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I'm still conflicted about ditching my grandfathered unlimited data plan. I don't prefer NEXT. I don't like the idea of having a cap on my data that is constantly fluctuating in use. I'm intrigued by the directtv customer unlimited data plan (current subscriber), but do I get a subside with that plan?

No plans have a subsidy now. They are gone for everyone.
 
I guess I need to make a decision soon. Ugh! Cancel unlimited and go to NEXT or not. Decisions suck. I was very happy with my current plan I don't have a issue with paying full price for the phone, but not happy about the strong arm tactics they are using. I signed an agreement and have done my part. They should honor our original agreement until I decide to change. If I don't switch, I pay the same amount and get no subsidy in return and have to pay full price for a phone and get no reduction in my monthly bill.

How long before I can ETF and swap to another plan or provider? February?
 
I guess I need to make a decision soon. Ugh! Cancel unlimited and go to NEXT or not. Decisions suck. I was very happy with my current plan I don't have a issue with paying full price for the phone, but not happy about the strong arm tactics they are using. I signed an agreement and have done my part. They should honor our original agreement until I decide to change. If I don't switch, I pay the same amount and get no subsidy in return and have to pay full price for a phone and get no reduction in my monthly bill.

How long before I can ETF and swap to another plan or provider? February?
Have you looked at the new plans? If you use a good amount of data on unlimited then odds are the new plans won't be a good deal for you. T-Mobile offers 1 line of unlimited for 95/ 2 for 140 / 4 for 180. That's the only other deal around. No subsides tho.

And you can switch right now if you want too. It might be a hassle tho to get the ETF fee credited. I did that tho FYI. If you do switch, make sure to do the number port at the end of your billing cycle, before the next cycle starts.
 
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And you can switch right now if you want too. It might be a hassle tho to get the ETF fee credited. I did that tho FYI. If you do switch, make sure to do the number port at the end of your billing cycle, before the next cycle starts.

Why? Do they not prorate it?
 
Why? Do they not prorate it?
Nope.

"Final month's charges are not prorated"

https://www.att.com/legal/terms.wirelessCustomerAgreement.html#howDoesAttCalcMyBill

BTW my final bill was really weird. It was kinda pro-rated, idk. I could't understand it. The thing is I only got charged $70 for service and most of that was just fees. I think because I was charged for 1 month in advance on my first bill that actually ended up going toward my final month of service. idk, it was really hard to read and I'm not even sure if I got ripped off or not but since it was such a low amount I just decided to pay it anyways.
 
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And if it's cheaper for you, it might as well not exist for AT&T -- I'm not trying to be an ass, but let's be honest here. The carrier subsidy was never about providing inexpensive phones. At best the carriers wanted it to be an even trade, but secretly really wanted to make money on it when they could -- by just not explaining the details and letting the customer think they were getting a really great deal. You were to think that $350 / $450 for your 2 year commitment was a good concession. When it really was just a magic trick.

But, the cat is out of the bag now. The magic trick is completely exposed. Not only exposed, but weaknesses in the program (or contract details) are being exploited (ala: you). And with T-Mo and, seemingly, VZW now offering to pay off and refund a customers ETFs -- they aren't even a heavy boat anchor or customer retention tool anymore.

Again, I get that you want the 2-yr contract because it's cheaper for you. But, the 2-yr contract was never about that. It was supposed to be a sales mechanic, customer retention tool, and profit center. A 2-yr contract and subsidy isn't any good at that anymore. Therefore it's obsolete and going the way of the dodo.

Some people get used to something so much that it's difficult to change. Every two years they got a "discount" on that expensive phone and they were happy.
 
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The good thing about the 2 year contract was the $450.00 discount on the phone. The bad thing was being limited on when I could get a new phone. I'm one of those people that like to get a new phone on the release day every 2 years. I did that when I bought my 5 but decided that I needed more memory so I swapped it a few weeks later. That reset my contract date so I wasn't able to get the 6 on the release day. Had to wait a few weeks. It wasn't the end of the world but it's kind of fun to jump in on the new phone excitement. Now I get get the 7 when it's released. Just have to pay the price for it.
 
The good thing about the 2 year contract was the $450.00 discount on the phone. The bad thing was being limited on when I could get a new phone. I'm one of those people that like to get a new phone on the release day every 2 years. I did that when I bought my 5 but decided that I needed more memory so I swapped it a few weeks later. That reset my contract date so I wasn't able to get the 6 on the release day. Had to wait a few weeks. It wasn't the end of the world but it's kind of fun to jump in on the new phone excitement. Now I get get the 7 when it's released. Just have to pay the price for it.

You could always have sold your phone and bought the new one with early upgrade or in full before also.
Options were there.
 
You could always have sold your phone and bought the new one with early upgrade or in full before also.
Options were there.

I hold onto my phones for some reason. Probably should sell them after I get a new one. Would be the smarter thing to do.
 
what are my options now? because i like to keep my phones. My old phones i unlock them and use when I'm overseas.
 
I just wanted to update you guys to say I did it. It was a pain tho. I had to get the ETFs credited for each line manually, likewise I had to file separates cases to get the iPhones unlocked too; they even screwed up my unlock request and unlocked the same iPhone twice. Apparently AT&T retentions has no way to directly communicate with the unlocking department so it' a total hassle. But ya, I did it, got the ETFs credited and the iPhones unlocked.

ToroidalZeus, you may have said this earlier in the thread but I've lost track — when did you use your upgrade to get the phones you unlocked?

I used mine in late December and someone said that there was fine print somewhere on the web that says I'm ineligible to leave without paying ETF. However, the letter I got in the mail about the unlimited price increase said nothing about that. Just wondering what you situation was when you cancelled without ETF.
 
...
I used mine in late December and someone said that there was fine print somewhere on the web that says I'm ineligible to leave without paying ETF. However, the letter I got in the mail about the unlimited price increase said nothing about that. Just wondering what you situation was when you cancelled without ETF.
To answer your question about the fine print on the web, go to att.com/unltdata and read the third bullet point under important to know.
 
To answer your question about the fine print on the web, go to att.com/unltdata and read the third bullet point under important to know.

I'm going to give it a shot anyway. They really should have said this in the letter they sent. I had been eligible for an upgrade since September but for one reason or another hadn't made it into the AT&T store.

I'll see how it goes. If they don't let me cancel without the ETF, I may do the round-about way to have another carrier pay the ETF (and trade in some piece of junk Android phone or something). Or maybe I'll keep the Unlimited but actually start using the hell out of it ;)
 
I'm going to give it a shot anyway. They really should have said this in the letter they sent. I had been eligible for an upgrade since September but for one reason or another hadn't made it into the AT&T store.

I'll see how it goes. If they don't let me cancel without the ETF, I may do the round-about way to have another carrier pay the ETF (and trade in some piece of junk Android phone or something). Or maybe I'll keep the Unlimited but actually start using the hell out of it ;)
I like your last sentence haha.

I'm in the same boat as you are, when I first got the email, they didn't include that condition, neither on the mailed notice, hence why I did the upgrade. Then someone pointed it out here.

I might actually follow suit, can you let me know how yours goes?
 
ToroidalZeus, you may have said this earlier in the thread but I've lost track — when did you use your upgrade to get the phones you unlocked?

I used mine in late December and someone said that there was fine print somewhere on the web that says I'm ineligible to leave without paying ETF. However, the letter I got in the mail about the unlimited price increase said nothing about that. Just wondering what you situation was when you cancelled without ETF.
I used mine at iPhone 6S launch.

AT&T customer support was basically clueless. Some of the support people didn't even know the ETF would be waived because of the price increase.

I ended up needing to get the Final Bill before they'd actually do anything. After that I had a supervisor apply manual credits for the lines with unlimited plans. For some reason there is a credit line too so they did 2 smaller credits instead of just 1 big one.
 
I like your last sentence haha.

I'm in the same boat as you are, when I first got the email, they didn't include that condition, neither on the mailed notice, hence why I did the upgrade. Then someone pointed it out here.

I might actually follow suit, can you let me know how yours goes?


Another thing I'm considering is calling and asking them if they'd like to switch me from the unlimited plan to a month-to-month plan, without paying any ETF. I kind of sense that they might go for that. I think they'd love to move us all off the unlimited so they have some incentive.

And then, if the plan suits my needs, I'll just stick to it. But if it's month-to-month, I would have the ability to leave if I wanted.
 
Another thing I'm considering is calling and asking them if they'd like to switch me from the unlimited plan to a month-to-month plan, without paying any ETF. I kind of sense that they might go for that. I think they'd love to move us all off the unlimited so they have some incentive.

And then, if the plan suits my needs, I'll just stick to it. But if it's month-to-month, I would have the ability to leave if I wanted.
If they can retain my unlimited, null my contract, then put me into month to month term.. I'm in!
 
T-mobile has 150x4 unlimited lines today. I'm going to switch there February 26 when my price be increased and I be free to go.

Bro, that deal looks sweet.
I wonder if I should just in and get that deal now and then port the numbers in 2-3 weeks when I can get out for free?
Would it end soon?

Get Unlimited LTE data for $50 per month per line and get a 4th line free. That’s 4 lines for $150 per month!

Want another option? Get 10GB of LTE data for $40 per month per line and get a 4th line free. That’s 4 lines for $120 per month!
 
ATT is being a bit tricky with their cancellation policy based on the unlimited price increase. Just know that if you want to switch to another plan, you might have to start jury rigging to get the best deal (IE buying their cheapest new phone) to take advantage of their better sharing deals. Apparently you can't both cancel/get out of your contract AND switch "easily" their system is almost and either/or. At least that's what I've found. So right now - I'm seriously thinking of switching to TMobile and then perhaps back to ATT after whatever waiting period they have to avoid the extra phone purchase/hinky stuff.
 
ATT is being a bit tricky with their cancellation policy based on the unlimited price increase. Just know that if you want to switch to another plan, you might have to start jury rigging to get the best deal (IE buying their cheapest new phone) to take advantage of their better sharing deals. Apparently you can't both cancel/get out of your contract AND switch "easily" their system is almost and either/or. At least that's what I've found. So right now - I'm seriously thinking of switching to TMobile and then perhaps back to ATT after whatever waiting period they have to avoid the extra phone purchase/hinky stuff.

I have all my lines on UDP, they going to increase 5 dollars each and allow me to switch 60 days after the price increase. I go to t-mo they port my numbers and after that my att history will be over. They confirmed to me that I can go any time Feb 25- Apr 25. May be their system doesn't work, but we have FCC and I can always open a billing dispute with them.

BTW: I called them 4 times and every time they told me that I was free to go right away. Only when I asked them to double check they gave me the correct info. This is the wrong info, they want you to go now and later you get ETF bill.
 
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My new AT&T bill will be coming out in 4-5 days. Hopefully after that I can switch etf free.
I already placed the tmobile order for the 4 sims with unlimited everything for $150 so those should be here in 4 days. Then I can port my numbers over. See ya later AT&T :D
 
My new AT&T bill will be coming out in 4-5 days. Hopefully after that I can switch etf free.
I already placed the tmobile order for the 4 sims with unlimited everything for $150 so those should be here in 4 days. Then I can port my numbers over. See ya later AT&T :D

Congratulations! Try it first for couple days, then port over. I really want your feedback about t-mobile.
 
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