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mlpereir's profile

Contributor

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2 Messages

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019 1:52 PM

Grandfathered Unlimited Plans vs New Unlimited Plans

I have 1 iPhone (mine) on the grandfathered unlimited plan. I use a LOT of data. 37GB is my average (per my AT&T account). We have a family plan and two more iPhones are included on the plan; one has 3GB and one has 2GB. and also we have one flip phone on the plan. So total of 4 phones on our plan. 

 

My question is what perks would I be giving up from my grandfathered unlimited plan if I changed to one of the new unlimited plans? The plans look very similar but I feel that there must be a catch. There must be something that I would be giving up otherwise why would they encourage me to spend less money to get more features? something just doesn't seem right as I have been told by AT&T employees for years NEVER to give up my grandfathered unlimited plan. 

 

PLEASE HELP! 

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

5 years ago

There are no perks on the grandfathered plan you have, you won’t be giving up anything and most likely 3 lines on one of the current plans will cost less than what you are paying now. Here are things you will get on the current plan that you don’t have now:

- Free Mexico and Canada roaming (both plans)

- 15 GB of hotspot on each line (premium)

- Free premium tv or music service (premium)

Contributor

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2 Messages

5 years ago

That is what it looks like to me as well. It makes sense to switch to the new unlimited plan. I am so hesitant to do so because I can never go back to the grandfathered plan and I have been told by so many people never to give up the grandfathered plan. 

Has anyone moved from the grandfathered plan to the new unlimited plan? Please let me know your experiences. 
Thank You!

New Member

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1 Message

Hi. All of my friends and family switched over to the new unlimited plans when it first came out and they ALL regret it. They say the new plans run a lot slower once you hit your max G's. Can't always get good service. The only reason I never switched was due to laziness lol. Go figure. I have talked to numerous att employess who have tried to agrresively persuede me to switch over due to cost effectiveness yadda yada ya... but I also spoke to 2 more who discreetly told me not to do it. Though they couldn't tell me why, I think I already knew the reason.

Also, when they tried to raise the 5 dollars on me I threatened to leave att and argued that "I was a loyal customer for over 10 years and this is how you thank them?" so everytime they try to add a 5 dollar monthly charge... oh... (Edited per community guidelines) hath no fury! Also, another way they punish us grandfathered-inners is not letting us have a hot spot or option of having a 10 dollar a day international plan or.. or... sharing family plans with other members who are not grandfathered in as well. (meaning I would have to have the same "unlimited plan" as them to share the benefits. I hope this helps and good luck.

Best,

(edited)

ACE - Sage

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117.1K Messages

All of the unlimited plans, including the legacy plan have the same conditions once they hit their deprioritization threshold. It is not throttling. If they are finding their speeds are slower, it is because more people are taking advantage of unlimited data plans and the area is congested.

One of the common errors is signing up for the lower priced new unlimited plan. The current Unlimited Plan called 'unlimited starter' is always deprioritized. The extra plan does not deprioritize until you hit 50 gigs, the elite plan not until you hit 100 gigs. The legacy plan threshold was 22 gigs.

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Former AT&T,  Current Verizon customer.  My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove. 

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*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

5 years ago

Whoever told you not to ever give up the old plan must have been before ATT brought unlimited plans back. For many years, ATT did not offer unlimited data. That is when keeping the grandfathered plan made since. Ever since ATT brought back unlimited data plans, the only reason to keep the old plan was if it cost less. I did have the old plan but gave it up because the newer plans cost less. I am now on Unlimited & More Premium and paying much less than when I had that old plan.

New Member

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25.7K Messages

5 years ago

You keep saying you've been told to never give it up, but if you can't see any reason other to keep it other than somebody told you before to keep it (before seeing newer plans I assume)  then there's no reason to keep it. 

Contributor

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3 Messages

5 years ago

What if at&t reworded the small print, after being sued for throttling, that will allow them to change your plan on their own free will or change the unlimited data throttling from 22gb to 18gb, for example, without your permission?

ACE - Sage

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117.1K Messages

5 years ago

Now you’re going to make up silly theoretical scenarios?  🙄.  Ridiculous.  Why would they do that when Verizon offers a better network for the same price and repriortizes at 22?  

FYI that can do that NOW.  Or raise price, etc.  

It’s all going to go away in 2 years if people want 5g service down the road anyway.  

Master

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3.5K Messages

5 years ago

@Blackapple It's "de-prioritized" data now, quite different from "throttling data".  

Many people (you can read their accounts on many other forums, as well as on the forums here) regularly exceed the 22, and have essentially zero impact.

You will ONLY see a difference, IF you're over your monthly limit (for that month), AND the network is very busy, at which point you will probably see some de-prioritization impact (most likely just briefly, however).

 

I had the really old Unlimited plan, from a business account, and the same holds true, as everyone has mentioned, the new plans are a FAR better deal.  They have essentially the same basic "limitations", but add Mexico & Canada, as @sandblaster  mentioned, plus you get the 15GB (per-line) hotspot allowance, AND some bonus entertainment features, as part of the deal (I use HBOGo off/on, hard to say no, it's already "paid for").

Contributor

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3 Messages

5 years ago

I have the grandfathered in unlimited, for life, plan.  AT&T  upped the price, for the grandfathered plan from 29.99 lifetime to 34.99 now. I called and complained when I saw my bill was larger. At first they told me it was a late fee. It didn’t make sense since i have auto pay. Finally they said they would refund my late fees because there was a mistake. 

when i got off the phone I noted that the agent had changed my plan without telling me and without my permission to 4GB a month. I called and spent over 3 hour in the phone talking to about 5 different people and was finally told that all grandfathered plans will be changed to the 4 GB a month because AT&T is discontinuing the grandfathered plan. They also said they were eliminating the unlimited plan completely.  how does that work legally? How can  A grandfathered for life 29.99 a month unlimited plan be eliminated? Anyone else have this happen?  It feels really shady to me.  I googled grandfathered “AT&T plan discontinuation” and nothing comes up. 

ACE - Sage

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117.1K Messages

5 years ago


@Salmonfisher101 wrote:

I have the grandfathered in unlimited, for life, plan.  AT&T  upped the price, for the grandfathered plan from 29.99 lifetime to 34.99 now. I called and complained when I saw my bill was larger. At first they told me it was a late fee. It didn’t make sense since i have auto pay. Finally they said they would refund my late fees because there was a mistake. 

when i got off the phone I noted that the agent had changed my plan without telling me and without my permission to 4GB a month. I called and spent over 3 hour in the phone talking to about 5 different people and was finally told that all grandfathered plans will be changed to the 4 GB a month because AT&T is discontinuing the grandfathered plan. They also said they were eliminating the unlimited plan completely.  how does that work legally? How can  A grandfathered for life 29.99 a month unlimited plan be eliminated? Anyone else have this happen?  It feels really shady to me.  I googled grandfathered “AT&T plan discontinuation” and nothing comes up. 


 None of that is correct. I am guessing that you have the iPad grandfathered plan that was offered for only about a month when the very first iPad came out.    Very few people got the plan when it was first offered or kept it all these years.   That’s why almost nobody knows what this plan is, or how to restore it.  (You didn’t even refer to it as the iPad plan).  

 The price of that plan went up twice first five dollars and then another $12 making it $47 a month.   

If you want it back at the new price, file a BBB complaint.  

 Just so you understand the plan can continue if you get it back, but the price has been changed and is it a legitimate change in price. There never was a guarantee that the price would stay at $30. None of the plans have a price guarantee because there are no contracts on service. 

 

Contributor

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3 Messages

5 years ago

The plan was $ 34.99 just last month. I know because It was deducted from my visa. At first I thought it was a mistake and that’s why I called. I do not care if the iPad plan, as you called it, changed price. What I care about is the shady way the customer service rep just changed the plan to a different plan in order to phase me out of the unlimited plan. I want the plan back because the plan is still being offered to the others grandfathered in. I do NOT like scams and AT&T scammed me. A company that has been around this long should not be scamming its customers. Also...It is not an excuse that the customer service reps don’t know about the plan. This company is huge and has been around for ages They should be able to pull up my account and see exactly what type of plan I have.
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