AT&T does no favors to existing customers

[jameskk1]

I went into my local AT&T store yesterday expecting to pay $450 full retail but the guy said "let me see if the manager will give you a better deal"... said if I bought $200 worth of accessories they would let me have it for the $99 price... so basically I paid $300 for the phone and 2 pairs of Beats headphones which I LOVE by the way... second pair going on ebay or to my wife. I could have got the $200 beats or Nokia Purity headsets and sold them on ebay to help recoup my $200 but oh well. So AT&T will help you out. My contract wasn't up for renewal until 5/13 and I had already told them that I expected to pay $450 so I wasn't even asking for favors.

 

[mz89]

I am hoping to get the 900 but I dont want a data plan and apparently all new smartphones automatically get it tacked on. I dont understand companies...they scream about everyone eating up cellular bandwidth, then they force you into a data plan even if you decide to stay contract-free by buying the phone at full price from them...

 

[ftap]

I am hoping to get the 900 but I dont want a data plan and apparently all new smartphones automatically get it tacked on. I dont understand companies...they scream about everyone eating up cellular bandwidth, then they force you into a data plan even if you decide to stay contract-free by buying the phone at full price from them...

Data is a huge money maker for carriers. Most people consume only 500mb of data. So this throttling business is over blown.

Anyways the carriers want to make up their subsidies quickly so they demand data plans.

It's a catch 22 situation. Tmobile USA has what I think is the fairest way. Buy subsidized phone you must have data for 24 months. Buy full price no data plan required.

But for AT&T doesn't require data for subsidized phone in case u decide to sell it or give it away and not use it.

There is no easy answer. Carriers are in it to make a profit. That's the bottom line.

Judging from tmobile continues to lose post paid customers. Americans don't like their method even though it's the fairest.