Grandfathered account

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@Sonic1519 wrote:

This won't help but if you ever had the unlimited and you never change your data plan you

will always have the unlimited forever. iv'e got an old plan they don't offer anymore called

the universeal plan. its a 1400 minute plan with my land line billed together.

any call in or out is free to an at&t land line. add to that the carry over minutes and the a list

i have over 10,000 rollover minutes i'll never use.

 

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Currently, they allow you to keep your unlimited plan, but there is no guarantee that they will allow it forever.  They could say that once your current conrtact is up, or you reup for a new one, you have to choose a tiered plan.  No one knows what they will do in the future.

johninsj--to be fair, you make some valid points as well; we really don't know the details, only what was said/phrased by the OP.  In any case, to be (allegedly) told that your phone won't work anymore, and then subsquently have your text plan removed and also be told that your voice plan may/will be removed as well--with no sensible explanation as to what would justify such actions towards the OP...to me, that just seems screwy.  Now, I don't know the technical specs of a BB Pearl, but I would imagine that AT&T's network hasn't been overhauled so dramatically that a phone like the Pearl that worked in 2007 could possibly no longer work today; I mean, I have a Motorola RAZR V3 that is much older than any iPhone, yet it can and will still do today pretty much everything it was able to do back when I bought it.

When I was using a Nokia N95 8GB & Nokia E75, I had an unlimited plan with AT&T.  However, they wouldn't let me grandfather it in when I bought the iPhone 4. 

I've went over the 2GB limit twice...this sucks

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@tonester wrote:

I have a Motorola RAZR V3 that is much older than any iPhone, yet it can and will still do today pretty much everything it was able to do back when I bought it.

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Edit: Forgot to make the comment... the Razr is probably dumb enough to not be classified a smart phone. I'm pretty sure all blackberrys fall into the smartphone class.

After looking at his one and only post, I am more sure than ever that it's the case that he doesn't want to add a data plan, and has to (since it's a smart phone) and since whatever plan he has has to be compatible enough to add a data plan, his whole plan is gone (they no longer have a plan with 1K minutes and a bundle of txt messages) - so, if he wanted to avoid a data plan, he was told he could not use his perl (or your perl won't work...)

I'm pretty sure if he was on a dumb phone, he'da been able to keep everything as is until whatever phone it was died. I still suggest calling in, since he could ask if there was any phone he could use on his current plan with no changes. Even if he had to go find one on ebay, he might be able to. But indeed, any smart phone is going to have to be on a new plan that can have data addon, and will need a data add on.

You may very well be  right. I have 2 iphones one which will expire meaning contract in AUG.

I just left a at&t store and was told if i won't to go with the new iphone 5 when it comes

out and renew my contract on the second phone i could keep the unlimited plan as is.

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@Loyal4now wrote:

Went into the store today and was confirmed that the BB will not work after 31 August.  Sales guy said the edge network that the BB was on will be shut down; and will not operate on the 3G network even with a new sim card. 

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It really is too bad that the people you spoke with could not give you a real answer.  AT&T is NOT shutting down their EDGE network, that's just manure.  Had it been me, I would have asked for the press release stating this was in fact happening.

I still think there is more to the story than what is being shared, AT&T simply is not giving you complete and accurate information.

It is said that they do not value a customers business enough to be honest with them.  This is not a loyalty issue, it is a matter of having enough respect for your customer to tell them the truth.

To me, it sounds like the real issue here is they simply want to force  you off of the plan you currently have.   They do have every right to move you (or force you to move) to a current/supported plan since no contract exists, but they could handle it a lot better than what they are doing.

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Loyal4now wrote: Sales guy said the edge network that the BB was on will be shut down; and will not operate on the 3G network even with a new sim card. 

Again was offered a new phone and data plan without a contract.  1.  Could either get a dumb phone and pay $40 per month with only 450 mins; this is less than half the minutes I had at the same price.  Or 2.  Smart phone with data $60 per month and only 450 minutes; again less than half the minutes with data (which I do not want) for 50% more. 

 

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Ok, so it was the first guess, it's literally not going to work anymore, and you were given the two options that all customers have access to right now - neither of which you find acceptable.

It happens - Sprint choked off old plans by not allowing upgrades to newer smartphones without moving to an everything plan (which is why I am here, on an iPhone now 🙂 and not there, on an HTC adroid thing). VZ has its own set of warts. I do hope you find a carrier you like with a cost structure you can accept.

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@satchev wrote:

 

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@Loyal4now wrote:

Went into the store today and was confirmed that the BB will not work after 31 August.  Sales guy said the edge network that the BB was on will be shut down; and will not operate on the 3G network even with a new sim card. 

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It really is too bad that the people you spoke with could not give you a real answer.  AT&T is NOT shutting down their EDGE network, that's just manure.  Had it been me, I would have asked for the press release stating this was in fact happening.

 

I still think there is more to the story than what is being shared, AT&T simply is not giving you complete and accurate information.

 

It is said that they do not value a customers business enough to be honest with them.  This is not a loyalty issue, it is a matter of having enough respect for your customer to tell them the truth.

 

To me, it sounds like the real issue here is they simply want to force  you off of the plan you currently have.   They do have every right to move you (or force you to move) to a current/supported plan since no contract exists, but they could handle it a lot better than what they are doing.

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Uh, there is a BIG HAIRY 10 PAGE THREAD about this on the general forums:

http://forums.att.com/t5/General-Device-Support/Phones-obsolete-after-May-15-2011/td-p/2661447

It was extended to August 31st. Whatever the heck it is, it appears to be real, and this poster is not alone at all (but could have joined the fray over there. I should have searched the forums better...)

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@johninsj wrote:

 

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@satchev wrote:

 

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@Loyal4now wrote:

Went into the store today and was confirmed that the BB will not work after 31 August.  Sales guy said the edge network that the BB was on will be shut down; and will not operate on the 3G network even with a new sim card. 

---

 

It really is too bad that the people you spoke with could not give you a real answer.  AT&T is NOT shutting down their EDGE network, that's just manure.  Had it been me, I would have asked for the press release stating this was in fact happening.

 

I still think there is more to the story than what is being shared, AT&T simply is not giving you complete and accurate information.

 

It is said that they do not value a customers business enough to be honest with them.  This is not a loyalty issue, it is a matter of having enough respect for your customer to tell them the truth.

 

To me, it sounds like the real issue here is they simply want to force  you off of the plan you currently have.   They do have every right to move you (or force you to move) to a current/supported plan since no contract exists, but they could handle it a lot better than what they are doing.

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Uh, there is a BIG HAIRY 10 PAGE THREAD about this on the general forums:

 

http://forums.att.com/t5/General-Device-Support/Phones-obsolete-after-May-15-2011/td-p/2661447

 

It was extended to August 31st. Whatever the heck it is, it appears to be real, and this poster is not alone at all (but could have joined the fray over there. I should have searched the forums better...)

 

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I'm off-topic here, but I gotta love some of the comments in that thread--especially where one of the posters clearly insinuate--if not flat-out state--that old AT&T Wireless customers "have been gaming the system" by continuing to use their old plans via grandfathering; if AT&T is the one that is allowing these customers to keep using plans that are no longer offered (i.e., grandfathered plans), then how exactly are these customers "gaming" the system?  AT&T willingly allows a customer to keep their old plan, yet it's the customer who's gaming AT&T by being able to keep it?  Wow...might as well have come out and said that these customers had actually lied and cheated AT&T into grandfathering them in, so blatant the accusation of "gaming".