Iphone and Facetime Decisions....Can you tell us why AT&T?

capskck8 · ‎07-04-2007

I am voicing my opinion as a long time AT&T customer, who is being forced out of his unlimited data plan because AT&T refuses to let people on the new Iphone 5 use Facetime over its network, unless they are part of a shared data plan. I am forced to a wi-fi version only.

I WILL switch to Verizon if AT&T does not change their stance on this by the time the new Iphone is released. I have been a loyal customer with a family plan of 3 phones, paying them a ton of money every year for what really has amounted to a ton of dropped calls and shotty service. And now they are going to put more restrictions on me and reward my loyalty by forcing me out of my data plan?

Shame on you AT&T for being a big corporate bully. You won't get my money anymore.

[Subject edited to comply with guidelines]

jjason · ‎03-26-2006

I absolutely agree with you and am with you. Face Time offers a host of benefits to people with disabilities, especially those who are hearing-impaired and rely on ASL to communicate with loved ones that are long-distance. It has been great for people such as myself, who have family members in another country. Here's the catch for me (thanks, AT&T)

Their decision also impacts those of us who are on the Viva Mexico plan. They are forcing me to change my plan so that I can use FaceTime w/ family over Mexico, but they are not allowing me to keep my Viva Mexico plan. I will have to now pay extra to call them. I might as well go to Verizon because not only will Verizon offer me a similar international plan, it will allow me to use FaceTime over a cellular network when I do not have access to wifi.

While none of the wireless carriers are stellar by any standard, AT&T has proven time and time again to be one of THE worse carriers - in terms of customer service, quality of service and cost. I don't know why I've stayed with AT&T for so many years - maybe out of convenience. But I'm slowly getting rid of them. Their U-Verse service --- ugh! Expensive and HORRIBLE. After weeks of trouble with that service, I finally canceled it and went with DirectTV and a cable company for internet access (Charter - let me advertise Charter - GOOD customer service, true high speed internet). AND, I'm paying 1/3 of what I was paying with AT&T's u-Verse and I'm getting a higher Mbps. I digress here, as I know this is a forum about cellular service. It is just frustrating and I'm finally deciding to stop giving my money to AT&T.

Hey, at least they provide a forum for us to complain. Unfortunately, they do very little to address the complaints.

FredW · ‎04-24-2007

Verizon no longer allows unlimited data at all. Even the grandfathered plans losebit on upgrades. So switching to Verizon will not help. At&t really doesn't have a choice. The 2 way video would eat too much bandwidth and the network would not be able to handle it. If you want unlimited data and face time, your only option would be Sprint.

sandblaster · ‎08-15-2006

capskck8 wrote:
I am voicing my opinion as a long time AT&T customer, who is being forced out of his unlimited data plan because AT&T refuses to let people on the new Iphone 5 use Facetime over its network, unless they are part of a shared data plan. I am forced to a wi-fi version only.

I WILL switch to Verizon if AT&T does not change their stance on this by the time the new Iphone is released. I have been a loyal customer with a family plan of 3 phones, paying them a ton of money every year for what really has amounted to a ton of dropped calls and shotty service. And now they are going to put more restrictions on me and reward my loyalty by forcing me out of my data plan?

Shame on you AT&T for being a big corporate bully. You won't get my money anymore.

[Subject edited to comply with guidelines]

I hope you realize that if you switch to Verizon, as a new customer you will have to select their shared data plan. Also, do you know what they are doing to their current customers who want to upgrade to the iPhone 5? If they want to keep their current plan, they don't get upgrade pricing, they have to pay full price for the iphone If they want the discounted price on the new iPhone they must switch to the shared data plan.

I am an AT&T employee and the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions.

wilcre · ‎06-01-2004

I say how dare they allow a phone company to release a excellent phone on their network then change their plans and such to work with that excellent phone and then to top it off force people to want to buy it and use it against their will on said network, what is this world coming to when people are forced to do this all on their own and without coercion, are we not all grown human beings and free to make our own decisions and not become lemmings to the newest Fad!?!?!?!?!?!?!.....

That is just my $0.02.5 worth.

AT&T's return policy has changed effective 10/07/12. You have 14 days to return the device & cxl without a ETF. Policy info HERE.

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jveloza2 · ‎09-10-2009

You can keep your unlimited with Verizon if you pay full price for the phone. My son did that and can do Facetime over cellular for free. I have AT&T and he has Verizon.

When we looked at the cost of switching his plan, we saved 900 by paying full price for the phone over the 2 years we would have paid with the contract.

jveloza2 · ‎09-10-2009

Yes but the cost of buying the phone at full price from Verizon is cheaper than what the average person would spend over the 2 years of the contract if they switched to the shared data. I gave up my Verizon unlimited when I bought my 1st iPhone from AT&T. I have unlimited and will not switch my plan. I will just not use Facetime over cellular. I hope the FCC nails AT&T to the wall for this. You can use Keep or Tango all day over cellular and it does not crash the network. Besides we get throttled after 3g anyway which would make Facetime unusable. So why limit it? Just a bad attempt to get people to switch.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

jveloza2 wrote:

You can keep your unlimited with Verizon if you pay full price for the phone. My son did that and can do Facetime over cellular for free. I have AT&T and he has Verizon.

When we looked at the cost of switching his plan, we saved 900 by paying full price for the phone over the 2 years we would have paid with the contract.

your son does not do facetime for "free" - you pay for a qualified data plan so there is no free about it., not quite sure how you figured you save 900 dollars, you are still paying a month to month fee - the only difference is you can leave without a etf.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

jveloza2 wrote:

Yes but the cost of buying the phone at full price from Verizon is cheaper than what the average person would spend over the 2 years of the contract if they switched to the shared data. I gave up my Verizon unlimited when I bought my 1st iPhone from AT&T. I have unlimited and will not switch my plan. I will just not use Facetime over cellular. I hope the FCC nails AT&T to the wall for this. You can use Keep or Tango all day over cellular and it does not crash the network. Besides we get throttled after 3g anyway which would make Facetime unusable. So why limit it? Just a bad attempt to get people to switch.

how exactly do you save money by paying full price for the phone? You pay full price for the phone then you still have to pay the exact same amount for voice and data that you would if you purchased a subsidized phone - there ain't so such thing a s a free lunch with a full price retail phone - you just get to leave without paying a etf, seems more like oyu are losing money then saving, but then you may have a different explination.

As far as the FCC goes, check back in about a year or two they might have something to say, any carrier has a simple out for a discontinued plan if any entity tries to force a change - sunset it like verizon is doing. Verizon people if they want a subsidized phone with a grand father unlimited plan - they are required to drop it and picj a shared, wnat to kep it, then pay full price for your upgrade.

If they do allow facetime over cellular, the screams of angusih will start about a week afer teh person billing cycle resets when they ar throttled or they get the noticifaction they are over their allotment and are being charged for another block of data.

Personally cannot see any advantage to facetime, there are a number of other video conferencing apps out there htat are light years ahead of facetime and don;t require the other end to have a ios based device - it can be any smartphone, IOS, Androidm Windows 7/8, Linux, PC, MAC - they work better and are universal.