It’s tax season, in case you weren’t aware, which means an agonizing few weeks of tracking down receipts, frantically phoning your accountant, and hoping and praying that Uncle Sam sends a refund large enough to cover that Caribbean getaway you were planning. But this year, it also means discounts on prepaid phones through AT&T’s prepaid GoPhone program.
On Monday, the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. announced limited-time deals on the ZTE, Apple, and LG phones. Beginning Friday through April 6, customers on AT&T’s GoPhone can get a free ZTE Maven 2, a $175 iPhone 5S with $45 of service, or a $60 LG Phoenix 2 starting on February 24.
The promotion is open to new and existing customers and follows GoPhone’s smartphone sale late in 2016. In September, AT&T offered a free phone with the purchase of another GoPhone and a new line of service. The Motorola Moto E, Asus Zenfone 2E, ZTE Zmax 2, ZTE Maven 2, Samsung Galaxy Express 3, Galaxy Express Prime and LG Phoenix 2 GoPhone models were among the list of eligible devices.
It’s far from AT&T’s only recent GoPhone promotion. In August, AT&T launched a multiline discount that gave families with up to five lines and businesses with up to 10 lines, discounts of up to $150 a month. In November, AT&T increased the data allotment available to GoPhone subscribers in each tier. The top-tier $60 tier got a bump to 8GB of data (from 6GB). The $45 plan went up to 4GB (from 3GB) and customers who opted to set up automatic payments paid $5 less a month.
Those discounts and promotions appear to be having an impact on sales. AT&T added 469,000 prepaid customers in the fourth quarter, the highest out of all four major carriers. That took the total to 1.4 million for the year, split between AT&T’s subsidiaries Cricket and GoPhone.
But the GoPhone’s flexibility is also likely played a part. Rollover data is included in the $45 and $60 monthly plans, meaning customers can use any leftover data from the previous month during the next month. Subscribers aren’t limited to the U.S. — they can call, text, and use data while in Canada and Mexico. Plans work with any GSM phone that is compatible with AT&T’s network, including flagships like the Google Pixel XL, Samsung S7 Edge, and LG V20.
