Kindle Fire HDAssuming you don’t mind signing a two-year contract with AT&T, this is a good deal.

Here’s the price breakdown, assuming you already have a Mobile Share plan.

• $399 base cost for the Kindle Fire
• Minus $150 in credits (new 2-year plan & activation at AT&T store)
• Plus $240 for 2 years worth of Mobile Share date ($10 per month)

Total: $489

If you buy from Amazon, you’ll pay $399 + $50 for one year’s data plan (250MB per month). The total for that is $449.

But buying from Amazon only gets you one year’s data at the $50 price. No one knows yet what the cost will be for year two and onward, but most of us assume it will be more. Even if it’s the same price, you’re still looking at $499, so the AT&T deal is looking pretty good, especially when you consider that a Mobile Share plan will get you lots more than 250MB per month.

The Kindle Fire will be available from AT&T starting on April 5. While I am always highly skeptical of press releases and articles on April 1, this one doesn’t look too good to be true.

Anyone planning to take advantage of AT&T’s offer?

NO COMMENTS

  1. I don’t think the Mobile Share plan is just $10. That’s the price to add the *device* to the plan, which carries its own price starting at $40/month for 1GB. Plus, it’s sharing 1GB of data with however many other devices are on the plan.

    If you have an individual plan, then the data is $15/mo for 250MB.

  2. Rob is right. Mobile data plans are very deceptive. They charge you $10 a month surcharge just for owning a “smart” device and THEN they charge you for the actual data plan.

    It would be as if your Cable TV company charged your for cable and then added on a $10 “smart” TV charge because you have a TV capable of showing all the channels. Or your internet provider charged you for internet and then added a $10 a month fee for each computer you own.

  3. @Rob, very true, which is why I specified the price if you already had a Mobile Share plan. Because I’m skeptical of the price of the $50 a year plan direct from Amazon after the first year, I think it might even be an okay deal even if you bought the $15/month plan. At least you get to spread the cost out over a longer period.

  4. @Rob, assuming I did my math correctly, it’s only $10 better than the 15/month plan, and if you already have Mobile Share, it’s still better.

    As always, it’s up to the consumer to make their own decisions. I still think some people would be interested in knowing there are options, and a decent up-front discount.

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