Why I am dropping AT&T and thus my beloved Iphone

[supercaliber]

I filed this complaint with the FCC - 10-C00217440

This phone line is a secondary line on my AT&T account. It is for my son. AT&T continually adds a $30/month data plan to my sons number on my account because they detect, in their words, a 'SmartPhone' being used on the line.

My son is not allowed to use the internet on his phone. He does not use email. He uses the phone for calls and SMS Texting. For those purposes he prefers to buy used phones on ebay that have rich SMS Texting capabilities (single thread sms conversations).

AT&T refuses to let my son use the phone of his choice on his account without adding an unwanted $30 a month feature.

My son bought his phone in a private party transaction, without initiating in any contract with AT&T. He only wants to use his phone as the current account is configured (without a data plan). AT&T refuses to allow this to happen, resulting in extortion of fees from my son and myself and wasted time trying to remedy the problem.

 

[-aggie-]

All you had to do was call AT&T and have data blocked. Solved, resolved, done.

 

[supercaliber]

All you had to do was call AT&T and have data blocked. Solved, resolved, done.

WRONG! blocking data doesn't solve the problem. Unfortunately, AT&T still requires the data plan even if you block the DATA!

The issue is I should not have to pay for data my son does not need or isn't even allowed to use!

Stupid company = AT&T

 

[SDub90]

All you had to do was call AT&T and have data blocked. Solved, resolved, done.

Yep. Had to do it for my parent's blackberries - they didn't want to pay for data so I had to call AT&T, they first said that it MUST have a dataplan, I argued, then he helped me setup their phones so they will only access the internet if it had a wifi connection so there were no accidental data connections over the AT&T network.

The only downside is that they lost MMS by removing the dataplan. Some smart phones require the dataplan for it, apparently.

 

[-aggie-]

WRONG! blocking data doesn't solve the problem. Unfortunately, AT&T still requires the data plan even if you block the DATA!

The issue is I should not have to pay for data my son does not need or isn't even allowed to use!

Stupid company = AT&T

That's not wrong. The data plan is required for a subsidized phone, which yours is not, period. If you get an iPhone non-subsidized, which you did, all you have to do is have the data blocked. Speak to someone at AT&T that knows what they're doing (I know that's hard) and you'll get this resolved.

 

[donlab]

Id like to know what ATT says about this...

Speak to someone at AT&T that knows what they're doing (I know that's hard) and you'll get this resolved.

I hope it works in your favor and ATT removes the DATA plan. If so, I will be doing this too. As edge data doesn't work whatsoever where I live. I'd rather just use the phone as a phone and pay for data on my ipad when going on trips. I have an iphone through ebay as well.

Let us know what they say if you call ATT about the subsidized / unsubsidized phones.

 

[-aggie-]

I hope it works in your favor and ATT removes the DATA plan. If so, I will be doing this too. As edge data doesn't work whatsoever where I live. I'd rather just use the phone as a phone and pay for data on my ipad when going on trips. I have an iphone through ebay as well.

Let us know what they say if you call ATT about the subsidized / unsubsidized phones.

Your case is different, since you don't have coverage. If you can prove to AT&T that you don't, then you should have no problems. However, I've only heard of this for 3G. Why do you care about EDGE (unless you have the original iPhone)?

 

[donlab]

that it

Your case is different, since you don't have coverage. If you can prove to AT&T that you don't, then you should have no problems. However, I've only heard of this for 3G. Why do you care about EDGE (unless you have the original iPhone)?

I live far away from civilization and ATT doesn't have 3G in my area. Its edge only. So.. I pay $30 \ month on a 3GS that is crippled with a almost unusable edge data network. Id say 80% of the time my connection just times out. I'd love to just cancel it. But I've been reading that if you WIX block the data they will just add it back again.

 

[-aggie-]

I live far away from civilization and ATT doesn't have 3G in my area. Its edge only. So.. I pay $30 \ month on a 3GS that is crippled with a almost unusable edge data network. Id say 80% of the time my connection just times out. I'd love to just cancel it. But I've been reading that if you WIX block the data they will just add it back again.

Just call them. They'll look up where you live and see they don't have coverage and you should be set.

 

[Applejuiced]

I know it sucks but there's not much you can do.
I know plenty of people using iphones without data still but obviously they got lucky so far and could also be in the same boat as you and slapped with the additional data plan.