Surface 3 with LTE arrives on AT&T this Friday

Back in late March of this year Microsoft announced the Surface 3, the little brother to Microsoft's very popular Surface Pro 3, as its latest in the Surface line of first party devices from Microsoft.

The announcement included that there would be an LTE version of the Surface 3 that would provide on the go connectivity to users however, there was no indication of the timing for those devices to hit the market.

Today, AT&T has revealed that they will carry the Surface 3 LTE version in their stores beginning this Friday, 24 July.

When Surface 3 was announced in March it was believed that the cost for the LTE version of the device would be at least $100 more than the retail of the Surface 3 itself ( 64GB / 2GB RAM / Wi-Fi = $499, 128GB / 4GB RAM / Wi-Fi = $599).

It turns out that AT&T is offering a couple of options relating to price but the small print is critical in understanding all of them:

Beginning on Friday, July 24, you can purchase the Surface 3 for $0 down and $30 per month with an AT&T Tablet Installment plan. In addition, for a limited time, you can purchase a Surface 3 for $399.99 with any Lumia smartphone purchased on AT&T Next.

That first option to grab the Surface 3 on AT&T Next will cost you $30 per month for 20 months (no interest) an cost a total of $600 and is right at $101 more than the non LTE Surface 3 ($499) as expected. The wireless plan requires a two year contract and the cost vary depending on your own current plan or whether you need a new one.

The second option, to purchase the Surface 3 with LTE at $399 with the purchase of a Lumia handset is a good deal and will save you $200 overall however, the Surface 3 still requires a two year contract with AT&T.

According to AT&T there will also be a commercial version of the Surface 3 available specifically for business customers in the coming weeks but there is no other details on specs, etc.

What do you think - is this a good value or not?

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