Are AT&T cell phone prices completely bogus?

US Cellular trumps all as far as I'm concerned. When I signed up on the original contract, I got a bit close to twice as many minutes (650) as I had with my old provider for the same price ($59). Then I got 400 bonus minutes a month just because I signed up at the right time. And then with all incoming calls free, it's almost like doubling the minutes again.

When I renewed, they had a plan with 150 fewer minutes for $10 less than the old plan but that was still more than enough for me. And I'm still getting the 400 bonus minutes. So even now, after dropping 150 minutes, I get 800 minutes a month for $10 less than I got 350 for five years ago. And five years ago, incoming calls counted against those 350 minutes. And no roaming charges, which comes in handy when I visit my parents because US Cellular is still mostly a Chicago-based company and they don't have stores in western Kansas.

The minutes, 200 texts a month and my Blackberry data plan cost me about $80 a month. The signal's always strong and it's nice to have to connectivity on the road. I'm quite happy with my plan.

 

Only reason I'm on ATT instead of T-Mobile is coverage, as their prices are a bit higher than I can really stomach.

 

I don't know what the others are like, but if you have a billing issue with AT&T, it's a complete joy to spend hours on the phone trying to straighten it out.

 

Did I mention my belief that if AT&T is not the antichrist, it's the antichrist's half-brother?

 

I've heard people say that, but I've never had a problem resolving an issue with them. And they've been more than willing to help out in the times I've needed longer to pay the bill.

Out of all the complaints I've heard from my friends about AT&T, I've not had many problems with them. The service in my area is better than what T-Mobile or Verizon can offer, so that's why I'm with them and have been since 2005 before they became AT&T.

 

I have had numerous billing issues (charging for hundreds of dollars for texts when we had an unlimited text plan, charging hundreds of dollars for data transmissions on a kid's phone where the internet access was supposed to be blocked, etc., etc., etc.).

It's a real headache.

 

Not saying I don't believe you, Ace, just saying I haven't had a lot of the problems people say come with being an AT&T customer.

They have, however, shut my phone off three or four times when I've had payment arrangements set up. But all of them were resolved and they waived the reconnection fee.

 

Do others have what we have here?
They can sell you the phone for whatever price they want, or give it to you free, but you still have to pay the tax on the MSRP.
Last new phone I got cost me $20, plus about $25 tax.

 

David Pogue at the New York Times explained cell phone pricing a year ago. He rehashed it this week. Here's the original explanation:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/how-much-it-costs-to-upgrade-to-an-iphone-3g-s/

Basically, when you buy a phone and renew a contract or get a new contract at the same time, the phone's initial price is discounted, but you end up paying the rest of its cost over the term of the contract.

For iPhone owners considering upgrading to the new version, Pogue says Apple has some different deals:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/technology/personaltech/10pogue-email.html