Pretty close.justincredible;1084950 wrote:Their idea is "**** you."
I don't require assistance from ATT to get a new phone either. I get a new phone and put my SIM card in it. Tada new phone.thavoice;1084927 wrote:Eh. The musical phones isnt that big of a deal. People do it without any help or work from ATT. Ya just buy a phone off someone, or ebay or whatever and swap it out. You dont need any assistance from ATT to do such a thing nor does it cost them for you to do it. Their idea on this is that the phones are better and more complicated and that extra money is to recoup and educating the customer of the new phone.
It's no work by ATT, but they're missing out on the money had you bought it straight from them. Thus, you'd figure they'd go after it.thavoice;1084927 wrote:Eh. The musical phones isnt that big of a deal. People do it without any help or work from ATT. Ya just buy a phone off someone, or ebay or whatever and swap it out. You dont need any assistance from ATT to do such a thing nor does it cost them for you to do it. Their idea on this is that the phones are better and more complicated and that extra money is to recoup and educating the customer of the new phone.
It's not just their dealers. And it's not just AT&T. All carriers offer better deals online and waive fees, and then will go an hand cuff the associates in stores and not allow them to match those deals. When you have a company's website in direct competition with its retail stores, it's not a good idea.thavoice;1084968 wrote:Pretty close.
I do see what is on the horizon next though, and that is waiving the fee's online. I wouldnt be surprised that is the next step as the company does more and more to try and get their customers to do it online by offering much better deals than to go into their dealers to do so. They would rather give away and waive fees online then to pay the dealers compensation and residuals for the sales.
It really does suck, and frustrate the dealers who sell the services when ATT is supposed to be in support of them, but instead are in direct and unfair competition to try and steal the business away from ya.
Eh they do a pretty good job of advertising accessories for the phone when you buy from their site.sherm03;1084995 wrote: The downside, they miss out on a lot of accessory sales when people shop that way.
sherm03;1084995 wrote:It's not just their dealers. And it's not just AT&T. All carriers offer better deals online and waive fees, and then will go an hand cuff the associates in stores and not allow them to match those deals. When you have a company's website in direct competition with its retail stores, it's not a good idea.
But you can't really blame the carriers for doing it. They don't have to pay out commission or anything when someone buys online. The downside, they miss out on a lot of accessory sales when people shop that way.
As far as the $36 upgrade fee...that's a terrible idea. Wouldn't be surprised if they decided against doing that.
sherm03;1084995 wrote:It's not just their dealers. And it's not just AT&T. All carriers offer better deals online and waive fees, and then will go an hand cuff the associates in stores and not allow them to match those deals. When you have a company's website in direct competition with its retail stores, it's not a good idea.
But you can't really blame the carriers for doing it. They don't have to pay out commission or anything when someone buys online. The downside, they miss out on a lot of accessory sales when people shop that way.
As far as the $36 upgrade fee...that's a terrible idea. Wouldn't be surprised if they decided against doing that.
Tehy are just like any other carrier...you get a big discount on the phone when you get it. What is going on now is that they are now charging double for the upgrade...36, instead of 18.Con_Alma;1085447 wrote:DOesn't AT&T subsidize the cost of the hone for you in an attempt to recoup those costs in the service contract? Doesn't this simply recoup their costs a little quicker?
I don't know. I am truly asking.
To be quite honest....most times you are a fool to buy those accessories directly from att or in the stores. Now..sometimes that is the easiest way to find exactly what ya need, but they can be much, much more expensive.lhslep134;1085387 wrote:Eh they do a pretty good job of advertising accessories for the phone when you buy from their site.
You can save a ton of money on accessories on amazon.thavoice;1085549 wrote:To be quite honest....most times you are a fool to buy those accessories directly from att or in the stores. Now..sometimes that is the easiest way to find exactly what ya need, but they can be much, much more expensive.
This has always bugged me with Verizon. If I buy a subsidized phone through the carrier, the data price is $30 a month. If I buy my own phone out of contract and pay full price for it, the data package is $30 a month. Why is it the same price?Con_Alma;1085447 wrote:DOesn't AT&T subsidize the cost of the hone for you in an attempt to recoup those costs in the service contract? Doesn't this simply recoup their costs a little quicker?
I don't know. I am truly asking.
ATT doesnt offer unlimited plans for data.Gblock;1085550 wrote:id be more upset about their fake unlimited data plans if it were me
Yeah.....the throttling has been in affect for awhile, and is supposed to start when you get to the 2gb of data. Sucks.....but I havent really heard any complaints about it. Verizon throttles as well.......Sprint doesnt though according to their commercials.Jawbreaker;1085553 wrote:This has always bugged me with Verizon. If I buy a subsidized phone through the carrier, the data price is $30 a month. If I buy my own phone out of contract and pay full price for it, the data package is $30 a month. Why is it the same price?
Also, more great news from ATT: http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/14/att-declares-war-on-unlimited-data-users/
Doesn't that fee still cost you less than the phone would if they didn't subsidize it for you? I don't know how much the phones cost. Is it less than $36?thavoice;1085548 wrote:Tehy are just like any other carrier...you get a big discount on the phone when you get it. What is going on now is that they are now charging double for the upgrade...36, instead of 18.
Hell......the upgrade fee is more expensive than almost half the smart phones.
Yes It is less.Con_Alma;1085560 wrote:Doesn't that fee still cost you less than the phone would if they didn't subsidize it for you? I don't know how much the phones cost. Is it less than $36?
I understand the throttling and it has been in place for a while but it seems as if it is more than originally thought.thavoice;1085559 wrote:Yeah.....the throttling has been in affect for awhile, and is supposed to start when you get to the 2gb of data. Sucks.....but I havent really heard any complaints about it. Verizon throttles as well.......Sprint doesnt though according to their commercials.
as far as the subsidizing of the prices....they pretty much have to offer deep discounts to get people to buy them. The data prices will always be the same no matter if you get a subsidized price or not. That price is for the usage of the data. It really is no different than cable/satellite carriers offering you free DVRs and such in paying a monthly fee for the service
Ok. Maybe a bad analogy. How about this....kinda like maybe buying your own wireless router for your home. You still have to pay for the internet each month even if you buy the router yourself of get a discounted one from your cable place. I know our cable company said they would give us a router for free if we signed a contract...or no contract if we had our own router or purchased one from them.Jawbreaker;1085591 wrote:I understand the throttling and it has been in place for a while but it seems as if it is more than originally thought.
Why should the data and voice plans be the same? Isn't that how they subsidized the cost of the device? So you are paying subsidized pricing when you pay full price for equipment.
It is also different than cable providers offering dvrs and cable boxes since you are renting them from the cable company. When I switch from a dvr to my media pc w/ cable card I will no longer be renting a cable box and dvr service from TWC. Thus my cable bill will be lowered subtracting out the price of the cable box and dvr service. I can't do the same with a phone I OWN.
Are you always this bad with analogies? Also, I don't think I need an analogy to explain what the wireless companies are doing.thavoice;1085599 wrote:Ok. Maybe a bad analogy. How about this....kinda like maybe buying your own wireless router for your home. You still have to pay for the internet each month even if you buy the router yourself of get a discounted one from your cable place. I know our cable company said they would give us a router for free if we signed a contract...or no contract if we had our own router or purchased one from them.
