AT&T Strange iPhone 6 pricing changes?

[Nighthawk168]

Lots of wireless commercials and competition around the latest iPhone launch. So is AT&T's pricing changing this much? I ask your input if you have AT&T and especially if you have a corporate or similar discount due to your organization or employment.

My wife and I just finished our 2 year contract as we got the iPhone 5 when it launched. Here is what we were paying:

contract started in 2012

Mobile Share Value plan with 10 GB
Data voice and text : $100
Smartphone1 (iphone 5)Access: $40 -$25 discount = $15
Smartphone2 (iphone 5)Access: $40 -$25 discount = $15
Total = $130+taxes

Here are the 2014 options - notice the access discounts are gone if you go with the subsidized plan! Did i miss something?

Mobile Share Value plan with 10 GB
SUBSIDIZED $199 per new iphone with 2 yr agreement.
Data voice and text: $100
Smartphone1 (iphone6) Access: $40 **no discount here**
Smartphone2 (iphone6) Access: $40 **no discount here**
Total: $180

OR the NEXT PLAN 12 month plan

Mobile Share Value plan with 10GB

Smartphone1 (iphone6) Access: $40-$25 discount=$15
Smartphone2 (iphone6) Access: $40-$25 discount=$15
Installment for first iphone: $32.50
Installment for second iphone: $32.50

OK OK so they make up the subsidy by killing the discount. But it gets more interesting if you have a corporate or FAN discount through employment or your organization...You're discount is only on the DATA TEXT VOICE charge not the phone access charges. If you stay with them for 24 months these plans differ by hundreds of dollars in favor of NEXT. But nowhere near as sweet as the old subsidy plans. What gives?

 

[paperwastage]

^ FAN discount for the mobile share (i.e. data bucket + per line access fees) has (usually) only applied for the data bucket portion. i guess check with your discount details?

let me try to rephase the strange pricing

Phone: iPhone 6 16GB @ $649 retail

Option 1: Full price = $649
Option 2: AT&T Next = $649 split into 20 ($32/month) or 24 ($27/month) payments. You'll still pay the full retail price overall
Option 3: Subsidy = $199 downpayment only (aka AT&T picks up the rest of the $450... $450 over 24 months = AT&T subsidizing $18.75/month for you)

(if you choose a 64GB iPhone 6 or other phones, you'll still find AT&T subsidizing $450 over 2 years for you - 64GB iPhone 6 is $100 more expensive, and you'll pay $100 more in downpayment)



Mobile Share Value 10GB w/o Subsidy = $130/month

AT&T Next = $130/month PLUS installment pricing for each phone ($32/month for the 20-month pricing, $27/month for the 24 month pricing).

therefore, "Mobile Share Value w/o Subsidy" is the same as "AT&T Next" - You pay for your service separate from your phone. You WILL pay a total of $649 for your smartphone. Next does offer you installment plans (you don't have to pay full price immediately) AND an option to upgrade after 12/18 months, but this option is usually a ripoff

Mobile share value plan WITH subsidy = $180/month, which is $50/month more expensive than the non-subsidy plan. Remember how I said that AT&T is basically subsidizing $18.75/month * 2(=$37.50/month) for you and you pay $50/month more? This plan is a huge ripoff
-> Only choose a subsidy plan where the extra monthly costs is less than the device subsidy (~$18.75/month)



tl;dr, AT&T is indeed splitting the service price and phone price, in a convoluted way... you still get a choose which way works out for you. If you had an old grandfathered subsidized plan, might be worth it trying to re-up on that plan

 

[Nighthawk168]

I appreciate the valuable reply. If it helps anyone else, I preordered with the subsidized plan but will be switching to the next because as you can see the subsidized plan is a rip off now....

I talked to ATT customer service and they said that one can switch to ATT NEXT from subsidized within 14 days of the shipping date of the new phone. That way i don't lose my spot in line for the pre-order shipping.

 

[bassoprofundo]

I've been cautioning fellow employees about the same thing here... With the Mobile Share Value plan plus our internal discount, it requires some math to figure out exactly which option saves you the most long term.

I think that for us, it still might be beneficial in some instances to stick with the 2-year option as it seems they've modified our discount now to also apply to the per-line fee. So, in that case, it only works out be a per-line increase of $12.50/month for two years vs. the cost of the NEXT installment, which varies by phone but is generally $30-ish a month.

The iPhone 6 64gb, for example, works out to $599 ($299 upfront + (24months x $12.50)) where $12.50 is 50% off the increase in cost brought about by the loss of the per line off-contract discount. NEXT, on the other hand, works out to $750 (0$ upfront + (20 installments x $37.50))

Again, though, if your FAN doesn't apply to the per line discount, I'm relatively sure that NEXT is going to work in your favor as the rates currently stand. Take a long, hard look and do the math for yourself. Make sure you understand the discounts and where they apply, and if needed, call or chat with an online rep or talk to a store rep and make them give you a blow-by-blow explanation of how the options shake out.

 

[pm]

Another alternative is to buy the phone outright ($650 no-contract version for 16GB or $750 for 64GB) and then pay $45/month on Cricket or Straighttalk (or $90 for two on Cricket) and get AT&T's network including LTE.

 

[paperwastage]

The iPhone 6 64gb, for example, works out to $599 ($299 upfront + (24months x $12.50)) where $12.50 is 50% off the increase in cost brought about by the loss of the per line off-contract discount. NEXT, on the other hand, works out to $750 (0$ upfront + (20 installments x $37.50))

I thought NEXT has always been splitting the actual device cost over the 20/24 installments? An iPhone 6 will always cost $649 in total, whether you pay it off in 20 months or 24 months?

Also, I assume that AT&T will allow one to switch out of a subsidy plan to a Mobile Value plan w/o subsidy once the contract expires (otherwise, subsidy plan will only make sense if you keep upgrading every time you can upgrade)

Anyways, I've updated my original post - Only choose a subsidy plan where the extra monthly costs is less than the device subsidy (typically ~$18.75/month)

 

[dawheat]

I've been cautioning fellow employees about the same thing here... With the Mobile Share Value plan plus our internal discount, it requires some math to figure out exactly which option saves you the most long term.

I think that for us, it still might be beneficial in some instances to stick with the 2-year option as it seems they've modified our discount now to also apply to the per-line fee. So, in that case, it only works out be a per-line increase of $12.50/month for two years vs. the cost of the NEXT installment, which varies by phone but is generally $30-ish a month.

The iPhone 6 64gb, for example, works out to $599 ($299 upfront + (24months x $12.50)) where $12.50 is 50% off the increase in cost brought about by the loss of the per line off-contract discount. NEXT, on the other hand, works out to $750 (0$ upfront + (20 installments x $37.50))

Again, though, if your FAN doesn't apply to the per line discount, I'm relatively sure that NEXT is going to work in your favor as the rates currently stand. Take a long, hard look and do the math for yourself. Make sure you understand the discounts and where they apply, and if needed, call or chat with an online rep or talk to a store rep and make them give you a blow-by-blow explanation of how the options shake out.

Did your internal discount previously apply to the per line charge or was it a recent change?

 

[bassoprofundo]

Did your internal discount previously apply to the per line charge or was it a recent change?

It was a fairly recent (last 6 months) change. I didn't switch to Mobile Share until they made the discount apply to the per line charge as it offered no incentive.

 

[bassoprofundo]

I thought NEXT has always been splitting the actual device cost over the 20/24 installments? An iPhone 6 will always cost $649 in total, whether you pay it off in 20 months or 24 months?

Also, I assume that AT&T will allow one to switch out of a subsidy plan to a Mobile Value plan w/o subsidy once the contract expires (otherwise, subsidy plan will only make sense if you keep upgrading every time you can upgrade)

Anyways, I've updated my original post - Only choose a subsidy plan where the extra monthly costs is less than the device subsidy (typically ~$18.75/month)

The NEXT plan is about spreading out the actual unsubsidized cost into monthly chunks. The 16gb iPhone will work out to $650. The 64gb (what I used above) works out to $750. Both are regardless of which Next plan you choose.

 

[paperwastage]

The NEXT plan is about spreading out the actual unsubsidized cost into monthly chunks. The 16gb iPhone will work out to $650. The 64gb (what I used above) works out to $750. Both are regardless of which Next plan you choose.

whoops, i didn't read.. you're right


but yeah, AT&T pricing is confusing to look at. With your discount, a 16GB iPhone would cost $499, which is a good deal compared to retail $649

 

[bassoprofundo]

whoops, i didn't read.. you're right


but yeah, AT&T pricing is confusing to look at. With your discount, a 16GB iPhone would cost $499, which is a good deal compared to retail $649

Yep. The discounts for staying off contract make for some pretty sweet monthly savings, though... Combine that with the fact that I finally feel like I've finally hit a point where I'm really contented with my current setup (Lumia 1520 for home, 1020 for work), and I don't think I'll be upgrading anytime soon. I have 5 lines sharing 15gb of data and pay $110 plus tax per month.

 

[Nighthawk168]

Some really good perspectives. Thanks for the input. The cricket option is just not that enticing because FAN discounts don't apply and then the LTE is throttled to 8mbps i beleive - which is not unbearable. I'll pay 105 a month with discounts (excluding the NEXT installments). That not sure going to 90 a month w cricket is worth the switch...do you know if you can use tethering with cricket for personal hotspot?

maybe : )

Thank you all

 

[edro]

Here is my bill (30% FAN Discount):
Mobile Share Value Plan 2GB: $40.00
Mobile Share Value iPhone w/ Visual Voicemail: $40.00
Discount for Mobile Share Value Savings: -$15.00
National Account Discount: -$12.00

Total Monthly Plan Charges: $53.00


This will stay the same with iPhone 6, right?
When I pre-ordered, it said the price plus $40.00 month for iPhone.
I assumed it was the same thing as listed above.

 

[bearxor]

Here are the 2014 options - notice the access discounts are gone if you go with the subsidized plan! Did i miss something?

You haven't missed anything. The plan discounts have always gone away if you decide to take a phone subsidy.

AT&T gave a one-time exceptions when they launched the 10GB value plan with discounts, letting those that had signed a contract prior to like Jan 15th of this year or something switch to the discounted rate. This was to make you eligible for a Next agreement. But they made it pretty clear at the time that if you took a subsidy on your next upgrade that you'd lose the discount.