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Monday, July 2nd, 2012 8:40 AM

Do I have to have a data plan for my smartphone?

So i have att and i hate that you need a data plan to buy a smartphone. so i this is what i do..  i buy a smartphone and get a data plan on it ( i get the lowest one 20$)  after a week or two i call say something happened to the phone and is no longer usable (water damage , bricked , exploded ,dropped , cracked blah blah blah) and i would like to cancel my data plan thats it thats all you gotta do.. all those lies about the phone wont work or it wont turn on if u dont have a data plan arent real. also its might help if you put ur sim in a different phone for 24 hours and then call so it doesnt look like ur still using it well i think thats it comment if u have any questions

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1 Message

10 years ago

My husband and I have been Wireless customers of AT&T for at least 11 years.  We have both bought and used IPhones and the dataplans since they were available.  I recently was due an upgrade so I bought the 5S.  I gave my 10 year old daughter my 4G.  I got her the $9.99 extra family line and upgrade to the Unlimited Text Family plan for $30.  I was under the impression that my daughter could use the phone in WiFi zones for the data since I am NOT going to spend $20 or $30 in addition to the $20 I am already spending for a phone for my 10 year old.  A sales rep at the store hooked it all up just as I described and sent me on my way with a print out of my fees.

 

One and a half months later, BOOM!  $30 data paln attached to my daughter's line on the bill.  When I brought the print out to the store, I was told there is no way to remove the data charge.  My daughter has an ITouch which she is going to have to start using again and I will get her a non-smartphone.

 

But that's not the point!!!

 

This phone has been bought and paid for for two years+.  I can see the requirement for the original two year contract but after that, it is nonsense! This is a completely bogus policy.  Forcing long term loyal customers to pay for something they don't want or need is nothing but corporate greed!

 

I have an eight year old son which I was hoping to give his father's phone to once Dad received an upgrade but that won't happen either.

 

So now I will be forced to pay attention and look around for some other solution.  And while I am told right now the policy is the same with all phone companies, I will be patient and watch.  When there is something else that will work better for myself and my family, I will start moving our accounts and money elsewhere.

 

Did I mention I also have Uverse at $250+ a month in my home and Uverse at my business as well?  for several years.

 

AT&T should hang their heads in shame!!!  Bad policies and lousy customer service!

 

 

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago


@dawnkw wrote:

My husband and I have been Wireless customers of AT&T for at least 11 years.  We have both bought and used IPhones and the dataplans since they were available.  I recently was due an upgrade so I bought the 5S.  I gave my 10 year old daughter my 4G.  I got her the $9.99 extra family line and upgrade to the Unlimited Text Family plan for $30.  I was under the impression that my daughter could use the phone in WiFi zones for the data since I am NOT going to spend $20 or $30 in addition to the $20 I am already spending for a phone for my 10 year old.  A sales rep at the store hooked it all up just as I described and sent me on my way with a print out of my fees.

 

One and a half months later, BOOM!  $30 data paln attached to my daughter's line on the bill.  When I brought the print out to the store, I was told there is no way to remove the data charge.  My daughter has an ITouch which she is going to have to start using again and I will get her a non-smartphone.

 

But that's not the point!!!

 

This phone has been bought and paid for for two years+.  I can see the requirement for the original two year contract but after that, it is nonsense! This is a completely bogus policy.  Forcing long term loyal customers to pay for something they don't want or need is nothing but corporate greed!

 

I have an eight year old son which I was hoping to give his father's phone to once Dad received an upgrade but that won't happen either.

 

So now I will be forced to pay attention and look around for some other solution.  And while I am told right now the policy is the same with all phone companies, I will be patient and watch.  When there is something else that will work better for myself and my family, I will start moving our accounts and money elsewhere.

 

Did I mention I also have Uverse at $250+ a month in my home and Uverse at my business as well?  for several years.

 

AT&T should hang their heads in shame!!!  Bad policies and lousy customer service!

 

 


sorry but data plans are required on a smartphone, if you want your daughter to utilize the smartphone without a required data plan switch her number to a gophone plan. ATT, Verizion, Sprint, all require data plans on smartphones.

Former Community Manager

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10.4K Messages

10 years ago

Hello @dawnkw 

 

I apologize for the misunderstanding at the store. Like wingrider suggests, a GoPhone plan might be the best option for you, you can get a plan with 250 minutes and unlimited text messaging for $25 per month and use it with the iPhone.

 

You can also look into our new Mobile Share Value plans and see if it's a good fit for your family. If you need any help with that, please send us a private message here and one of our managers will be happy to assist.

 

Thank you,

Dmitriy

Tutor

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11 Messages

10 years ago

What Att has done to cingular is horrific, I wont have to live long to see them fail in the wireless industry. 

 

Carriers thought they were going to undermine the free world forever. Perhaps thats why the FCC isnt on the carriers side in general. Towers and Satellites are being run so conservatively and not by the FCC its sick what is the point. We as consumers have built and bought this web now let us reap what we sow. 

 

Att is literally capping away and worse taking legal actions that allow them to contort neutral internet.

 

What is att going to do when the goverment flips the gps satillites to wifi 24 sattellites all banging out wifi on every inch of the globe and through buildings. GPS is less functional than Wifi . These carriers are draining us and there service is outdated and faded. We will gladly pay the taxation with representation for global internet via goverment - bet that money - it goes back into Americans pocket and gess who else wins device manufacturers - all while at&t is moving into a fridge box in a busy metro substation trying to sell a service we dont need. Also If you think its a matter of hardware wait untill the old antennas and sats die the new ones launched will be more than capable to put you out of business.

 

 

 

February 10, 2014

Iridium Introduces the First Global Data Broadcast Service, Iridium Burst(SM)

 

 

Iridium NEXT — Iridium’s second-generation global satellite constellation — is a fast approaching, game-changing reality. It will drive innovation, create opportunities, and change the way people and organizations communicate — everywhere on the planet:

 

 

 

 

 

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago

Actually - Cingular & SBC acquired ATT Wireless  in 2004 then renamed themselves to ATT in 2006

 

 

Originally Cingular Wireless LLC from 2000 to 2007, a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth, the company acquired the old AT&T Wireless in 2004; SBC later acquired the original AT&T and re-branded as "AT&T". Cingular became wholly owned by AT&T (the mommy ship)  in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth.

 

 

As far as the rest of your comment do you actually understand how satellite communications works and what is required for it to be connected?

 

 

Making a educated guess here that you mean Global Positioning satellite when you state GPS since I can find no other reference to those three letters.  Somehow I can't see the goverment is going to "flip the 32 GPS satellites to wifi" considering how dependant the nation is on their usage from day to day navigation, military and orther organizations are tied into it.

 

 

in reading the prospectus of the compnay this is commercial grade communications that will likely be out of the financial reach of the residential end users for a long time

Tutor

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11 Messages

10 years ago

Towers daisy chain or use fiber back to dishes which beam the signal to geosync orbit which is then rebroadcasted to a local dish via satellite. Satellite coverage is 100%, tower coverage is spotty. I always assumed Att owned the satellites but it appears that iridium owns them and att is just considered a major reseller. The actual satellite is very much programed like a router/server and the dish communicates very much like a multiband wifi adapter each satellite must connect to multiple towers older ones I assume were operating like switches these newer ones operate like servers  connected to multiple host 'towers via dispatch type program also  special antennas for freq, parabolic dish etc. but location data must be assigned to each packet for sorting to ground reciever or tower and perhaps thats were the IMEI number plays a role. The towers filter the data per carrier who prob got the name for taking the message to orbit. So as these 66 new iridium satellites are launched and I assume 5G follows it do the ground towers/dishes support the maximum bandwidth or are there going to be bottle necks

Will we be allowed to purchase plans based on speed. Or refuse data since 2GB aint squat on that spectrum.

 

Also the GPS sats were not fitted for the correct  bands antennas are different but in theory they could be refitted and it has all been theorized previously bandwidth may be a problem but I grew up on 5.6kb a sec. you may think I am fairly dumb but not dumb anough for pay for anything I dont use or get. does iridium do that to att. why do we get shafted on the end user level and be modest there arent allot of discounts on any phones on any marketing level the tablet wars have clearly illustrated the price of technology.

 

 

When an When a smart phone gets flaged for not having data why is it always after the store return date? If you guys are gonna screw me do it already so I can return it.

 

 

Allot of older abandoned sats contain pure gold components and I have a imaginary lean on some 🙂

 

 

 

Tutor

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11 Messages

10 years ago

You think they are going to launch those satellites and sit on the bandwidth they will contact resellers and manufacturers distribute products... I assume by 2016 Internet, dish cable and phone services with more jetpack modems than you can shake a stick at. There is more bandwidth up there than you can imagine and it is for sale to the highest bidders they spent from there own pocket so there looking to fill the pocket. I imagine the military will recieve a hefty piece of data/bandwidth with high priority. Were gonna get the lower end in the wireless community. But in all honesty can att claim they process more data than dish or cable providers , there not screening calls web bots do that so hmmm stop overcharging for bandwidth cause an under average person can figure it out.

 

Also perhaps a new plan that lets you build your own plan that is at a modest price. I dont text I dont want to pay for it. I pay for data through time warner and and use wifi so technically 'I pay for data. I dont want to pay data agian. I just want minutes and my smart phone not to be charged a smarta** fee when from a hardware view point I payed every penny it was worth.

 

In short using a broad missunderstanding of marketing, data price, bandwidth and technology att gets over on people every month.

Tutor

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11 Messages

10 years ago

ATT and other major resellers that partake in such activitys use deciet, lies, or contort the truth to make a buck are no more innocent than the thiefs who commit fraud they are the middle men between the sats they are the carriers we as endusers ensure them to carry the messages. They are taking an un modest amount cash and creating elaborate contracts that impose on growth of information for money. If I were to speculate on there contract with satellite companys I would guess it is a pay as you go and they try to use as little as possible and charge as much as possible.

 

 

I dont really need to reverse engineer the whole thing as much as I need to just get by w/o being charged data and a fee for a phone when my tablet does all the above. I would love to continue to pay my monthly bill all the same as it IS ALL THE SAME>

Tutor

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11 Messages

10 years ago

GPS was created and run with 24 satellites. It became fully operational in 1995.  32 are running now and 64 have been launched. I just assumed they were running 24 not to come off as less intelligent I thought they would keep the same constellation. Its fair to say 8 satellites are up there doing something else off the array if you follow. Im sticking to 24 GPS satellites and 8 maybe running advance gps data and location tracking with  military classified intelligence running through them not soley GPS.

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago

doubt they will repurpose, value is way to high and the additional sats are standard goverment proceedures (US Department of Defense owns them) - back up, back up,back up,back up and the GPS Satellites do not work on the correct aloocated frequency band - something that cannot be changed from earth

 

gps_freq.PNG

 

 

basic you are talking about something that is already being sold in this country and has been for a long time

 

 

http://www.hughesnet.com/

 

http://www.exedeinternet.com

 

http://www.wildblue.com/

 

http://www.earthlink.net/access/satellite.faces

 

http://starband.com/

 

http://www.mybluedish.com/

 

 

to name a few

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