GeekBoy wrote:
What I believe they are trying to tell you that your original plan will still allow you to do what it said, but it is also restricted to a class of devices which are no longer supported.
That's certainly not how it was communicated. While using a different device might solve my issue of very limited tethering, it's no longer an option as the new SIM cards won't swap with older devices... not to mention the APNs went away.
To use a data plan on a "moden smartphone" and get all fetures, you need a smartphone data plan with support for all the features.
The plan I signed up for supported unlimited data transfer with no restriction on handset tethering (at the time, it would have been overkill without that ability). Nor was there any device restriction in my data plan.
At this point in time, the only smartphone data plans AT&T has that support the tethering/hotspot features of the modern smartphones are also metered plans. When the grandfathered plans were frozen, the features they support were also frozen at that time. The smartphone tethering was only allowed as a paid add-on at that time, and even then, they weren't compatible with the unlimited plans.
Now we're getting somewhat close to the answer that CS has been throwing my way. My contract predates every grandfathered "smartphone" plan in the system. My plan included unlimted data with NO restrictions on tethering. I don't give a rip if that isn't something that AT&T offers, *that* is what I signed up for. If my plan was frozen at any point, then it *should* include the feature set that I was paying for, don't you think?
I know this seems to be a sticking point that many (especially at AT&T) can't seem to grasp: No, AT&T has never had a plan like that. Cingular did. When SBC bought AT&T mobile and merged the two companies, they harmonized the contracts and rebranded everything AT&T. The merged company inherited me, my contract, and my handsets.
Cingular/AT&T had zero issues (or communicated none) with me tethering my smartphones at least until the 2007 time frame when the iPhone came out. Handset technology advanced to the point that it (almost) wasn't needed after that, and I didn't really utilize tethering, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a sometimes useful feature that I have been paying for since 2002.
I do hate to tell you this, but every time you have upgraded your device, you have agreed to the ToS for the newer data plans for those devices. Even if your original contract calls out that it allowed unlimited data and possibly even tethereing, that contract expired many, many years ago and your continued use was based on the month-to-month ToS, since the contract had expired.
I get the lawyer speak weasel words, kind of. As a consumer, however: I have been adamant and specific each and every time I have purchased a handset (with and without renewals/subsidies) that I did not wish for any single change in the terms of my original data plan contract, even going so far as to refuse subsidies and buying phones outright when the stupid kid behind the counter said "I can't do that without switching your plan". I've been willing to shell out $400+ for a handset rather than change, specifically because I know I have (had?) a great data plan.
ANY time I have made a purchase from Cingular/AT&T in the last 12 years or so, it was with the express statement by the sales staff, often with confirmation by a manager or corporate CS, that *nothing* about my data plan was going to change.
I'm well aware of using the DUN profiles and skirting around the AT&T ToS to get tethering for "free"
Stop right there. As far as I am concerned, I have been paying for the ability to utilize DUN in some form or another from the beginning. I have not been "skirting around the AT&T ToS", rather I have *always* abided by the terms of the data contract I signed.
I'm not stupid or unsavvy about workarounds. I'm sure I could download some ap and turn my phone into a WiFi hotspot, and no one at AT&T would ever know since my need to tether is so infrequent. Instead, I'm playing by the rules and honoring my end of the deal. I'm just not happy that AT&T isn't honoring theirs... or what they inherited from Cingular.
...but while that was possible with a blackberry and an unlimited smartphone data plan, it was also in violation of the ToS of the Smartphone data plan.
I never signed up for a smartphone data plan.
<snipped> .... If you did not comminucate to AT&T your written refusal to accept the new ToS when it went into effect, you gave them an implicit acceptance of those ToS.
If AT&T's ToS changed my data plan features significantly (and I'd call the loss of DUN significant), it was without my knowledge and explicity contrary to everything their own employees have communicated to me from 2002 until yesterday.
You will probably find many people who will agree with you that they would love to have the ability to use unlimited resources for a low fixed price and make others pay for the services they are using. You will, however find very few who will agree to pay higher fees just so that you can use more without you paying your fair share for what you use.
The "fair share" idea is kind of funny. I've been subsidizing other customer's data use for 12+ years, and evidently continue to do so. As an early adopter of technology, I paid a premium for the privilege of unlimited data, unrestricted by connection type, and even when I didn't use a whole lot. Technology has caught up, but I was smart enough to see it coming more than a decade ahead of time, and (thought) I locked in to (what is now) a fairly low rate. My *average* use falls far below the 3Gb data package, and yet I pay more ($40/month)... and I've been doing so for a *very* long time.
You're welcome.