Will cancell att when contract is up did you hear ceo

Dscar · ‎05-14-2012

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made some interesting comments relating to Apple and the iPhone at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference earlier this week. In particular, Stephenson remarked that he wished his company would have never offered unlimited data for iPhone customers, citing the capital AT&T had to invest up front to strengthen its network. Stephenson also said that he loses sleep over iMessage, because Apple’s messaging service cuts directly into AT&T’s SMS/MMS revenue. But since 2008 i could not even talk without calls dropping

dwill05 · ‎04-06-2005

From a strictly business standpoint, he's probably 100% correct. Remember, they are a company and are in business to provide a service, and they expect to make a profit. They aren't in it to be every customers friend and do everything in the interest of the consumer. Also, remember that Apple probably doesn't care one bit whether the cell companies make a dime because it's not Apples business model. They make their money by selling the gateway phone and then hooking you on the iTunes money train, so it's no problem for them to appear to be consumer friendly and say they wish the companies still offered unlimited data. They don't have to pay the the network that their devices suck data from.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

AT&T is in business to make money. All of those statements make perfect sense from a business perspective. Why would any of them make you cancel ATT when your contract is up?

If you are having " since 2008 i could not even talk without calls dropping" call issues, you should ask for assistance on that. If you ever come back, feel free to post and give us a lot more info about that issue (device, location of dropped calls, number of reports to AT&T about dropped calls, etc.)

Sonic1519 · ‎01-01-2009

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

drumn_bass · ‎08-27-2008

You mean like this: http://www.bgr.com/2012/05/16/verizon-grandfathered-unlimited-data-plans-ending/ ?

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

as mentioned verizon just announced it.

None of the carriers require a "loophole" to do this, the ability has been in the terms of service since the begining. Guesstimate the grandfathered plan has maybe 3-6 months left with att.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

johninsj wrote:

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

sandblaster · ‎08-15-2006

wingrider01 wrote:
johninsj wrote:
Sonic1519 wrote:
i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited
data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with
some loop hole sooner or later
No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

I guess we'll see if AT&T does end grandfathering for the unlimited data but personally, I do not see any great financial reason to do that. My reasoning is that most users on the unlimited plan don't use more than 3GB of data and the throttling policy pretty much limits network congestion on those who do. The added revenue from folks who do go over 3GB on the tiered plan may not be as important as maintaining network availability. Additionally, that added revenue could be offset by those folks who decide to convert to the cheaper tiered plan. I am not a heavy user of data and I could easily survive on the cheaper 300mb plan if forced to convert, I'm sure there would be many others.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

sandblaster wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

johninsj wrote:

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

I guess we'll see if AT&T does end grandfathering for the unlimited data but personally, I do not see any great financial reason to do that. My reasoning is that most users on the unlimited plan don't use more than 3GB of data and the throttling policy pretty much limits network congestion on those who do. The added revenue from folks who do go over 3GB on the tiered plan may not be as important as maintaining network availability. Additionally, that added revenue could be offset by those folks who decide to convert to the cheaper tiered plan. I am not a heavy user of data and I could easily survive on the cheaper 300mb plan if forced to convert, I'm sure there would be many others.

more of a financial gain by discontunuing it then retaining it. As far as using more then 3GB, the posts on the net made by individuals yelling about being throttled kind of point differently. Actaully surprised it has lasted for two years as a grandfathered feature. Suspec that like verizon, att will discontineue it when shared family data plans come about. It also looks appears that shared data will be the only option avaialable for verizon family plans

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

I'd love a shared data family plan.

Irish Rose · ‎11-30-2008

wingrider01 wrote:
johninsj wrote:

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

This would be fine with me as I always purchase my iPhones at full retail anyway in order to remain out of contract. Therefore I will not have to worry about giving up my grandfathered unlimited data plan.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Irish Rose wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

johninsj wrote:

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

This would be fine with me as I always purchase my iPhones at full retail anyway in order to remain out of contract. Therefore I will not have to worry about giving up my grandfathered unlimited data plan.

I think you'll find you won't be able to use a 4G sim card with the grandfathered plan, for example. Pretty much the will dead end it with 3G+ devices, would be my guess. Or, they'll simply end it at the end of a month (you are not on contract, they are not obligated to continue *any* plan month to month...)

Irish Rose · ‎11-30-2008

johninsj wrote:
Irish Rose wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

johninsj wrote:

Sonic1519 wrote:

i'm just waiting for the hammer to drop and at&t to announce they are ending the unlimited

data plan for their older plans that have been in place from the start. they will come up with

some loop hole sooner or later

No hammer needed. I would expect the grandfathered plans to be phased out on iPhone with the next device - as in, you can't have the plan on an iPhone5. It's just a guess - I actually expected it with the 4s, so I have been wrong before.

BTW, sprint phased out grandfathered plans in 2007 exactly this way. I know, I was on one. So it's hardly anything new, or limited to AT&T.

doubt they will limit the phase out to just iphones, suspect every smartphone user that still has the grandfaterhed unlimit plan will lose it on upgrade

This would be fine with me as I always purchase my iPhones at full retail anyway in order to remain out of contract. Therefore I will not have to worry about giving up my grandfathered unlimited data plan.

I think you'll find you won't be able to use a 4G sim card with the grandfathered plan, for example. Pretty much the will dead end it with 3G+ devices, would be my guess. Or, they'll simply end it at the end of a month (you are not on contract, they are not obligated to continue *any* plan month to month...)

This is strictly your opinion and no offense but until I see anything written otherwise from AT&T directly I am pretty certain that I WILL be able to use an LTE device out of contract with my unlimited data plan. Heck, even Verizon is allowing their LTE out of contract LTE grandfathered data plan users the option to not upgrade or pay full retail to keep their plan. I believe AT&T will do the same.

21stNow · ‎07-07-2010

4G plans are allowed to use unlimited data now. Why should it change based on connection speed in the future?

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Irish Rose wrote:

This is strictly your opinion and no offense but until I see anything written otherwise from AT&T directly I am pretty certain that I WILL be able to use an LTE device out of contract with my unlimited data plan. Heck, even Verizon is allowing their LTE out of contract LTE grandfathered data plan users the option to not upgrade or pay full retail to keep their plan. I believe AT&T will do the same.

Of course it is all my opinion. However, it is legally true that if you are off contract, AT&T is, by definition, not contractually obligated to honor the plan you are on any longer than the current month. That's my point.

So it doesn't matter at all that you are off contract - or rather that doesn't put you in a better position for retaining your unlimited plan *if and when AT&T decides to end those plans*. That's all I wanted to point out. If they decide to end the unlimited plans, yours would end too.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

johninsj wrote:

Irish Rose wrote:

This is strictly your opinion and no offense but until I see anything written otherwise from AT&T directly I am pretty certain that I WILL be able to use an LTE device out of contract with my unlimited data plan. Heck, even Verizon is allowing their LTE out of contract LTE grandfathered data plan users the option to not upgrade or pay full retail to keep their plan. I believe AT&T will do the same.

Of course it is all my opinion. However, it is legally true that if you are off contract, AT&T is, by definition, not contractually obligated to honor the plan you are on any longer than the current month. That's my point.

So it doesn't matter at all that you are off contract - or rather that doesn't put you in a better position for retaining your unlimited plan *if and when AT&T decides to end those plans*. That's all I wanted to point out. If they decide to end the unlimited plans, yours would end too.

thing is - unlimited data was a feature, it was not required for a smartphone until 2009. The only thing that is required by the carriers is a mandatory voice plan when you obtain the subsidized phone, anything else is a feature, data being a feature that is only mandatory by a specific type of phone, the phone can be changed without affecting the contract.

The only time the contract is affected is if you decide to cancel the voice plan, then you are required to pay a termination fee, you can change the phone at any time to one that does not require a data plan and nothing happens other then removing the voice plan

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

wingrider01 wrote:

johninsj wrote:

Irish Rose wrote:

This is strictly your opinion and no offense but until I see anything written otherwise from AT&T directly I am pretty certain that I WILL be able to use an LTE device out of contract with my unlimited data plan. Heck, even Verizon is allowing their LTE out of contract LTE grandfathered data plan users the option to not upgrade or pay full retail to keep their plan. I believe AT&T will do the same.

Of course it is all my opinion. However, it is legally true that if you are off contract, AT&T is, by definition, not contractually obligated to honor the plan you are on any longer than the current month. That's my point.

So it doesn't matter at all that you are off contract - or rather that doesn't put you in a better position for retaining your unlimited plan *if and when AT&T decides to end those plans*. That's all I wanted to point out. If they decide to end the unlimited plans, yours would end too.

thing is - unlimited data was a feature, it was not required for a smartphone until 2009. The only thing that is required by the carriers is a mandatory voice plan when you obtain the subsidized phone, anything else is a feature, data being a feature that is only mandatory by a specific type of phone, the phone can be changed without affecting the contract.

The only time the contract is affected is if you decide to cancel the voice plan, then you are required to pay a termination fee, you can change the phone at any time to one that does not require a data plan and nothing happens other then removing the voice plan

Of corse that's also true, - which is why they can change the terms of "unlimited" without concern (user backlash aside...)

Irish Rose · ‎11-30-2008

johninsj wrote:

Irish Rose wrote:

This is strictly your opinion and no offense but until I see anything written otherwise from AT&T directly I am pretty certain that I WILL be able to use an LTE device out of contract with my unlimited data plan. Heck, even Verizon is allowing their LTE out of contract LTE grandfathered data plan users the option to not upgrade or pay full retail to keep their plan. I believe AT&T will do the same.

Of course it is all my opinion. However, it is legally true that if you are off contract, AT&T is, by definition, not contractually obligated to honor the plan you are on any longer than the current month. That's my point.

So it doesn't matter at all that you are off contract - or rather that doesn't put you in a better position for retaining your unlimited plan *if and when AT&T decides to end those plans*. That's all I wanted to point out. If they decide to end the unlimited plans, yours would end too.

Of course AT&T has no legal obligation to me once I am off contract, just as I have no legal obligation to AT&T either. No one from AT&T has come forward and said anything about canceling peoples unlimited data plan, so this whole discussion of it is pointless anyway IMHO.

Revenge Of DG · ‎02-28-2012

To me this seems like a bunch of executive sour grapes, cry baby, cow excrement.

1. AT&T offered the unlimited plan as a 'feature'.

2. AT&T made the unlimited plan (the ONLY plan they offered at the time) REQUIRED for smart phone users.

3. At no point since the inception of the unlimmited plan did AT&T report a loss, which means the supposed money they lost, was not actually 'lost', but UNEARNED. You can't claim income you DID NOT EARN as a 'loss'. If that were true, we'd all be reporting trillion dollar losses to the government and never have to pay any taxes (which makes me courious: what percentage of its income does AT&T pay in taxes anyway?)...

4. As far as I know at no point in time has AT&T worked with smart phone providers in providing a detailed method of independant confirmation of actual data usage. Until there is a method to reliably confirm that the data AT&T is charging you is the ACTUAL amount, not just a guesstimate, AT&T should allow ALL its customers the option of an unlimited plan. As mentioned ad nauseum independant testing shows that AT&T regularly OVER estimates data usage by as much as 20%. At no point in testing was AT&T EVER shown to UNDER estimate.

So Randall Stephenson can whine all he wants, but the fact is this is a situation that AT&T created, they've setup a certain level of expected service and honestly trying to pass the blame to situation they don't like on to the customers is disingenuous and really shows he has no real concept of what the customers actually expect in the way of service from his customer, which in my mind means the customer service issues AT&T has been suffering is a top down problem.

They need to replace management with professionals who are more customer service centric. Provide an HONEST service for a REASONABLE price and the customers will reward you. You can't take a hostile view point of your customer base, that's just stupid, and apparently Randall Stephenson is hostile towards his customers.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

AT&T is a for-profit business, not a public utility.

They should show a profit. That's what their investors expect.

You are an educated consumer. You have choices. You can vote with your wallet.

Data plans can and do change. There is no law stating that once a carrier offers (or requires) a specific data plan, that plan must be offered to that subscriber for all time. Just isn't so.

Anyway, all moot.

AT&T can end the grandfathered plan(s) on any device. As can Sprint, VZ, TMobil, and the various little guys. They all have done it in the past, too.

Revenge Of DG · ‎02-28-2012

I totally agree with you that AT&T is a for profit company, that's not even up for debate.

What I won't agree with though is the line of reasoning of "You have choices. You can vote with your wallet." as justification of a business practices and statements from executives that disrespect its own customers.

It's not ok for AT&T to 'complain' about their unlimited data plan customers, while making on the fly policy/service changes which relegates these users to "second class" customers, ALL THE WHILE, attempting to redefine words like "unlimited" and "excessive"...

Yes, AT&T can end the plans any time they want, given fair notice and providing the customer an opportunity to select an alternate plan. If they do it with consideration and respect, and provide some methodology of ensuring accurate billing on the alternate plans, there probably won't be much of an issue.

As it is, and history shows us, AT&T usually drops the ball on some or all of that...

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

the end user has had all the time in the world to realize the grandfathered plan was on the way out, ever since it turned from a active feature code to a grandfathered plan and flagged it unavailable for new customers or existing customers that upgrade to a smarthphone

why exactly is it "Not ok for ATT to complain" but it is ok for the end user to complain? seems like a one way idea and attitude? where is this platitude documented?

To be more accurrate remove the moniker of ATT in you comment about a for profit company, all companies are for profit unless they file as a not for profit organization.

The only ball drop that att did is they did not flag the grandfathering to the device AND the account like they did the no data required for smartphone feature in 2009, you changed the device and you lost the grandfathered status -

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Revenge Of DG wrote:

It's not ok for AT&T to 'complain' about their unlimited data plan customers, while making on the fly policy/service changes which relegates these users to "second class" customers, ALL THE WHILE, attempting to redefine words like "unlimited" and "excessive"...

They can do whatever they want, within the law. You are never locked into a data plan, YOU can change to a metered plan at any time. You're not second class, you're grandfathered.

Revenge Of DG · ‎02-28-2012

Is it on it's way out? Has AT&T stated, officially, that they are ending the unlimmited plan? Have they given a date?

Treating the customer like dog doo and 'hoping' they'll get the message is not how one expects a PROFESSIONAL company to act.

Here's why it's ok for the end-user to complain, and not AT&T:

AT&T offered a service, provided said service at a specific delivery level. The customers have been paying for the service for all this time. Only later, AT&T decides they're not making enough money and decides to change the definitions of words like 'unlimmited' and 'excessive', thus degrading the previous delivery level of the service the users continue to pay on, at the same rate as originally subscribing to the service.

That's why.

Or to put it simply: We customers can comlain because we're paying AT&T. AT&T is not providing this service for free, and they are being amply compensated for it if their yearly statements are to be believed, so therefore it is completely inappropriate for anyone at AT&T to complain about its customer base.

Revenge Of DG · ‎02-28-2012

johninsj,

Metered plan never gets throughput throttling, while the 'unlimited' plan does.

The unlimited plan, for the most part, has a higher base cost to the customer than do most of the tiered plans, yet you have this throughput ax hanging over your head each month. A data rate that is so rediculously low that most data features won't operate effectively, if at all...

So, if by 'grandfathered', you mean taken to a rest home against our will to waste away forgetten, yeah, you're right.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Revenge Of DG wrote:

johninsj,

Metered plan never gets throughput throttling, while the 'unlimited' plan does.

The unlimited plan, for the most part, has a higher base cost to the customer than do most of the tiered plans, yet you have this throughput ax hanging over your head each month. A data rate that is so rediculously low that most data features won't operate effectively, if at all...

So, if by 'grandfathered', you mean taken to a rest home against our will to waste away forgetten, yeah, you're right.

You can get off the throttled plan at any time, without penalty. That's my point.

It has the same $30 cost as the 3GB metered plan, You get the same 3GB of data unthrottled on both plans. Then your grandfathered plan gets free throttled data that the metered plan user pays $10/GB for unthrottled.So, yeah, you get more for your $30.

Choose what you need. Speed for a price, or unlimited but slow data after 3GB.