AT&T question

[Channan]

Wow - my apologies for missing that 2-year-contract item for tablets. To be honest, I've only looked at adding a tablet I already owned to an existing account, so the activation was the lower amount and there wasn't any sort of obligation. The fact that an iPad mini 2 bought through AT&T with a payment plan has an activation fee of $20, yet on a 2-year-contract, it's $45 (on the same screen with the online store!) is downright criminal. I'm sort of surprised they're not charging $20 or $45 for the "device only (no plan required)" option. For posterity, hotspots are $45 on contract and $0 if paid-in-full (again, inconsistencies).

A few months ago, I got a cellular iPad Air 2 on my dad's plan because it was only $99 on contract. I don't know why this was, because AT&T had no info on this promotion, yet the store I bought it from sold it to me for that much anyway. They didn't tell me about the $45 activation fee when I bought it, nor the $15 activation fee when he added my sister to his plan a few days before. He called an AT&T rep, who called the store to verify that they didn't mention the activation fee, and it was waved.

But I thought that was pretty ridiculous that we both added a new line, but mine was three times higher because I got my device on contract.

Agreed - when I tried T-Mobile earlier, I thought the $15 was steep for the SIM in the store (had to establish the account and such), so I went and added our other lines online when they were running a promo for 99¢ SIMs.

Yep. Especially when you can go to Walmart and buy an activation kit with account credit for less than the amount of credit you get. An activation kit with $30 credit at Walmart right now is only $29.87.

I think there's a lot of folks on the various iPhone SE threads (and probably at Apple Stores, too) that would wholeheartedly agree with you. Less inventory of devices with pre-installed SIMs floating around and not running into the "I want a Verizon iPhone on a payment plan, but they only had T-Mobile and AT&T models in stock" problem that some were having (despite the model itself being the same). Install the SIM on the spot to activate and lock the phone to the carrier, and ship one in the package if it's being sent to customers. There's probably good reason for the way things are now, but it amazes me the number of people that have no idea their iPhone even takes a SIM card. The Apple SIM was a good first step, but when companies opt-out (Verizon) or do sneaky crap (permanently locking the SIM down on AT&T), there's still a ways to go.

Normally I'd agree with this, but having separate models with pre-installed SIMs actually helped me get an iPhone SE faster. If it was as you suggested, all of the SE's probably would have been sold out by the time I got to the Apple Store, since I'm sure there were probably several people wanting a Verizon, T-Mobile, or SIM-free SE that either didn't know they could buy the AT&T model or wanted it on a carrier payment plan.

It seems it's really finding the least of all the evils for you when it comes to carriers. There were a lot of things that I enjoyed with T-Mobile, although I had a few family members that didn't have as good of coverage as we initially expected where they lived, so we went back to AT&T for now (better discount through work than Verizon and almost identical coverage in my area). Unfortunately, it sort of seems like the fees are a take-it-or-leave-it situation and there really isn't much recourse.

Honestly, if I had internet at my apartment and/or lost unlimited data with Verizon, I would just use RingPlus full time. Sprint's service isn't as good as Verizon or AT&T, but I'd save so much money. I did have to pay $15 for a SIM card to use RingPlus, but I'm more than happy to overpay for a SIM card when I get free service every month.

 

[^^BIGMac]

Cost me $20 to activate my new iPad Pro. They would not waive the fee as they have in the past.

Oh well. Sucks.

 

[Peter K.]

Cost me $20 to activate my new iPad Pro. They would not waive the fee as they have in the past.

Oh well. Sucks.

How many times did you play "CSR Russian Roulette"?

I was able to get it waived when I got my iPad Pro in January.

 

[Badrottie]

Well, in case anyone else is interested in the answer, I called and it is.a $40 activation fee to add the ipad to my account. That is ridiculous if you ask me.

AT&T knows you are making some good money! Seriously I hate them charging for stupid fee!

 

[^^BIGMac]

How many times did you play "CSR Russian Roulette"?

I was able to get it waived when I got my iPad Pro in January.

You know, honestly, they just wore me out. I first talked to a CSR and she said "no"...so I just activated the cellular data on the device itself and they charged me the 20 bucks. It was a lot easier on the device...nobody to ask me 10,000 questions, update my DL# and all that. It was so simple. $20 I guess for simplicity.

I think if I played the game long enough they would probably waive the activation fee but then again I guess that's water under the bridge!

 

[ZBoater]

We get that, but the problem is with so few major carriers, people really don't have much of a choice to go elsewhere. If all carriers decide to do it, people have to pay it.

Well, if you need the service then pay for it. Otherwise don't. If you can't afford it then we'll, you can't.

It's called Capitalism. It does work.

 

[richpjr]

Well, if you need the service then pay for it. Otherwise don't. If you can't afford it then we'll, you can't.

It's called Capitalism. It does work.

Again, we get that. And again, we have no choice but to pay it. And if they get too greedy with their fees and money grabs, capitalism will allow another competitor who doesn't gouge their customers to rise and challenge them. But until that happens they seem happy to squeeze every penny out of users they can - and strangely some seem content with that.

 

[ZBoater]

...But until that happens they seem happy to squeeze every penny out of users they can - and strangely some seem content with that.

Or, or, they seem happy to provide a service and charge for it. Given the amount of customers they have and revenue they generate, they must be doing something right.

 

[richpjr]

Or, or, they seem happy to provide a service and charge for it. Given the amount of customers they have and revenue they generate, they must be doing something right.

Or having a captive audience...

 

[Channan]

Or having a captive audience...

Any time you complain about AT&T, ZBoater will appear to shut that sh*t down.

 

[seadragon]

Any time you complain about AT&T, ZBoater will appear to shut that sh*t down.

Probably works for them is my guess.

 

[ZBoater]

Probably works for them is my guess.

Your guess would be wrong.

 

[^^BIGMac]

You know, honestly, they just wore me out. I first talked to a CSR and she said "no"...so I just activated the cellular data on the device itself and they charged me the 20 bucks. It was a lot easier on the device...nobody to ask me 10,000 questions, update my DL# and all that. It was so simple. $20 I guess for simplicity.

I think if I played the game long enough they would probably waive the activation fee but then again I guess that's water under the bridge!

Talked to AT&T yesterday on an unrelated issue and then asked the CSR about the activation fee. He waived it without an an of argument. So, there it is!

 

[curtmyers]

Talked to AT&T yesterday on an unrelated issue and then asked the CSR about the activation fee. He waived it without an an of argument. So, there it is!

I brought in my iPad and they said if you have your own device then there is no activation fee. I was not on a plan either, I did not want the 2 year thing. Getting rid of my unlimited and going to 15 gb a month for 3 devices saved me money.

I think I only use 5 -7 GB a month if I go crazy. The Unlimited plan was just unnecessary for me.

 

[ecschwarz]

Sorry to reopen a thread that has been quiet for over a month, but I thought I'd add that I switched iPads and have a cellular model - I added it to my AT&T account by ordering a SIM online (they are doing a waived activation fee promo), so it will only cost me the $10/month for the service.

However, I also picked up a T-Mobile SIM and activated it for prepaid and go the 200MB/month free promotion. There are conflicting reports and none are the most clear, but basically you need a new, non-active T-Mobile SIM (I got one at Walgreens for about $10...figured it would save on waiting for one to ship and about what they charge online, depending on the promotions). I popped it in my iPad, waited a bit, turned off Wi-Fi, and then visited t-mobile.com/connectme. I was prompted to either log in or create a new account, so I created a new one, selected the free plan, and was all set. You can't use the promo if you've already set up service with that account elsewhere, so you might need to use a different email address. My iPad was assigned a number from New Jersey and I can mange my account and view my data usage through the Connect Me site.

I think an Apple SIM would also work for this, since it uses the same prepaid account management through T-Mobile, but I wasn't sure if there would be some issues if I were to use the Apple SIM elsewhere. I figure an extra SIM that I can dedicate strictly to T-Mobile isn't a bad thing.

I figured I'd keep both for now, since the T-Mobile SIM will probably serve as a good backup if I use all the data on AT&T and/or I'm in a place without AT&T coverage. This is sort of like what Casey Liss did, although he has an iPad with Verizon and T-Mobile SIMs (same 200MB "plan"), to give him some different coverage than his AT&T iPhone.