AT&T Thinks T-Mobile Has Made Mobile Pricing Too Damn Confusing I've written about the industry for going on fifteen years and even I have to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand wireless data plans. Needless to say, while T-Mobile has done some good things in shaking up the industry, the New York Times notes how plans from all four carriers still tend to be incredibly confusing for normal customers, many of which may not even know what a gigabyte is.

quote: “I think we’re propagating some confusion in the marketplace — us as an industry,” Glenn Lurie, the new chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said in a recent interview. “There’s been so much noise that customers are getting confused."...Criticizing his competitors’ limited-time discounts, Mr. Lurie of AT&T said his company’s reputation was built around being respectful and transparent to customers. “Deal of the day is not necessarily how you get there.” Of course this is the same AT&T that has played a starring role in confusing plans, and just This is, of course by design; that confusion hinders direct comparisons and keeps those too lazy to do research and too afraid to switch multiple lines in place, thus the industry's low "churn" rates. AT&T tends to agree, suggesting in the article several times that T-Mobile's to blame:Of course this is the same AT&T that has played a starring role in confusing plans, and just settled a $105 million investigation for helping crammers by making bills intentionally confusing, so make of AT&T's worries what you will. While T-Mobile's plans still may be confusing to some, their effort to at least simplify consumer bills have left AT&T and Verizon starting to sweat a little bit , just like actual competition is supposed to. Still, it only takes printing out your entire wireless bill sometime to realize we've got a long, long way to go.







News Jump California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 43 comments



IPPlanMan

Holy Cable Modem Batman

join:2000-09-20

Washington, DC 5 recommendations IPPlanMan Member Confusing?...That's rich...



That's rich, especially coming from the company which throttles its loyal "Unlimited Data" customers at 5GB even when there's no actual congestion on the network.



»arstechnica.com/informat ··· ngested/



They say they'll fix this in 2015... Probably on December 31st... No rush of course. AT&T was able to enable this throttling scheme quickly. It's probably just a few keystrokes to undo it, but they'll just wait a bit longer so that more people move to shared data plans.



As I said here: »



You see, when you use data on a Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plan, that's called "congestion", so you're throttled at 5 GB to EDGE-like speeds to "prevent" it.



Note this "congestion" doesn't occur when you double a shared 15 GB data plan to 30 GB, or a 20 GB plan to 40 GB, or a 30 GB plan to 60 GB, or a 40 GB plan to 80 GB, or a 50 GB plan to 100 GB. It doesn't occur if you let both new and current customers keep this "doubled data" in perpetuity, or at least until they change their plan.



No, "congestion" only happens with Unlimited Data Plans throttled at 5 GB.



What a farce.

-----



Hey AT&T, there's nothing confusing about Unlimited, Unthrottled Data... Good try though. Confusing?That's rich, especially coming from the company which throttles its loyal "Unlimited Data" customers at 5GB even when there's no actual congestion on the network.They say they'll fix this in 2015... Probably on December 31st... No rush of course. AT&T was able to enable this throttling scheme quickly. It's probably just a few keystrokes to undo it, but they'll just wait a bit longer so that more people move to shared data plans.As I said here: » But but congestion.... You see, when you use data on a Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plan, that's called "congestion", so you're throttled at 5 GB to EDGE-like speeds to "prevent" it.Note this "congestion" doesn't occur when you double a shared 15 GB data plan to 30 GB, or a 20 GB plan to 40 GB, or a 30 GB plan to 60 GB, or a 40 GB plan to 80 GB, or a 50 GB plan to 100 GB. It doesn't occur if you let both new and current customers keep this "doubled data" in perpetuity, or at least until they change their plan.No, "congestion" only happens with Unlimited Data Plans throttled at 5 GB.What a farce.-----... Good try though.

Zenit

The system is the solution

Premium Member

join:2012-05-07

Purcellville, VA 2 recommendations Zenit Premium Member We looked at AT&T again just to compare And AT&T's current pricing structure is confusing as heck.



$40 connection fee for each smartphone + Bucket + Cost of smartphone per month



T-Mobile is just Plan + Smartphone.

Rob

Premium Member

join:2001-08-25

Miami, FL 2 recommendations Rob Premium Member Let us not forget.. That AT&T almost acquired T-Mobile. Another example how we should not let companies that control such large markets merge. It only causes reduced competition and the consumer loses. amungus

Premium Member

join:2004-11-26

America 2 recommendations amungus Premium Member oh my Now this is rich.



If anything, T-Mo has GREATLY simplified their plans, and their approach to their services.



I'm sorry, but AT&T's pricing is not at all clear.



Go to site, pick phone, pick 1GB data - oh, it's only $25/mo for the service? No, it's $65, because you're paying $40 for the phone.



Ok. Try BYOP. Oh, that's $65/mo. plus taxes, etc...

Wait. What?



Who knows what happens when you actually follow through with any of it, or what it'll end up being after your phone is paid off, or why there's a 30 month plan, a 2yr. plan, an 18 month plan, 12 month plan, or a ...no month plan...



oh, that one is $50/mo, BTW, after a rebate that may or may not continue to exist...



then there's:

"Smartphones on 2-yr wireless agreements prior to March 9, 2014 will receive a discounted smartphone access charge on plans 2GB to 6GB. Those on 2-yr agreements prior to February 2, 2014 will receive a discounted smartphone access charge on plans 10GB or higher. Smartphones on AT&T Next, month to month, purchased at full price or BYOD also receive this discount. If you upgrade to a new 2-yr agreement this discount will be lost. "



...And this is not "too confusing?"