Teacher
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37 Messages
One customers request
As a very longtime ATT cell, internet and sometime TV service customer, I have seen the ATT plans , products and offers change routinely through the years....from the GREATNESS of the '$99 refurbished' phone offer, which was the chance to buy any number of cellphone makers phone that was typically 1 version behind the latest and greatest version for only $99 , refurbished and it included all of the higher end makers (Apple, Samsung,etc) . And you could peruse ATT's online store to shop through a big variety of options. Why they did away with this great thing is beyond me and it is a night and day difference between what we have now, which is to pay an eternal monthly payment that gets lumped into the rest of your monthly cellphone bill on a very high dollar brand new one. So you in effect have no choice but to have this eternal payment....and needless to say, when you want to change to a different, newer phone, the payments will continue the never ending cycle. That refurbished phone option was STUPENDOUS and should be brought back ASAP! …..
Next, ATT is calling their plan 'unlimited', but no matter what tier you are at , the 6 gig or 15 gig or whatever, it's nothing at all like a true unlimited data plan....ATT will immediately 'cap' your speed, once you hit the threshold of the plan that you paid for (which in itself, negates the entire idea of true 'unlimited' data). So if you hit your 6 or 15 gig limit, your speed is reduced to a pitiful 128kbps. That is, frankly, an embarrassment in this day and age , where people are constantly using their mobile devices for streaming HD video/audio and other high data uses. 128kbps is all but worthless, and if you have been using your phone as a hotspot, the performance is so bad, it's basically unuseable for anything past a white background webpage with black text and nothing else LOL. So, what we as customers want , is TRUE unlimited data, NO restrictions, NO clipping your bandwidth back to an emabarrassing 128kbps, ever! ATT is a huge, huge monolith of a company, who have enormous revenue streams in addition to the individual customer that many people may not be aware of, namely enterprise business support, and the main player in the backbone support of all the Central Offices and associated lines and equipment that support the internet itself. They CAN do this for us!
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.6K Messages
5 years ago
I gotta put you two together...
https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-PREPAID/Visual-Voicemail-Free/m-p/5600143#M72706
@MarkLeavenworth. Perhaps you can explain to @ridgekarma how he does not need unlimited cell data?
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Gary L
ACE - Expert
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16.5K Messages
5 years ago
No, YOU are NOT getting it. IT doesn't exist.
DUH! Of course, everyone would want it at that ridiculously low price.
Most home internet companies aren't even giving you what you want. They've got a cap at 1TB of data (or less).
P.S. PLEASE get me an electric car at $5,000, preferably a convertible that gets 500 miles to the charge. Who wouldn't want that?
Heck, make it 5,000 miles!
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Gary L
ACE - Expert
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16.5K Messages
5 years ago
You're brilliant, but I think it's the same guy just screwing around with us! We've never had two such diametrically opposed characters on the forum at the same time before, have we?
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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13.7K Messages
5 years ago
“ You give me that $99 , one time refurbished phone with , say, a universal 'flat fee' TRUELY unlimited, unrestricted and unfettered data plan for , say, $75 a month, and people will be dancing in the streets, and probably triple or more ATT's customer base”
So you want AT&T to sell you device for about $400 less than the current market price, and then offer a plan you can use for all your high-speed internet needs....for a lower price than the current unlimited plan?
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.6K Messages
5 years ago
I must admit that occurred. But I’m not seeing similar writing styles.
Perhaps Mark can explain the marketing strategy behind the deceptively cheap phone on a 2 year contract to ridge. And ridge can in turn impart the beauty of not paying for home internet so he can get his VVM instantly, rather than stalking a Starbucks for Wifi.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.6K Messages
5 years ago
Lol.... dancing, right up until ATT goes bankrupt....😂.
I don’t even know of a prepaid carrier that comes near that. Some offer cheaper data, but forbid any tethering and all have a threshold at some point.
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David606
Employee
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3.5K Messages
5 years ago
I don't understand why with cellular that the definition of the word "unlimited" must match some kind of literal meaning. It's a marketing term. No one goes to Golden Corral the day after and says "but you labeled it All You Can Eat and I paid $11.99 yesterday"
Unlimited at any speed is still unlimited.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.6K Messages
5 years ago
@Gary L Tee heee! 😁. He wrote ‘marketing’.
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ridgekarma
Teacher
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37 Messages
5 years ago
Ding , ding, he gets it! ….I'm surmising by your surprised response that you don't remember a time when ATT did exactly that...for years, I was able to shop on ATT's website , and peruse a great number of phone makers, for the low low price of $99 for some of them. Top tier stuff too...They had been refurbished and looked and worked as if new. It was a great, great thing. At one time or another, I had an iteration of the iPhone, then a very cool HTC model (the very first with stereo front facing speakers I think), then a Samsung , before they dropped the program.
As for the plan, it comes back to a point I made earlier and the analogy that in this day and age of HD streaming content and high usage, that the 'baby steps' years of charging for digital consumption byte for byte or bit for bit so to speak dinging via throttling or charges should be pretty much over , imo. Plenty of people like me I'm sure, have recognized the possibility of a single bill that allowed them cellphone AND home and cellphone internet service via hotspotting. It's there, it's doable...what right minded consumer would NOT want this? : )
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ridgekarma
Teacher
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37 Messages
5 years ago
David606 wrote: I don't understand why with cellular that the definition of the word "unlimited" must match some kind of literal meaning. It's a marketing term. No one goes to Golden Corral the day after and says "but you labeled it All You Can Eat and I paid $11.99 yesterday"
Poor analogy. A better and more precise one....akin to what ATT does via calling a plan unlimited, but making you select gigabit plan which includes throttling to an unusable transfer rate if you go over the 'unlimited' plan you paid for , would be if you went to that same Golden Corral, filled your plate, sat down, took 3 bites of steak, 3 bites of mash potatoes, 3 bites of green beans, 3 sips of coke and then the server suddenly comes by ,takes your plate and sets down a credit card swiping machine, asking you to please pay to continue eating your meal! LOL
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