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AT&T Businesses The Almighty Buck

AT&T Switches Customers To More Expensive Plans Without Asking Them First (arstechnica.com) 105

Posted by BeauHD from the thanks-but-no-thanks dept.
AT&T is adding $10 to the monthly bills of customers with certain grandfathered mobile-data plans and not letting them switch back to their older packages. AT&T is pitching the change as a "bonus" because it's also adding 15GB to the customers' monthly data allotments. Ars Technica reports: "Enjoy more data," AT&T says in a support document. "Starting with your October 2019 bill, you'll get an additional 15GB of data on your Mobile Share plan. This bonus data comes with a $10 price increase." Paying an extra $10 for another 15GB isn't a bad deal as far as U.S. wireless prices go, but that's only true if you actually need the extra data. The plans getting the data-and-price increases already had between 20GB and 60GB of data per month at prices that ranged from $100 to $225. Now those plans have 35GB to 75GB and cost $110 to $235. (The data allotments can be shared among multiple people on the same family plan.)

These Mobile Share Value plans were introduced in December 2013 and are apparently no longer offered to new customers. This is at least the second time this year that AT&T has added $10 and extra data to customer bills; a previous increase took effect between March and May and mostly affected a different set of Mobile Share Value plans, according to another AT&T support document. AT&T confirmed that there's no way to opt out of the new $10 increase, The Verge reported yesterday.
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AT&T Switches Customers To More Expensive Plans Without Asking Them First More

AT&T Switches Customers To More Expensive Plans Without Asking Them First

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  • T-Mobile kept me on a discontinued plan for years before I let it lapse because I didn't have signal where I lived anyway.

    • My sister-in-law had a $15 voice-only plan from T-Mobile for a decade before her cellphone had an unfortunate incident with an auto-flush toilet. She got an iPhone and bye-bye cheap plan.

    • T-Mobile kept me on a discontinued plan for years before I let it lapse because I didn't have signal where I lived anyway.

      For us, it's been even better. T-Mobile has actually upgraded our grandfathered plan multiple times at no cost and without any request from us, including upgrading all of our lines to unlimited data. This has resulted in the ironic situation where my originally 5GB line costs more than her originally 2GB line, even though both are now unlimited.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      T-Mobile kept me on a discontinued plan for years before I let it lapse because I didn't have signal where I lived anyway.

      I was on an old grandfathered plan with 300 minutes and unlimited texting for years after they stopped offering it (like I'd call CS and they would have go digging in old books to find the info on what it was). Then one day I got a text message from T-Mobile saying they were changing me to a new plan... which I'd never heard anything about and didn't want. I called them all ready for an argument and they told me about the new plan -- it was unlimited talk and text and $10/month less than I had been paying.

  • I just had to force them to refund me money because they eliminated my old plan and just put me in a new one without my permission.

  • Meanwhile everywhere else in the developed world.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Shadow of Eternity ( 795165 ) on Thursday November 07, 2019 @09:17PM (#59392696)

    people are paying maybe $10-20 a month for 50+gb of LTE data and unlimited minutes/texts.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      Not entirely. Germany has dropped the ball completely when it comes to cell phone plans. I am paying 30 Euros a month for an 8 GB monthly data cap, and that is one of the biggest plans I was even able to find. It's a couple of years ago now, there may be slightly larger ones available now, but to say that 'everywhere else' sees these awesome plans is demonstrably false.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fintux ( 798480 )
        Germany is the Europe's developing country in this regard - I don't know why exactly. It's weird that I pay 25 Euros/month in Finland and I get unlimited data, calls and text in Finland, AND 10 GB/month free data roaming & unlimited data, calls and texts in Germany. It's cheaper to buy the data from abroad! (But there are some limits: one must use the subscription primarily in Finland; based either on amount of usage, or time).

    • Yup, here is an example [giffgaff.com] from the UK and usable throughout the EU.

      • ... and usable throughout the EU.

        For now at least.

        • For now at least.

          What are you referring to?

          Oh, yeah! The glorious future year of 4125 AD !
          When humanity will both celebrate at the same time:
          - The founding of its first ever colony outside of our solar system.
          - The UK finally managing to reach an agreement wrt EU.

    • Yeah, they should just switch to a different network, oh, right.

    • Not in Germany. Cell plans in Germany is even more expensive than the USA. Data is especially expensive. Most plans have 1-2GB of data per month with unlimited calls and texts around 30/month. The countries around though has MUCH cheaper plans.

    • people are paying maybe $10-20 a month for 50+gb of LTE data and unlimited minutes/texts.

      Well, there's the American exceptionalism for you - since America and the Americans are exceptional, they have the privilege and honor to pay more for poorer service. Maybe I should sell this to AT&T and company.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dryeo ( 100693 )

      Not Canada, where there's even less competition then the States.

  • don't change the plan, just raise the price. Add a few token and irrelevant features to placate people when they call and create a new tier at the old price that's a massive downgrade. Everybody wins*!

    *Everybody who matters, e.g. Cox/Comcast and their major Shareholders

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kalpol ( 714519 )
      Also Spectrum. Price goes up, service down, only the one choice. The price difference for Spectrum between places that have mutiple providers and the places that just have Spectrum is HUGE.

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday November 07, 2019 @09:23PM (#59392706)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • So AT&T is instituting a price increase, and bundling more data with the price increase is a bonus.

    As noted in the Support Document [att.com]:

    You can keep your plan, move to another plan, or cancel your service.

    The original announcement of the Data Share Plan offerings [att.com] doesn't seem to state or imply that the offer would be "forever" or as long as the customer keeps the same plan.

    A customer paying $110 for 30 GB of data is now given the opportunity to migrate to a new plan or enjoy 45 GB of data... Occasionally some customers incurred fees for data overages, this all but eliminates

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rsborg ( 111459 )

      > The original announcement of the Data Share Plan offerings [att.com] doesn't seem to state or imply that the offer would be "forever" or as long as the customer keeps the same plan.

      The legality of their move and the PR blowback from doing something many would consider "underhanded" - they're 2 different things.

      It's a free country and AT&T is free to do what they want, but they're not free from consequences.

      In other news T-Mobile just announced a stellar low-cost plan. Gotta wonder if pissed off c

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

        The legality of their move and the PR blowback from doing something many would consider "underhanded" - they're 2 different things.

        What would be the non-underhanded thing to do? That is besides continue to provide you with the old plan for as long as you wished (which AT&T never actually promised to do; after the end of any initial 1-2 year term the plans went month-to-month).

        I'm waiting for people to vote "terminate service and require customers to come into the AT&T store to sign up for a new mont

        • Nazi shysters sure do love evil megacorps ripping off the common man.

        • Why would you need to come in to a physical store to sign up for anything? Is that some US thing?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

            Why would you need to come in to a physical store to sign up for anything? Is that some US thing?

            Well, you sure can't accept the new offer by simply continuing to use AT&T's service. That's making people here lose their freaking minds. AT&T has to "ask them first" and being able to "opt out" by switching to another service apparently is not enough.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by nnull ( 1148259 )

            Why would you need to come in to a physical store to sign up for anything? Is that some US thing?

            Yes

        • > What would be the non-underhanded thing to do?

          Uhhh, my god that’s a deep question .... wait, wait, derrrrrask the customer if they want to switch before switching them and give them the option to stay on their current plan.

          My God, we’re through the looking glass here people!

          Seriously?

          Would you like me explain to you how to wipe your ass while a I’m at it?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

            derrrrrask the customer if they want to switch before switching them and give them the option to stay on their current plan.

            I expressly took that option off the table. AT&T never promised to offer the same service at the same price in perpetuity.

            These plans stopped being offered in Fall 2016. Any fixed term has long since expired, and the contracts have switched to month-to-month. Either the customer or AT&T can walk away from the contract. AT&T is simply saying if you want to stay, here's t

      • The legality of their move and the PR blowback from doing something many would consider "underhanded" - they're 2 different things.

        The PR blowback is interesting.

        I have no reason to believe it's actually $10 cheaper for them to offer a plan with 15GB less data--or $10 more expensive for them to raise the cap by 15GB.

        I do have reason to believe the price has to go up eventually. ATT may be trying to avoid some of the negative PR associated with rising rates by tying them to extra resources (value).

        At 2% inflation, in 5 years $100 becomes $110. If these plans were $100 earlier than 5 years ago, then in real terms, the price has go

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by mysidia ( 191772 )

          I do have reason to believe the price has to go up eventually.

          The price people pay in the US for the service is astronomical, and should be decreasing instead of "going up eventually".
          Unless there is a lack of competition so that ATT is abusing a monopoly or oligopoly to maintain inflated prices.

          • ATT has an average net operating profits margin of 10.01%. over the past 5 years. Their profit margin is relatively flat [ycharts.com], varying around the 10%-ish level.

            The infrastructure in the US is garbage and not very much subsidized by the government. In general, when service providers can squeeze out more gross profits, their net profits don't go up because they invest those extra profits into what economists call "investment". Financial bankers call stocks and bonds "investment" but that's just holding onto

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by mysidia ( 191772 )

              ATT has an average net operating profits margin of 10.01%. over the past 5 years.

              That's b/c ATT owns a ton of things which have nothing to do with delivering Mobile communications.
              They have a slew of failing businesses such as copper POTS service and
              take revenue from extremely profitable business like the wireless in certain areas
              to subsidize the obscenely bad businesses.

              This also sucks for their customers, because customers in regions where it is super-expensive to provide service still
              wind up paying

              • This also sucks for their customers

                It does, yes. It's also an economic bubble the way you describe it--they're investing and spending, instead of hoarding, so no need to tax them higher; but they're spending on things that will fail, and the spending outflow will eventually need to shift or stop, which will cause short-run economic drag even if they lower their prices along with their investment spending.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mysidia ( 191772 )

        It's a free country and AT&T is free to do what they want, but they're not free from consequences.

        No... the US provides individual liberties, but we have laws. ATT is not free to just go do whatever they want;
        especially not unilaterally changing terms while at the same time imposing cancellation fees, should a customer want to change things on their side.

    • You mean you dont see a problem with a corporation unilaterally altering a contract?

  • Need to pay for Time Warner Inc purchase (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    AT&T are sneaking in these small fee increases to pay for their purchase of Time Warner Inc. and losses at DirecTV. DirecTV is bleeding subscribers by the millions every year [arstechnica.com].

    AT&T recently added a $10/month equipment fee (for their residential gateway) for their fiber service when they didn't have one before.

  • It's bad enough with government overreach, but when the corporate community emulates government; it's for profit, plain and simple. Unlike government, consumers have recourses. Put them out of business, permanently.

    • Are you a bot? Perhaps you should take another stab at it. What, exactly, are you attempting to articulate?

  • This happened to me less than a year ago. (Score:3)

    by amxcoder ( 1466081 ) on Thursday November 07, 2019 @09:55PM (#59392800)
    I guess I'll have to check my bill real good again to see if this hit me again. This happened to me almost a year ago, no notice, no warning, just a bump in my bill. Looking into it, they added data (I have the 15GB Family Share), and changed my plan. I immediately called to complain, and they told me my plan was expiring and the so everyone got bumped to the new plan tiers. Problem was, the new data tiers were between the old tiers (in data allotment, no price), and they bumped everyone UP to the tier above where they were at automatically, which was also greeted with a bump in price. They also pitched it on the phone, like I should be ecstatic that my family would have MORE data, even though I don't need it and don't go over my allotment as it is.

    At least I was able to get back to the previous plan I was on last time--it sounds like this time, they aren't being as "nice".

  • Is anyone suing? (Score:3)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Thursday November 07, 2019 @10:20PM (#59392840)
    Sounds like fraud to me.

    • Is anyone suing?

      I can't see how anyone would have standing. AT&T has only been offering these plans month-to-month for a while now. So there aren't (or at least, shouldn't be) anyone using these plans with a long-term service contract.

      And since it's month-to-month, AT&T is free to discontinue the plan at the end of a billing cycle.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

        I can't see how anyone would have standing. AT&T has only been offering these plans month-to-month for a while now. So there aren't (or at least, shouldn't be) anyone using these plans with a long-term service contract.

        But AT&T promised to provide same plan, with the same data allotment, at the same price, forever! Don't ask me to find the paperwork, I remember hearing it from some guy at some place sometime back when I signed up, and the contract that AT&T actually gave me that says that it's

    • I don't know about everyone else, but AT&T made it pretty clear to me. They sent me a text saying that they were switching me to a more expensive plan with double the data, if I didn't like it then I could pick a different AT&T plan through their website or terminate my service. The biggest pain was they just wiped my rollover balance in preparation for the switch, so I lost 3/4 a gig of data I could have used in Oct.
      • "AT&T Free Msg: Starting with your October 2019 bill, we are doubling the monthly data on your plan and increasing your monthly plan charge by $5. Go to att.com/msupdate for more info. You may choose to keep this plan, move to another available plan, or cancel service. We appreciate your business."

  • There is a way to opt out (Score:5, Funny)

    by misnohmer ( 1636461 ) on Thursday November 07, 2019 @11:14PM (#59392904)

    Of course there is a way to opt out, switch carriers. Any term commitments are voided if AT&T is the one breaking the terms.

    • Exactly. However, the plans may allow termination but require paying off the phone so while there is no termination fee you could still get hit with a big bill when you leave.
      • Someone who actually read the article posted above that these are grandfathered-in plans for which the contract is already expired. Shirley, any phones have been paid off by now.
      • Some people will have new phones and have to pay them off, but lots of people, with these plans will only need to change carriers. AT&T is scamming everyone! They know most people with these plans, will just pay them $10.00 and be done with it. It's pure extra profit, most of these users will never use the data they pay for now. AT&T gets $10.00 more for the same usage. Just plain CROOKS!!
  • Here in Switzerland, living in a small village with 1500 inhabitants, we pay USD20 a month for 4g+ (200mbit) completely uncapped. So why so expensive in the US?

    • Here in Switzerland, living in a small village with 1500 inhabitants, we pay USD20 a month for 4g+ (200mbit) completely uncapped. So why so expensive in the US?

      I pay the same in the US and can roam across the US with no limit on data; unlike the EU where there is no charge additional for text/voice roaming but data can be charged under fair use policies. So if I would move to another state I would not have to change numbers or face data charges. It all depends on what you need; although I agree some US carries have prices that are unreasonable. (And I realize the CH is not in the EU)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by tmoerel ( 656040 )
        My subscription has free roaming across the whole of Europe, USA & Canada. Inside Switzerland it is totally unlimited. Outside I get 40Gb/month at full speed and after that it gets squeezed to 256Kbit. No additional charges involved! And that is with Switzerland NOT being in the EU.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Alioth ( 221270 )

        If data can be charged (not something I've heard of) no one is actually charging for it. I can roam anywhere in the EU with no roaming charges on Vodafone.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nnull ( 1148259 )
        Due to some rule changes across the EU (Namely Germany and their ridiculous new terrorism laws, making it difficult for travelers to use a mobile phone), most providers now have free roaming across EU countries. So this point is moot.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • If only T-Mobile had more towers...

        I'm on a T-Mobile family plan, unlimited text/voice/data in the USA. $30 per line plus taxes brings the 6 lines up to $203 / month. In about 130 countries, I get 3G (unusable) and texting (usable) for free and voice at $0.20 / minute.

        This is the best plan/situation I've been able to find based on where I live and spend most of my time. And the voice and data still suck in some cities in the US. In my city it's ok, but in the rural areas it's always been crap.

        Co
  • When I was in the US, I could never trust the phone / cable / bank companies. Now I'm in Europe and I don't see stupid fees, random increases, complex terms of services and all that bullshit. I lived in 4 countries so far, and visited more. Everywhere the service was cheaper and better. Currently, in Poland, I pay about PLN 5 (~$1.29) monthly for my cell phone with unlimited in network calling + 6gb data, using Play.pl, and I pay PLN30 (~$7.70) for 15GB for my iPad. If I was paying PLN50 (~$13) I'd have un
  • Ditto for Comcast.
  • Because what it isn't, is something you have to pay for. It's something extra.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Corporate Arrogance - The New Policy (Score:3)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday November 08, 2019 @09:35AM (#59393858)

    Dear Consumers,

    We're all Too Big To Fail now. If you don't know that by now, we sure as hell do. You're gonna bend over and take this price increase and like it, because we already know you're too fucking lazy to actually get off your ass and do anything about it.

    Fuck You Very Much, and Have a Nice Day.

    Hugs and Kisses,

    - Every Mega-Corp CEO

    PS. We'll be back in 6 months to do it again. So will our collusi, er I mean competition.

  • to see US mobile plan prices, specially when you think of how bad the coverage is.

    When you are driving a 6 lane highway you kind of expect to get at least a basic signal.. but apparently not in the US.

    Anyway,
    I have currently 3 sim cards from the most expensive to the cheapest:
    1)the main phone with unlimited calling, texts and data: 21 euro/month.
    2)Reserve phone sim: 3 euro a month+1 euro/day for unlimited data for the days I use it(not many days)
    3)The data special in my laptop, a limited time(2 year) plan a

  • I just cancelled them because of this, plus that stupid admin fee they added a while back. I'm trying out H20, which uses AT&T infrastructure...so far so good, and much cheaper. But it's only been 48 hours.

  • An old dog, old trick. (Score:3)

    by TheHawke ( 237817 ) <rchapin@NOSPam.stx.rr.com> on Friday November 08, 2019 @11:03AM (#59394264)

    This is called cramming, or switching. Telecoms are NOT permitted to do this, no matter what the service they are affecting. Normally, they would grandfather in the plans and leave them be, but AT&T seems to be desperate to get their butts whipped by the state and feds.

    So be it.

    • Too bad they aren't Title II anymore... just a shame that "telecoms aren't allowed" to do it, and yet AT&T - a name synonymous with telecom - isn't a telecom, so they can.

      Thanks Pai!

  • users would not be on those old plans if they needed more data.. all at$t did is give extra data knowing it won't be used by most. I am on at$t but only because it is the only service in my area that will work indoors, but if I could, I would change. tired of getting robbed by a company that do as they please without concerned for their customers.

  • The last time around the did it to me. I had 7 gigs of shared data between 2 phones. They upped it to 15 gigs and charged $10 more a month. I mean a good deal if I actually wanted the extra data, but I didn't. I called in when I saw the higher bill when i went to pay the following month. I told them I did not want the extra data as I rarely used up all the data I previously had. They said they had sent me a notice about the change, I told them didn't want it and it seemed wrong to change something without e

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