asking valid questions about there service compared to the other guys.

The Verizon store across the street wasn't any better, kept getting a lot of "uhhhhh...i don't know" and then come back tomorrow and speak to so and so.

Fed up, drove across town to the Sprint store, amazing.. they were not brain dead zombies. They showed me a demo of the Samsung Galaxy 2 demo that i loved, but won't be available for purchase till no one knew.

One would think a cell phone store would have a working cell phone a potential customer can use to make a test call on and use before locking in a 2-year commitment.. is that too much to ask?

Will stick with my crappy prepaid for a bit more.

Yeah, my experience with my local Sprint store was absolutely wonderful. They fielded every question I threw at them with patience, professionalism, attention, and respect. Then I brought the wife in with me to show her what I had in mind. Again they answered every question she threw at them as well with the same level of patience, professionalism attention, and respect. I even called two days later and asked more questions over the phone and it was nothing less than excellent. I was sold. I purchased two phones and the experience was just great! Two days after I got my Evo 3D I came back with a list of how do I do this and that? (I'm new to smart phones so a newb about these things) They were every bit as good as when I first walked in. They even wanted me to call them back and let them know how its working out for me after I tried a few things they taught me. They meant it liked they really care too. They want to know. Now that's service and dedication! They really rock in my book.

Kenny, Billy, and the other guys (Sorry, forgot the other two names) at the Oldsmar Sprint Store, YOU GUYS ROCK!