AT&T Adds 61-Cent 'Mobility' Fee to Wireless Bills

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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AT&T wireless customers can get ready to bend over and grab their socks. AT&T is imposing a charge of .61 cents as an additional ‘administrative fee’ that went into effect on May 1st, so expect to see it on your bill this month. It’s estimated that the small increase will net AT&T an additional half a Billion dollars over the course of a year.

A spokesperson for AT&T said the new charge is "consistent with similar fees charged by other carriers," and that it will "help cover certain expenses, such as interconnection and cell site rents and maintenance."
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Haven't been an AT&T customer since I cut the house phone service. Wicked billing abuse back then.

I'll pay Comcast and T-Mobile whatever they want before I go back to AT&T.
 
They are just matching similar fees that Sprint and Verizon already charge ... although it is always a pain when rates go up (even a little) it is not like this is unique to AT&T ;)
 
Whats another 1/2 dollar to my boss's $110 bill when no data or text.
Hopefully she'll look into AIO I showed her.
 
Why not? Lots and lots of people feel like they have to have a cell phone and they invent a million justification for having one. We may as well get some extra money from them if they're going to be addicted to having a phone in their pocket.
 
I have heard of some people using this to get out of their contracts without an ETF. Since adding a fee (since this is not a tax) should count as a "material change" to the terms.
 
I had AT&T from 2007 to 2010 -- and 90% of that time work was paying the bill (so i really didn't care)

When you are paying it yourself -- you realize just how much of a JACK it can be. Sure it's 61 cents -- I waste a lot more than that on dumb crap. But once their foot is in the door, why not raise the fee a nickle every year?

I was doing some research because I'll need to get internet at a house I'm buying hopefully soon (first time home buyer yay) And AT&T is a rip off in just about every department you shop in.

Why pay them 80 dollars a month when I can pay Time Warner 45 and get 15mbit/sec connection.

Back on topic -- back in my iphone days - when you pay attention to your bill, it goes up no matter how frugal you are with minutes, no matter how many extras you cut out of your plan, it will always go up. To add insult to injury - I cancelled my AT&T basic DSL when I moved last - turns out I had a 10 dollar credit on my account. It took no less than 5 calls and about 3 months to get them to send me a check. Every single time from every rep -- "we will be happy to send that sir, you will have it in 7 days" - LIES, all lies.

Oh and just fun knowledge -- their 2Wire routers that are very popular - sure, it's encrypted with a WPA type key -- but all the characters are numbers... doesn't take a resourceful person with the right software and hardware to brute force a solution in less than 12 hours :)
 
Wait, let me get this straight...

Your contract prevents you from leaving without penalty, but AT&T can raise prices under that same contract with no penalty?

What a load of horse-shit. Cox has tried to do this to me several times, and I've taken them to task and made them honor their contract price every time.
 
AT&T is the only carrier with decent coverage in my area, so I'm with them unfortunately. They really are the masters of hidden fees. Take the price they advertise and add about $50 to it, and you get the real price.
 
TechLarry said:
Wait, let me get this straight...

Your contract prevents you from leaving without penalty, but AT&T can raise prices under that same contract with no penalty?

What a load of horse-shit. Cox has tried to do this to me several times, and I've taken them to task and made them honor their contract price every time.
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They are using a technicality ... service fees are not included in your contract price ... also, all the carriers charge a similar fee (although apparently with T-Mobile it is unclear the exact fee since they combine all their fees into one big fee rather than separating them like the other carriers)
 
kbrickley said:
You can hate AT&T but all four major US carriers charge a "service fee" ;)
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That doesn't mean they have too. Just because someone else does it that it's a precedent for you to do it. Otherwise the logical question would be, then what are you doing with the money we are paying our bills with now? This is a 'fee' to simply money grab it isn't for infrastructure rent or leases. That's just a convenient lie.
 
Methadras said:
That doesn't mean they have too. Just because someone else does it that it's a precedent for you to do it. Otherwise the logical question would be, then what are you doing with the money we are paying our bills with now? This is a 'fee' to simply money grab it isn't for infrastructure rent or leases. That's just a convenient lie.
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I agree that they don't HAVE to do this ... however, it is easy money if their competitors do it already ... airlines use similar tactics with baggage fees and ticket fees ... you let your competitor go first and then you match his fee if it works ... just the reality of how the market works (remember that we are not their ultimate customer, their shareholders are) ...

right now I still retain my grandfathered unlimited data plan with AT&T ... I can't really switch over a $0.61 fee without losing that ... so of course it makes me a little more pragmatic about this ... if I didn't have the unlimited data package or if comparative speeds and coverage were available from the other carriers with unlimited plans it might make more of a difference ;)
 
MajorDomo said:
AT&T wireless customers can get ready to bend over and grab their socks. AT&T is imposing a charge of .61 cents as an additional ‘administrative fee’ that went into effect on May 1st, so expect to see it on your bill this month. It’s estimated that the small increase will net AT&T an additional half a Billion dollars over the course of a year.
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uh... you seriously might want to change that to 61 cents, not 0.61 cents...... or just $0.61....
 
TechLarry said:
What a load of horse-shit. Cox has tried to do this to me several times, and I've taken them to task and made them honor their contract price every time.
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Wait, so did you have Cox's bill go up a few dollars in the last couple months (for internet service, at least)?

What did you do about that?
 
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