As a longtime TMO subscriber, their coverage only feels like it’s getting better because it has nowhere to go but up.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Raising Prices on Legacy Plans to Encourage Customers to Upgrade to New Plans
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
In the 2000s, I was on a Sprint Employee Referral Offer (SERO) plan for several years: https://hardforum.com/threads/who-still-has-a-sprint-sero-plan.1898825 That was a pretty good deal at the time.
OG FTW! I was on the grandfathered unlimited plan for the longest time despite the various price hikes until I switched to iPhones w/ 5G capabiliy. The price hikes were starting to be insane (they really wanted people off the grandfathered plans). The pre-5G plans were unappealing -- and still expensive with FAN discount (only 15% off).
I would recommend looking at their current 5G plans -- there's a $10 FAN discount per line with more features. I'm actually paying less per month with the new plans, but now have tethering (hotspot).
I wish AT&T and other providers would bring back 24-month subsidized offers -- 36 months is insane!
Last edited:
AT&T Raising Prices on Legacy Plans to Force Customers to Upgrade to New Plans.
AT&T has zero obligation to grandfather anyone after the contract expires. Instead of saying “thank you for giving me a good deal for this long”….everyone is getting mad like spoiled brats. Company does something good for its customers and shows appreciation…then gets slammed when they have to make a small increase. The customers are the jerks here lol.
The nice thing is there are other/cheaper/better options these days. I remember when AT&T was THE phone company, a total monopoly.
I will take pre 1984 AT&T over Comcast any day. AT&T at least cared about it’s customers.
I hate them all, but I still also agree with this. Though, that was the T-Mobile before the acquisition...
If AT&T were to wave that $30 upgrade fee, I would update my plan but with the fee I'm keeping my grandfather plan of Hotspot, 30GB Family share plan (2) 4G LTE W/ Rollover Data.
Last time I updated my account was so I could get the package with at&t watch tv included, which was dicontinued over a year ago after the they sold off DirectTV. Currently I get HBO Max bundled with my cell and fiber internet. How long before HBO Max is no longer included in any plans with the split off of WBD?
I must be in the minority of people who have not had any issues with AT&T and are happy with their service and the price that I pay. I’m on the unlimited elite plan, which is $118/month (which includes cellular data on an Apple Watch). According to AT&T, on this plan the unlimited high speed data does not slow down based on how much you use. I also get 40 gigs of hotspot data which I use when I travel to connect my iPad. I generally go through about 30 GB per month. I also get HBO Max included, which is OK I guess. I did try T-Mobile for about 3 days a year and a half ago, and the 5G speed was so inconsistent, I canceled the service and went back to AT&T. Yes, it was really affordable, but within a 20 minute drive, my data speed would go from 70 Mb per second down to 3 down to 0.5. It was not a good experience.
Last edited:
THAT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Shame on the US GOV for allowing companies like this to do business like that.
Yeah, I'm in an area where T-Mobile has finished all the rip & replace of their gear and Sprint gear and has settled on their new two-panels-per-sector setup with all the various LTE and 5G bands deployed, so things are really good (typically 60-150 down on LTE, 250-500 down on 5G). During the merger, there were a lot of things in progress or had the upgrades on the tower, but the backhaul wasn't upgraded yet either. I suspect when it's done, other than certain rural areas where there may be spotty coverage, it will be more consistent.
As for AT&T, I'll agree that I had a pretty good run with them as my primary—using them and MVNOs for the better part of the last decade and then some. I had to leave because one tower near my work has some issues—not a overly populated area so not congested, but a phone will land on LTE Band 12, show full bars, and no data will flow - happens on any AT&T device, regardless of plan or even postpaid/prepaid/MVNO. After many attempts to report it, nothing really got done (even after an FCC complaint by a coworker). Trying things again more recently, just to try out 5G was also rough—some great spots, and some spots barely able to break 2Mbps and weird latency issues.
I think there's plenty of folks that are "never again!" but I get this is a changing, evolving business, and while AT&T isn't working for me right now, I'm more disappointed that they're not an option (would be great to pick and choose from all three).
echoing here...had the grandfathered unlimited plan for $20 but later went up to $35 and didn't allow me to tether.
switched to the new plan and haven't looked back since...
switched to the new plan and haven't looked back since...
Yes I have to limit myself to 30 minutes online a day, I use an ad blocker which removes all images from websites, and I download my podcasts at home. It works for sure.