AT&T Raising Price of Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans to $45 Per Month

[BiggAW]

The Mac is a loaner, the iPad was purchased with grants, and I stupidly emptied my savings for the Watch, tv, and HomePod.

EDIT: even then, the Watch and tv were purchased used or on discount.

EDIT II: I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you. As an adult you should be able to understand and comprehend that, sometimes, not everything is as it seems.

I'm not going to defend ridiculously overpriced broadband, as it should be $40/mo, not $75/mo. But given that it is the way it is, you are clearly financially irresponsible, since you've dropped a bunch of money on crap you can't afford, yet you claim you can't afford to pay for a basic utility like internet. And what about the iPhone? What's your excuse for that?

Being financially irresponsible is not an excuse to abuse your cell phone plan for home internet, which you're apparently paying way too much for anyway if it's that big of a plan that you can abuse it like that.

It's a bit of a challenge to police, since AT&T doesn't necessarily know where broadband is and isn't available outside of their own wireline footprint, and LTE is great if you're in west bugtussle or east bumblefrack and don't have decent wireline connectivity, but it's not scalable to replacing home internet in areas that are wired.

AT&T and Verizon made a huge mistake by copying T-Mobile with Unlimited. They should have both kept things locked down with 128kbps hard throttles once you hit your plan allotments, and just nuked all grandfathered Unlimited plans. Then they could have sold rural internet access on a tower by tower basis, with only the nearby home tower(s) having Unlimited, and if the device roamed outside of those towers, it would get hard throttled after 5GB or whatever. Alternatively, they could have gone back to the Verizon Cantenna model for permanently installed LTE only in areas without wireline access.

You should be able to get an inexpensive pre-paid T-Mobile sim for your phone to try the service out with. Not as convenient as porting your number over to try, but you could swap sims at various locations for a few minutes and get an idea about signal, data, etc

I had one in my Moto G6 for a few days, not really long enough to see how it is. My point is, without grandfathering, people are much more likely to switch around more, increasing churn on all the carriers. I have a Sprint line free for a year on the G6 now, it's god awful.

 

[cast128]

I'm not going to defend ridiculously overpriced broadband, as it should be $40/mo, not $75/mo. But given that it is the way it is, you are clearly financially irresponsible, since you've dropped a bunch of money on crap you can't afford, yet you claim you can't afford to pay for a basic utility like internet. And what about the iPhone? What's your excuse for that?

Being financially irresponsible is not an excuse to abuse your cell phone plan for home internet, which you're apparently paying way too much for anyway if it's that big of a plan that you can abuse it like that.

It's a bit of a challenge to police, since AT&T doesn't necessarily know where broadband is and isn't available outside of their own wireline footprint, and LTE is great if you're in west bugtussle or east bumblefrack and don't have decent wireline connectivity, but it's not scalable to replacing home internet in areas that are wired.

AT&T and Verizon made a huge mistake by copying T-Mobile with Unlimited. They should have both kept things locked down with 128kbps hard throttles once you hit your plan allotments, and just nuked all grandfathered Unlimited plans. Then they could have sold rural internet access on a tower by tower basis, with only the nearby home tower(s) having Unlimited, and if the device roamed outside of those towers, it would get hard throttled after 5GB or whatever. Alternatively, they could have gone back to the Verizon Cantenna model for permanently installed LTE only in areas without wireline access.



I had one in my Moto G6 for a few days, not really long enough to see how it is. My point is, without grandfathering, people are much more likely to switch around more, increasing churn on all the carriers. I have a Sprint line free for a year on the G6 now, it's god awful.

Really...

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I'm not going to defend ridiculously overpriced broadband, as it should be $40/mo, not $75/mo. But given that it is the way it is, you are clearly financially irresponsible, since you've dropped a bunch of money on crap you can't afford, yet you claim you can't afford to pay for a basic utility like internet. And what about the iPhone? What's your excuse for that?

Being financially irresponsible is not an excuse to abuse your cell phone plan for home internet, which you're apparently paying way too much for anyway if it's that big of a plan that you can abuse it like that.

I never said I was the one paying the Internet bill...

 

[BiggAW]

I never said I was the one paying the Internet bill...

You implied it was your household, as in somebody has to pay it.

 

[phillytim]

Seriously? Because they would lose those long-term customers in droves to providers that had half the sense not to do that.

They're trying to apply pressure, not completely piss you off.

Well AT&T has now completely pissed me off, with these yearly $5 hikes; if I move off my 9-year grandfathered unlimited plan, then I'll move off of AT&T! They aren't showing me any loyalty, and I sure as hell will show them none of it either.

Frankly I could never figure rationalize whey carriers switched away from contracts anyways; why wouldn't they rather lock you in for a period than letting you be a free agent for whoever comes along with a better deal?

I just don't get it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

The Mac is a loaner, the iPad was purchased with grants, and I stupidly emptied my savings for the Watch, tv, and HomePod.

EDIT: even then, the Watch and tv were purchased used or on discount.

EDIT II: I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you. As an adult you should be able to understand and comprehend that, sometimes, not everything is as it seems.

Yeah, my brother has a 13" MacBook, iPhone 6, and an iPad mini, but only because I gave them to him, and I put his phone on my AT&T family plan. He in no way can afford wifi, or cable TV. And he sets his AC in Phoenix to 85 degrees.

Sucks when people assume that you have money to blow based on what people give you. However, my poor brother would never blow his savings on an Apple Watch, TV and HomePod. He blows it on his car

 

[tooloud10]

Well AT&T has now completely pissed me off, with these yearly $5 hikes; if I move off my 9-year grandfathered unlimited plan, then I'll move off of AT&T! They aren't showing me any loyalty, and I sure as hell will show them none of it either.

I'm not surprised that some people are upset, but ATT is simply not going to honor the original terms forever, nor will any other carrier.

Frankly I could never figure rationalize whey carriers switched away from contracts anyways; why wouldn't they rather lock you in for a period than letting you be a free agent for whoever comes along with a better deal?

I just don't get it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Market pressure forced their hand. I believe it was T-Mobile that actually started with the contract-free plans.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Although this doesn't affect the grandfathered unlimited iPad plans, we mentioned it before. I may move that one grandfathered iPad to our unlimited family plan for less than the $29.99 unlimited plan. So I'm thinking I might sell the SIM card to someone who doesn't have an unlimited cell plan and needs it for their iPad. I think I can change the name and credit card to the buyer's if that happens. Would have to do a face to face and try not to get scammed.

I've always kept the old iPad plan just in case I move my cell plan to another carrier. At the time we couldn't afford a UDP with anyone due to 7 phones and 4 iPads (5 if you count the iPad with the $30 UDP), so I'd still have the unlimited on the iPad.

But in April it only cost us $65/mo more to move all of our devices to the current UDP vs our 30GB plan (that was grandfathered at the 15GB pricing), with the iPads now being $20 each I think, before taxes but then they gave us $20 off on the iPads for switching. Our old plan had iPads at $10/mo each + taxes/fees to share the 30GB, and they discounted them back to $40 for four.

 

[cast128]

Although this doesn't affect the grandfathered unlimited iPad plans, we mentioned it before. I may move that one grandfathered iPad to our unlimited family plan for less than the $29.99 unlimited plan. So I'm thinking I might sell the SIM card to someone who doesn't have an unlimited cell plan and needs it for their iPad. I think I can change the name and credit card to the buyer's if that happens. Would have to do a face to face and try not to get scammed.

I've always kept the old iPad plan just in case I move my cell plan to another carrier. At the time we couldn't afford a UDP with anyone due to 7 phones and 4 iPads (5 if you count the iPad with the $30 UDP), so I'd still have the unlimited on the iPad.

But in April it only cost us $65/mo more to move all of our devices to the current UDP vs our 30GB plan (that was grandfathered at the 15GB pricing), with the iPads now being $20 each I think, before taxes but then they gave us $20 off on the iPads for switching. Our old plan had iPads at $10/mo each + taxes/fees to share the 30GB, and they discounted them back to $40 for four.

These iPad plans really aren't that valuable anymore. They used to fetch $1500+ on ebay, but that all changed last year when they stated they could start throttling after 22GB. Plus, you can get a nearly identical "unlimited" iPad data plan from AT&T now. Their prepaid DataConnect Pass with Auto Renew is being offered at $29.99

 

[Dj64Mk7]

He blows it on his car

Eh, nowadays the car is just another device.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

These iPad plans really aren't that valuable anymore. They used to fetch $1500+ on ebay, but that all changed last year when they stated they could start throttling after 22GB. Plus, you can get a nearly identical "unlimited" iPad data plan from AT&T now. Their prepaid DataConnect Pass with Auto Renew is being offered at $29.99 as show here.

Okay, so the link gave me a 404 error. Is the new plan you mention one that someone without a cell phone (like my mother-in-law) can signup via via the cellular settings on their iPad, as a standalone plan?

I understood that for a long time AT&T only offered a small <500MB plan for $15 and a 5GB plan for $30, and so the old $30 for grandfathered unlimited (albeit throttled after 22GB) was still desirable as a "standalone plan".
[doublepost=1528849032][/doublepost]

These iPad plans really aren't that valuable anymore. They used to fetch $1500+ on ebay, but that all changed last year when they stated they could start throttling after 22GB. Plus, you can get a nearly identical "unlimited" iPad data plan from AT&T now. Their prepaid DataConnect Pass with Auto Renew is being offered at $29.99 as show here.

Okay, so the link gave me a 404 error. Is the new plan you mention one that someone without a cell phone (like my mother-in-law) can signup via via the cellular settings on their iPad, as a standalone plan?

I understood that for a long time AT&T only offered a small <500MB plan for $15 and a 5GB plan for $30, and so the old $30 for grandfathered unlimited (albeit throttled after 22GB) was still desirable as a "standalone plan".

Okay, so I found on Google:

Domestic DataConnect Pass Auto Renew Plans* Cost
* 1GB of data for 30 days
Renews every 30 days $14.99
Monthly recurring
* Unlimited MB for 30 days
Renews every 30 days
After 22GB of data usage, AT&T may slow speeds $29.99
* Monthly recurring
7GB of data for 30 days
Renews every 30 days $50.00
Monthly recurring

Domestic DataConnect Pass Pay as You Go Plans* Cost
* 2GB of data for 90 days $25.00
* Unlimited MB for 30 days
After 22GB of data usage, AT&T may slow data speeds $35.00

International DataConnect Pass Plans** Cost
* DataConnect Pass Global 1GB for 30 days $60.00
* DataConnect Pass Global 3GB for 30 days $120.00

That looks like they brought back the old $29.99 UDP that we got with our original iPad 3G, correct?

 

[cast128]

Okay, so the link gave me a 404 error. Is the new plan you mention one that someone without a cell phone (like my mother-in-law) can signup via via the cellular settings on their iPad, as a standalone plan?

I understood that for a long time AT&T only offered a small <500MB plan for $15 and a 5GB plan for $30, and so the old $30 for grandfathered unlimited (albeit throttled after 22GB) was still desirable as a "standalone plan".
[doublepost=1528849032][/doublepost]


Okay, so I found on Google:

Domestic DataConnect Pass Auto Renew Plans* Cost
* 1GB of data for 30 days
Renews every 30 days $14.99
Monthly recurring
* Unlimited MB for 30 days
Renews every 30 days
After 22GB of data usage, AT&T may slow speeds $29.99
* Monthly recurring
7GB of data for 30 days
Renews every 30 days $50.00
Monthly recurring

Domestic DataConnect Pass Pay as You Go Plans* Cost
* 2GB of data for 90 days $25.00
* Unlimited MB for 30 days
After 22GB of data usage, AT&T may slow data speeds $35.00

International DataConnect Pass Plans** Cost
* DataConnect Pass Global 1GB for 30 days $60.00
* DataConnect Pass Global 3GB for 30 days $120.00

That looks like they brought back the old $29.99 UDP that we got with our original iPad 3G, correct?

Sorry about the bad link. Yup anyone, including those without a cell plan, can sign up for this. You can can sign up/set up via the cellular settings right on the iPad as long as there is an AT&T sim (or Apple SIM) in the cellular iPad

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

Who do you have now? I'm considering moving from AT&T to T-Mobile.

T-Mobile. Just know the signal might not work well in buildings. You might not be thrilled if you don’t/can’t use WiFi at home or work. Otherwise, the price and overall experience far exceed ATT in my case.
[doublepost=1528887971][/doublepost]

I ditched whoever your provider is a couple of years ago. Couldn't be happier. Everybody hates something. I wonder how AT&T continues to grow subscribers every quarter. Or Verizon, or T-Mobile, or Sprint, or Cricket, or... other hated providers.

Not sure I get your obtuse attempt at a point. My experience with ATT was poor, I switched carriers (and as your post implies, I didn’t cite the new one to avoid a favorites war), and since then I’ve had no problems. That’s all I was saying.

User feedback is an important and useful aspect of this site. Not every charged point is a flame. Good grief.
[doublepost=1528888462][/doublepost]

In favor of what service provider?

T-Mobile. Caution though, you might experience poor reception in buildings. If you don’t have WiFi or don’t want to use it at work or home, it might not be for you. Otherwise, it’s been better in every way for me (obviously depends on a lot of factors like location, frequency of travel, etc...).

 

[phillytim]

Has anyone gone to one of AT&T's Prepaid plans?
The $40/month for 8Gb/data seems like a pretty good deal, aye?

Pitfalls seem to be:
* No Wifi-calling
* No adding watches for $10 access

Anything else?

 

[picaman]

[doublepost=1528467677][/doublepost]
What plan are you on now?

Unlimited Choice

 

[BiggAW]

Has anyone gone to one of AT&T's Prepaid plans?
The $40/month for 8Gb/data seems like a pretty good deal, aye?

Pitfalls seem to be:
* No Wifi-calling
* No adding watches for $10 access

Anything else?

1. No VoLTE.
2. No global roaming (NA roaming in Canada and Mexico is included on some plans)
3. Limited domestic roaming. It varies from Cricket to prepaid, but don't expect service on Viaero, Northeast Wireless, Comnet, USCC, etc. Cricket appears to have Viaero only across I-80, and not once you get off of I-80.

It's a good deal for prepaid service, either through AT&T Prepaid or Cricket, but it's no postpaid service, that's for sure.

 

[DustinDev47]

I am kind of an idiot so when I first got this email, I thought they were really putting the pressure on by increasing it $5 every month, as in, 40->45->50 etc every month. I had to call AT&T to confirm.

I have been considering switching to one of the new unlimited plans however I have read through this thread and noticed some people saying you don’t get corporate discounts on the new plans. I get a $16/mo discount with my employer, which brings my 450/200/UDP plan to $68.99, making it cheaper than any of the current unlimited plans.

Without that discount, I’d be paying $84.99 for fewer minutes and fewer texts. Since I don’t do a whole lot of green texting, I see no benefit to spending the extra $7 for the new base unlimited plan. I do talk a lot but I have plenty of rollover.

THAT is why AT&T is putting the pressure on us.

 

[Kirb112]

This is a class-action lawsuit. How can you modify a "grandfathered" plan?

No class action. They can choose to increase their price of, or eliminate this original plan at any time they want.
[doublepost=1530141867][/doublepost]

I'm so confused. ATT went back to offering unlimited plans (thanks T-Mobile!) with throttling starting at 22GB. From what I've seen, ATT also throttled the "grandfathered" unlimited plans. Soooo, what's the point of staying on a grandfathered plan at a higher price?

There is no point. I held onto my grandfathered plan until 2017 when the new unlimited plans came out. It was a much better deal since it includes tethering.

 

[Mac 128]

The new ones are way better.

I was on the grandfathered plan in question until UDP+ came out last year, and I couldn't justify staying on the grandfathered plan due to how much better and cheaper the new plan was.

My old plan included: Unlimited data, 450 minutes, and unlimited texting for ~$95 a month. No ability to add a hotspot or north america roaming (Use your plan in Canada or Mexico).

UDP+ includes: Unlimited data, unlimited minutes, unlimited text, 10GB hotspot data, free HBO streaming, and north america roaming for $85 a month.

I'd been on the original unlimited plan since 2008 and I just couldn't justify it anymore, I was paying more for less.

It would seem the ONLY reason NOT to do this would be having to commit to another contract locking me into the service. With the current grandfathered plan, it's month to month, and I can leave at any time. I don't have plans to do that, but it's still a consideration.

I don't think they offer the HBO streaming anymore, but certainly being able to tether a device is something I don't have now. I probably wouldn't use North American romancing much, but now I can't even add an international romaning plan, which would have saved me a lot on my last trip to Europe.

One correction to the article, not sure if this has changed since then or not, an ATT employee told me that the grandfathered plan has a 16GB throttle point, and the 22GB is for the new unlimited plans. I don't even get close to those numbers so it's not really an issue.

 

[BiggAW]

It would seem the ONLY reason NOT to do this would be having to commit to another contract locking me into the service. With the current grandfathered plan, it's month to month, and I can leave at any time. I don't have plans to do that, but it's still a consideration.

There are no contracts anymore. They attempt to lock you in with phone payments on any plan, but you can avoid that by just paying for the phone.

 

[Grimham]

There are no contracts anymore. They attempt to lock you in with phone payments on any plan, but you can avoid that by just paying for the phone.

AT&T still has contracts on phones. That is how people are getting the X for $500-600 bucks and locked in for 2 years without monthly payments. They are the only one that still allows it.

 

[Mac 128]

There are no contracts anymore. They attempt to lock you in with phone payments on any plan, but you can avoid that by just paying for the phone.

I don’t follow ... are you saying when I switch from one plan to another on the same phone, that ATT is guaranteeing they won’t increase the rate for two years, but I’m free to drop the plan at any time without penalty? Seems a little one sided for them. Not sure what they’re getting out of that deal.

I always buy my phones sim free from Apple. If I’m not locked into anything on my plan, then there’s absolutely no reason not to drop my old month to month grandfathered original iPhone UDP, and switch to the new one with many more features and options for less.

 

[maflynn]

[MOD NOTE]
A number of posts have been removed, enough with the bickering