AT&T Considering Modifications to Deadline for iPad Unlimited 3G Service Activations

[cmaier]

Don't drink caffine ****

Don't eat fatty McDonalds crap

Been to many airports, none had functioning AT&T wifi hotspot--i seem to recall finding one once but it wouldn't let me connect.

None of the brothels i've been to had a hotspot (well, an AT&T hotspot)---don't care anyways, i don't need my internet porn then anyways.

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you were looking for a hotspot that actually functioned.

 

[Blorzoga]

they should keep the 30.00 unlimited for current owners as of june 7, and allow them to subscribe and cancel as was advertised, not forcing you to a 2GB plan when re-subscribing.

They should also take that 15.00 plan, and up the data to 1GB, and then take the 2GB and lower to 20.00, then add a 5GB plan for 30.00 for the upper tier.

They already offer a 5GB plan for $30, they just call it "unlimited"

 

[tigres]

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you were looking for a hotspot that actually functioned.

Baahhaaa...

I have yet to be at an airport that did not have that BS bango pay wireless.

Where are the ATT hotspots in Airports????

 

[deconstruct60]

For me, I'm not really finding a lot of these hot spots for the wifi.

AT&T doesn't design plans for specific individuals. They design plans for a large groups of people. If the comment had been "the 200MB data plan is a joke for me", that is one thing. "The 200MB data plan is a joke" is another.
My comment is directed at the irrational deduction of "it doesn't work for me so therefore it must not work for most people".

Not everyone who owns one eats at McDonalds and gets coffee at Starbucks..

Not everyone, but are you trying to assert there there are not lots of folks inside Starbucks using WiFi ? Have you been to very many Starbucks? That group is not a significant number of folks?


3G doesn't work everywhere. There is a not so insignificant number of street corners for which there is no AT&T 3G signal at all. So is the iPad 3G not a good product to offer ?

 

[IPPlanMan]

Yes, there is a law....

One thing that strikes me as particularly anti-consumer about this change is the extremely short notification period.
.....
I would not be surprised if this DOES violate some law, and I do expect a big, messy class-action lawsuit.

It most definitely does.... http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/stat1.shtm

Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 41-58, as amended)
Under this Act, the Commission is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; (c) prescribe trade regulation rules defining with specificity acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive, and establishing requirements designed to prevent such acts or practices; (d) conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in commerce; and (e) make reports and legislative recommendations to Congress.

And this is how you get things started...
https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/

 

[aprilfools]

at&t survey

I have not heard any one mention the at&t survey that was apparently sent to iPad users that signed on the unlimited plan. I received the survey last week. Took about 10 minutes or so to fill out. Did any of you get sent the survey too?



May 28, 2010

Dear Valued AT&T Customer,

At AT&T we value your opinion and would like your feedback to improve our products to better meet your needs. By taking less than 10~12 minutes to complete an online survey, you have the opportunity to make your voice heard. We are specifically interested in talking to you about your iPad.


Just click this link to start the survey: removed

Or paste this link into your Browser's address field: removed

We'd really appreciate your input, so please take the time to tell us what you think. Our survey will be open only a short while, so the sooner you can fill this out the better! On behalf of AT&T, thank you for your ongoing support and business.

Thank you!

The AT&T Research Team

 

[griz]

Even if you get the unlimited plan, it's basically a contract, because if you let the plan lapse a month, then you're to 2GB.

This really blows. Apple and AT&T need to part ways. Steve's promise of unlimited data is now ruined by AT&T. I will not be buying a 3G iPad.

I was concerned about this. We just activated 2 iPads and so I called AT&T to find out if this is the case and they confirmed it. I adamantly expressed my dislike for this policy. I made sure it was abundantly clear that a lot of people will be very upset to learn that they are essentially locked into paying $29.99/month or risk losing the unlimited plan.

Like many of you, I am sure, you bought the iPad with the belief that you would have the unlimited data option available to you at that price on an as needed (pay per month) basis. Now while I am sure in the fine print, there exists the boiler plate "rates and conditions may change at any time", it still seems unfair to impose those rate changes on existing customers who bought into what they believed was a product with a specific value.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we will see a class action suit on this before long. I submit that this is comparable to a bait and switch tactic.
I was lured in by the promise of non-contracted unlimited data on a pay per month basis and now if I want to keep that unlimited plan, I am required to pay EVERY month.

Lets all express our feelings for this by calling AT&T. Get them to clarify this policy and then state your dislike for this policy.
Their customer service number is 1-800-331-0500.
http://www.att.com/wireless/contact-us/index.jsp
I was only on hold for about 1 minute.
Share this with as many people as you can, spread the word.
If you bought the iPad with the hopes of always having unlimited data as an option. AT&T has screwed you.

 

[bpfesq]

AT&T doesn't design plans for specific individuals. They design plans for a large groups of people. If the comment had been "the 200MB data plan is a joke for me", that is one thing. "The 200MB data plan is a joke" is another.
My comment is directed at the irrational deduction of "it doesn't work for me so therefore it must not work for most people".




Not everyone, but are you trying to assert there there are not lots of folks inside Starbucks using WiFi ? Have you been to very many Starbucks? That group is not a significant number of folks?


3G doesn't work everywhere. There is a not so insignificant number of street corners for which there is no AT&T 3G signal at all. So is the iPad 3G not a good product to offer ?

Considering all you need to do at Starbucks is register your Starbucks card and you'll get 2 hours for free wifi use EVERY DAY.

It's free for everyone at McDonalds as well. Maybe AT&T should include my employer's internal wifi as a "free wifi" location as well!!!


I do love how you constantly shift our argument that we insist AT&T be reasonable and you turn it into "forever" "in perpetuity" or "everywhere". When you move the goal posts like that and erect strawman after strawman, it is hard to argue with your endless AT&T talking points.

 

[Blorzoga]

I plan to get the Wifi + 3G iPad and wanted the unlimited plan but didn't want to have it active every month. This change basically says you have to keep it active every month otherwise your down to 2GB. Sucks IMO.

AT&T trying to protect their over burdened data lines... Hopefully the time is nearing to see iPhone/iPad on another carrier in the US.

Competition can breed resolve.

Why does everyone insist that "this change" means you have to maintain a continuous unlimited plan or you will lose it. THIS HAS NOT BEEN SPECIFICALLY STATED OFFICIALLY ON EITHER THE APPLE OR AT&T WEBSITES

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I would not be surprised if this DOES violate some law, and I do expect a big, messy class-action lawsuit.

Think through the math. If some class action firm would even take the case, there isn't enough of a prize involved for it to be "big" or "messy". The only people who could participate in the claim would be 3G buyers between Apr 30 and (let's say) June 7. That's not that big of a group.

To qualify for a piece of the action, they would need to demonstrate some kind of monetary loss. That means only those who could demonstrate that they regularly download more than the new deals 2Gb/month arrangement could potentially play. All those who can't demonstrate that will save money with the new 2Gb cap pricing plan.

If we believe AT&T when they said 98% of users don't download more than 2Gb via 3G now, then one might suggest that 2% of the iPad 3G buyers might actually have a claim to that action. How many 3G iPads have been sold in the U.S.? Those who have purchases on order now could cancel if they don't like the new terms. Apple has a 14 day MBG, so those who have received their iPad 3Gs in the last 13 days could cancel too.

Given the 2M units sold, let's speculate that that would leave 500K iPad 3G buyers in the U.S. 500K times 2% = 10,000. 10K claimants is not a very "big" group, and the total money involved is not very "exciting" for a class action firm. The "prize" would be estimated based on financial losses resulting from classic use (proven use above 2Gb/month in the past), as no court is going to allow a bunch of people to claim they were going to go nuts with Gb use in the future to justify a bigger "prize". Deductions against the prize would apply the 2Gb/month deal savings, etc.

End result: I can't imagine a scenario where a successful class action suit for this could yield more than $100 for each claimant, and would expect it to more likely yield a few dollars (like past class action settlements) probably paid in Apple gift cards.

For class actions to be big and messy, there has to be either a very large number of claimants and/or a very large amount of "damages." In this case, there would be neither, resulting in very little net prizes for those who participate.

Yes, that's pretty crappy. But welcome to the wonderful world of 3G exclusivity and no contractual obligation for buyer or seller.

 

[Blorzoga]

Since Apple sold the device advertising the rate as a reason to buy it, Apple is under obligation to make sure that rate is available for a reasonable amount of time; not forever, but reasonable. Two months ain't reasonable.

It's only been one month. The 3G came out April 30

 

[peteo]

https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

The FTC needs to hear about this... The complaint wizard is pretty simple.

Thanks for the link, Just filled it out.
If you bought an iPad 3G before this announcement, I would take the few minutes and fill out a complaint

 

[cmaier]

Why does everyone insist that "this change" means you have to maintain a continuous unlimited plan or you will lose it. THIS HAS NOT BEEN SPECIFICALLY STATED OFFICIALLY ON EITHER THE APPLE OR AT&T WEBSITES

YES IT HAS

 

[mytdave]

MiFi

And now we have a really good reason to buy a WiFi only iPad and get a MiFi from Verizon.

 

[Blorzoga]

Do you work for the ATT Propaganda Ministry? What you are saying is marketing gobbledegook. Either you work for ATT or you've been brainwashed.

I am not a bandwidth hog. I have a 3G and have not used 1kb of 3G data since I've activated on April 30. I've been 100% WiFi. However, I know when I go to the beach in July I will be using 3G. That was going to be the first time I flipped the 3G switch on and then 30 days later I'd turn it off until the next time I needed 3G.

ATT changed the equation though. Now I'll turn on 3G on Sunday, a month earlier than anticipated. Since I'm paying for the 3G service I'm damn well going to use it. I'll become a bandwidth hog, not because that is who I am, but that is who ATT made me become by forcing me to continually buy data I don't really want.

Now if ATT said that I could "grandfather" into the unlimited plan w/o having to re-up every month I would not re-up every month. I'd use the 3G when I needed it, and only then. A lot less bandwidth used, and isn't that what ATT's goal is? That isn't the case though. So 3G wasting will now be a way of life until I can establish I'd never need more than 2GB in any given 30 days. My guess is I'm pretty typical. The $15 plan is a joke. That is about what I use on my iPhone -- but I don't watch movies on my phone. That is the difference.

Once again I ask: WHERE DOES IT SAY YOU HAVE TO RE-UP EVERY MONTH? NOWHERE ON AN AT&T OR APPLE SITE.

 

[tdmac]

I think this decision came about more from their change of tact to allow VOIP and other streaming apps over 3G. This is a whole lot of data that was restricted. It also opens up a whole lot of other uses for the iPad as well, like making calls via Skype.

If you remember the FCC was going to look into AT&T and others from restricting VOIP and other data over the 3G service. To prempt that AT&T said.... oh we changed our minds Now that its going to be allowed, they kicked the can and now changed the data policy.

Also, my guess is AT&T had no knowledge about 4.0 and its features. Nor did they have any clue as to what the new iPhone would be or do. None of these things were know at the time that the iPad deal was struck and the iPad was released. The multitasking under 4.0 I'm sure scared the crap out of them, seeing that data usgae would surely increase per user with the ability to run things like navigation and Pandora at the same time. Then after hearing about the lost prototypes and featureset with the front facing camera, this really pushed them over the top. Not to mention the high adoption rate of the iPad. Not making excuses as I think it really sucks. Though I am glad I waited on the 3G version.

As far as the talk of all the hotspots that are avail with At&T, that is not the point. I don't want to have to specifically go somewhere to use the device. If I was eating lunch at McDonalds or getting coffee at Starbucks then great. (BTW, you can't just get free wifi at Starbucks w/o the starbucks card) then that makes sense. But if I am out on the road at a hotel that does not have wifi or a friends or the middle of the park, etc and have 3G then I want to use the 3G.

 

[cmaier]

Think through the math. If some class action firm would even take the case, there isn't enough of a prize involved for it to be "big" or "messy". The only people who could participate in the claim would be 3G buyers between Apr 30 and (let's say) June 7. That's not that big of a group.

To qualify for a piece of the action, they would need to demonstrate some kind of monetary loss. That means only those who could demonstrate that they regularly download more than the new deals 2Gb/month arrangement could potential play. All those who can't demonstrate that will save money with the new 2Gb cap pricing plan.

That's not true. Rights are worth something, even if not exercised. The fact that I COULD go over 2.0 GB is worth something. And even if you don't believe that, you put a "regularly" in there that is certainly wrong. And the proof will come not from the members of the class demonstrating that they would go over (at least once), but instead will come from AT&T, which has all sorts of documents, statistics, and internal memos which monetize the effect of this change of policy.

It's also likely fraud, since AT&T honchos were talking about the end of unlimited a couple months back - they never intended to let this go more than a month, so they fraudulently induced people to buy these devices that could only practically be used on their network. Fraud damages are not calculated like contract damages.

 

[peteo]

Given the 2M units sold, let's speculate that that would leave 500K iPad 3G buyers in the U.S. 500K times 2% = 10,000. 10K claimants is not a very "big" group, and the total money involved is not very "exciting" for a class action firm. The "prize" would be estimated based on financial losses resulting from classic use (proven use above 2Gb/month in the past), as no court is going to allow a bunch of people to claim they were going to go nuts with Gb use in the future to justify a bigger "prize". Deductions against the prize would apply the 2Gb/month deal savings, etc.

10,000 X the extra $130 paid for the iPad 3G, since it was sold under "FALSE" terms (well as of june 7th) + extra money for all the bull crap every on has to deal with, so around 2 million. Hmm some one might bite

 

[wolfenkraft]

I called AT&T to figure out how grandfathering works in this context, with a prepaid plan.

What I was told is: if you sign up now and then set it up to recurring charge, you are grandfathered in. If at any point you skip a month, you immediately lose grandfathered status. Which is ridiculous.

 

[Blorzoga]

The 200MB plan gets you access to all of AT&T's hotspots. Not everyone wants to stand on some random street corner and use the iPad on 3G. For an iPad that spend 95% of its time within reach of a WiFI base station the 200MB plan makes sense. It also saves those users more money. How is that a joke in that context ?

The vast majority of users do not blow out their data ,text , and voice allocation every month.

Yeah, I guess they'd rather sit in a Starbucks or McDonalds, great.

 

[Blorzoga]

Just curious, how would AT&T know the iPad was purchased before the deadline? Does anyone know that?

It's called a serial number

 

[tempusfugit]

+1

I bought the iPad 3G based on the plan that was sold. Right now, I'm not a happy camper with AT& T and Apple (this is if Apple knew about the change in plan). I will just stay with 29.99 plan for the time being but that is beside the point. It is the principle of the matter.

it especially sucks for those of us who bought the iPad 3G thinking we could have unlimited data for one month and not the other, never having to worry about the unavailability of it if we dropped it for a month when we know it's not worth having.

that being said, I think this will force me (for the time being) to not terminate my iPhone 3G plan or my iPad 3G plan. AT&T really figured out how to milk a lot of dough out of me....

on a side note, I think this whole situation will encourage a lot of iPhone/iPad users to jailbreak and tether with their unlimited plans instead of paying AT&T to use data hyouve already paid for on another device....

when the iPhone LTE comes out eventually, I will definitely switch to big red. been with AT&T/Cingular since 2002 or so and it's getting old.

 

[peteo]

Once again I ask: WHERE DOES IT SAY YOU HAVE TO RE-UP EVERY MONTH? NOWHERE ON AN AT&T OR APPLE SITE.

AT&T they stated that 1) when you sign up for the AT&T iPad 3g data plan, that plan is a PLAN. It can be canceled at ANY time, but its still a plan and if you don't cancel you will get charged $30 per a month.

2) if you cancel your PLAN, you will not be charged when the next billing cycle is, since you CANCELED it.

3) If you go to sign up for a plan again, the 3G unlimited PLAN will not be one of your options. only the 250mb for $15 and the 2gig for $25.

'For more info check tuaw.com they had an interview with some one from at&t

 

[IPPlanMan]

Great!

Thanks for the link, Just filled it out.
If you bought an iPad 3G before this announcement, I would take the few minutes and fill out a complaint

Great! Thanks Peteo! Please join Peteo and fill out the complaint form.

https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

 

[tdmac]

If Apple was smart, they would drop the cost of the 3G model to half the difference of the wifi vs. 3G model today. Then give past buyers a credit like they did to original iphone buyers.

This really is not Apple's fault but would show great customer service. It was worth the preimum to have a no contract unlimited plan but now its not so simple.