Help with my AT&T contract

[Rizen]

Hello all,

I've been on my parents cell phone plan since I graduated college. They kept paying the family plan bill, so I never complained and took advantage of it while it lasted. This year they asked me to take over my portion of the bill. When my mom told me I owed her $125/month based on their bill, I decided to move my phone into my own name (which is a smarter decision anyways). My bill is now $79/month for my Captivate.

However, during the progress of migrating my line to my new account, AT&T removed my unlimited data plan and did not give me an option of keeping it. I went ahead and moved the line anyways and called tech support afterwards.

Essentially, they told me it is not possible to keep unlimited data. They told me that the supervisors did not have authority to reinstate it, and obviously the tier1 people cannot. They opened a case to have it added back to my phone with whoever handles the grandfathering of older lines, but I'm afraid I may not get it back.

At this point, I absolutely hate AT&T and the only reason I did not change carriers is because I am under contract and do not want to pay an ETF. My signal at my house is awful, I don't like their phones (I hate my Captivate), and this entire ordeal is ridiculous. This is the 3rd time they've removed my unlimited data plan, the previous two times totally without my permission to do so. I would love to be able to void my contract and go to Sprint or T-Mobile.

Does anyone have any advice on making this happen or what my options are?

 

[FerraraZ]

From what it sounds like u made a new plan with AT&T and therefore agreed to the 2GB limit. Your familys plan would be grandfathered into the unlimited plan.

Begs the question that if your signal is awful and you hate your phone and your not happy with the 2gb limit....why not just pay the ETF to get out?

 

[Rizen]

From what it sounds like u made a new plan with AT&T and therefore agreed to the 2GB limit. Your familys plan would be grandfathered into the unlimited plan.

Begs the question that if your signal is awful and you hate your phone and your not happy with the 2gb limit....why not just pay the ETF to get out?

I'm sure that's how they are trying to sell it, but that's not something I'm willing to accept. I took the existing phone, my number, etc and took it out of my parents billing and moved it to my own account. That's all. I did not wish to lose the unlimited data plan, and them forcing me into inferior service just to change who gets billed for the phone is not going to fly with me.

As for paying the ETF, no, I don't want to pay them $300+ to go somewhere else because their service is terrible. It's actually gotten worse since I re-upped my contract, otherwise I would have thought about it then.

 

[BinarySynapse]

I'm sure that's how they are trying to sell it, but that's not something I'm willing to accept. I took the existing phone, my number, etc and took it out of my parents billing and moved it to my own account. That's all. I did not wish to lose the unlimited data plan, and them forcing me into inferior service just to change who gets billed for the phone is not going to fly with me.

As for paying the ETF, no, I don't want to pay them $300+ to go somewhere else because their service is terrible. It's actually gotten worse since I re-upped my contract, otherwise I would have thought about it then.

New account = new contract. Nothing is going to be done about it unless you change carriers. The ETF is the only way to get out of it, and you agreed to be bound to that when you opened the account in your name.

 

[Rizen]

New account = new contract. Nothing is going to be done about it unless you change carriers. The ETF is the only way to get out of it, and you agreed to be bound to that when you opened the account in your name.

Incorrect. I did not have to resign any contract to change the plan over to my name and it did not extend the duration of my contract at all. I simply moved the phone line into my own name, through AT&T's bill transfer service.

 

[HaX]

Incorrect. I did not have to resign any contract to change the plan over to my name and it did not extend the duration of my contract at all.

actually i think it does.. hence the difference in prices for family plan and "individual plan", the contract is for your commitment to the plan and cellphone purchased if applicable. If your not undercontract you can change plans freely. But instead of all this arguement and such... just read your contract in black and white, if your contract says that you can get the unlimited data good for you if not... stop complaining.

I mean really your under separate accounts from your parents... it means you have no tie to your parents contract in anyway at all.. sure you have your old number, it's called a number port. it just means you have your old number.

 

[Rizen]

actually i think it does.. hence the difference in prices for family plan and "individual plan", the contract is for your commitment to the plan and cellphone purchased if applicable. If your not undercontract you can change plans freely. But instead of all this arguement and such... just read your contract in black and white, if your contract says that you can get the unlimited data good for you if not... stop complaining.

I'm pretty confident in the details of changing a plan over to my name, considering I did it yesterday. Regardless, I'm looking for information on getting out of the contract, nothing else, thanks.

And no, I am not going to stop complaining about the fact that I was forced into a 2GB data plan for $25 a month from my $30 unlimited plan. Cell phone companies in this country fucking rape you on bandwidth and it's outrageous.

 

[HaX]

I'm pretty confident in the details of changing a plan over to my name, considering I did it yesterday.

And no, I am not going to stop complaining about the fact that I was forced into a 2GB data plan for $25 a month from my $30 unlimited plan. Cell phone companies in this country fucking rape you on bandwidth and it's outrageous.

like i said read your contract, it's black & white. and no one forced you to do anything unless they had a gun pointed to your head. own up, your a big boy now.

 

[Rizen]

like i said read your contract, it's black & white. and no one forced you to do anything unless they had a gun pointed to your head. own up, your a big boy now.

I don't understand this attitude? Own up to what? Do you just bend over and let companies fuck you in the ass when you have a problem and they aren't resolving it satisfactorily? Get over yourself. Had I known in advance that I could not carry over the unlimited data plan, I would have dealt with this differently but they don't exactly broadcast that information until you've transitioned the billing and they make you setup a new plan.

Does anyone have any actual advice for voiding cell phone contracts without paying an ETF?

 

[HaX]

I don't understand this attitude? Own up to what? Do you just bend over and let companies fuck you in the ass when you have a problem and they aren't resolving it satisfactorily? Get over yourself. Had I known in advance that I could not carry over the unlimited data plan, I would have dealt with this differently but they don't exactly broadcast that information until you've transitioned the billing and they make you setup a new plan.

Does anyone have any actual advice for voiding cell phone contracts without paying an ETF?

when i signed up for my contract i knew exactly what i was getting. it's all on paper ..2 year commitment for my droidx tied to my 450 min, unlimited text, unlimited data and... my 15% military discount.

oh btw if you join the military and go overseas you can void your cellphone contract without paying an ETF.. lol

 

[Rizen]

when i signed up for my contract i knew exactly what i was getting. it's all on paper .. my 450 min, unlimited text, unlimited data and... my 15% military discount.

oh btw if you join the military and go overseas you can void your cellphone contract without paying an ETF.. lol

I know, and I was fine with the plan I had beforehand. The problem is that when they you transition billing from a family plan to a single line, for example when I moved the plan into my name, you have to pick new plan options since the Family bundles are different. They force you to get data if you have a smart phone, and the only option I had was the $25 / 2GB option, which was automatically added. There were no other options. I'd like them to put me back on the unlimited plan which they have done 2 other times already when someone at AT&T goofed up and removed it. However, this isn't the crux of my concerns.

Right now I'm in a contract until 2012, and the service at my house has gotten almost unusable in the last 6 months. I have dropped calls all the time. When I called AT&T yesterday over this very issue I had to hang up and call them back (waiting almost half an hour on hold) from my Voice IP line I use for work, because my cell phone signal at my house is so bad AT&T couldn't even hear me. Furthermore, my Captivate has unusable GPS.

So, for all of these reasons (even if AT&T does end up giving me my unlimited data plan back, which I doubt) I want to go to another carrier. However, I'd really like to avoid having to pay for this "privilege", as the entire reason I want to leave in the first place is because of AT&Ts sub-par service.

Hopefully this makes more sense. I'm not just complaining over the unlimited data, that was just the straw that broke the camels back in this case.

 

[Sta!nless]

Yeah, you didn't renew your contract. You just changed your plan rates. I really have no idea what to tell you about the grandfathered data plan. But I'm sure they will try to force you into keeping that $25 2 gig cap.

Have you threatened to go elsewhere? I did that once and they matched t-mobile's prices.

I would have stayed on their plan and just paid your portion of the bill. It's not hard. I do it all the time with 5 of my friends on the same plan. Everyone just makes partial payments till it's paid in full every month. You don't even have to do it the same day. Just make sure everyone gets theirs in before any late fees apply.

PS ask what's going to change before you sign!

 

[Rizen]

Yeah, you didn't renew your contract. You just changed your plan rates. I really have no idea what to tell you about the grandfathered data plan. But I'm sure they will try to force you into keeping that $25 2 gig cap.

Have you threatened to go elsewhere? I did that once and they matched t-mobile's prices.

I would have stayed on their plan and just paid your portion of the bill. It's not hard. I do it all the time with 5 of my friends on the same plan. Everyone just makes partial payments till it's paid in full every month. You don't even have to do it the same day. Just make sure everyone gets theirs in before any late fees apply.

PS ask what's going to change before you sign!

My parents bill is $293 for three smart phones. My mom was basically asking me to pay more than 1/3 of the bill which makes no sense since they all have the same data plan, she has international calling, and I had text messaging. I figured it would be easier and cheaper to just put it in my name.

 

[FerraraZ]

Yeah, you didn't renew your contract. You just changed your plan rates. I really have no idea what to tell you about the grandfathered data plan. But I'm sure they will try to force you into keeping that $25 2 gig cap.

Have you threatened to go elsewhere? I did that once and they matched t-mobile's prices.

I would have stayed on their plan and just paid your portion of the bill. It's not hard. I do it all the time with 5 of my friends on the same plan. Everyone just makes partial payments till it's paid in full every month. You don't even have to do it the same day. Just make sure everyone gets theirs in before any late fees apply.

PS ask what's going to change before you sign!

^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^

Your problem would have been solved

 

[Sta!nless]

My parents bill is $293 for three smart phones. My mom was basically asking me to pay more than 1/3 of the bill which makes no sense since they all have the same data plan, she has international calling, and I had text messaging. I figured it would be easier and cheaper to just put it in my name.

I see what you're saying, but you still had unlimited data and more minutes? Did their plan include the "A list"?

I agree your mom should have paid a little more because of that international calling. It really isn't that hard to break everything down to see who pays what.


Tough call and either way it sucks.

Edit: I use roughly 1 gig a month and I feel I'm using data a lot. So to me personally I feel I have "unlimited data". But you never know.

 

[locsplitter]

I did the same thing you did, going from a multiple plan to an individual plan, and kept my unlimited data. I had to keep my same number in order to keep the data though. The family plan, in the process, was scrapped.

 

[Sta!nless]

Yeah I think if you had the phone before the switch you should be able to keep the unlimited data plan.

I lost the unlimited plan when I switched to a smart phone from a multimedia phone.

I'd still fight that.

 

[Rizen]

As it stands right now I should hear back on the 11th or so as to my petition to keep unlimited data. Hopefully they will give it back to me.

If not, what should I push for? If they would give me a free upgrade out of the deal I could at least get a different phone without the horrid GPS, but I'd have to renew my contract again, which is a no go at this point. Sigh..

 

[FerraraZ]

Have you tried rooting the phone and slapping a new ROM on there? Not only does it fix the GPS but also makes the phone sweet.

As it stands right now I should hear back on the 11th or so as to my petition to keep unlimited data. Hopefully they will give it back to me.

If not, what should I push for? If they would give me a free upgrade out of the deal I could at least get a different phone without the horrid GPS, but I'd have to renew my contract again, which is a no go at this point. Sigh..

 

[Rizen]

Have you tried rooting the phone and slapping a new ROM on there? Not only does it fix the GPS but also makes the phone sweet.

Yep I've been using custom ROMs since I got the phone. None of them have fixed the GPS. I still have incredibly slow and inaccurate lock ons Although with a class10 SD card and the lagfix, the phone is very fast. But I'd prefer working GPS since I use that all the time.

 

[jslater25]

Just curious, but does ATT have a 30 day 'trial'?

 

[SirMaster]

Man, your family plan bill seems high.

I'm the owner of our family plan and for 5 lines the bill is $205.85

This is for 3 iPhones with unlimited data and 2 flip phones.

My portion of the bill on my iPhone 4 is $50 a month only.

You shouldn't pay for the international stuff if you don't have it on your line imo.