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

[iapplelove]

Shoot my unlimited original plan is going up another 5 too. Looks like they all are

 

[k1121j]

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.

Just wait for “5G” that will be the excuse to drop you they did just that with “3G” plans.

 

[GrandfatheredPlan4Life]

Ooooohhhh the irony:

I'm not the one claiming to have answers here. I have questions. YOU and the two other users that keep making the same BS claims and liking eachothers posts are the ones pretending to have answers, when in reality you have zero clue what you are talking about, and dismissing the evidence for there being something going on here as "not real data".

AT&T must REALLY want people off this plan if they are going to hire people to dismiss any claims that the plans are different. And yes, that is exactly what I am accusing you and tooloud and possibly even that other guy of doing.
[doublepost=1528460333][/doublepost]

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.

Wow, what an interesting/great theory! I hadn't even thought about that, and I've seen a number of people try to say that the grandfathered plans only count for 3G, when it actually applies to LTE. I'll definitely have to dig into this more. Will let you know if I find anything of interest!

 

[Csal20]

It’s not cheaper for everyone. It’s more expensive for me to switch the new one, because Att will cancel my discount.

Same here. I get an 80% discount I will lose if I switch to one of the other data plans. It’s really stupid

 

[aristobrat]

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.

IMO, it looks like both of AT&T's current UDPs have limits on video streaming quality... either 1080p <if you disable something> on the more expensive UDP, or 480p or the less expensive UDP plan. The grandfathered UDP doesn't limit video streaming quality. Is this not correct?

 

[tridley68]

Switch to a different plan then.

B. Then why are you so obsessed with them then that you had to come here to create an account to complain about it?

C. What do you expect when you yell conspiracy - but have no idea what you're talking about?

And the company honored that deal for a while, and then they changed their offerings. Where are they trying to back out?


Show me the documentation that said speed. All of the articles and ads I could find refer to data:

Sorry you didn't know cupcake that I don't have AT&T I have Verizon.

 

[dontworry]

I have no problem with this.

People who are too cheap to buy a home internet connection are abusing the hell out of this and using it as their primary internet for an entire household.

Time to pay up.

I have home internet and don't abuse the unlimited. What now?

Can people post the exact plan they replaced the old plan with? I keep seeing post where they say it's cheaper but when I ran the numbers, it's still a better deal with the increase.
[doublepost=1528467677][/doublepost]

I was petrified of getting rid of my grandfathered plan - I’d had it since my original iPhone. I finally just pulled the ripcord three months ago, and switched to the cheaper of the two AT&T unlimited plans.

I’ve noticed no changes.

Oh, except my bill went down substantially, and I also now get my DirectTV Now credit and free HBO.

Glad I finally got rid of it.

What plan are you on now?

 

[rolsskk]

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.

Sued for what???

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.

But who's going to be advertising a future capability that's not available yet?? That's inviting these lawsuit happy people to sue them for false advertisement.

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.

But it's been a steady increase over the years, but no, the amount of data used doesn't justify that.

I'm not the one claiming to have answers here. I have questions. YOU and the two other users that keep making the same BS claims and liking eachothers posts are the ones pretending to have answers, when in reality you have zero clue what you are talking about, and dismissing the evidence for there being something going on here as "not real data".

AT&T must REALLY want people off this plan if they are going to hire people to dismiss any claims that the plans are different. And yes, that is exactly what I am accusing you and tooloud and possibly even that other guy of doing.

LOL!! Says the guy who just created an account yesterday - you must be hired by TMobile then!! Seriously dude, you need to relax if you're starting to see everyone who has a contrary opinion as a paid shill. I've not liked a single post in this thread, and I must be playing the long con just to have created an account a decade ago to shill for AT&T today. Ridiculous

Let me break this down for you, since you just gloss over it.:
1. You are the one who are making claims
2. You are the one who is saying that anyone who has a contrary opinion is posting BS & is a paid shill
3. You are not contributing anything to this discussion
4. You keep claiming you have evidence...yet have not provided any substantiating information

Sorry you didn't know cupcake that I don't have AT&T I have Verizon.

You're right, I didn't know that, thanks for being mature about that.
[doublepost=1528470374][/doublepost]

Can people post the exact plan they replaced the old plan with? I keep seeing post where they say it's cheaper but when I ran the numbers, it's still a better deal with the increase.

Here are the plans. I'll be checking with AT&T this weekend, as their unlimited plus is currently $17 less than my current plan, and with this increase it'll be $22 less. As for the better deal, it looks like corporate discounts are the diffence in price points, as those who have those on their grandfathered plans, still significant savings, whereas those of us who don't are paying a lot more. Right now, I'm at $97 a month for my grandfathered plan, and the money saved by switching can eventually be used to upgrade a phone.

 

[alphaod]

I have the unlimited international plan and it's costing me $120/month extra because of the voice line tacked on top of it. Honestly I think I might just get rid of it.

 

[AmazingRobie]

There are other providers of phones and data plans than ATT and Apple. Which combination do you think you could switch to that it is going to be markedly better? Google/Sprint? Samsung/Verizon?

Just like the cable companies--people bitch about a specific provider like the whole industry doesn't pretty much work the same way.

You have a point, only it's follow the leader here. Most of these tech companies partnered with data services take one look at Apples crap policies and say, "hey, can we get away with that too?" One crap Apple spoils the bunch...
Not saying anyone is any better, but the monkey see monkey do mentality that's been taking place for the last 20 or so years is definitely not showing any signs of going away.

 

[TaviDuprix]

But it's been a steady increase over the years, but no, the amount of data used doesn't justify that.

It has gone up $10 in like eleven years (two $5 increases). That isn't steady. If they again raise $5 in the next year or so I might buy that they have started steady increases. However, at this point it would be tough to find many things that have not increased 33% in a decade or more.

 

[JohnD3]

It's pretty clear that ATT wants to move folks off the grandfathered plan. Who knows why. Maybe it really is just a PITA for them to have a special category of customer to track & account for. Let's just postulate that they don't like it any more.

It's real easy for them to do that. Just keep raising the price in little increments until the new plans offer more and better features for a lower price than the grandfathered plan. It's pretty close to working on me - I'm about 2 days away from jumping to one of the new plans. Tethering, wow!

I don't doubt that some folks who've moved away from the grandfathered plan have suffered service or speed degradation, but it seems like stretch to say that it's all part of a nefarious ATT plan to get people to abandon a 10-year-old yet somehow technologically superior plan, in favor of a newer, crippled one. It's exactly backwards in fact. If you can offer different service levels depending on Old Plan or New Plan, it would make way more sense to slowly, quietly, degrade the service on the grandfathered accounts until the holdouts get fed up and switch, or at least figure there's no harm in it. Then anyone who checked one of these forums would find out that, in addition to new services, there's a little speed bonus involved too.

Again, who knows what reasons ATT may have for wanting to move past the grandfathered plans, but "we're stuck offering really good bandwidth to the holdouts" isn't one of them. They could solve that without moving anyone, by simply conforming the throughput and service levels of all unlimited accounts to one another.

 

[hick9]

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?

Because the old plan is no longer available. If your a new customer and want unlimited you have to get the new plan. A grandfathered plan is basically a plan that is no longer available but they keep existing customer on it. I had an old plan years back that changed multiple times .. but I kept all the features and price that the new version of the plan didn't.
[doublepost=1528493988][/doublepost]

It's pretty clear that ATT wants to move folks off the grandfathered plan. Who knows why. Maybe it really is just a PITA for them to have a special category of customer to track & account for. Let's just postulate that they don't like it any more.

It's real easy for them to do that. Just keep raising the price in little increments until the new plans offer more and better features for a lower price than the grandfathered plan. It's pretty close to working on me - I'm about 2 days away from jumping to one of the new plans. Tethering, wow!

I don't doubt that some folks who've moved away from the grandfathered plan have suffered service or speed degradation, but it seems like stretch to say that it's all part of a nefarious ATT plan to get people to abandon a 10-year-old yet somehow technologically superior plan, in favor of a newer, crippled one. It's exactly backwards in fact. If you can offer different service levels depending on Old Plan or New Plan, it would make way more sense to slowly, quietly, degrade the service on the grandfathered accounts until the holdouts get fed up and switch, or at least figure there's no harm in it. Then anyone who checked one of these forums would find out that, in addition to new services, there's a little speed bonus involved too.

Again, who knows what reasons ATT may have for wanting to move past the grandfathered plans, but "we're stuck offering really good bandwidth to the holdouts" isn't one of them. They could solve that without moving anyone, by simply conforming the throughput and service levels of all unlimited accounts to one another.

I think you already hit on some of the points.. Old plans are a PITA for them to manage, especially on the backend. When they update internal software systems for activation, billing and other such things it throws a wrench in the system. I had a part time job a ways back with Verizon. They had to retro-fit old plans by listing them under a similar new plan.. half the people that worked there didn't even know what a customer with an old grandfathered plan was talking about. You had to know all the "Tricks" to change things and access it in the system.

 

[kjaxplicit24]

Ditched ATT a couple of years ago. Couldn’t be happier.

In favor of what service provider?

 

[FelixDerKater]

The same 22GB likely cost AT&T less than ever to supply.

 

[Dodgeman]

just switch to Sprint.

 

[rodriguez256]

I signed up for att when the iPhone 3G came out in 2008. Of course I had their unlimited data plan until I added my wife to my plan and it became cheaper to switch to a family plan. From then on I had to watch my data. Switched to T-mobile a few years ago and saved some decent money and back to unlimited. Now I have my Netflix payed for and if for some reason I got the limit where it becomes throttled I don’t notice any slow down. I’m glad o don’t really have to deal with their pricing anymore, well besides their fiber internet.

 

[rolsskk]

It's real easy for them to do that. Just keep raising the price in little increments until the new plans offer more and better features for a lower price than the grandfathered plan. It's pretty close to working on me - I'm about 2 days away from jumping to one of the new plans. Tethering, wow!

SHILL!! He's a Shill!! /s

 

[Rochy Bay]

Is anybody still using AT&T ? I got T-mobile and have unlimited data in more than 100 countries for no additional money a month. That allows me to use Facetime.

 

[shareef777]

Because the old plan is no longer available. If your a new customer and want unlimited you have to get the new plan. A grandfathered plan is basically a plan that is no longer available but they keep existing customer on it. I had an old plan years back that changed multiple times .. but I kept all the features and price that the new version of the plan didn't.

Except the old plan is neither cheaper not better. So why stick with it?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

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.

I have that old $29.99 iPad plan too, from my original iPad 3G from the first day they came out. But my son just switched to my old SIM this spring semester when he was using up a lot of our family 30GB Share plan on his iPad.

Just this April we changed our 30GB family share plan to unlimited family share plan for the other 12 devices (costs us an average of $6/device more than we paid before). With 22GB per device before throttling x 7 iPhone + 4 iPad = 242GB total vs the old 30GB we had (the LTE Apple Watch uses hardly any data). We could tether to each device for another 10GB before throttling, in addition to the 22GB.

But I'm keeping the grandfather iPad SIM just in case we ever go back to a limited data plan again for the other devices.

 

[Gelfin]

Well, yep, they finally got me. I never even got a notification about the price hike to $40, so that’s crap, but it turns out I can add my iPad to my existing T-Mobile account for $20/mo, even less than the rate I agreed to for my existing plan, with the added bonus that I will finally not be pitching a single dollar of my money into the dumpster fire that is AT&T.

Edit: Got it, it doesn’t apply to the iPad plan, but AT&T appears to have started kicking me off the network regularly anyway (getting “No Sevice” in areas that shouldn’t have any problems). I’ve been wondering if they’ve been doing that to everybody on the grandfathered iPad plan.

 

[Justinb51]

This is why I left AT&T after 13 years for T-Mobile over 3 years ago.

This!!!

Switching to T-Mobile from AT&T has been the best cell phone related decision I have made since cell phones became a thing. Heck the only reason I switched to AT&T in first place is because they were the only company to have the iPhone. AT&T was the worst cell phone provided that I have had the misfortune of subscribing to. The cost difference with T-Mobile is remarkable. The service is the same or better where I live and they don't throttle till like 52 gb (I think), but it doesn't matter I have never been throttled with T-Mobile since I switched, even when I went over.

AT&T- Three lines, two of which were "grandfathered" one with 3gb of data, raised to $210 a month before I dropped them. (taxes and fees varied and I had a contract.) Oh yeah an no hotspot.

T-Mobile- 5 lines, unlimited everything (plus Netflix, Canada and Mexico, and more) $110 a month (taxes and fees included) month to month, no contract. With hotspot included.

 

[Pipper99]

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.

Same for me: I would switch, but as best that I can tell from looking at the single line options, it’s still cheaper for me to stay with my UDP for the amount of data that I use by streaming audio rather than switch plans or providers. I have a single line. I don't pay for a texting plan because just about everyone that I text uses iMessage, and the few outside texts that I send/receive cost me much less than the additional charge for unlimited texting. I pay $68 per month after a 15% FAN discount and before taxes and fees (it's about $80 including taxes and fees), so it appears that an additional $5 isn't going to push me out just yet. My Uverse contract is up in a couple of months, so I'll explore options with Customer Retention. Tmo is a no go for me because I have to be in rural areas that have poor/no service at times. I’ve never needed hotspot/tethering data (my employer provides a laptop and hotspot).

 

[Wags]

Same for me: I would switch, but as best that I can tell from looking at the single line options, it’s still cheaper for me to stay with my UDP for the amount of data that I use by streaming audio rather than switch plans or providers. I have a single line. I don't pay for a texting plan because just about everyone that I text uses iMessage, and the few outside texts that I send/receive cost me much less than the additional charge for unlimited texting. I pay $68 per month after a 15% FAN discount and before taxes and fees (it's about $80 including taxes and fees), so it appears that an additional $5 isn't going to push me out just yet. My Uverse contract is up in a couple of months, so I'll explore options with Customer Retention. Tmo is a no go for me because I have to be in rural areas that have poor/no service at times. I’ve never needed hotspot/tethering data (my employer provides a laptop and hotspot).

I am also curious if UDP can get $10 discount for auto pay/paperless billing. Can’t find info that says can or can’t.