950 and the 2-year contract

[wpfan86]

So last year my wife upgraded to a Galaxy S5. At the ATT store the rep informs her that taking the discounted/subsidized phone price with the 2-year contract would result in the price of her data plan increasing by $15/mo.
Seeing the $149 price for the 950, I am tempted to take that option as I have no intent to switch from ATT in the foreseeable future. I am trying to figure out if that same 15/mo price increase will also apply to the 950. I assume it would but I see nothing on the website indicating as such. Am I missing it?

 

[Mallguvner]

So last year my wife upgraded to a Galaxy S5. At the ATT store the rep informs her that taking the discounted/subsidized phone price with the 2-year contract would result in the price of her data plan increasing by $15/mo.
Seeing the $149 price for the 950, I am tempted to take that option as I have no intent to switch from ATT in the foreseeable future. I am trying to figure out if that same 15/mo price increase will also apply to the 950. I assume it would but I see nothing on the website indicating as such. Am I missing it?

The AT&T chat gal told me for one line bought outright it would be $55 if I already owned the phone. The subsidized price was $149 and she told me it would be $70 total per month. (So there's your $15 being used on the Lumia 950) I sent her back the first time since she told me they would both be $70. I knew that was wrong so I made her work. I actually copied and tried to paste the conversation last night but for whatever reason the copy didn't take and the chat was gone. That's actually not a bad price considering 15 x 24 = 360 and add the $149 to that and you get $509.99 but they get a contract.

 

[chchaheh]

So I found this out the hard way when I bought my daughter's phone under contract:

Technically your price doesn't go up for adding a contracted phone to an existing line. Instead, you no longer qualify for the line discount that is being applied under some plans. I have the mobile shared value plan. Each phone is $40 and there is a $25 discount on every line that does not have a contract. (so $15 each line) plus my pooled data (flat $100) Well, when I bought a phone under contract, I no longer got that $25 discount on the one line, so it added $600 to the cost of the phone. Since I bought it through Amazon mobile I didn't realize the discount would disappear and that made the total cost of the phone $800. Maybe things have changed now as that was about 18 month ago, but that was my big mistake. Amazon didn't reflect the elimination of the discount and I just assumed I was getting a phone for $200 plus being locked into ATT.

 

[wpfan86]

Thanks for the replies. I figured the $149 price tag was too good to be true.

 

[ashram]

depends if you are a regular customer or a premiere customer.... i just ordered my upgrade to a 950 and was able to keep my plan LOCKED with what i had already. as a mater of fact, it readjusted my discount and now my "projected" monthly is lower than what it was before (by a few bucks)

 

[wpfan86]

depends if you are a regular customer or a premiere customer.... i just ordered my upgrade to a 950 and was able to keep my plan LOCKED with what i had already. as a mater of fact, it readjusted my discount and now my "projected" monthly is lower than what it was before (by a few bucks)

So are you a regular or premier customer?

 

[Skyway]

So are you a regular or premier customer?

He's a premier customer.

 

[ashram]

He's a premier customer.

that I am!

 

[ninjaap]

So I found this out the hard way when I bought my daughter's phone under contract:

Technically your price doesn't go up for adding a contracted phone to an existing line. Instead, you no longer qualify for the line discount that is being applied under some plans. I have the mobile shared value plan. Each phone is $40 and there is a $25 discount on every line that does not have a contract. (so $15 each line) plus my pooled data (flat $100) Well, when I bought a phone under contract, I no longer got that $25 discount on the one line, so it added $600 to the cost of the phone. Since I bought it through Amazon mobile I didn't realize the discount would disappear and that made the total cost of the phone $800. Maybe things have changed now as that was about 18 month ago, but that was my big mistake. Amazon didn't reflect the elimination of the discount and I just assumed I was getting a phone for $200 plus being locked into ATT.

For us non-premier folks, the first year ATT added Next Plans, a 2 yr subsidized phone incurred the same monthly costs. So technically, a 2yr sub phone used to cost less overall. I remember because I had both a Next Plan and a 2 yr subsidized phone on my account. They swindled me by raising my overall monthly rates, except for my line with the next plan. It suddenly showed a $25 discount, when ut didn't the first year. So yeah we've been hustled.

 

[Gary Berns]

Was told in chat session to call customer service when phone gets here and they will give me same plan as now have. Grandfathered in.

 

[gordonfink]

depends if you are a regular customer or a premiere customer.... i just ordered my upgrade to a 950 and was able to keep my plan LOCKED with what i had already. as a mater of fact, it readjusted my discount and now my "projected" monthly is lower than what it was before (by a few bucks)

I'm a premier member. When I checked online it gave me the "lose your discount" thing. If I can keep my discounted service, I'll buy it under contract for 150, for the first contract phone I will have had in years.

However, losing the discount makes it totally not worth it.

Is there anything special you have to do? Did you just call, or was it online?

 

[ashram]

I'm a premier member. When I checked online it gave me the "lose your discount" thing. If I can keep my discounted service, I'll buy it under contract for 150, for the first contract phone I will have had in years.

However, losing the discount makes it totally not worth it.

Is there anything special you have to do? Did you just call, or was it online?

I did it all online, but premiere access varies based on the contract with your employer. if you are still with them, you "should" be able to reapply, unless your employer no longer bothers with at&t. try calling 611 on your phone, under premiere, you automatically get business support, which is 100000000000% better than regular support

 

[anon(5383410)]

So I found this out the hard way when I bought my daughter's phone under contract:

Technically your price doesn't go up for adding a contracted phone to an existing line. Instead, you no longer qualify for the line discount that is being applied under some plans. I have the mobile shared value plan. Each phone is $40 and there is a $25 discount on every line that does not have a contract. (so $15 each line) plus my pooled data (flat $100) Well, when I bought a phone under contract, I no longer got that $25 discount on the one line, so it added $600 to the cost of the phone. Since I bought it through Amazon mobile I didn't realize the discount would disappear and that made the total cost of the phone $800. Maybe things have changed now as that was about 18 month ago, but that was my big mistake. Amazon didn't reflect the elimination of the discount and I just assumed I was getting a phone for $200 plus being locked into ATT.

It still applies. I went through the different options yesterday when ordering the 950 and with the contract price you lose the $15 discount you get with the mobile share value plan and next. Comes out to $70/month.

 

[MiloTheOne]

Next 12 plan is the best imo. You can upgrade in 12 months and trade in phone or keep the phone for 20 months. It's $40 a month plus 29.95 for the phone. In 20 months you pay $599, a little more than the unlocked but worth it it you don't have the cash to fork over. Windows phones are easier than Droid and M'apple to unlock.

 

[uselessrobot]

With all the Next plans you end up paying the full $600 for the phone. I calculated that by losing that $15/month "discount" by the time my contract is up I'll have paid under $550 for the phone. Apparently, the discount is reinstated once the contract period ends.

I confirmed this with an AT&T representative online because I wasn't entirely clear if that rule applied to my plan. So I pointed out that it was more than I wanted to pay and that I already felt like my plan had gotten too expensive.

So with no argument at all I was offered an updated plan with more data that is $50 cheaper than my existing plan. The $15/month still gets added to that but it's still a decent reduction on my monthly bill.

I read through the terms and package details and didn't find anything questionable. Still, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm always leery when a company seems unusually generous.

 

[gordonfink]

ashram - thanks. I am having some account weirdness, where I can't see everything related to my account online. I have spent hours on chat and phone support. I hope someday we get it fixed. that may be messing up my upgrades also.

I was able to see a no-commitment price of only $599.

 

[Skyway]

ashram - thanks. I am having some account weirdness, where I can't see everything related to my account online. I have spent hours on chat and phone support. I hope someday we get it fixed. that may be messing up my upgrades also.

I was able to see a no-commitment price of only $599.

Go into the store on Friday and get it. They should be able to help you out a little better than chat/phone support. If they can't, just threaten to switch to another carrier and watch them fix it instantly. I've done this with numerous companies and have always managed to get what I needed/wanted. Most big companies have a loyalty department, they've found out that it costs more money to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

 

[gordonfink]

Go into the store on Friday and get it. They should be able to help you out a little better than chat/phone support. If they can't, just threaten to switch to another carrier and watch them fix it instantly. I've done this with numerous companies and have always managed to get what I needed/wanted. Most big companies have a loyalty department, they've found out that it costs more money to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

This may be the phone I'd commit to 2 years for, if I can keep my access discounts (5 lines, customer forever), and get it cheap.

 

[Skyway]

This may be the phone I'd commit to 2 years for, if I can keep my access discounts (5 lines, customer forever), and get it cheap.

Like I said, just threaten to switch. I like to do it nonchalantly and say something like 'Yea my neighbor has Verizon, he says he loves it and I've been thinking about switching. Maybe I'll head over there when we're done here'

My mom bought her first smartphone a couple of weeks ago at a local verizon store. Her and my dad have used each others upgrades and weren't sure if she could even get a new phone, the salesman also seemed like he wasn't sure. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to get it, when I said something like, 'well att will buy out your contract, we should go check them out'. He said 'hang on' and immediately went over to his computer. In about a minute, he was like 'ok we're all good, I got it straightened out and we can get you the upgrade'. Lol, it was pretty funny to see him immediately fix the issue that he couldn't seem to figure out before.

 

[tgp]

Like I said, just threaten to switch. I like to do it nonchalantly and say something like 'Yea my neighbor has Verizon, he says he loves it and I've been thinking about switching. Maybe I'll head over there when we're done here'

I was an AT&T rep and someone came into my store and threatened to switch to another carrier over a Lumia 950, I would know that they won't!