The carriers promised that when they introduced family share plans that things would be simpler, which didn't last very long. AT&T has thrown another plan into their mix, many believe to compete with the much cheaper T-Mobile deals.
We noticed T-Mobile stores are more crowded than AT&T stores, courting AT&T customers by paying for ETF fees. While AT&T is trying to keep and lure customers with a $100 credit with these new plans.
The new plans are called the "best-ever prices" for families in the "best in class network."
The family gets a bucket of 10GB of data to share on two smartphones for $130 a month, each additional line of service is $15 per line which includes unlimited talk and text. This deal is only for families or couples who bring their own device or pay full price for their devices. For a limited time until 3/31/14 new or existing AT&T customers who add a line will get at $100 bill credit.
Customers who choose to upgrade at the end of their current agreement are required to sign-up for NEXT, bring their own device or purchase a phone a full retail price in order to keep this plan.
AT&T pointed out that Verizon charges $260 for the same amount of data for its 4 line plan compared to AT&T's at $160 (if you pay for your own device.) With the Verizon plan you are paying for the device in the contract cost.
Read that second to last paragraph until it sinks in. If you want to do a normal upgrade, the cost of that line goes from 15 to 40 a month