iPhone+ATT=Horrible!! pass it on...

Holy freak! Just got my first month's bill from att. I've used 734 minutes out of 3,000 on my family share plan. Our bill is $347.50!. I called ATT and asked them about it and apparently, the data plan is $20 additional per line plus service charges etc etc. So for the plan highlighted in the picture below, out monthly charges are over $200 per month! I'm sorry, but the iPhone data plans outlined when we purchased them clearly state that the iPhone plans INCLUDE the unlimited data and 200 sms texts do they not? I feel I'm being ripped off. Love the phone, hate the service so far. -Tex

No, the plan clearly states $20 per phone for the unlimited internet/ 200 sms plan, on top of whatever existing voice plan you already had with them, or you can pick and choose whatever voice/family plan you need if you are just switching over. As for your $347.50 bill, could they have added those initial one-time activation charges added to your bill? Weren't they like $39 per phone or something? I paid those in advance and can't rememebr the amount but we bought 2 phones and had to pay the charge for both of them. We already had a ATT voice family plan we kept. But that $20 per phone added to the voice plan is what it will be every month for 2 years. That was definitely outlined in their brochure and explained to us in the store so we knew about it when we signed up.

AT&T was one of the major reasons I didn't go for the iPhone among other stuff. But I thought that the iPhone planes (not family planes) do include the Unlimited Data. I guess when you go to a family plan its a different ball game.

One of my buddies when he upgraded to the iPhone AT&T forced him to upgrade all the phones on his family planes so that they can be compatible with the new SIM cards or something to that extent...

I personally had a bad experience with AT&T long time ago both on Service and Billing, so AT&T will never get a penny from me again!

i have a feeling that there is a bit of user error involved in this and not all the information is available for us to verify
-chris

On AT&T's site it says family plan cost $189.99 for 2 phones on your plan and $30 per additional phone over 2. So, you're already at probably at least $200 with other regular fees just for 2. Plus $36 with the activation costs for each phone on your first bill. If you have 3 phones, that's about $340 with plan cost and activation right there. Sounds about right to me.

How many do you have? Do you have anything extra like unlimited text or any other of AT&T zillion little add-ons?

Ok, after being on the phone for the last 45 minutes with ATT here's the skinny:
The iphone plan that I am on is (in reality) $140 per month (not written ANYWHERE). The unlimited data plan and 200 sms text messages ARE INCLUDED as I thought which brings the total amount monthly to $160 as advertised. But, they add $29.99 per month to have two phones on a FAMILY TALK PLAN. So in reality, the plan I am on (which is a family talk plan) costs $189.99+ taxes and fees. I cant grasp why one would want to have a FAMILY talk plan with only one phone. In other words, they are using the 'ol bait and switch. They are advertising the fact that the plan is $160, then the fine print gets you up to $189 if you actually plan on using the FAMILY portion of the plan. What a bunch of BS and rhetoric! 2 8gb iphones are going back to the Apple store tomorrow morning. I've been with Sprint for 5 years and NEVER had any problems of this kind.

I'd hate to burst your bubble, but if you're NEW to AT&T, you're being prorated the first few weeks of usage, PLUS the next month of service. You aren't being ripped off. You're paying for whatever usage you have for July, plus, you're pre-paying August. Add the typical enrollment fee and all that stuff and the $20/line for data, and that seems about right.

They advertise a plan that costs $160 but in reality costs over $200 per month + tax to use it? All three ATT reps I spoke with said that the iphone plans on apple's website DO NOT have unlimited internet/web included in the price. The Apple rep I spoke with said that they absolutely do. Another screwy thing is that I am pro rated for signing up. I signed up on June 30th and assumed that my billing cycle would start on the day I signed up and cycle monthly like every other phone company I've had. Nope. They charged me a $30 PRO RATE fee plus my usage. So, for 6 days of service I paid over $100! When I asked the rep if everyone's billing date is the same she said no. When I asked her why they just randomly decided to make my billing date the 7th of every month she blamed it on their "system". So if you sign up, chances are you are charged a PRO RATE fee regardless of which date that is. Sounds like a great way to squeeze extra $$ out of customers. What is the need for a pro rated fee? You pay monthly on the same day, whatever that day is. The very first sentence on Apple's website regarding the iphone data plans is: "All iPhone service plans include Visual Voicemail and unlimited data — Internet and email — so you only have to decide how many minutes and SMS text messages you need. You’ll select your plan when you activate your iPhone using iTunes on your computer. Nowhere on their site or during the signing process does it state that you must pay an additional $20 for data plans per phone. How is this normal or for that matter, legal?

You are very confused. Have you ever owned a smart phone? this is how it works.
you have your plan: family plan A, say $75 dollars a month plus $9.99 for the 2nd line (my situation)

the 'iphone plan' is $20 a month on top of your regular plan. per iphone. this is how it was for my blackberry as well (only slightly more)

the 20 dollars for your 'iphone plan' includes unlimited data, visual voice mail, etc. that way, if you returned your iphone for a reg. phone you could just remove the $20 iphone plan and be back to a regular plan.

its just like adding texts or adding KB of data.

i have been with at&t for years and years and buying the iphone and adding it to my plan was no problem and the bill is completely what i expected.

I agree that it's confusing mainly because that's not how it works in this case. The plan INCLUDES unlimited data/200 sms. $29.99 per month for adding a line is high is it not?

ambivalent said:

You are very confused. Have you ever owned a smart phone? this is how it works.
you have your plan: family plan A, say $75 dollars a month plus $9.99 for the 2nd line (my situation)

the 'iphone plan' is $20 a month on top of your regular plan. per iphone. this is how it was for my blackberry as well (only slightly more)

the 20 dollars for your 'iphone plan' includes unlimited data, visual voice mail, etc. that way, if you returned your iphone for a reg. phone you could just remove the $20 iphone plan and be back to a regular plan.

its just like adding texts or adding KB of data.

i have been with at&t for years and years and buying the iphone and adding it to my plan was no problem and the bill is completely what i expected.

Click to expand...

This is exactly how my plan works as well, and I have had Cingular/ATT for 13 years. I have my voice plan that I had before and added 2 iPhones (hence 2 x $20 iPhone 'plans' with unlimited internet and 200 SMS messages each) to that old plan. The 'unlimited internet' that is 'included' is actually part of that $20 'iphone plan.' So now I have my old plan + 40 extra dollars per month. Now ATT family plans are subject to a 'minimum' voice plan requirement. When we added the family plan to our voice plan last year we have to bump up that base plan to whatever that minimum was - I think it was the 1500 shared minute plan that was required which did increase that base plan rate by some amount, then there is the $9.99 per month per phone. I forget how much that base increase was but all in all it is a lot cheaper than when we all had separate plans for everyone in the family.

Ambivalent is correct. Data and SMS is on top of or addition to your voice plan.

i still don't understand if this is a new activation or a previous customer? 3000 minutes is expensive as it is, advertised on the A&TT site at $189.99 +taxes and fee's, plus activation of $36 x 2. (my wife and i share 700 on a Sprint family plan) Sprint will also prorate your first billing, so that is nothing new. that many minutes anywhere will cost a bundle!

I really cannot believe this thread !!!!

Are you seriously telling me that in the US you have to pay close to 200 US$ a month for a bulk standard monthly plan!! - and one based on crappy GSM at that!!!

Over in the real wolrd people pay 10$ a month for a full G3 service with unlimited data, SMS and ~ 3000 minutes talk time.

I REALLY WISH that these threads about how crappy at&t is would get deleted.

Honestly, everyones plans are different, because you can keep plans youve had for years that doent exist anymore.

everyones service is different, depending on what city and state you are it,

and so are everyones bills- because god knows some idiot could be downloading porn on his phone and wondering what all these fees are for.

just, stop arguing about these things, really.

.....

Ooops.

ambivalent said:

I REALLY WISH that these threads about how crappy at&t is would get deleted.

Honestly, everyones plans are different, because you can keep plans youve had for years that doent exist anymore.

everyones service is different, depending on what city and state you are it,

and so are everyones bills- because god knows some idiot could be downloading porn on his phone and wondering what all these fees are for.

just, stop arguing about these things, really.

Click to expand...

This was the best post yet!!!

Your 100% correct, stop the nonsense!!!!

Look, I am a new customer, not an existing customer (aka never had ATT before). Why not read the stinkin page for Apple's data plans and then read my posts. The first sentence on Apple's data plan html page CLEARLY states that all iphone plans INCLUDE unlimited internet and 200 texts. Why am I being charged for something that's included? Riddle me that one. The only reference to a $20 per month fee is if you're an EXISTING customer and want to buy an iPhone plan to add to your existing plan.

Texasmeat said:

Look, I am a new customer, not an existing customer (aka never had ATT before). Why not read the stinkin page for Apple's data plans and then read my posts. The first sentence on Apple's data plan html page CLEARLY states that all iphone plans INCLUDE unlimited internet and 200 texts. Why am I being charged for something that's included? Riddle me that one. The only reference to a $20 per month fee is if you're an EXISTING customer and want to buy an iPhone plan to add to your existing plan.

Click to expand...

You've not only confused yourself, you've left out MAJOR DETAILS. For starters, you haven't told any of us how many lines are in your family plan and how many of them have data and texting packages. Read the plan details. 3,000 minutes for a base family plan is only $149.99, the one you posted is $169.99. If you do the math, you'll find that Apple already added the $20.00 for data and 200 SMS. So yeah, it is technically INCLUDED. If you read the fine print in that attachment YOU took a screen shot of, you'll see that it says, "*Price reflects one line. A minimum of two lines are required."

What you're not understanding is, in addition to the base cost of $169.99 is an additional $9.99/month for each additional line on the family plan. Then, it's another $20.00/month for each one of those lines that has a data/text plan.

For all we know, you could have 4 lines and all of them with data plans. You left out your details.

Example:

1st line: $149.99 + $20.00 (included) = $169.99

2nd line: $9.99 + $20.00 (data/sms) = $29.99

3rd line: $9.99 + $20.00 (data/sms) = $29.99

Total monthly cost of service = $229.97

That's only assuming you have 3 lines with data and the 200 sms/month option. If you have more lines, more data, and more texts... that's more money.

So before you come on here and telling everyone that AT&T and the iPhone sucks, and for us to "pass it on," do a little research. Otherwise, you're kinda embarrassing yourself when someone else has to do the research for you.

You're right, I highlighted my plan in the first picture but I did leave out the number of lines. I have 2 lines on this plan. The additional lines are $29.99 per month, not $9.99. I hope I'm wrong about that but my bill reflects that as well as ATT when I called. That brings it to a base cost of $160 for the plan, add $29.99 to that for adding a line and your total is 189.99. I also noticed a discrepency in the literature on Apple's brochures and att's brochures. Once says $149 + $20 for data plan, the other says $160 with data included. Is this not confusing to you?