Will AT&T Kick You Off?

[oldimac]

I live in an area with no AT&T in New Mexico -

Was in Albuquerque Saturday and talked with a sales rep at an AT&T store and he said that as long as you don't go over half your minutes, AT&T would be cool with the roaming. I would still have to have a "good verifiable" address to activate the iPhone but I could keep my number (area code and all since now NM has 2 area codes and mine is different than Albuquerque).

I never go over 400 minutes so could get the 900 minute plan and be ok.

Does anyone know anything about this and does that sound right?

Otherwise it has to be Verizon and a blackberry or T-Mobile with some kind of SIM.

Help!

 

[SFStateStudent]

That's the general rule...

just make sure you do as the Svc Rep told you. "Don't go over HALF of your minutes while roaming!" You should be OK.

 

[BioChron]

If you don't want to deal with AT&T, you could find a local phone provider and use their SIM, but I'm not sure what you want to do.

 

[horation]

At&T has the legal right to terminate your contract if you use more than 40% of your anytime minutes per month on non-AT&T towers. You have to violate this for 2 consecutive months however, and I am not sure how strict they are on enforcing this. for a 900 minute/mo. plan, that comes out to you using it "safely" for 360 min/month.

Note that where you might have more of a problem is using EDGE, where they have a ridiculously low limit of 5mb/month of data on non-AT&T towers (same thing as before, you have to violate this for 2 consecutive months for them to be able to terminate your contract). Again, I am not sure how strictly they would enforce this.

I had the same problem when the iPhone came out, my home area was not covered at the time, so I had to severely throttle down my usage just in case.

 

[skubish]

Also note that if the phone doesn't connect to ATT's network for over 2 months, they will terminate the contract. They don't want the phone always roaming even if its not making calls.

 

[oldimac]

Thanks Much

I really appreciate the replys. I wasn't sure if the young sales rep was on the up and up - he sure sounded like he knew what he was talking about and there was no pressure at all to do anything. He gave me his card and I was the one that asked if they were on commission and he said yes.

I desperately want an iPhone but am wondering now if I should wait to see what happens with the SDK and IF anything new is announced. I've waited this long and figure what's another 30 days

 

[kermit4161]

Also note that if the phone doesn't connect to ATT's network for over 2 months, they will terminate the contract. They don't want the phone always roaming even if its not making calls.

Has anyone BEEN disconnected? I know they can do it according to their terms of service, but I've never heard of anyone getting booted. My boss talked to a colleague last month who'd been using his iPhone in roaming mode since they were first released (he got a $100 rebate). Wyoming doesn't get AT&T, but his company purchased it through one of their offices out of state. So he's been roaming for over a year without any trouble.

Then, if they DO boot you... you don't have to pay the termination fee. Then unlock it and try T-Mobile

I'm seriously thinking of getting the new model and giving it a whirl.