AT&T Discounts... YMMV... Got a $100 credit

radeon962

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Messages
1,284
AT&T just released a new promotion today in their battle with T-Mobile by offering a $100 credit to customers (new or existing) who add a line of service.

I didn't add a line, but thought I would give AT&T a call to see what's up. I just got off the phone with a very nice CSR who gave me a $100 credit as a long time customer with 5 lines on a Family Plan. I just asked what type of deals can they offer to long time, loyal customers who are looking at options to saving some money on their cell phone plans. She put me on hold and about 2 minutes later she was back saying she could credit my account.

I did not push it further as I figured I would take that for now and see what else can be had later as I need to move to the Family Share Plan anyway as I have another phone on a GoPhone plan and then need to add another this summer, so having 5 phones on AT&T and then 2 on a GoPhone plan gets to be a pain and I want to consolidate to one bill.

I would love to switch to T-Mobile but their coverage is poor in a lot of areas where we travel. Saving money is good, not being able to use your smart phone due to a lack of coverage is not.

It could get really interesting if T-Mobile coverage gets to a point that rivals AT&T/Verizon.

More info on the AT&T discount and related:

All New Customers and Existing AT&T Customers Who Add a Line of Service Receive $100 Credit:

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?p...ticleid=37410&mapcode=consumer|mobile-devices

For even more savings, try this approach:

http://bgr.com/2014/01/29/att-bill-discount-how-to-guide-shrink-bill/
 
Tmobile will be implementing the 700mhz band LTE in areas this year, this will at least increase coverage in cities
 
In SE Michigan they have decent coverage in major cities and along the expressways but coverage drops off significantly in other areas and is essentially MIA in significant portions of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
 
Hah, nice.. I bet if I tried to do that with Verizon right now, they would just offer to move me off of unlimited data and onto a more expensive plan with less service. :rolleyes:
 
I was reasonably happy with the T-Mobile coverage in my area, and was on the $30/5GB Month plan. I realized I really didn't need nearly that much data and switched to Airvoice Wireless (AT&T MVNO) on their $10/month plan. For those in good native AT&T coverage areas that aren't heavy users, this is something to consider.
 
I'll check it out. I am on an old 2gb plan but rarely exceed 1.5 gb. Other 2 smartphones are on the 3gb plans and both rarely exceed 1 gb as they have wifi most of the time available. Other 3 are dumb phones so no data required.
 
Tmobile will be implementing the 700mhz band LTE in areas this year, this will at least increase coverage in cities

Why 700?

I am sick of how our LTE band is so much different than anywhere else in the world.

It's almost impossible to find a phone that doesn't sell in NA region that support our LTE band.
 
Why 700?

I am sick of how our LTE band is so much different than anywhere else in the world.

It's almost impossible to find a phone that doesn't sell in NA region that support our LTE band.
700 band A / band 12 because its undesired right now and nothing else is available.

700mhz is purchased from Verizon. They didn't use it because the 700mhz band A (or band 12) sits next to TV channels and that causes interference. Therefore, Verizon hasn't used that spectrum yet. In a few years, those TV channels should be moved somewhere else and then T-Mobile can fully use the channel. 700mhz Band 17 is supported by a lot of phones and it should be a simple filter switch to support band 12/A

700MHz.jpg


Could T-Mobile buy something else? Nothing low frequency is for sale, doubt att or Verizon would sell their good 700 or 850mhz. Low frequency usually means better building penetration and range, and T-Mobile doesn't have any (they have 1700 1900 2100

We have a 650mhz band auction in 2015, but T-Mobile could be paying a lot more, and phone support would be a problem too. this deal with verizon means t-mobile is giving up some AWS spectrum (because verizon wants more spectrum in those areas to relieve congestion in their LTE network), but t-mobile has enough spectrum in those area not to be affected

i think t-mobile is thinking long-term... they can get 700mhz (probably cheaper than the 650mhz auction in 2 years), get 700mhz working for now, fullspeed after 2015 when the tv channels go away... vs the timeline for the 650mhz auction and rollout


interesting reading for the 700mhz band 12/17 problem
http://www.extremetech.com/electron...e-of-regulatory-and-interoperability-failure/
 
Last edited:
Oh god TMo desperately needs some lower frequency holdings... rural coverage is TERRIBLE to say nothing of building penetration. I was up in Maine for a month this past Aug, and as soon as you exited the Portland metro area (~600kbps HSDPA+) you were doomed to GPRS (if you had coverage at all)... not even EDGE... basically rendering my phone unusable for anything I would use it for. VZW? In really remote areas there wasn't any reception, but when there was it was always LTE and pretty fast.... all thanks to their 700MHz towers throwing out their loving LTE arms 20+ miles vs TMo's 1900MHz 5 mile range... it's simply cost prohibitive for TMo to build out rural areas with such an anemic range.

edit:
pfftt- If I were TMo I think I would have just held out for the 650MHz auction...
What they bought (oh yay, Boston! seriously...):
Screen-Shot-2014-01-06-at-11.42.56.jpg


Look what VZW owns
8657.gif
 
Back
Top