How much do your iPhones cost monthly and how much did you pay for the actual phones? My wife and I are seriously considering getting a couple of iPhones on a family plan but the monthly charges just seem outrageous. We are current AT&T customers, not upgrade eligible so I've been told in the past, who pay 50-55 bucks a month on a family plan. I'm not expecting to get an iPhone for this amount monthly, but 2X-3X more just seems crazy. So, after doing some research, I'm looking at $399 for a new 16gb iPhone 3GS for the wife and $499 for a 32gb one for myself. $900 bucks plus tax brings the total to about $1000 just for the hardware?! Are you freaking kidding me? As for plans, the cheapest is 129.99 plus $10/month for 200 texts, so thats about $140.00/month for two lines, does that sound about right? Can I get an individual plan for $69.99 and then add a second iPhone line for $9.99 + $30 for data? Is this possible? Anyways, I'm really just looking for the cheapest ways get two iPhones on a family plan. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone users with family plans, level with me...
- Thread starter smg9779
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
For 2 iPhones with 700min and unlimited texts it runs me 150 a month. I get some sort of discount for working for a school.
I have an iPhone, with unlimited texting, plus two basic phones on my plan, 700 minutes, and it's like $140-$150 a month.
What do you expect 2 tiny computers to cost? They'd be $1,300 + tax without AT&T's help. They're bringing them down to $900 + tax in exchange for their monthly fees.
I agree that AT&T is expensive, but why are you complaining about the hardware costs? That's the one part that makes the most sense in all this.
Oh, and we pay $130.74 per month for 2 iPhones here. (Actually $147.67 minus a $16.90 work discount.)
5 lines.. 2 iphone 3gs, 1 blackberry bold, 1 samsung flip, 1 sony ericson
1400 mins + 200 bonus per line + a-list (10 numbers unlimited calling) = $80.00 - 25% + $40 (4 lines..) = $100 for voice.
+
unlimited family text/mms = $30
+
3 family web data plans (iphone, iphone, blackberry bold... yes medianet works perfectly fine on the iphones/berrys) = $30
=
$160.00 + tax
so under $180 every month.
1400 mins + 200 bonus per line + a-list (10 numbers unlimited calling) = $80.00 - 25% + $40 (4 lines..) = $100 for voice.
+
unlimited family text/mms = $30
+
3 family web data plans (iphone, iphone, blackberry bold... yes medianet works perfectly fine on the iphones/berrys) = $30
=
$160.00 + tax
so under $180 every month.
If you are not eligible for upgrade you will pay more for the iPhone. Find out when you are and maybe smarter to wait it out a couple of months (if you can). Sucks but how bad do you want it? There are other ways to get one cheaper, but personally I would rather buy new and know there are no problems.
As far as plans there is a plan that will give you 550 minutes (can have 3 lines max) for $59.99 add $30 a piece for each iPhone and then 200 texts each your at $129.99. I don't know if 550 minutes would be enough the next plan up is 700 minutes and total it would be $139.99. Only a $10 for 150 more minutes.
Your idea of a single line plan then adding a line for $9.99 is not possible. As soon as you add the second line to the plan it turns it to a family plan. You can't share the $30 data plan. It is $30 per iPhone.
The best bet to lower your bill is to see if you or your wife would qualify for a company discount where you work. The easiest way to find out is either through AT&T's website (you can check by your work email) or you can ask a rep at your local AT&T store. Lots of companies have discounts that people aren't aware of. They range in percentages but any little bit helps. With the discount you get it off the BASE price of the family plan and off the $30 iPhone data plans.
The plans may seem pricey compared to the phones and the plan you have now, but think about all that you can and will do on the iPhone. You are getting a lot more and functionality with the iPhone. You WILL use the phone more.
I used to work for AT&T and still have friends there so I can pretty much answer any questions you may have.
tbh people who work for att are trolls, there are sooo many ways to get around the high costs of att. most employees dont know jack. ex.. ways to cheat the discount system and so on.. u'd be better off reading thru various ways people work the system rather then asking an employee, no offense to the post who says he worked at att at one time but where i live the att employees here are STUPID.. they claim certain things cant be done and wont work no matter what you do yet i prove them wrong countless times, i learned alot from here and trial and error.
$120 a month total
2x iPhone Data plans
1x Family Unlimited Text Msg plan
450mins bla bla bla
Yes, I have it at a discount from my previous employer and loving the discounted dataplan.
2x iPhone Data plans
1x Family Unlimited Text Msg plan
450mins bla bla bla
Yes, I have it at a discount from my previous employer and loving the discounted dataplan.
$175 - Total
3 iphones
3x $30 data
3x $5 200 msg plans
with a corporate discount mixed in there.
3 iphones
3x $30 data
3x $5 200 msg plans
with a corporate discount mixed in there.
How do you get two iphones and one BB bold data plans for $30 total, they are $30 each usually?
1400 min
200 texts per phone
2 data plans
= avg. $160 per month
after taxes with work discount.
with all the free txt options i was considering 86'ing the text plans save $10
if you have both phones sharing the same itunes account you can install apps on both.
200 texts per phone
2 data plans
= avg. $160 per month
after taxes with work discount.
with all the free txt options i was considering 86'ing the text plans save $10
if you have both phones sharing the same itunes account you can install apps on both.
My wife's employer recently became a corporate AT&T account. This gave her a 24% AT&T FAN discount. The only way for me to get the 24% discount was for her to set up a family plan & add my line. Without the 24% discount I couldn't see any advantage to having a family plan for just two people. Perhaps if you had more than two lines it might be worth it.
i have family data plans @ $10.00 each, they work just fine, on the iphone you loose VVM, on the blackberry you loose PUSH, so to get around this i use youmail on iphone and gmail on blackberry.
1400 Min- 80
2 iPhones- 30+39.99
1 regular Phone- 9.99
unlimited text- 30
19% discount- -24
Plus taxes-
I'm about 173.50 a month
2 iPhones- 30+39.99
1 regular Phone- 9.99
unlimited text- 30
19% discount- -24
Plus taxes-
I'm about 173.50 a month
On my plan:
2 iPhones, 1 "dumb" phone
$9.99 add a line x 2
$30 data plans x 2
550 minutes
unlimited family text - $30
+ Texas state employee discount.
about $160 a month.
2 iPhones, 1 "dumb" phone
$9.99 add a line x 2
$30 data plans x 2
550 minutes
unlimited family text - $30
+ Texas state employee discount.
about $160 a month.
Thanks for the info everyone. My wife and I made the jump. My wife got a 16gb 3GS and I got a 32gb 3GS. 550 shared minutes, 200 texts/month, unlimited data for both, $113/month before tax. My wife has a corporate discount of 15% plus no activation fee, so that helped soften the blow. So, is this iPhone gonna change my life?