{"id":2059,"date":"2013-10-11T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T00:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2013-10-11T16:17:02","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T00:17:02","slug":"plinka-plinka-plinka-heeeee-hawwwwww","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2059","title":{"rendered":"Plinka Plinka Plinka HEEEEE HAWWWWWW"},"content":{"rendered":"

So AT&T made it official: effective in two weeks, you will no longer be able to buy anything but a Mobile Share plan for your phone. \u00a0Which basically puts them in line with the rest of cellular America: you are obligated to buy unlimited voice and text, and the price differentiator is only on data. \u00a0For AT&T, a single user with 2 GB data a month (in other words, typical iPhone setup) will cost you $95 a month\u2026in other words, $40 more than AIO will charge you for prepaid service with no contract on the same damned network.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seriously, I have signed my last contract. It’s going to be all T-Mobile or AIO from now on, as soon as I’m left to my own devices (SEE WHAT I DID THERE). \u00a0But that brings up another interesting conundrum. \u00a0Observe:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Nexus 7 (2013) with cellular data, 32 GB – $349<\/p>\n

New iPad Mini with cellular data, 32 GB – $559<\/p>\n

New iPad retina with cellular data, 32 GB – $729<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

New iPhone 5C, white, 32 GB, unlocked – $649<\/p>\n

New Moto X developer edition, 32 GB, unlocked – $649<\/p>\n

New iPhone 5S, gold, 32 GB, unlocked – $749<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There you go. \u00a0Across the board, a new smartphone is more expensive than a tablet of similar make and capacity. \u00a0Yet because of years of contract subsidies, we’re conditioned to think that a tablet costs more than a phone. \u00a0Nevertheless, if you buy that white 5C unlocked and put it on AIO, your savings over two years? Five hundred dollars. <\/em>That’s after<\/em> paying full price up front for the phone. \u00a0In fact, at $40 a month, you’ve made up the upfront out-of-pocket cost in a year<\/em>. \u00a0On top of that, you’re free to change between AIO and T-Mobile every other month if you like. \u00a0Hell, you could be on AIO, then switch to T-Mobile for a month when going abroad so as to have the same number and free international data roaming, then switch back to AT&T’s network on AIO when you return. \u00a0That’s an entirely<\/em> realistic and feasible scenario.<\/p>\n

But the thing is, you have to change your thinking. \u00a0It didn’t occur to me that I should be looking to replace my iPad next March. I’ve had it a year and a half, it’s running just fine – there’s no contract coming up. More importantly, there’s no monthly nut to make that won’t get any lower just because the contract’s run out. \u00a0With a contract, keeping your existing phone doesn’t gain you anything; you’re paying the subsidy rate every month whether you’re paying the phone off or not. \u00a0So the impulse is to jump on the upgrade as soon as the new phone comes out, because you may as well have the benefit of the subsidy.<\/p>\n

By contrast – the wife will have the iPhone 5, and the iPhone 4S she still has will be left over. \u00a0If I had to give up my work phone, for whatever reason, that 4S will run iOS 7 pretty good. \u00a0Replacing the battery yourself is feasible for not much money. \u00a0And boom, there’s an entirely viable phone, running for $55 a month on AIO. \u00a0You can replace the phone whenever you need to replace the phone, not on a 2-year cycle.\u00a0But for this to work long-term, people have to start thinking in terms of the full<\/em> value of the phone, and wrapping your head around the prospect that a phone costs $650 – more than a tablet – is going to be a heavy lift for a lot of folks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So AT&T made it official: effective in two weeks, you will no longer be able to buy anything but a Mobile Share plan for your phone. \u00a0Which basically puts them in line with the rest of cellular America: you are obligated to buy unlimited voice and text, and the price differentiator is only on data. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Plinka Plinka Plinka HEEEEE HAWWWWWW”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}