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Grandfatherd ATT unlimted on 4G Phones

richxps

richxps

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
2,084
531
Confirmed with Chat rep. Not sure how valid it is but im going see what happens. Below is the chat session i had.

You are now chatting with Verona, an AT&T sales representative.

Verona: Welcome to AT&T online Feature Sales. How may I assist you with your features today?

rich: hi, i have the iphone 4 with unlimted data that was grandfathered in, if i use a 4g smart phone can i still stay on the same plan unlimited plan.

Verona: I'd be happy to assist you with your inquiry.

Verona: Yes, should you upgrade to another smart phone you will be able to select the same unlimited data plan.

rich: ok great, thank you
 
ok, i hope they just leave it as is, i would hate to loose unlimited.
 
There's 2 kinds of "4G" per AT&T: HSPA+ and LTE (which is the real one)
Right now AT&T is on HSPA+, which is really enhanced 3G.
When they deploy LTE tech., this may change. The conversation doesn't really state which kind of "4G" this would apply to, but the representative wouldn't have known either (since it's not out yet).

That's just us technology geeks thinking too far into the future. :)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

wordoflife said:
There's 2 kinds of "4G" per AT&T: HSPA+ and LTE (which is the real one)
Right now AT&T is on HSPA+, which is really enhanced 3G.
When they deploy LTE tech., this may change. The conversation doesn't really state which kind of "4G" this would apply to, but the representative wouldn't have known either (since it's not out yet).

That's just us technology geeks thinking too far into the future. :)
Click to expand...

LTE still isn't really 4G it's still just a marketing term
 
I agree. When AT&T deploys an LTE iPhone I have a feeling they will force you on a tiered data plan although you have unltd 3G data.

I also think that VZW may do the same if you're on an unltd VZW iPhone data plan.

Looking back I'm thinking that I should have went with VZW because they have LTE and at least I could have gotten grandfathered into unltd LTE with the 3 androids in our family plan. I'm the only one with an iPhone. I would think when an LTE iPhone comes grandfathered LTE would apply.

Since AT&T doesn't have LTE yet the hspa+ plus phones I bet won't be eligible for LTE unltd data.

I missed the VZW boat. Both networks in my area offer similar service and quality with the iPhone.
 
wordoflife said:
There's 2 kinds of "4G" per AT&T: HSPA+ and LTE (which is the real one)
Right now AT&T is on HSPA+, which is really enhanced 3G.
When they deploy LTE tech., this may change. The conversation doesn't really state which kind of "4G" this would apply to, but the representative wouldn't have known either (since it's not out yet).

That's just us technology geeks thinking too far into the future. :)
Click to expand...

HSPA+ (around 5-7mbps, right?) should be fast enough for me.


Qman89 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)



LTE still isn't really 4G it's still just a marketing term
Click to expand...

I thought so too, but they changed the definition of 4G. I guess cellphone companies throw money at someone, and they changed it.
 
Whatever any rep ever tells you from AT&T and/or Verizon is always BS and liable to be completely untrue. These guys don't know. Corporate doesn't communicate future plans with these low-level employees.

Case in point: My sister-in-law got a Verizon iPhone just a couple of months ago. I was asking the Verizon rep when he was setting her account up whether or not she would be on an unlimited plan or if they were forcing tiered plans yet. He got all mad and confidently boasted how Verizon would NEVER go to tiered plans. Of course I had reason to think otherwise (since everybody else already went to tiered plans and all these companies just follow eachother around). Needless to say, Verizon announced tiered pricing just a few weeks after this Verizon moron got into a mini-argument with me about it.
 
james92se said:
Whatever any rep ever tells you from AT&T and/or Verizon is always BS and liable to be completely untrue. These guys don't know. Corporate doesn't communicate future plans with these low-level employees.

Case in point: My sister-in-law got a Verizon iPhone just a couple of months ago. I was asking the Verizon rep when he was setting her account up whether or not she would be on an unlimited plan or if they were forcing tiered plans yet. He got all mad and confidently boasted how Verizon would NEVER go to tiered plans. Of course I had reason to think otherwise (since everybody else already went to tiered plans and all these companies just follow eachother around). Needless to say, Verizon announced tiered pricing just a few weeks after this Verizon moron got into a mini-argument with me about it.
Click to expand...

The rep's only know as much as what the corporate folks tell them. I would suspect they find out about most stuff the same way we do, by reading various boards and such. Big Business is kinda like that. It's called information management. They do not want any 'official' leaks to be out there until the media relations folks give the green light.

I do have to say, I am still on the same VZ family plan that I got in 2001 as they allow us to keep grandfathering it along, which I am thankful for. It is considerably cheaper than other plans out today. And, I would suspect that unlimted will continue to be grandfathered too.
 
BigDukeSix said:
The rep's only know as much as what the corporate folks tell them. I would suspect they find out about most stuff the same way we do, by reading various boards and such. Big Business is kinda like that. It's called information management. They do not want any 'official' leaks to be out there until the media relations folks give the green light.
Click to expand...

Right. That's what I was saying. These "low-level" employees just flat don't know.

The problem is that they seem to assume that just because there hasn't been a change "yet", that that implies there won't "ever" be a change - just like the tiered data Verizon example. The rep incorrectly assumed that because there had yet to be forced tiered data, that that implied there would never be tiered data.

Personally, I believe that we'll all be forced to tiered data within the next 3-4 years. I think it's likely inevitable with all carriers irregardless of whether or not accounts are grandfathered.
 
james92se said:
Right. That's what I was saying. These "low-level" employees just flat don't know.

The problem is that they seem to assume that just because there hasn't been a change "yet", that that implies there won't "ever" be a change - just like the tiered data Verizon example. The rep incorrectly assumed that because there had yet to be forced tiered data, that that implied there would never be tiered data.

Personally, I believe that we'll all be forced to tiered data within the next 3-4 years. I think it's likely inevitable with all carriers irregardless of whether or not accounts are grandfathered.
Click to expand...

Well, they have to spout the company line too, whether the personally agree or not with it, in order to keep their jobs. And, as in any business, there are always customer service folks that do think they know it all, even if they are just speculating.
 
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