AT&T is out of their mind

[BD2003]

The whole rationale behind phone contracts was that because the phone companies subsidize their phones, the only way they can make their money back is by tying you in a contract. Thats completely fair and makes perfect sense.

I've signed up for t-mobile with my own GSM phone without having to sign a contract. They were happy to get my business. Been with them for years. Bought a used iphone and unlocked it, just so I could use it with t-mobile. But I get no t-mobile service at my new job, and none at home, so its time for them to go.

So I call up AT&T to inquire about plans for the iphone, and the CSR tells me I need to sign a 2-year contract. So I ask why I would need to do that when I already have a phone, and she tells me thats just how it is. Since I'd have to sign a 2-year contract either way, and I can get more than $200 for my used 2g, I'd be better off getting a $199 new 3g, which would make them less money because now they have to subsidize the phone.

So I ask, what about prepaid? The CSR tells me I'm only eligible for prepaid if my contract would require a deposit. What would make me require a deposit? If I have bad credit.

So because I have good credit, I cant even choose to put up a deposit to pay monthly without a contract, even with my own phone.

I suppose they guess they can get away with it because they have an official monopoly on the iphone even though it can be unlocked, but the otherwise completely backwards logic absolutely boggles my mind.


Now I know for sure that you can just sign up any ol GSM phone with at&t with no contract, but if I were to add on their data plan as well, would the iphone recognize it, or is the iphone plan special? Being that my iphone is unlocked, I'm sure I could just pop the SIM in, but I'd need the data to work...

 

[pm]

I'm not sure if they'd get annoyed if you used an Iphone on AT&T without signing up for their two year plan. They'll know you have an iPhone from your IMEI number... I do know that iPhone's work fine without data plans (they aren't as much fun but they do work fine) and they work fine with pre-paid plans on AT&T as well.

But why not just stick with T-Mobile? They have a cheaper data plan - slow EDGE for $7 per month, slightly less slow for $20 and they won't require a contract...

My iPhone is on T-Mobile and has been since August last year... I've never wished I'd chosen AT&T instead...

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: pm
I'm not sure if they'd get annoyed if you used an Iphone on AT&T without signing up for their two year plan. They'll know you have an iPhone from your IMEI number... I do know that iPhone's work fine without data plans (they aren't as much fun but they do work fine) and they work fine with pre-paid plans on AT&T as well.

But why not just stick with T-Mobile? They have a cheaper data plan - slow EDGE for $7 per month, slightly less slow for $20 and they won't require a contract...

My iPhone is on T-Mobile and has been since August last year... I've never wished I'd chosen AT&T instead...

I'd love to stick with t-mobile, but as I said, it doesnt work at home, and it doesnt work at work, so its nothing but an ipod touch right now.

I dont really care if at&t gets annoyed, I dont really feel like being fleeced by them because of their pseudomonopoly. I dont have to tell them I'm using it in the iphone, I could just swap the sim and tell them Im using on of my spares. All I'm really concerned with is whether or not I can use the "stock" data plan.

 

[Aimster]

Read my AT&T thread. The iphone has problems with the Internet.

Unless you get the old EDGE phone

 

[BD2003]

I have the old edge phone.

 

[corkyg]

Apparently there are some alternatives.

Unlock

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Apparently there are some alternatives.

Unlock

My phone is already unlocked, but the only GSM choices in this region (NE USA) are t-mobile and at&t, and being that I cant use t-mobile, at&t is my only choice. Which is why their absurd policies piss me off.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Try again, but don't say you have an iphone. Go into a store with your old phone and say you just want to be on account.

Failing that sell your old iPhone, get a new $200 and stick out the two years. OR if you have a sign a two year research what phones of theirs are going for the most on ebay, get the free phone and sell that for profit, or to pay for the contract cancellation fee. Don't let them bone you.

The sad thing is all companies seem to be moving to this 2 year contract where it used to jut be a year. 2 years is a long time if you think about it. I certainly can't go 2 years with the same phone, 9 months tops.

 

[pm]

Sorry about missing the bit about not having T-Mobile at your house. It was late and I was reading and posting on my iPhone.

If you have any children, you could try to sign them up on pre-paid - they'd have lousy credit... it's a thought anyway.

The original iPhone doesn't use a special data network - they just use the same EDGE network that other web-browsing phones on AT&T use. On my iPhone, the network settings are on Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network. Then for T-Mobile I put in internet2.voicestream.com (T-Mobile uses the old Voicestream network). For AT&T, one would enter "wireless.cingular.com" instead. But I have heard that AT&T iPhone customers don't see this setting at all and that Apple and AT&T just set it up automatically for AT&T users.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Dude, go to
http://www.howardforums.com/
and look at the AT&T, Iphone, and pre-paid AT&T forums.
You'll get a lot of good information there.
I'm not saying you're not getting good information here, but that is the entire focus of that site, so there are a lot more people who have options / answers on hand.

Last I heard you can get an AT&T prepaid pay as you go plan called GoPhone. They have several prepaid plans, but I believe the go phone one involves no kind of conditional acceptance / credit / anything. Everyone can get it.

The per minute rates on the voice are not that special but might suit your needs if you're a limited user. I think they have a variant that is $1/day fixed fee on top of a lower per minute voice rate that might be more realistically useful for daily voice use.

The potentially interesting part however is that last I heard they changed their GoPhone prepaid plan to have unlimited Media.Net data service available as an optional add on to the prepaid go phone plans for an additional $20 / month, no contract, unlimited use. You have to "re subscribe" to it every so often (every 1, 2, few months?) since it is a "pay by the month" ala carte add on, at which point you're charged the $20 and the service is available for the month(s) you've paid for.
People often just buy a $100 prepaid "refill" card and apply it to their go-phone prepaid account, sign up for the optional media net unlimited, and you get 5 months of the unlimited data for that cost (ignoring any voice use / charges).

Not too bad of a price for a data plan if that is your main need / interest. I'm sure a quick google search will turn up people talking about how nice that is with iphone... I've read an article confirming that, though I don't know what the differences may be between iphone generations / firmwares or any recent plan changes from AT&T.

Some people use it for mostly data / little voice, some people use it for both, some people carry one SIM for voice use on a post-paid contract and the AT&T for data...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: corkyg
Apparently there are some alternatives.

Unlock

My phone is already unlocked, but the only GSM choices in this region (NE USA) are t-mobile and at&t, and being that I cant use t-mobile, at&t is my only choice. Which is why their absurd policies piss me off.

for the last couple years every post-pay carrier has required a 2 year contract to get a plan. i think t-mobile just recently re-introduced no contract post-pay plans, but that's it.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
Dude, go to
http://www.howardforums.com/
and look at the AT&T, Iphone, and pre-paid AT&T forums.
You'll get a lot of good information there.
I'm not saying you're not getting good information here, but that is the entire focus of that site, so there are a lot more people who have options / answers on hand.

Last I heard you can get an AT&T prepaid pay as you go plan called GoPhone. They have several prepaid plans, but I believe the go phone one involves no kind of conditional acceptance / credit / anything. Everyone can get it.

The per minute rates on the voice are not that special but might suit your needs if you're a limited user. I think they have a variant that is $1/day fixed fee on top of a lower per minute voice rate that might be more realistically useful for daily voice use.

The potentially interesting part however is that last I heard they changed their GoPhone prepaid plan to have unlimited Media.Net data service available as an optional add on to the prepaid go phone plans for an additional $20 / month, no contract, unlimited use. You have to "re subscribe" to it every so often (every 1, 2, few months?) since it is a "pay by the month" ala carte add on, at which point you're charged the $20 and the service is available for the month(s) you've paid for.
People often just buy a $100 prepaid "refill" card and apply it to their go-phone prepaid account, sign up for the optional media net unlimited, and you get 5 months of the unlimited data for that cost (ignoring any voice use / charges).

Not too bad of a price for a data plan if that is your main need / interest. I'm sure a quick google search will turn up people talking about how nice that is with iphone... I've read an article confirming that, though I don't know what the differences may be between iphone generations / firmwares or any recent plan changes from AT&T.

Some people use it for mostly data / little voice, some people use it for both, some people carry one SIM for voice use on a post-paid contract and the AT&T for data...

Yeah, it looks like thats my only option right now. I guess its better than nothing, but these contracts are getting ridiculous. 1-year used to be the norm, now its 2-years and you cant get around it by bringing your own phone, iphone or not.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Unless something has changed very recently, you can most definitely sign up for a AT&T without a contract, just go to a corporate store (ideally with a plain-jane phone, not an iphone). They will be hesitant to help you out as they won't earn any commissions, but it's defiantly doable. Once you get a basic voice package, just call in and add the iphone data plan.

If you're eligible for a FAN (business) account, you could probably even do it over the phone.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Agreed these contracts are bloody ridiculous.
I don't buy the argument that they're "necessary" to subsidize the cost of the handsets either -- the theoretical unsubsidized cost for many even very simple handsets is in the $400-$600 range, and that is for models they make by the MILLIONS. That's approximately double the cost you can get a fully loaded basic PC for from DELL/HP/whatever, or a very decent laptop. No way do I believe the bill of materials + reasonable profit margin for most any of these handsets is anywhere NEAR $300. It is much cheaper to make a phone than a damn laptop which you can buy for $400 off the shelf with no contract at all!

So basically they're just jacking up the "list price" on the phones to about double, triple, or more their reasonable worth and then acting like they're doing you a favor giving you a $300 subsidized discount or something. BS.

The only good thing is that IIRC there was some news over the past year or so about certain carriers being either required to or choosing to prorate the ETF charges (which are outrageous ways to screw the consumer as well) so that it may not be quite as painful to get out of your contract somewhat early as it had been. I don't know what momentum / precedent this is having lately.

A 2 year contract for cell service at $40-$50+ a month is ridiculous though especially when they don't even guarantee good coverage in the areas you may end up having to move to or work / stay in during such a long duration.

I'm out of contract now and I'll be damned if I ever sign another 1 year contract, certainly never 2 years.

AT&T lost my business for extra extra extra crappy customer service, and I was one of their FIRST PCS customers (literally).