ATT Broadband

[jmgratz]

I tried to use my ATT wireless card this morning and it did not work. When I called customer service I was told that the card had been blocked because I have gone over my 5 gig limit. I explained to the rep that I had unlimited service under a grandfathered plan. I was then told not any more. That all of the unlimited grandfathered plans were being changed over to the 5 gig plan. The conversation went like this...

What? I never received notice.

OH yes you did in the August billing. It was in an addendum to the bill.

But I don't receive a bill as I pay online.

Yes you receive an online bill and it is not our fault you didn't read it.

Ok so I don't have any recourse then.

You can talk to the supervisor.

Ok, put them on

I am the supervisor and no you do not have unlimited anymore. We changed you.

But

Too bad. You now have a 5 gig plan.

So you are telling me the person I talked to a week ago who told me I was grandfathered lied to me.

They told you wrong. Sorry but we really value you as a customer.

Really? So what you are saying is you don't really care if I change to a better 3G service with Verizon?

If that is what you want to do then we will miss you as a customer. Sorry.

Goodbye then.


Wow. What a surprise. Moral is if you have a grandfathered unlimited plan then get ready to loose it without recourse. I am now shopping for a better plan. Verizon here I come?

 

[branson4020]

Thanks for this info Jim. Did not realize that you would just lose service when you hit your plan limit. I thought they would just start charging some outrageous per-megabyte overage rate.

 

[kakampers]

I check my Verizon bill EVERY month to make sure it still says "unlimited"...I'm waiting for the same thing to happen with our plan...

On a similar note, got a postcard from Direct TV...basically said that if I want to continue to keep BOTH the east and west feeds for my distant networks, I was going to have to pay $20 instead of the $15 I now pay, or they will automatically put me in the $15 plan and I'll only get the east coast feed...they all are finding ways to keep charging more and more...

 

[dbylinski]

Moral is if you have a grandfathered unlimited plan then get ready to loose it without recourse. I am now shopping for a better plan. Verizon here I come?

We use Verizon MiFi with a 5G plan. We have never had a problem with service and the speed is good as well. At one point while our broadband router was waiting to be replaced (At no charge by Verizon) we used the mifi exclusively for three weeks with three computers. We didn't even come close to going over. You should be fine unless you make a habit of online movies and TV.

 

[cjbearden]

Yes, Jim, we went through the same you did only two months ago. Park we were in at the time had no wifi. Talk about internet withdrawal!! My husband downloads games and movies so this severely limited his activities. He had to go to Netflix!! We are now in a park with wifi but not the best. Our billing period ended today and we are under 1GB!! I have an iphone with unlimited data and that it is how I stay connected with all my internet activities. I love the iphone.

I am watching Virgin Mobile and their unlimited offerings. Their coverage is not enough to warrant going with them right now. If that improves that may be what we do. I read that Verizon is coming out with 10GB plan for $80. That still is not really enough GB to stay on 24/7. Guess we just depended on the computer way too much.

 

[jmgratz]

FYI - I learned several important things today if you have a broadband card.

1 - If you leave the card in the router turned on it will possibly be downloading using up your data limits.

2 - If you leave the card in the router turned on and your computer turned on in the snooze mode it could be using up your data by updating software or auto checking for viruses i.e. McAffee autodownloading updates.

3 - If you have a data limit then keep a check on the amount of data used.

4 - READ YOUR COMPLETE BILL because they may make a change just by notifying you of the change.

5 - If your contract has expired and you are month to month there is no such thing as a grandfather clause.

6 - If you don't like what that company is doing with your service then change. There is no such thing as a company being loyal to its customers.

7 - Finally ask questions and go up the supervisory chain as high as you can to attempt to resolve your problem.

The internet companies need to be more customer friendly but then again there are so many customers out there one customer doesn't matter at all to them.

 

[jmgratz]

Here is another thing I learned today. If you have an IPhone with an unlimited data plan do not change your phone because there are no more unlimited IPhone data plans. If you change your plan, change your phone or otherwise mess with your plan you will loose your unlimited IPhone data plan.

 

[RoadJunkie]

On a similar note, got a postcard from Direct TV...basically said that if I want to continue to keep BOTH the east and west feeds for my distant networks, I was going to have to pay $20 instead of the $15 I now pay, or they will automatically put me in the $15 plan and I'll only get the east coast feed...they all are finding ways to keep charging more and more...

I guess the recession is over? Now companies can do...whatever to whomever.

 

[Willym]

I guess that grandfathers don't live forever!

Last winter we made the mistake of signing up with AT&T for telephone and internet when in Texas. Their customer service (telephone menus and offshore help lines) was terrible. We shall avoid AT&T in the future.

 

[rvn4fun]

Here in South Dakota Att bought Alltel and we will be switched in January, our phone dealer said to buy a Alltel unlimited air card now because they are unlimited, and when Att takes us over we will be grandfathered in, and they will simply send us a new ATT card with no limits. I haven'd did this yet and only have a few months to decide if ATT will honor it. Sounds now like they might not. Maybe we will have to keep our Huges net.

 

[mrcomer]

Maybe it is time for you all to consider Virgin Mobile unlimited broadband for $40 a month. I just switched from Sprint and the service from Virgin Mobile is just as good plus I am saving $21 per month and the unlimited seems to be true so far.

 

[jmgratz]

Maybe it is time for you all to consider Virgin Mobile unlimited broadband for $40 a month. I just switched from Sprint and the service from Virgin Mobile is just as good plus I am saving $21 per month and the unlimited seems to be true so far.

Hey Mark, how widespread is the Virgin Mobile service area? If it is like Clear Broadband their service area is only around selected large cities.

 

[mrcomer]

Jim,
From what I have gatherd here on the forum from Alex Sian, former 3G store employee, Virgin Mobile uses the same towers as Sprint. So I suspect you could look at the Virgin Mobile coverage maps here to see if you have service available. I already new that I had service since a recently had Sprint broadband.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[jmgratz]

Thanks Mark. I checked the map and it looks like there are a lot of 'holes' in areas we are around. Even the home is in a hole in the coverage.

 

[ChopperBill]

Virgin does not give me phone coverage for 2 of the 3 places we stay at. Phone coverage looks poor even at the third. But, thanks.

 

[Rmcgrath53]

i sure hope verizon doesnt go the route of att. I have been a loyal customer for many years and like the coverage for my wifi card. If they can put in the software for the card ,that if its idle for 3 minutes or more to shut down sevice, then they could limit alot of use. They would save alot of gigs.I have unlimited and sure like being carefree about usage.

 

[artsbighorn]

AT &T strikes again.we had at&t for 9 years .all of sudden they told us we had 30 days to find a new carrier because they were dropping us.we went to verison.