AT&T automatically added data plan?

gkainz

gkainz

Final Approach
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Greg Kainz
My wife's flip phone broke, so we stuck her card in an old iphone 4 my son had, disabled the cellular data and she used it as a plane old phone with texting for months. Today, she got an email from AT&T that said because they saw a smart phone at her number, they automatically added a data plan to her number. Doesn't matter that she doesn't use data, never used data, never used anything on the phone that accessed cellular data - her account now gets a $30/month charge for data plan.

I made them reverse it and promised to move the card over to a non-smart phone (still can't find a matching charger for any of them in this mess of old stuff) ... but seriously bent me out of shape with their insistence that "all smart phones REQUIRE a data plan" regardless of usage ... really?

I investigated their shared mobile plan, and the upshot would be I would pay more to share a 2G data plan on 3 devices than I would with 3 devices each having a 3G data plan on their own ... "ok, lemme get this straight - I can pay $30 for 3G x 2 (no, 3 until you change your wife's phone) or I can pay you $135 for a 2G shared plan accessed by 3 smart phones" ... something wrong with this picture!
 
I think the same thing would happen with verizon. If you got a smart phone, you gotta buy a plan.
 
Google search reveals/confirms BOHICA ... "We don't care if you never access cellular data. If we detect a smart phone, we're sticking you with a data plan"
 
iGismo has an excellent point. Plus,

You Dang Kids Get off of my LAWN!!!!!!!

kacha che che che....data plan. umph! Why when I was a boy you could get the whole internet...uphill...both ways...no shoes!

Kacha che che che danwng....
 
Previously you payed for the phone when prices kept creeping up people resisted.so now the phone is practically free till you figure in the data plan.also contract terms insuring they make their money back.most data plans have automatic renewal. And if you exceed the data they charge a ridiculous fee until next monthly renewal.
 
Got to pay pay pay! I think I'm at 175 for two lines with att but service is great and 4g is blazing I know it's faster than Verizon as my family has Verizon and if we have similar alerts on apps I get it milli seconds before them. Of course I rub that in..
 
marcoseddi said:
Got to pay pay pay! I think I'm at 175 for two lines with att but service is great and 4g is blazing I know it's faster than Verizon as my family has Verizon and if we have similar alerts on apps I get it milli seconds before them. Of course I rub that in..
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily faster. Best way to test is each of you download a large file and see which one downloads first. It's like a 100m dash. You might get out of the blocks quicker, but that doesn't mean you are faster. I can get a quicker ping on a dialup connection than I can on cable depending on the network, but no one is ever going to say 56k is faster than 50MB.
 
Yeah, that's standard to be required to have a data plan if you have a smartphone.

I'm actually somewhat ticked off with Verizon right now. We were told we had to get rid of our unlimited data plan since they no longer support it, but now we're required to have unlimited call and text. We'll, most of what I do with a phone is text and data (like right now). All our phones just renewed the 2 year contract within the past month, so in 2015, we may change.
 
You had to get rid of the unlimited data because you renewed. I'm still on the unlimited data plan. I don't plan on renewing, and if I don't it stays in place.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Yeah, that's standard to be required to have a data plan if you have a smartphone.
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Negative. Switch to GO phone service. Wife and I both have iphones without data. Can do text and talk, and just do email/data when we have wifi. We are not particularly heavy users, so the numbers work for us. YMMV.
 
EdFred said:
You had to get rid of the unlimited data because you renewed. I'm still on the unlimited data plan. I don't plan on renewing, and if I don't it stays in place.
Click to expand...

That is true, but we also needed new phones. I was happy with my old BlackBerry until the screen broke and the battery wouldn't last more than 2 minutes. Yes, I could have fixed them. No, not worth fixing.

Van Johnston said:
Negative. Switch to GO phone service. Wife and I both have iphones without data. Can do text and talk, and just do email/data when we have wifi. We are not particularly heavy users, so the numbers work for us. YMMV.
Click to expand...

That's a good data point for the OP. We do use/need the data, so we'll stick to having a plan.
 
Sprint moved me off of unlimited data on all my devices. I only to 20g/ea now on my iPhone, my MiFi AP and iPad. I tended to use the LTE link a lot since it was unlimited. Now I am starting to use WiFi when it is available. Still I get 60g of data for my out of pocket cost of $19.95/mo so I can't complain.

I was going to dump the MiFi AP now that I have an iPhone 5. But considering if I do that I would lose 20g a month and my cost to have the MiFI AP is $0, I am keeping it.
 
With so many lower-cost non-contract carriers out there now (one of which Jay linked to), operating on the same networks as the contract carriers, it amazes me why anybody still goes with the contract carriers these days.
 
Just go get ya an ObamaPhone........

Latest models..... NO bills....;):rolleyes:..
 
N801BH said:
Because Reagan gave out credits to LANDLINES..
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Yep, but Reagan started the program and it was expanded to cellphones under Bush the first one. So, why are you giving the credit to Obama for something he had no part in and took place years before he was even in national office?

Credit where credit is due, don't you think?
 
If you got a smart phone, you gotta buy a plan.
Click to expand...
With the major carriers I think that's the case. At least it was when I researched it a couple of years ago.

We have two Nexus One smartphones on PureTalk's (http://www.puretalkusa.com/) family plan. No data. We don't use the phones much, so the basic rate ($15/month) covering both is usually what we end up paying. Pure also has an unlimited rate and an unlimited rate with a couple of gig of data, both well under $50/month per phone. They resell the AT&T network, so coverage is excellent.

You can buy used Nexus Ones for well under $100. We'll probably be upgrading soon to Galaxy Nexus phones, which are around $150. I always like to let the early adopters take the 50%+ depreciation hit and debug the initial software problems.

My reason for no data is that most of the places we would be using the smartphone (home, work, etc.) have WiFi. For driving around, we use Copilot Live, which installs all of its maps on the phone when it is set up. So, unlike Google Maps and others, you don't need a data connection to use it.

For trips away from home data is nice, so I buy a one-month ticket from AT&T for my Nexus 7. Sometimes I buy the $30/3 gig ticket but for most trips the $15/250Meg ticket would really be enough.

(I think I get some kind of referral spiff from Pure for new customers. So anyone feeling exceptionally generous and planning to try them, please PM me for the info.)
 
ScottM said:
Yep, but Reagan started the program and it was expanded to cellphones under Bush the first one. So, why are you giving the credit to Obama for something he had no part in and took place years before he was even in national office?

Credit where credit is due, don't you think?
Click to expand...

Well it that were to happen, ObamaCare would have to be renamed Romney Care.
 
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N801BH said:
Just go get ya an ObamaPhone........

Latest models..... NO bills....;):rolleyes:..
Click to expand...

ScottM said:
Why doesn't the Reagan Administration get the credit for the program they created?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/cellphone.asp
Click to expand...

N801BH said:
Because Reagan gave out credits to LANDLINES..
Click to expand...

Clip4 said:
Well it that were to happen, ObamaCare would have to be renamed Romney Care.
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C'mon guys...there's absolutely zero reason to dump this thread in the Zone...
 
I've got ATT family plan. My wife uses almost no data, and my daughter uses very little. My son and I use a lot of wifi data, so we want a bigger plan. Oh no, can't mix plan sizes. Either 300Mb or 1Gb for all users in the family plan.

Verizon is basically the same. They all suck donkey balls.
 
I thought they had a shared plan where you got x amount of data to be used among all devices, not allocated equally to however many users?
 
EdFred said:
I thought they had a shared plan where you got x amount of data to be used among all devices, not allocated equally to however many users?
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Mobile share. I have the family plan. It's 300Mb each device each month. The Mobile share is more money.
 
which brings us right back to my original post ... mobile share plan would take me from 3 data plans with 3G EACH (family plan) for ~$170/mo to a 2G TOTAL mobile share plan for ~$190
 
That's basically what I found. If I wanted the same general volume of data on the mobile plan, my price would go up about $40/month, that's about 500 a year I don't want to enrich ATT. They suck, but so does the competition. Next cycle, I'm going to kick my kids off on their own, and I'm getting more data, let my kids do whatever they want.
 
airdale said:
With the major carriers I think that's the case. At least it was when I researched it a couple of years ago.
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Depends on your definition of major. T-Mobile doesn't care if you use a smartphone on a plan without data. You can only buy a smartphone from them at a subsidized price if you commit to a data plan, but if you pay full retail or if you get it someplace else then they don't care if you don't use data. Of course, if you do use data you pay through the nose for it, so be sure to disable data use.
 
I found a wonderful 3rd party provider for my iPhone. It's called Airvoice Wireless. They straight up run on AT&T towers. For $40/mo I get unlimited talk and text and 1GB data. The $40 is also a flat fee, they don't charge taxes or any other fees. You can get a regular or micro SIM for them off eBay for .99 cents with free shipping.

Their customer service is awesome! I haven't had any issues with them at all. The only thing I can't do with my iPhone with a 3rd party provider (not just Airvoice) is send MMS and get virtual email. I was told it was an iPhone issue for the MMS and that the iPhone had to be jailbroken in order to enable that feature.
 
docmirror said:
I've got ATT family plan. My wife uses almost no data, and my daughter uses very little. My son and I use a lot of wifi data, so we want a bigger plan. Oh no, can't mix plan sizes. Either 300Mb or 1Gb for all users in the family plan.

Verizon is basically the same. They all suck donkey balls.
Click to expand...

They got you coming and going....We can't live without em, so we are stuck....
 
ScottM said:
Have you looked at your individual usage yet?
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Yep...So minimal it's silly. 500m and 650m average for 2 iPhones over the last 6 months. I do almost all access via WiFi
 
gkainz said:
Google search reveals/confirms BOHICA ... "We don't care if you never access cellular data. If we detect a smart phone, we're sticking you with a data plan"
Click to expand...

I bet there's some DBA somewhere who helped them track that data from the switch to the billing DB...! He's probably kinda expensive, too. Had to figure out some way to pay him.

:) :) :)

(Ducking...)
 
rich0 said:
Depends on your definition of major. T-Mobile doesn't care if you use a smartphone on a plan without data. You can only buy a smartphone from them at a subsidized price if you commit to a data plan, but if you pay full retail or if you get it someplace else then they don't care if you don't use data. Of course, if you do use data you pay through the nose for it, so be sure to disable data use.
Click to expand...

Don't forget T-Mobile has non-contract options also, I pay $45 a month for 1000 talk/unlimited text/2GB high speed data (but speed capped after that). But since, like many people, much of my data use is actually over WiFi, it's not counted against me.

Straight Talk is a similar deal at the same price. Uses the major carriers' networks.
Walmart also now markets "Family Mobile" a similar service in association with T-Mobile.
And there are many others now.
 
Get a pad or a Droid with a VOIP plan and cancel your phone contract ?
 
denverpilot said:
I bet there's some DBA somewhere who helped them track that data from the switch to the billing DB...! He's probably kinda expensive, too. Had to figure out some way to pay him.

:) :) :)

(Ducking...)
Click to expand...

lol! Only if said DBA has a contract that guarantees him a finder's fee for all found revenue! :)
 
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