According to this thread someone has been able to keep the plan when upgrading:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/1266829-att-doing-away-unlimited-data-iphone-upgrad...

I tried to upgrade on the website and it still seems to want to force me to select a new plan.  I may have to try this in person at a store.

I escalated a case and received an assurance that I could keep my unlimited international data plan when upgrading to the 4S.  They told me to order a new phone online and accept the domestic unlimited plan. I will have to call back to the contact name I was given in order to have the old grandfathered plan transferred over correctly when my device arrives.  It appears that the web site ordering process is not able to handle this plan correctly.   I went ahead and ordered and new 4S so fingers crossed. It sould be here in 1 to 2 weeks.

When it is added back, please email us the plan code they entered.  I'm curious if it is the same plan or a slightly different code.

If you had one of the Unlimited International Roaming Plans and lost it when you performed an upgrade to the iPhone 4S - you will need to call in to International Care to have it added back. The rep will verify that you DID have a prior unlimited international feature when you performed the upgrade. The feature code is IRPZH.

Other customer care channels will not have visibility to this feature.

With all the threats to our Unlimited International Data Plan, here's some more bad news.    Since most of us with the International Unlimited Data Plan are on some sort of National (FAN code) plan, I thought I should pass this on, though I am sorry to bear bad news.

My bill was higher than expected this month, and I noticed that the change was attributable to a large drop in my National Account Discount. We have made no changes to our phones (two iPhone 3GS) or plan for more than two years, so this increase jumped out at me.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Customer Service for National Account plan Premier Business customers.   Here's what I learned.  According to them, the FAN code discount does NOT apply to any International Data plan.     They claim this is not new, but admit that we may have been "accidentally" receiving this discount for the past several years.    

They say the FAN code discount applies to:

Your Voice Plan

Your Domestic Data Plan

They say it does not apply to:

Your Text Message Plan (nothing new there)

Your International Data Plan (This is the change.)

Ouch.    I escalated this through three managers and they didn't budge.    The only "warm fuzzy" they could offer was that "we won't back-bill you for the past two years".     Gee thanks.

Again, sorry to bear bad news.

Kupe

Thanks for passing this on.  I think it is obvious that ATT has taken notice of this plan and regards it as undervalued. I think the take away is for people to be particularly careful to insure that their accounts are well documented whenever they make any plan change and to also be a little bit careful about the amount of data they burn through, particularly in places like Russia, cruise ships, etc.  

I had this same surprise on my most recent invoice but I think it is acceptable.  I never understood why they discounted it in the first place.

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DWC1 wrote:

I had this same surprise on my most recent invoice but I think it is acceptable.  I never understood why they discounted it in the first place.

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Why they discounted it?    That's the whole idea behind the FAN code- a negotiated group discount.    i.e. my employer brings them a jillion dollars of business a year, and so ATT offers our employees a small discount.    Or not...in this case.

Kupe

Update:  I have now received my upgraded 4s.  As expected the unlimited international plan vanished upon activation of the new device.  I worked with escalated customer care to have it added back on and it's now locked down. 

It's clear that they don't want to make it easy for people to keep this old plan so if you are thinking of upgrading you may want to consider doing it soon in case they close the option off entirely.  At least now I have it active on a new micro sim in case i need to swap phones in the future with any new models in a couple years.

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Kupe wrote:

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Why they discounted it?    

 

Kupe

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My point was that in my own opinion it is not reasonable to expect any discount for this feature based on the value it provides compared to the cost charged.  AT&T does not discount all features on FAN accounts but it was nice while it lasted for this feature.   I would love to have the discount back but I feel it would be unreasonable for me to expect it.  Others may disagree but that is my own opinion

I agree.  This is the one feature I constantly fear losing.  If paying $6 more a month guaranteed me that I wouldn't lose it, I would readily pay it.  

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stufried wrote:

I agree.  This is the one feature I constantly fear losing.  If paying $6 more a month guaranteed me that I wouldn't lose it, I would readily pay it.  

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I agree it's still a good value.   However, since we're talking dollars, my increase in monthly bill is actually on the order of $14/month.   21% FAN discount on the $64.99 plan is (or I should say, was) $13.65.      

Kupe

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stufried wrote:

I agree.  This is the one feature I constantly fear losing.  If paying $6 more a month guaranteed me that I wouldn't lose it, I would readily pay it.  

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Fear of losing this plan is why I renewed my contract right now.  That should hold the plan for the next 24 months I hope with less chance of losing it.  I saved a copy of the plan summary doc for proof in case I need it in the future. 

 

I wanted the new iPhone but I did not really need it.  My old 3GS was still working fine. 

I was waiting for what I thought was the iPhone 5 (obviously now the 4s), but when Verizon started messing with subscribers with their equivalent plan I renewed and settled for a 4 to get a two year extension.  

Either I am too late or I was not lucky enough to get to the the right person. Long story short, after hours of phone calls, I ended up with business/enterprise customer representative and who just flat out said I can only keep domestic unlimited. It seems like a memo was sent out to make phone ugprade as hard as possible for us. At least I have confirmed that you can upgrade to iphone 4 without any problems, even online. 

Who else was able to upgrade to 4s? Please share your thoughts and APN settings if possible. It would be interesting to see if 4s is using different APN settings then 4/3gs. I wonder what will happen to us as LTE upgrade continues since LTE has different APN settings. I feel very very nervous about upgrading to 4s and call in to have my plan added back in without knowing for sure that it will work. 

I am very tempted to buy a full price unlocked iphone or android phone and just use my sim. What do you guys think? Would they remove my plan becase of it?  Also something interesting I found while doing phone shopping, even though the rebate form says our plan is qualified but the ordering process force you to switch to another plan.

The ability to keep the international plan has nothing to do with APN settings.  There are certain tracking codes which AT&T places on the account which determine access to the network and billing. Without the tracking codes I would not have been able to use the HSPA+ speeds and the same will be true for LTE.  It is all controlled at the account level and not on the device.

 I was able to upgrade my 3GS to a 4S but my plan was lost in the process.  It took quite a lot of patient escalation to get the plan back but I was able to get it back.  Your mileage may vary.

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Kupe wrote:

With all the threats to our Unlimited International Data Plan, here's some more bad news.    Since most of us with the International Unlimited Data Plan are on some sort of National (FAN code) plan, I thought I should pass this on, though I am sorry to bear bad news.

 

My bill was higher than expected this month, and I noticed that the change was attributable to a large drop in my National Account Discount. We have made no changes to our phones (two iPhone 3GS) or plan for more than two years, so this increase jumped out at me.

 

I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Customer Service for National Account plan Premier Business customers.   Here's what I learned.  According to them, the FAN code discount does NOT apply to any International Data plan.     They claim this is not new, but admit that we may have been "accidentally" receiving this discount for the past several years.    

 

They say the FAN code discount applies to:

Your Voice Plan

Your Domestic Data Plan

 

They say it does not apply to:

Your Text Message Plan (nothing new there)

Your International Data Plan (This is the change.)

 

Ouch.    I escalated this through three managers and they didn't budge.    The only "warm fuzzy" they could offer was that "we won't back-bill you for the past two years".     Gee thanks.

 

Again, sorry to bear bad news.

 

Kupe

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I'm happy to report that this month my FAN discount including the data plan is back!  I don't know if it had anything to do with migrating to a i4s international data plan or not but everything invoiced just fine.  My overseas data use also did not result in any additional charges either so it looks like everything is intact.

Been reading through this thread a lot. I currently have the BlackBery International Data Plan at $64.99 per month. I've been wanting to change to the iPhone 4S, but have been holding out for fear of losing international data plan. I see that people have had success keeping their plan when upgrading from an old "iPhone" plan to a new iPhone, but are you able to "change" a Blackberry Plan to an iPhone plan under the grandfathering?

I'm still on the BB International Unlimited (IRB4) $64.99 plan but would like to switch to an LTE Android device. Does anybody know if my plan can still be grandfathered and if so what's the feature code for LTE phones with unlimited international data?

Thanks.

I haven't heard about LTE, but know someone who managed moving to an HSPA+ device. 

Apparently the time for editing my post has passed.  I just wanted to remind you that there will probably not be a global LTE roaming solution for a while.  The standard is fragmented and there is no chipset right now that handles all the frequencies.  Take a look at this article on the Apple and LTE.  Look in the bottom third of the article:

http://gigaom.com/apple/how-apple-could-screw-the-u-s-wireless-industry/?

The other plans are officially closed, but International can enter the ESN of an Android device into the computer and it will work with Android after that has happened.  Switching to iOS is tougher.

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ChronosX wrote:
Thanks. I realize I won't be able to roam on LTE. What I'm really interested in is getting LTE speeds domestically and keeping my unlimited roaming on 3G when I'm out of the country.

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Does anyone currently using an LTE phone with ATT have the Unlimited International Data plan for 3G use abroad?    

I just went ahead and upgraded from my iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4S since I knew that I could still keep my International Unlimited data plan with the 4S.    I might have waited for the iPhone 5, but I have a bad feeling that the plan may not make the move to LTE phones.

Kupe

I have good news to report. Today I upgraded to an HTC One X LTE phone and was able to get unlimited International data reintstated to my account for the same $64.99/month. I purchased the new phone at an AT&T corporate store where they put me on a $30/month unlimited domestic plan. I came home, called AT&T International and they were able to add the LTE International Unlimited plan back to my account.