Is S4 Google Edition a complete waste of $450?

[planoman]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

and here are others:
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Updated and Expanded: The Best US Prepaid Data Deals | Prepaid Phone News

Anybody who says they pay only $75, including fees and taxes, on a single stand-alone line in the US, for a postpaid contract plan with 1) unlimited talk; 2) unlimited text; and 3) more than 1GB of data might be related to Pinocchio.

I am not related to Pinocchio and I am close. I have been on ATT since 1996. I pay $68 to $70 dollars a month on ATT LTE plan. I have 2743 roll over minutes (all ATT mobile calls are free as are night and weekends) so essentially unlimited in my world, but I think the actual plan is 450 anytime minutes. I have unlimited data (LTE caps at 5GB before throttle) most I have used is 2.6 GB in month and unlimited text. I get a rate discount of 25% on my plan as do most people I know on ATT get some type of discount. Even if I did not get a discount, I would be with ATT as their network is hands down the best in my area. I do not mind paying for a premium network. I have purchased several off contract phones before and will jump on this S4 Google Edition as soon as I get back from vacation. My pair of S4's will look nice! Just wish the GE was in black as well. Never owned a white phone.

My company gives us the option of paying for our bill or getting a phone so I have a Verizon iphone 5 as a work phone and pay my own bill on ATT. Screenshot is for April 2013 bill.

My wife got pissed off at ATT many years ago and moved to T mobile. She was pissed when I did not go with her and leave ATT. I told her not to come between a man and his unlimited data plan! lol!

 

[planoman]

They use to let you just call and do it over the phone. This was like 7 years ago. I remember how shocked I was we even got a discount. I called while at work and they just asked for the code. I thought they would make me come in store.

Reading through all of the carriers it looks like you can still do it without going in store but now they verify some other way.

Edit: I did a quick search and it looks like warner bros and coke get 30% and at&t corporate gets 50%!

For us they send a email to your corporate email address with a link to verify. It has been a while so not sure if they still do that...

 

[21stNow]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

After taxes and everything I am under $80. I get a 30% fan discount. For some reason it changes from $77-$79. I don't know what makes it fluctuate. I just looked at it is actually 1000 minutes, but unlimited to any mobile to mobile and I have 4000 rollover minutes. I don't think they do rollover anymore but I have them sitting there and it stays at 4000 each month.

Having unlimited mobile to mobile means I use like 30 minutes a month.

AT&T still offers rollover minutes if you are on a tiered-minutes plan.

 

[jdbii]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

I am not related to Pinocchio and I am close. I have been on ATT since 1996. I pay $68 to $70 dollars a month on ATT LTE plan. I have 2743 roll over minutes (all ATT mobile calls are free as are night and weekends) so essentially unlimited in my world, but I think the actual plan is 450 anytime minutes. I have unlimited data (LTE caps at 5GB before throttle) most I have used is 2.6 GB in month and unlimited text. I get a rate discount of 25% on my plan as do most people I know on ATT get some type of discount. Even if I did not get a discount, I would be with ATT as their network is hands down the best in my area. I do not mind paying for a premium network. I have purchased several off contract phones before and will jump on this S4 Google Edition as soon as I get back from vacation. My pair of S4's will look nice! Just wish the GE was in black as well. Never owned a white phone.

My company gives us the option of paying for our bill or getting a phone so I have a Verizon iphone 5 as a work phone and pay my own bill on ATT. Screenshot is for April 2013 bill.

My wife got pissed off at ATT many years ago and moved to T mobile. She was pissed when I did not go with her and leave ATT. I told her not to come between a man and his unlimited data plan! lol!

I stand corrected. I guess you learn something new every day.

 

[quietlybrilliant]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

I hate to keep dragging this discussion on, but I just looked at AT&T's pre-paid plan page: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ss%2Fplans%2Fprepaidplans.html&token=fVd-xCWv and it looks like the price you're quoting is for non-smartphones only (plus it's actually gone up to $50 per month). Looking at the same features you're comparing (unlimited talk and text) on a smartphone pre-paid plan, you're looking at $60 per month with a 2GB data limit. Since there's now a data limit, you would only still be saving money if you NEVER went over the 2GB. Otherwise, tack on another $10 per GB per month and you're back up to $70 which is only $5 cheaper than what he pays, except that he still gets unlimited data even though it slows down after 3GB (for 3G) or 5GB (for 4G).

So yes, you do save some money with a pre-paid plan, but only if you are within the specified limits.

Exactly. And keep in mind that I actually pay less than $70 with my company's discount. Also keep in mind that I'm able to get a new phone *every* year as long as my partner doesn't want a new smartphone (she won't since she has a tablet always on her), so even if Jensen's numbers were right and were for a comparable plan (both of which you've shown to be wrong) he would only save money if he only upgraded every second year. I like upgrading every year, and to my great surprise (I honestly still thought two weeks ago AT&T was ripping me off after drinking the T-mobile Kool-Aid) AT&T actually seems to be the best deal around for my particular situation.

 

[mattopotamus]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

I am not related to Pinocchio and I am close. I have been on ATT since 1996. I pay $68 to $70 dollars a month on ATT LTE plan. I have 2743 roll over minutes (all ATT mobile calls are free as are night and weekends) so essentially unlimited in my world, but I think the actual plan is 450 anytime minutes. I have unlimited data (LTE caps at 5GB before throttle) most I have used is 2.6 GB in month and unlimited text. I get a rate discount of 25% on my plan as do most people I know on ATT get some type of discount. Even if I did not get a discount, I would be with ATT as their network is hands down the best in my area. I do not mind paying for a premium network. I have purchased several off contract phones before and will jump on this S4 Google Edition as soon as I get back from vacation. My pair of S4's will look nice! Just wish the GE was in black as well. Never owned a white phone.

My company gives us the option of paying for our bill or getting a phone so I have a Verizon iphone 5 as a work phone and pay my own bill on ATT. Screenshot is for April 2013 bill.

My wife got pissed off at ATT many years ago and moved to T mobile. She was pissed when I did not go with her and leave ATT. I told her not to come between a man and his unlimited data plan! lol!

It should be unlimited to any mobile phone on any carrier. If they do not have this on your plan, call them and they add it for free.

 

[ledfrog]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

It should be unlimited to any mobile phone on any carrier. If they do not have this on your plan, call them and they add it for free.

Are they still offering that? He can check online to see a list of available features without even having to call customer support. I remember about a year ago I made that change to my account right on the website.

 

[jdbii]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

How do you guys and gals gets these good discounts? For instance I've never heard of a "fan discount." Do you just call up and see if your company qualifies for one of the discounts and then AT&T asks you for a pay stub or employee ID number?

 

[ledfrog]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

How do you guys and gals gets these good discounts? For instance I've never heard of a "fan discount." Do you just call up and see if your company qualifies for one of the discounts and then AT&T asks you for a pay stub or employee ID number?

Normally you can talk to your employer, but sometimes people may not even know. AT&T has a way to check on their website to see if your company participates, but I can't remember where I saw it. There's a list out on the internet that contains all employers who have a FAN (Foundation Account Number) with AT&T, but I also can't find it at the moment! But once you have your employer's code, then all you have to do is call AT&T and tell them you're an employee and someone can add the code to your account. However, mine was added so long ago, I don't know if they've implemented any checks these days. You might have to show a pay stub to an employee at the AT&T store or something like that.

 

[kgbkny]

Re: Is there any point in spending $449 extra to get the Google Edition phone?

All this talk about FAN accounts prompted me to do a little investigating. Here's the link to sign up for the FAN program: https://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/?WT.svl=3

In the upper right hand corner, there is a text box where you input your corporate e-mail address to check what discounts you're eligible for. You can also sign up directly from the website. An e-mail will be sent to your corporate e-mail address to verify that you work for the organization. Turns out that I was eligible for a 25% discount!