Called ATT to switch cell activation to Series 6. 124 minutes later...

[MareLuce]

Remembered today to switch my activation from old watch to series 6.

Summary

1) Activation not easy.

After agent said activation was complete, cellular did not show up on the watch.
Rebooted.
Still no cellular.
Agent suggested to un-pair and re-pair.

Oh !@#$, I didn't realize that un-pairing would wipe out all my phone customizations made since Friday :-(.


2) Was offered a better plan after discussion by -$20 / month.

Changed to Unlimited Elite for price of Unlimited Extra
Before: 22 gigs of high speed data
After: 100 gigs of high speed data
30 gigs of hot spot data (I didn't know hot spot data was ever capped? I tether a lot when I travel.)
Canada & Mexico still included
HBO Max still included
Unlimited texting to 120 countries still included

This is with a corporate discount.

3) Fixed the problem of not being able to logon to HBOmax app

I really regret ever merging my DirecTV account with ATT
Nothing but login and more problems since
This took the most time of the call.
Received a 1-time $20 courtesy discount for the hassle after complaining.

----

Could someone pls explain this:

Does proration effectively mean I'm paying double for a period of time?
Is this why the agent said it's better to switch towards the end of billing cycle?

 

[Analog Kid]

Remembered today to switch my activation from old watch to series 6.

Summary

1) Activation not easy.

After agent said activation was complete, cellular did not show up on the watch.
Rebooted.
Still no cellular.
Agent suggested to un-pair and re-pair.

Oh !@#$, I didn't realize that un-pairing would wipe out all my phone customizations made since Friday :-(.


2) Was offered a better plan after discussion by -$20 / month.

Changed to Unlimited Elite for price of Unlimited Extra
Before: 22 gigs of high speed data
After: 100 gigs of high speed data
30 gigs of hot spot data (I didn't know hot spot data was ever capped? I tether a lot when I travel.)
Canada & Mexico still included
HBO Max still included
Unlimited texting to 120 countries still included

This is with a corporate discount.

3) Fixed the problem of not being able to logon to HBOmax app

I really regret ever merging my DirecTV account with ATT
Nothing but login and more problems since
This took the most time of the call.
Received a 1-time $20 courtesy discount for the hassle after complaining.

----

Could someone pls explain this:

Does proration effectively mean I'm paying double for a period of time?
Is this why the agent said it's better to switch towards the end of billing cycle?

Prorated means they're charging you for the fraction of the period that you're using the service. So if it's a monthly charge but you're only using it for 2 weeks, they'll charge you half the amount that month. If they're prorating, then it shouldn't matter to you when you switch, but it may be more hassle for them...

Ugh. Went through this for a Series 5 and after spending the better part of a day they insisted I needed to go an AT&T store with two forms of photo ID?! They never checked one form of ID, but still took a couple hours in store, most of that time was spent with the AT&T sales person on the line with the same tech support number I'd called from home, as best I can tell... I was exhausted and irritated, but it was hard to complain given that the sales person stayed an hour past close to get it done-- they'd locked up and gone home except for her. AT&T's a mess, but that woman was a freaking hero.

 

[BrettDS]

Remembered today to switch my activation from old watch to series 6.

You shouldn’t need to call ATT at all for this. Just unpair the old watch in your watch app and when it asks about your cellular plan say that you want to keep it. Then when you pair the new watch it will see the cellular plan that’s already there and connect the new watch to it.

Does proration effectively mean I'm paying double for a period of time?
Is this why the agent said it's better to switch towards the end of billing cycle?

No, it actually means that you pay the correct amount no matter when you switch in the billing cycle. On you next bill you’ll see a refund for part of the cost of your old plan and a charge for part of the cost of the new plan. Since the new plan is cheaper then the charge will be lower than the refunded amount. If you changed plans when you still had 2/3 of the billing cycle left, then the refund and the charge will be 2/3 of the monthly plan amounts. If you changed plans when you had 1/3 of the billing cycle left, then the refund and the charge will be 1/3 of the monthly plan amounts.

On a side note, the one time when it does make sense to make a change at the end of the billing cycle is when you are canceling a line. ATT flat out refuses to prorate charges for cancelled lines. So if you cancel a line on day 2 of your billing cycle or day 29 of your billing cycle you will still pay the full monthly charge for that line.

 

[dave006]

Agent suggested to un-pair and re-pair.

Oh !@#$, I didn't realize that un-pairing would wipe out all my phone customizations made since Friday :-(.

If you correctly Unpair and Pair correctly nothing would be lost. The Unpair step creates a backup of your watch on your paired iPhone. Then when you pair your watch again you have the option to restore your watch's backup or setup your watch as new.

Could someone pls explain this:

Does proration effectively mean I'm paying double for a period of time?
Is this why the agent said it's better to switch towards the end of billing cycle?

Normally it is a benefit to switch plans as close to the end of a billing cycle. The reason is that you get the most benefit from any cellular / data usage for the period.

Prorate simple means the your plan fee and any usage is allocated over a reduced number of days. So if you switch on day 10, you would only pay for about 1/3rd of your billing fee about but only receive about 1/3 of your cellular minute or data allowance.

Dave

 

[lenard]

Sorry to hear about the cellular switch to new Apple Watch. I am a Tmobile customer and switch my
cellular from a series 4 to 6 Apple Watch. I was in total shock went to do the cellular setup for the new watch
in the watch app the I was able to transfer the old line to the new watch. All occurred in a minute. This was the first time that I did not have to go to a store or call in to get it activated...still shock that it worked....