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

[tooloud10]

LOL Bachelor of Sciences in Marketing and Economics, but nice try trying to make me look like I'm the one that doesn't know what he's talking about.

You haven't told us anything. You speak broadly of a grand conspiracy, but can't point to any data backing it up. You don't appear to understand the concept of customer retention by slowly/steadily raising the price of a service that you don't want to offer anymore versus radically changing the price or cancelling the plan altogether.

Every single "explanation" you've given is 100% complete speculation on your part, and not a single reason you've given makes any sense when thought about for more than 30 seconds.

I can't make it any clearer than I already have. They want customers off the plan so they're steadily raising the price. They're not going to make a drastic change at once because they don't want to scare people away altogether.

This is as basic of a sales concept as they come.

My evidence is countless posts from countless users all over the internet that report issues when switching from the grandfathered plan to the new unlimited plans, particularly when it comes to streaming. Add to that the amount of users that seem to be shilling for AT&T, constantly telling these people over and over again that they are either wrong/mistaken, their phone isn't working, or AT&T incorrectly changed their plan over. Add to that the amount of reports you can find all over the internet of underhanded tactics used by AT&T to get people to switch, and then won't switch them back after they've realized they have been duped.

"Countless posts" isn't data. "Report issues" isn't data. Specifically, what is it that you're claiming ATT is doing?

Every word of your post is literally reaching for answers, even though you have absolutely none of them. Your attempts to discredit me are for "not providing answers" myself is even more hilarious, considering I'm the one pointing out that there seems to be a problem that ISN'T BEING ADDRESSED BY AT&T and they are providing ZERO ANSWERS.

I've been very clear in every post. There is no difference in service quality between the ancient UDPs and the new UDPs.

Keep trying though.

And you joined the forum today with the username "GrandfatheredPlan4Life", which suggests that you have some level of bias towards these plans for unknown reasons.
[doublepost=1528405103][/doublepost]

The new AT&T unlimited plans don't necessarily throttle you at 22 gigs of usage I have the new unlimited plan and I can tell you I use about a hundred gigs a month with no issue the only thing it does at 22 gigs is it will prioritize your data if you're in a congested area and the network is straining it will slow your speeds down first to give I already to a user who uses less data (but I rarely hit any congested areas and have not had any major problems)

Right, I believe there are a lot of people that confuse congestion, throttling, and deprioritization.

 

[RevTEG]

And you're in San Jose? ATT has good service and coverage there?

I'm in Los Angeles, and although I don't come close to using enough bandwidth the get throttled, I find my service appears throttled in many congested areas. Reading this article made the connection in my head, why when I'm in areas where a lot of people are on their phones, that my data slows to a crawl, which is usually when I need it most.

That's definitely making me rethink upgrading to a more restrictive plan.

Yes, we live in San Jose. My family and I travel together for work and we have noticed differences in our daughters "new" unlimited plan on her iPad verses our grandfathered plans. When people try to tell me that theres no difference I just ask them, then why is AT&T trying to make us get rid of the Grandfathered plans then? Because the grandfathered plans are different.
[doublepost=1528405573][/doublepost]

I'm not aware of any carrier advertising "best speed possible", even in the best of times of UDPs.
[doublepost=1528403992][/doublepost]

It actually makes perfect sense to anyone that has ever dealt with customers.
[doublepost=1528404262][/doublepost]

So...what's the difference in streaming? If it's so obvious why aren't you guys telling us what it is? I'm sure there are plenty of people here that would be glad to post some speed tests from the newer plans to help you prove your point.

First off, if it wasn't different ATT wouldn't be trying to make us get rid of it... The law of common sense and sales marketing my apply here.

 

[dogslobber]

My grandfather is on a grandfather plan. Time for a trade in.

 

[Temeyerster]

Because they want to encourage people to move off a 15-year-old legacy data plan, without forcing them to do so and pissing them off. Don't underestimate the power of accountants that want to keep the books cleaned up.



Well, this is easy, because there are only a handful of things that could be different:

1) Data speed: there's no indication that grandfathered UDPs are experiencing faster peak speeds, nor would there be any reason to.
2) Throttling/deprioritization: they advertise that all unlimited plans experience this at 22GB. What would be ATT's incentive to not do this to the grandfathered plans if they've already ripped off the bandage and told the customers it was being done?
3) Price: newer is cheaper--not sure I see anyone even arguing this one.

So what is it that you think they're not being transparent about? What is the clear advantage of the old UDP? If one exists, it should be easy to articulate.

Corporate discount of 28% still makes it cheaper for me than having one of the newer plans

 

[CVUSA]

Damn att I am gonna use up 22gb data every month .

 

[SkydiveGuy]

This is the way its going to end....

Those of us that have grandfathered unlimited plans will see prices raised $5 a year every year until its no longer cost effective to pay for unlimited data when you are using less than a metered plan at less cost.

These a - holes need to be sued.

 

[rgarjr]

Just got the dreadful email about the price hike.

 

[albebaubles]

Yes, we live in San Jose. My family and I travel together for work and we have noticed differences in our daughters "new" unlimited plan on her iPad verses our grandfathered plans.

Are you comparing an iPad to an iPhone? Are they all made in the same year? That's not even close to an apples to apples comparison.

10 years writing iOS apps here....and I can tell you for a fact it matters.

 

[sdsvtdriver]

I'm not sure why AT&T wants people off this almost overpriced plan, but they're intent on gently moving people off.

I read elsewhere (and shamelessly copy/pasted this) that the grandfathered UDP only specified unlimited data. It did not specify the technology. All current plans specifically say "Unlimited 4G LTE data".
It's possible that this legacy plan would also apply to 5G NR while almost all current plans would be excluded. We will not know for sure until 5G actually deploys.

I'm too lazy to look this up myself.

 

[albebaubles]

Yes, we live in San Jose. My family and I travel together for work and we have noticed differences in our daughters "new" unlimited plan on her iPad verses our grandfathered plans. When people try to tell me that theres no difference I just ask them, then why is AT&T trying to make us get rid of the Grandfathered plans then? Because the grandfathered plans are different.
[doublepost=1528405573][/doublepost]

First off, if it wasn't different ATT wouldn't be trying to make us get rid of it... The law of common sense and sales marketing my apply here.

I personally consider each and every one of you 'grandfather plan' people nothing other than modern day luddites. I bet you refused to get rid of your rotary phones when button phones came out?!?!

How many of you grandfather planners still have landlines?
[doublepost=1528410692][/doublepost]If you're all so up in arms, why not call you congressperson and ask for a new law that requires n

Yeah.... anything saying "lifetime" is really suspect. Lifetime of who or what? Could wind up being lifetime of the company before it's bought out and merged with someone else. With Tivo, I had a "lifetime subscription" to the service with my old set-top box, but the box died and they declared the subscription dead with it. So in that case, lifetime meant lifetime of the hardware you ran it on.

Even Craftsman Tools are no longer lifetime.....

 

[TaviDuprix]

You would think they were doubling the rate with all this outrage. $5 per month is a very minimal increase considering. As a matter of fact there is a "similar thread" recommended below in my feeds that indicates a $20 increase by Verizon a few years ago. I am sure you recognize that the amount of data used has indeed exploded in recent years. Building out the 5G platform is not going to be free. They need money to offset those expenses.

 

[mdwsta4]

After 67 minutes, 1 disconnected call, and 4 transfers, I was finally able to talk to a supervisor on the phone to ask about my current plan and optional new plans.

• My current grandfather plan costs $100 and I get a 22% corporate discount. So basically $80+ taxes
• ATT's website has two unlimited plans:
  • $80 w/ standard streaming
  • $90 w/ HD and 15GB hot spot
• First rep relayed the above plans, and advised me I could use my corporate discount on top of it
  • He didn't seem to know anything when I asked and had to keep putting me on hold so I requested a supervisor
• The supervisor provided me two totally different plans
  • $75 unlimited w/ HD streaming and no hot spot
  • $90 unlimited w/ HD streaming and 15GB hot spot
  • I cannot use my corporate discount on either unlimited plan

I find it odd that ATT's website has different plans (not only in price, but in content) vs what the rep was telling me. Now I'm basically left with the option of giving up my decade old unlimited plan to save roughly $8 a month (after the $5 price hike) or pay $8 more to have a hot spot (which I'll probably never use). Looks like I'll continue to stay on the grandfather plan.

 

[Hazman]

There's no point to keep these anymore since they don't grant subsidies for the phones and throttle at the same rate as the other unlimited plans. I switched to the newer ones once those came out.

Strongly considering T-Mobile.

Actually, not true at all. There are several reasons to keep the old grandfathered plans

1) you can use an employee discount on the old plans whereas you cannot use it on days for the newer plans.
2) the older plans have no restriction on the speed for streaming content, like video. The newer plans do.
3) the older plans are cheaper if parsed out with a rate and messaging plan. Currently, I'm paying 40 (now I guess 45 for data, 10 for messaging and 30+ for 450 mins plus rollover. After tax, and after my employer discount of 25%, my bill is under 90 a month).

 

[Tech198]

Nothing last forever at the same price, but these companies probably know "If we raise short bursts of price values every year or so, it won't make much of a big impact, if we had done it all at once"

Nothing ever decreases in price, and stays that way

 

[cast128]

This doesn’t apply to the ipad unlimited data plan. I’ve been grandfathered in that since 2010 and still only pay $29 a month for unlimited data. I have transfered it to every new ipad i’ve bought since. Currently using an ipad mini 2 and plan to buy one of the new ipad pros once they are announced. I believe the AT&T unlimited data plan for the ipad was only given for a few months back in 2010 and was discontinued by AT&T after they probably realized too many people were buying into it. Guess they didn’t put a clause in the contract that said they could raise the price anytime they wanted and were like...Oops! Lets cancel this thing before it gets out of hand. I’m one of the lucky ones who never cancelled and am still granfathered in. I will keep transfering it to every new ipad i own.

Actually you are mistaken about the original iPad unlimited data plan. It used to be 'truly" unlimited, but they changed that last year. The email sent out to the original plan is below:


Dear ****,

We hope you're enjoying surfing, streaming, downloading, gaming, watching, and more on your iPad. Heads up: Starting on May 24, 2017, when you use more than 22GB of data in one bill period, we may slow down your data speeds during periods of network congestion for the rest of your bill period.

Questions? For more info on our network management practices, go to att.com/broadbandinfo.

To manage your account, go to att.com/ipadlanding.

Thanks for choosing us,

AT&T



Essentially, it hasn't been "special" for well over a year.

 

[NoBoMac]

My family and I travel together for work and we have noticed differences in our daughters "new" unlimited plan on her iPad verses our grandfathered plans.

First off, if it wasn't different ATT wouldn't be trying to make us get rid of it... The law of common sense and sales marketing my apply here.

The reason that ATT is driving people off old UDP, imo, is that they hope one goes with the cheaper option ("we'll save you $30/mo") of Unlimited Choice, which has 3G speeds, Stream Saver vs Plus which is same price as old UDP, LTE speeds, disableable Stream Saver. Ease congestion without investing in the network.

And that could be the difference between daughter's plan vs legacy UDP.

 

[usarioclave]

End up that Tom Tom said the Lifetime Map service was for the "lifetime of the technology"

File a complaint with your local attorney general, because at some point the claims become deceptive advertising (bait & switch). In cases like these the AG generally sends a letter to the company in question, and the company gets to explain themselves.

In TT's case their explanation will generally sound like BS to anyone with a brain. The DA might intimidate them into doing something like giving you a free one.

 

[tooloud10]

First off, if it wasn't different ATT wouldn't be trying to make us get rid of it... The law of common sense and sales marketing my apply here.

So let me get this straight: you guys think that there's a secret difference in the old ATT UDP versus the new UDP that provides an unknown advantage to the grandfathered users, and that's why ATT is applying pressure to get people to leave?

If you can't articulate what this difference is, how do you know it exists?

There could be many things at play here, but there's zero evidence to support a higher level of cellular service on the old UDPs. OTOH, moving people off these plans results in fewer plans having to be supported by every ATT department, increases the subscriber numbers for DirecTV, gets people into the stores to buy more stuff, etc.

These are long-term customers that they don't want to piss off, but they have reasons for wanting them off the old plans, none of which have anything to do with better data service that they couldn't just turn off on a whim because it was never advertised in the first place.
[doublepost=1528420346][/doublepost]

This is the way its going to end....

Those of us that have grandfathered unlimited plans will see prices raised $5 a year every year until its no longer cost effective to pay for unlimited data when you are using less than a metered plan at less cost.

Right, they're encouraging you to move on to a different plan.

These a - holes need to be sued.

You could definitely do that, but how would you show they breached a contract? What damages could you prove?

 

[mantan]

Your line of thinking is what companies love, it is what allowed these companies to generate increasing profits every year. Are you actually advocating that businesses are allowed to raise prices all the time regardless of reasons? That's how health care insurance got to where it is now with hospitals charging 10K for a simple IV injection where they actually cost less than a dollar. I suggest you check their sheets, if the inflation was a problem, their expenses would've jump higher to match, they don't and sometime, they're lower. Also, not all expenses increase in cost ever year; such as bandwidth costs (wired transfer between each endpoint) is constantly dropping for the past few decades. Radiowave spectrum is not unlimited, so the expense is in adding more towers but the long run is cheaper with more customers. So, it is not as simple as you make it sound and no, businesses do not increase prices all the time for inflation, they often do it for different reasons, especially if they're for-profit with shareholders.

Inflation has zero to do with this, they're not losing money, they have a different unlimited plan that has the same "unlimited" perk with slightly more limits (with more hidden fees) that the grandfathered plans don't have. If ATT can't afford the "inflation" and the expenses, they should not have an unlimited plan in the first place and they shouldn't have a cheaper one that is more customer-hostile than the said grandfathered plans.

Oh by the way, ATT is already been fined by the government about different actions they took against the grandfathered plans and FCC confirmed the methods they took before had nothing to do with network management but merely to enhance the revenue, just like what they're doing here. The only difference is, this is sadly legal.

They're not losing money on this, they're intentionally raising the price to get rid of the grandfathered members to switch to the other plans. That's just a business trick, it's a well known established process that works. Raise the price of a service plan to move everyone over to the cheaper but more limited plans. It has ZERO to do with inflation but a business decision made that's meant to generate more profits.

Yet somehow I bet you're perfectly fine with Apple's insane profit margin.

I love how they always get a pass around here.

 

[VARDHANN]

Come to India and 'jio' will give you around 136 gb of 4G data i.e 1.5 GB per day for 91 days in just $6.80

 

[sundog925]

You're basically correct, but you've worded this response so you sound biased against anyone wanting to keep an older, grandfathered plan.

For example, I still use a grandfathered plan with T-Mobile, because the current alternatives would cost me at least $10/month more for the way I actually use my phone. The supposed advantages of the newer plan are only advantages if you actually use and need more monthly data. I rarely exceed about 2GB of usage in a month because I try to stay on wi-fi connections for most of what I do. It's not that the plan was "a great deal at the time" and I'm just foolishly trying to keep it.....

I literally am on a grandfathered plan lol, wtf would I sound biased against people keeping them when I AM those people? smh....

 

[mossback]

I've had the unlimited since the 3G. I'm not dropping it. Still a decent deal at $45.

 

[Primitivejim.com]

So since I'm on a grandfathered plan (and have been since the first iPhone too) this is my idea to extract as much from ATT as I can. I suggest you all do the same thing.

Every month the day before my billing cycle ends I will look at my usage. If I am below the 22 GB I will go to a known site (dropbox or my own website, filesharing services wherever, where I can download specific sized documents, movies, files, whatever. So for example set up a dropbox account with 10, 5, 2, 1 GB, 500 Mb files and click download on whichever ones you need. Ill get exactly my 22GB worth every damn month!!

Now if someone wishes to use this idea to create an APP to go in the app store that does all this automatically without me having to to any of the leg work and keeps track of the exact data usage feel free to have at it and email me when it's available.

Some app name ideas:
Data value extractor
AT&Tw@ts
Grandfather This!
Stick it to the man
Data Sucker

 

[cast128]

So since I'm on a grandfathered plan (and have been since the first iPhone too) this is my idea to extract as much from ATT as I can. I suggest you all do the same thing.

Every month the day before my billing cycle ends I will look at my usage. If I am below the 22 GB I will go to a known site (dropbox or my own website, filesharing services wherever, where I can download specific sized documents, movies, files, whatever. So for example set up a dropbox account with 10, 5, 2, 1 GB, 500 Mb files and click download on whichever ones you need. Ill get exactly my 22GB worth every damn month!!

Now if someone wishes to use this idea to create an APP to go in the app store that does all this automatically without me having to to any of the leg work and keeps track of the exact data usage feel free to have at it and email me when it's available.

Some app name ideas:
Data value extractor
AT&Tw@ts
Grandfather This!
Stick it to the man
Data Sucker

 

[jamface]

Shouldn't this plan be called the 22GB plan not unlimited? What's unlimited about being speed throttled at 22GB?

it's a name not a description.