ATT joins bandwagon with unlimited prepaid plans!!!

The link doesn't say anything about expiration of minutes or account. I know it says you will not be charged on days you don't use it, but it says nothing about how long an account will stay active without addition of a card or PIN.

 

I'm not impressed, if you use your cell everyday that's $90 a month just for Unlimited Voice. Virgin Mobile offers Unlimited Calling as well as Unlimited TXT/PIX/IM for $60 a month and Boost Mobile offers Unlimited Calling, TXT/PIX, Direct Connect, and Mobile Web for $50 a month.

Both of those plans blow AT&T's new Unlimited Prepaid plan out of the water.

 

right now Virgin mobile is the best bang for the buck as far as price per minute but there minutes still expire in 30 days. A buddy of my got dupped by that.

 

It's just a third rate on the PAYG GoPhone, in addition to the $.25 flat rate & $1/day M2M rates already available, so the same rules apply.

 

I think they offered this only because Verizon offers the same thing... although Verizon's version is $4 for unlimited talk and a penny per text.

 

No doubt T-Mobile will offer the same or similar shortly. That's the way it seems to go.

I don't know if y'all can remember, but 7 years ago none of the major wireless carriers offered long distance included with their service and now all do. I don't even know if T-Mobile still offers regional plans any longer. The only reason this happened is one carrier started to offer unlimited long distance and the others followed.

 

You're way off in your history. I had a plan with long distance and nationwide roaming included since fall of 1999 — from AT&T Wireless, which first launched these plans in 1998, about 11 years ago.

 

My years may have been off, but it shows nonetheless that when one does something the others will likely follow. Perhaps not right away, but eventually they will. Of course you probably have recent knowledge that once one carrier came out with the "all you can eat" plan the others followed suit sometimes even bettering the original plan brought out by one carrier or another. It also shows how multiple carriers encourages competitive actions by others. It's part of the reason why Canada's mobile phone market is rather stagnant when compared to what's offered south of the 49th parallel. There are basically three national carriers in Canada and there's not much impetus to offer their customers the same or similar features that US carriers have had for years as standard offerings.

 

For reference, here it the text of AT&T's press release:

AT&T to Introduce GoPhone Three-Dollar per Day Unlimited Calling Option May 11

New Pay As You Go Feature Adds Flexibility to Get Unlimited Calling While Paying Only on Days Used

Dallas, Texas, May 8, 2009
newsrelease
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AT&T* today announced a new prepaid calling option will be available beginning May 11 that offers unlimited nationwide calling for just three dollars per day. AT&T GoPhone customers will enjoy the flexibility of unlimited calling with charges only applying on days when they make or receive voice calls.

The new AT&T GoPhone plan includes no roaming or long distance fees on the company’s national wireless network, making it a convenient and affordable option for customers who prefer a “Pay As You Go” package. Customers on the new GoPhone Unlimited Calling plan will also be able to use text messaging and data service at the same pay per use rates as all other GoPhone Pay As You Go plans, or customers can add messaging or data packages. Refills are sold at more than 200,000 locations across the U.S.

For customers who primarily call other AT&T mobile subscribers, AT&T also offers an Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile plan, which provides unlimited calling to and from all 78 million AT&T wireless customers, and $0.10 for all other calls, for $1 a day.

“Prepaid customers are looking for more flexible options, and this new GoPhone offer bridges the gap between paying as you go and the need for unlimited calling,” said Judy Cavalieri, vice president of Prepaid Products for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “Customers see value in an unlimited prepaid service that lets them pay only for the days they use and operates on a network they can trust, and GoPhone serves both needs.”

AT&T GoPhone packages, which include a new device plus $15 airtime credit, are available in all AT&T stores, as well as other retail locations. Current GoPhone customers will be able to switch to the unlimited calling plan by calling 611 from their handset, or 800-901-9878 from a landline phone. Feature packages such as unlimited text messaging for $19.99 can be added by choosing the option 'Buy Features.' More information will be available at Prepaid cell phone, GoPhone® - | Wireless from AT&T, formerly Cingular.

AT&T also offers “Pick Your Plan” options which allow users to pay in advance for a monthly rate plan, without a contract, credit check or deposit. Both GoPhone offers include Rollover Balance®, which lets customers carry over their unused account balances when they refill before their balances expire, up to the account maximum.

For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit Wireless, DSL Internet, Digital TV Services, and Phone | AT&T.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

 

Flexibility is a cool thing, but the carriers would lose more money this way IMO,
because the customer is never under contract, and could walk away at any time.

This "unlimited prepaid" deal from AT&T is a better deal than their postpaid unlimited over the course of a month.
$90 ($3 x 30 days) gets you unlimited on prepaid, but the postpaid unlimited price from AT&T is $99.
Usually the incentive is to go postpaid, as the carrier would make more, especially if the customer was under contract.

Verizon's is $99 for postpaid unlimited, but VZW's prepaid totals $120/mo ($4/day).
this makes more sense, because the incentive there is to go postpaid (locked in as a customer).

 

Some months have more and some months have less than 30 days

 

I don't quite understand what you're driving at. The prepaid deal is still quite a bit better — $99x12 = $1188 over a course of the year, but prepaid is not more than $3x366 = $1098, and on a good year it's not more than $1095. :loony:

 

I still think the unlimited prepaid plans from Verizon and AT&T are a rip off. You can sign up for Virgin Mobile and use Sprint's strong CDMA network for only $50 a month instead of paying AT&T $90 a month or $120 to Verizon.

 

I gather you were never taught the little rhyme:

Thirty days has November,
April, June, and September:
Of twenty eight is but one,
And all the rest are thirty one.
Of course Leap year comes and stays,
Every four years got it right,
And twenty eight is twenty nine.

Thirty days hath September - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In other words not all months have thirty days.

 

OK, I'm completely baffled now. Are you saying that your previous post was just an OT post to inform the WA readers of the fact that not all months have 30 days in them or was it actually related to the fact that AT&T unlimited prepaid is cheaper than AT&T unlimited postpaid? And if it was, could you please explain how, cause I just don't see the connection.

BTW, the rhyme is cute, but outdated And no, they don't teach many cute English rhymes in Russia

 

I am with you, I don't get it either since whether you take an average month to be 30 days as K&M did or take the year as 365 days like you did, unlimited prepaid still comes out cheaper than unlimited postpaid.

Palm850/v0100 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11)

 

NOT ALL YEARS HAVE 365 DAYS!!!

Sorry, I could not resist.

365 x $3/day = $1095 and no tax (prepaid has no tax)

12 months x $99/mo = $1188 + tax

Clearly, the prepaid option is best if you want/need AT&T, no matter how many days a particular month has. Plus, with the prepaid option, if you ever don't happen to use your phone, you aren't paying. So you could possibly have an even smaller bill.

I agree with the others that say this plan is not very good in general. Boost and Virgin are much better options.

 

Good point about the tax & other fees, we all forgot about it. While there are some places where AT&T has started to collect the E911 fee on prepaid, it doesn't come close to what you're paying on postpaid. Clearly, unless you need unlimited data and/or roaming, prepaid unlimited calling is a better deal than postpaid.

And for the record, I only said that the good years have 365 days in them As for Charlyee, she was posting from her phone and such simplification is reasonable, especially since the math was already done

 

If the phone isn't used on a particular day, that total drops by $3. That can add up to a decent savings.

Then again, when I had AT&T PAYG, 99% of my calls were mobile to mobile, so the .10 cents a minute/$1 a Day (when service was used) made it more cost effective.

Cost will really depend on how one uses the service.

Interesting mathematics though...

 

Hehe, I can never go a full day without using my cell phone.

But if I were to go with unlimited prepaid, a nice idea for a plan for me would be:

"The more days you use it, the less you pay per day."

However I'm happy with my current unlimited to 16 numbers

 

At least in Oklahoma you pay sales tax on prepaid refills on the front end - when you purchase the refill. This is true whether you refill on-line at the at&t website or purchase a refill card at a retail location (at&t or otherwise).

 

You can avoid paying sales tax if you use a service like Calingmart or cheapphonecards.

 

Yes, I'm aware of that. In Oklahoma whether the vendor charges you sales tax or not, the user is ultimately held liable for paying the proper amount in the form of use tax - although many use on-line sources to avoid paying sales tax. Several years back, Oklahoma added use tax reporting/collection to their state income tax forms in an attempt to address this issue.

Not intending any judgment here, just clarification - but there is a difference between not "paying" and not being "liable".

 

Ohio did the same thing. They have a spot on their income tax forms where you are to enter in the amount of "unpaid" sales tax on good you purchased online or through similar channels where the vendor does not charge sales tax.

 

LOL, so sayeth the financial whiz kid. .

Yes WI is exactly the same way. We pay taxes on prepaid at the time of purchase or if we take the on-line route we have to declare it on our tax forms.

 

If I'm not mistaken all states that have sales tax has recently made a push for the use tax to make it to the tax form.