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Maybe this will help you not gasp at yr 1st ATT iphone bill

bushbaby

bushbaby

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 12, 2007
539
38
SoCal
The link at the ATT site for "understanding your first bill" does not appear to have an Iphone example, which would help a lot.

Mine is 10 pages. What is confusing is on page 4 the bill says "total monthly service charges" but that amount is actually for two months (in my case, I think it's dependent on when you signed up).

My total for almost 2 months is $183.95. I have 450 min and the media max 200 and m2m ($25) . Base is $39.99. Activation fee was $37.10. Lots of taxes $14.38. $5.04 of Federal universal service charge and some surcharges (that I'm not clear on). One call to directory assistance at $1.79 (ouch).

Bottom line, it looks like my total charges will be around $75 ish per month.
 
My bill was right around $180 or so. 2 months' service and activation fee, taxes, tariffs, etc.

So $75/month sounds about right.
 
You are so right, earnjam. I was driving and it was something I needed fast (not worth the potential accident of me squinting at the internet). But I won't do that again.
 
My bill came in at 165.00 for 2 month's service fees plus the activation fee. I have the basic 450 minutes. Most cell services always bill a month in advance so it is a double bill. The strange thing is that I got my printed bill this morning and it is 44 pages long showing detail for every single web data transfer. Really unnecessary because it doesn't show any useful information. I hope AT&T fixes this since it is a huge waster of paper. A strong reason to change to electronic billing!

The one thing I am disappointed in is Roll-Over Minutes don't roll over the first month. Seems quite arbitrary.
 
They can't have minutes roll over the first month because you probably picked up partway through the month. I got mine on the release day. That meant I had only a couple days of use in the 1st month.

You shouldn't get like 95% of your first month's minutes rolled over when you only use it for part of the term.
 
earnjam said:
They can't have minutes roll over the first month because you probably picked up partway through the month. I got mine on the release day. That meant I had only a couple days of use in the 1st month.

You shouldn't get like 95% of your first month's minutes rolled over when you only use it for part of the term.
Click to expand...

I guess this makes sense. They could at least pro-rate it since they pro-rate the service charge. I've learned to accept it and moved on :)
 
jmingin said:
The one thing I am disappointed in is Roll-Over Minutes don't roll over the first month. Seems quite arbitrary.
Click to expand...

I'm disappointed that my 9000+ Roll-Over minutes rolled into the nether regions. Had to change from a Business account to Personal.:(
 
earnjam said:
They can't have minutes roll over the first month because you probably picked up partway through the month. I got mine on the release day. That meant I had only a couple days of use in the 1st month.

You shouldn't get like 95% of your first month's minutes rolled over when you only use it for part of the term.
Click to expand...

I called ATT about this and was told there are no rollover minutes in the first month of service.
 
so let me get this straight your first bill you will be billed for two months? So if i have the $120 a month plan thats $240 plus taxes and activation for the first month. About $300 seems step when my bill was suppose to be $120 a month plus taxes. signed up on august 4th will that make a difference.:confused:
 
snook911 said:
so let me get this straight your first bill you will be billed for two months? So if i have the $120 a month plan thats $240 plus taxes and activation for the first month. About $300 seems step when my bill was suppose to be $120 a month plus taxes. signed up on august 4th will that make a difference.:confused:
Click to expand...

not exactly. When you first start up service you are placed in a billing cycle. Depending on when that cycle ends determines what your prorated charges will be. Then you will pay for the next month charges in advance.
 
method525 said:
not exactly. When you first start up service you are placed in a billing cycle. Depending on when that cycle ends determines what your prorated charges will be. Then you will pay for the next month charges in advance.
Click to expand...

I thought this was a post paid account. Why would you pay in advance for a post paid account. Would that make it like a pre paid account since you are pre paying for usage in advance. I thought the whole idea of a post paid account you used the time then you paid for it. Guess not.:(
 
earnjam said:
They can't have minutes roll over the first month because you probably picked up partway through the month. I got mine on the release day. That meant I had only a couple days of use in the 1st month.

You shouldn't get like 95% of your first month's minutes rolled over when you only use it for part of the term.
Click to expand...


So i guess they shouldn't bill him for the full month then, he should of only gotten billed for the couple of days he used it then? Right? :rolleyes:
 
snook911 said:
I thought this was a post paid account. Why would you pay in advance for a post paid account. Would that make it like a pre paid account since you are pre paying for usage in advance. I thought the whole idea of a post paid account you used the time then you paid for it. Guess not.:(
Click to expand...

That is how post paid accounts with att works. This is also the same with alltel and probably other cell phone companies too. Right now att has two ways of billing customer with cell phone account arrears and in advance. The only customers that are billed in arrears are the old att wireless customer that were gobbled up when att brought out them. Cingular and now att customers are billed in advance. Your billed price plan covers the next month's cycle while your overage is billed in arrears which means you pay for those charges after they happen. Oh yeah, I do work for att.
 
method525 said:
That is how post paid accounts with att works. This is also the same with alltel and probably other cell phone companies too. Right now att has two ways of billing customer with cell phone account arrears and in advance. The only customers that are billed in arrears are the old att wireless customer that were gobbled up when att brought out them. Cingular and now att customers are billed in advance. Your billed price plan covers the next month's cycle while your overage is billed in arrears which means you pay for those charges after they happen. Oh yeah, I do work for att.
Click to expand...

I think what they should do then is make you pay for a month up front when you activate it so you won't get hit with that big first bill. I bet alot of people call in when they see thier first bill is double what it should be. I'm in insurance and we bill ahead also but we collect money up front so the first bill is what we said it would be. To me it would be better to just collect the first month up front and if its prorated and they collected to much they could take it off the first months bill. As far as I know no one has ever complained for getting a bill less then that thought it would be.:rolleyes:
 
I doubt that we will ever do that. The billing cycle that customers are placed in are sometimes so random. I've seen customers' first prorated billing cover just one day to where one guy had essential two months worth of charges on his bill. I think a lot of the problems fall on the store reps who don't fully explain to customers about proration and that their first bill will be higher. Sometimes they don't even mention that the bill will be higher in the first month. That leaves the burden on us poor customer service reps to explain and take the customer's anger.
 
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