$25 off DirecTV or DirecTV Now with AT&T Unlimited Plus

[directv newb]

I'm moving to a new house soon that will have AT&T gigabit internet, so I've decided to drop DIRECTV and go streaming to save some money. I was originally leaning towards Sling, as it has most of the channels we want at the best price. Then I heard about the new AT&T unlimited plan that has the $25 credit towards DIRECTV Now, which made it a better deal than Sling because it would be more channels at a lower price. Now I've read that many people have spoken with AT&T and found that FAN discounts don't apply to the new plans, and I've also looked at my account online which shows no FAN discount on the new plans if I start to make the switch (it shows the FAN on every other plan). This doesn't surprise me since Verizon is not allowing an employer discount on their new unlimited plan. We have four lines (myself, my other half, and both our mothers).

We currently have the old unlimited plan that required DIRECTV service (and which was later made available to everyone). Right now we're paying $169.80 for unlimited on the 4 lines. This is after my FAN discount. Also paying $127.98 for DIRECTV. That price includes a $10 discount for combined bill. Total now is $297.78, not including taxes and fees. It's ~$310 with taxes/fees.

If I switch us to the new Unlimited Plus plan our wireless would go up to $185 if I do autopay, and DIRECTV Now would cost $35 - for a total of $220, not including taxes/fees. That would be ~$77/month savings.

If I switch us to the new Unlimited Choice plan our wireless would go down to $155, but data speeds are restricted to 3Mbps - a noticeable drop. Also not able to turn off Stream Saver. Also no tethering, but that's no biggie since I never really used it when I had it before. No DIRECTV Now discount, so I went with Sling at $40 - for a total of $195, not including fees/taxes. That would be ~$100/month savings.

I also looked into Cricket, which is AT&T. Cricket has recently reworked their plans also. Cricket restricts data speeds to 8Mbps, not quite as bad a drop as the AT&T Unlimited Choice plan. Cricket has "Stream More" (their version of Stream Saver), which can be turned on/off at will. I looked at Unlimited for both myself and my other half at $60 each (was previously $70), plus 3GB plans for each mom (which is way more than enough for them) at $40 each. Cricket gives a $60 group discount on 4 lines, making the 4 lines $140/month including taxes/fees. Go with Sling at $40, which makes the total $180/month (plus I'm assuming a few bucks for taxes on Sling) - well over $100/month savings.

I don't really know much about Cricket, other than that it's owned/operated by AT&T and uses AT&T towers. I've never really seen/heard many comments from actual users of the service. I ordered one SIM for Cricket off of Amazon so I could give it a whirl before making a complete switch over to it. It was only $2.99 on there, but I got it for free with the points I had on my Amazon Visa. We've been with AT&T for our cell phones for 19 years, and every time I've tried another service the other service has sucked and right back to AT&T. Maybe it won't be that way with Cricket since it's AT&T.

If you like AT&T cell phone service then you will love Cricket. I had AT&T forever and I switched a long time ago and I have NEVER noticed one difference, EXCEPT I pay so little each month. Another cool thing about cricket is on the lower data plans they NEVER cut off your data, yes after you use up your data you are throttled but most things still work just fine, streaming music, maps, ect.. (not youtube of course). As for reception and coverage, it is AT&T period. If you have ANY questions about Cricket you can ask me or PM me. Also, Amazon has specials ALL the time selling Cricket sim card packs for .99 Helping each other save money

 

[SpaethCo]

Last time I looked at Cricket, there were some significant disadvantages:

- No Wifi calling support
- No VoLTE (HD Voice)
- No roaming on ATT partner networks in the US, leaving substantial coverage black holes in states like Nebraska.
- Lower priority on ATT's network for both data and voice. (during times of congestion, you're queued below all ATT postpaid customers)

Have any of these things changed?

 

[ncted]

Last time I looked at Cricket, there were some significant disadvantages:

- No Wifi calling support
- No VoLTE (HD Voice)
- No roaming on ATT partner networks in the US, leaving substantial coverage black holes in states like Nebraska.
- Lower priority on ATT's network for both data and voice. (during times of congestion, you're queued below all ATT postpaid customers)

Have any of these things changed?

Was anyone ever able to prove #4? I mean, it makes sense, but I am not aware of AT&T ever saying definitively. Otherwise, the other three still apply.

Cricket is not perfect, but it is good value for money IMHO.

 

[ncted]

Another cool thing about cricket is on the lower data plans they NEVER cut off your data, yes after you use up your data you are throttled but most things still work just fine, streaming music, maps, ect.. (not youtube of course).

Pretty much all the post-paid cell plans did away with overage caps and charges a while back. Now they just throttle you like Cricket does. Some more than others.

 

[scots]

My Cricket SIM card that I got for free on Amazon is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

WiFi calling and VoLTE are coming to Cricket this year.

http://cricketwireless.mediaroom.com/sayhellotostreammore

 

[forecheck]

Wonder how easy it will be to get the discount? I'm a longtime ATT Wireless and DirecTv customer but even though my billing address and e-mail are the same, I don't think ATT has figured it out. Every couple of weeks I get mail invites to "Switch to Directv since I am wireless customer" and "Add Wireless since I am DirecTv customer", sometimes even on the same day. I don't want combined billing since I have heard so many horror stories about that. The only thing I can think of that may cause it is my service address with DirecTv is different than my billing address. Is there a number to call to associate the accounts without actually combining them?

 

[SpaethCo]

When I looked at upgrading to the unlimited plan a couple months back with the DirecTV requirement, I was able to confirm that I qualified when the system the CSRs used matched my Wireless and DirecTV billing address. When I asked about the $25 credit, they said it will work the same way and the system will automatically code it based on the matching billing address. I guess I'll find out for certain in a month or two.

DON'T COMBINE BILLING!

I got suckered into the combined billing thing back when I thought the MCC code would stay the same on credit card auto pay and I could get 5% cash back on both ATT cell service and DirecTV. Not only did that not work (everything billed as U-Verse which didn't match my credit card cell phone cash back category), but my DirecTV account was hopelessly screwed up for about 4 straight months. I couldn't change programming online, which really sucked because it kept changing my base package on me. For 2 months I got stuck in call tree hell, because if you'd call in to the DirecTV 800 number to try and fix the programming it would transfer you to ATT, and then when you explained what the problem was to the ATT rep they would transfer you back to DirecTV, where it would transfer you to ATT.... luckily they hadn't killed email support at that point because that's the only way I could get anything resolved. From start to finish it was 4 months before I got back to separate accounts again. They issued me $100 in credits for the problem, but the ironic thing is the process introduced about $80 in billing errors, so really I only netted $20 for the months of frustration.

They might have gotten some of these things sorted out now, and some people have apparently had success -- but know the risks; if it goes sideways, you're gonna be screwed for months.

 

[ncted]

Wonder how easy it will be to get the discount? I'm a longtime ATT Wireless and DirecTv customer but even though my billing address and e-mail are the same, I don't think ATT has figured it out. Every couple of weeks I get mail invites to "Switch to Directv since I am wireless customer" and "Add Wireless since I am DirecTv customer", sometimes even on the same day. I don't want combined billing since I have heard so many horror stories about that. The only thing I can think of that may cause it is my service address with DirecTv is different than my billing address. Is there a number to call to associate the accounts without actually combining them?

I'd avoid combined billing, but you should be fine to take advantage of any deals without it these days by going to an AT&T store.