Grandfathered AT&T Unlimited Data Plan - Not anymore!

I have an old granfathered AT&T unlimited data plan that I first initiated with Cingular 5 years ago -- I got this email from AT&T last night:

"As a valued customer, we are sending you this email to assist you in avoiding possible service interruption and minimizing your bill. Our systems have detected that you are using a substantial amount of data.

Your August 2010 bill contained a notice that your DataConnect plan has expired and, that you will be billed $.05/MB for any usage that exceeds 5GB in any billing period.

IF YOU USE 5GB IN A BILLING PERIOD, WE WILL TEMPORARILY SUSPEND YOUR SERVICE. This is to give you an opportunity to contact us to discuss your options, including being billed $.05/per MB for any usage that exceeds 5 GB. You also have the option to terminate service without penalty."

I called them this morning and asked to speak to a supervisor. Basic jist of the conversation was AT&T is doing away with the unlimited plan and they are within the contract rights to do so. When I reach 5gb for the billing period, they will 'data lock' the account until I decide to sign up for a new plan with limitations OR I can elect to pay for overages which will amount to $50/gb for every gb over the 5gb limit.

I routinely use >10gb per month in my business, always have in all the years past. In July, I used 25gb. That would translate to a bill under the new system of over $1000.00.

Just so everyone knows, I am generally in remote boondock locations as a result of my job and have NO access to WiFi at any time.

I told the AT&T supervisor how unfair and fraudulent the whole affair was to little avail. Has anyone else with an old AT&T granfathered plan run up on this?

BTW, the supervisor said they were doing this 'for my own good' --evidently if everyone is forced under a certain bandwidth cap, it will make the network better for everyone by freeing up extra bandwidth. Quite a spin on that, huh? I believe the real reason is the iPhone is stretching their network capacity to the max.

More details here...

Sprint made the change a couple of years ago.  Verizon??

Nobody likes higher rates.  But, you can't go to the grocery store and fill up as many carts as you wish, you can't do it at the gas station.  Without a doubt , unlimited usage creates congestion and requires expansion of the network.  I don't have any problem with the high volume users who create the need for expansion contributing to the funding required for the expansion.

I guess I am naive in thinking a contract in good standing and faithfully executed by both parties over a 5 year period should be honored.

FWIW,  We just returned form Big Bend National Park and paid for an annual Park Pass.  I expect the USPS to honor the pass for the next 12 months and I will use it as much as I can.  That is why I bought an unlimited pass.  Are my expectations unrealistic? 


I have a coffee mug from one of the convenience store chains that gives me unlimited refills on coffee.  I bought it just for that.  I expect to walk in and get free coffee because I paid for it.  Are my expectations unrealistic?

Respectfully, I do not agree with your analogy at all.


The problem is AT&T oversold a weak network when they started marketing the iPhone.  Engineers warned them; Sales pushed the agenda through.  Out of greed; nothing else.  Now they are pinpointing high usage users such as myself who are dependent on the aircards to make a living and renigging on a contract.  I do have a problem with that.

I can't imagine how anyone could use 10gb per month with a business. What are you selling? Movie downloads?

The answer is simple. Get a Verizon air card with 5gb for $60 per month. When you use up your AT&T 5gb then switch over to Verizon. Or turn off image downloads in your browser.

seilerbird said:

I can't imagine how anyone could use 10gb per month with a business. What are you selling? Movie downloads?

The answer is simple. Get a Verizon air card with 5gb for $60 per month. When you use up your AT&T 5gb then switch over to Verizon. Or turn off image downloads in your browser.

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I have usage records going back 5 years.  Average usage for me runs in the 8gb range per month over 5 years.  In July,  my web host experienced a catastrophic server failure and I had to reconstruct 9 websites (out of the 55 I maintain) and upload them to the server.  My usage in July was 35gb.  I would venture a guess that is what flagged the account.  Had I a clue it would result in this action, I would have chosen a different means to accomplish this.  Keep in mind, this account has been active for over 5 years and I have never had prior contact with AT&T concerning excessive usage.  They took my money happily every month.

Verizon has announced the coming of tiered 3G data plans, see this article for details.  For the time being, 4G data will be unlimited.

Like it or not, bandwidth is a finite resource.  As long as the entire bandwidth isn't being used, then everyone can use all they want, but once the limit is reached, then some means of controlling usage is needed or the whole system fails.  Internet access is becoming just another utility, like water, electricity, gas, etc. where we pay for what we use.  There may be a monthly allotment included in the base rate but we pay more for usage over that allotment.  Look at it from the standpoint of the low usage buyer.  He says why should I pay as much for my 1GB/month as someone else does for 10GB/month?

I understand AT&T's interest in limiting bandwidth usage, but the real issue here is not how much bandwidth a person uses, but what is the value of a contract.

Paul

I understand your frustration in that you believed you  were signing up for a "lifetime" of unlimited data.  That said, if you looked at your original contract, I am quite positive there are "out" clauses for the service provider that allowed them to take this action.  It is a standard industry practice to insert "Poison Pill" clauses in these services contracts that allows them to exit at no penalty to them.  Frustrating, yes, but not misleading...I'm sure its in your original agreement.

Given your usage patterns and the fact that you are, as you say, "in the boonies and wifi is not available" how are you uploading websites for customers?  I guess my question is: if your customers are e-business types that have websites, is it fair to assume they will have internet connectivity at their business locations?  If so, I would suggest that you piggy-back.  If I'm missing something and there really are no other alternatives, I would take a look at a) multiple air cards, to spread the load but keep your monthly cost below $250 for up to 25 GB of data, or b) get on AT&Ts incremental plan which is $10/GB or an extra $100/month if you stick to your average of 12 GB/month.  I would also suggest that you build your data service costs into your rate structure so customers understand that if they can't give you wifi, you have to incur additional costs to serve them.

I agree with geodrake, that you can't expect the non power-users of the network to foot the bill for your very high usage rate.  Having some familiarity with the cost of building and maintaining a HSDPA/UMTS 3G network (which did NOT even exist when you signed with Cingular originally), it is astronomically expensive to build capacity necessary to give everyone high speed access. 

Probably not the answer you were looking for...

You should consider satellite internet.  For $90/month, you get 375MB/24 hours with unlimited usage during the hours of 0200-0700 ET.  This is equivalent to about 11GB/month plus the unlimited hours.  Also, uploading is not counted toward the bandwidth usage.

AndyJ said:

I guess I am naive in thinking a contract in good standing and faithfully executed by both parties over a 5 year period should be honored.

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It isn't right that you signed a 5 year contract and now they terminate it early.  But, as indicated earlier, They probably built an exit clause into the contract.

Out of curiosity; did you read the contract prior to singing it?

Even if there is nothing in the contract allowing AT&T to change the rules mid-stream (pun intended), what are you going to do, sue AT&T?

I'm sure if you read the Terms of Service carefully, they are acting within their rights.  They have given you the option of terminating without penalty as they have changed the TOS, which they can do.

If I read the op's first post correctly, it wasn't specifically a five year contract.  He simply said he imitated the service five years ago.  I suspect that the original contract was a standard term (two year?) contract.  Unless he specifically signed and renewed the contract every year since, he was, in effect, operating on a month-to-month basis.  In any case, he stated that his August bill contained a NOTICE that his specific plan had expired.

It sounds to me like the agreed upon contract period had expired.  Where's the rub?  I doubt that the contract stated that the OP was the only party with the option to end the agreement.  Nothing is forever.

aka Porky said:

If I read the op's first post correctly, it wasn't specifically a five year contract.  He simply said he imitated the service five years ago.  I suspect that the original contract was a standard term (two year?) contract.  Unless he specifically signed and renewed the contract every year since, he was, in effect, operating on a month-to-month basis.  In any case, he stated that his August bill contained a NOTICE that his specific plan had expired.

It sounds to me like the agreed upon contract period had expired.  Where's the rub?  I doubt that the contract stated that the OP was the only party with the option to end the agreement.  Nothing is forever.

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Correct on all counts except ONE.  I signed a new 2 year agreement in July 2010 when I upgraded my aircard and unequivocally made sure I was continuing the same unlimited service.  The only thing in the contract that could possibly give AT&T the out they are claiming is it stated "Subject to Terms of Service". Apparently vague and ambiguous enough to aallow AT&T the out they are claiming.  The next billing contained the notice

Ned said:

You should consider satellite internet.  For $90/month, you get 375MB/24 hours with unlimited usage during the hours of 0200-0700 ET.  This is equivalent to about 11GB/month plus the unlimited hours.  Also, uploading is not counted toward the bandwidth usage.

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Ned,
I am definitely considering that though I cannot afford one of the Moto-Sat units.  They way I understand it, they never cut you off for overage, they just FAP you for 24 hours?  I could live with a little FAP-- that EDGE network is not exactly blazingly fast.

At the very least I would go back and ask them to show me where in the contract they are allowed to terminate early.

geodrake said:

At the very least I would go back and ask them to show me where in the contract they are allowed to terminate early.

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I'm with George on this one since it wasn't the time element of the contract that expired, as they seemed to indicate in the notice. 

geodrake said:

At the very least I would go back and ask them to show me where in the contract they are allowed to terminate early.

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I asked that in my conversation.  The supervisor said it is in my contract ( which I should have in my possession or it available online."

AndyJ, if you exceed the 375MB in 24 hours, they do invoke FAP (Fair Access Policy) which lowers your speed to something approximating dialup.  If you don't use the connection, or only use it lightly, the FAP will be lifted in 24 hours.  If you're a HughesNet direct account (not a VAR account) then you have one free "Get out of FAP free" token per month.  Additional tokens can be purchased for, I believe, $5 if needed subsequently.  That's about the only advantage of being a HughesNet direct account.  A VAR account pays $10/month more but can change satellites at will if needed for performance problems and also gets tech support that speaks English

Although a Datastorm makes satellite internet literally a one button affair, it is expensive.  There are tripod based antennas available for less $, but they are more complicated to set up and require considerable storage space when not in use.

The biggest advantage of satellite internet is it works anywhere you can see the southern sky.  If needed, there is at least one satellite that works in Alaska as well as the lower 48.

I have a used Motosat that I will sell for $500 that needs a $200 repair to the UCB to fix the GPS and a plate made to put on the roof.

If you don't mind manually inserting the lat/long each time you set up it is working fine.