AT&T lights a fire under TDMA customers
…to the tune of $9.99. That’s the sum the company is now charging customers who, for whatever reason, refuse to leave their grandfathered TDMA AT&T Blue plans. According to subscriber accounts, the fee has recently been upped from $4.99 to the current $9.99. Many customers are reluctant to give up the "Blue" plans due to grandfathered features and rate plans/prices that no longer exist within AT&T’s current plan structure. The company has been trying to urge customers off of their old TDMA network for quite a while now, offering a strange combination of incentives and decreased service quality to lure the grandfathered subscribers. Perhaps AT&T should just allow these customers to join the Orange/New Blue network with their old plans…it could certainly save them some hassle, as many of these customers seem committed to hanging on until the bitter end. As some of our readers have pointed out, it’s important to note that this fee increase only impacts AT&T "Blue" customers on the dying TDMA network. "Blue" customers on the GSM network are unaffected. Well, their service will shutoff completely anyway soon so…holdout as long as you can guys!
Thanks, Mike!
I’d really like to know if and when ATT will cancel the Old Blue GSM $99 customers. What legal rights do we have, if any?
I’ve added Data + SMS etc. So ATT is not really losing on the deal. However, if it comes to an end (forced), I will not stay with ATT at the current rates.
If I was them, I would offer such a plan again at $ 149. (Data & SMS extra). Most holders of the old plan don’t use that many minutes anyway. It’s just the principal of not having to worry about minutes and incoming calls. (Free in most of the world…)
Most of the Nextel guys I know keep it only for that reason!
I agree that the space wasting Analog should be shut down though.
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AT&T CAN migrate your TDMA plan to GSM. The trick is that you need to find the right person. Most of the CS reps on the phone will not migrate. I was able to get migrated at the Cingular store in the mall. I pay exactly the same amount on GSM as I did with TDMA.
Similar to most of you in this forum, I wanted to retain my old TDMA plan. They don’t offer these plans anymore!
When you go in to your local store, tell the rep that you want a new phone and would like to keep your existing rate plan. Don’t talk technical with them. Omit mentioning TDMA, GSM, etc. You’ll only set off red flags.
Good luck with your migration!
As a side note, anyone good with history? This should be second nature for all you TDMAers. Remember the “Cingular Promise”? Maybe some of you will recall hearing it while you were waiting on hold with Cingular. Briefly, one of the promises was that the customer is free to keep their rate plan when they buy a new phone. As they said on that prerecorded spiel, “a promise is a promise kept.” Too bad Cingular is not keeping up their end of the bargain.
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I am waiting until the last tower is dropped. I have a valid “contract” and do not want to lose my blue plan. I wish the Attorney General of Florida would look into this. It has to be illegal! My last resort, like in a few days, is to switch my current number to Sprint or someone else.
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I received numerous warnings my service would be cancelled. One of a handful of letters was sent in December ‘07 stating the service would be cancelled with a specific date of Feb 18th, ‘08. Come to find out they killed my phone on Jan 16th and I didn’t know it till a family member finally reached a couple of days later. Regardless of the reason I didn’t change, or the number of warnings I received, I had a termination date set by them in writing. It was not adhered to and I wonder, now having lost my old number, if there is any legal actions being taken by we few holdouts.
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• All TDMA/Analog customers were notified of the cancellation date of February 18, 2008, BMG (IRU & CRU), Consumer, & Reseller.
• Notifications were sent using Direct Mail, Outbound Telemarketing, SMS & Soundbite (broadcast message).
• Subscriber lines should only be reinstated for 2 reasons:
1. Reinstatement may occur to facilitate an upgrade to GSM.
2. From February 20th to February 29th AT&T will allow TDMA lines to be reinstated for 72 hour blocks, to accommodate Port-Out requests. After 72 hours and/or after February 29th, the lines will be disconnected and may not be reinstated.
***So if you want your numbers back, heres your answer***
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AFTER BEING A CUSTOMER FOR OVER 12 YEARS THEY FINALLY FOUND A WAY TO GET RID OF THE GREAT PLANS THAT MY SELF AND OTHERS HAD. AT&T CAN KISS MY A— ,TOMORROW IAM GOING TO SPRINT.
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I was a real ATT customer back in 99-02, and that was good service always worked. Then the merger, cingular actually turned off my old TDMA Nokia 5165 and told me they couldnt reactivate, and i had to buy a phone/pay a contact violation from att to open cingular account/pick a newer (and more costly) plan. I got the GSM phone and never had service after that, none at work, none at home….Cingular told me the coverage is good, THE PLACES I SPEND TIME ARE BAD!!! ….so needless to say i had a GSM phone for about a month - went to Verizon and never looked back…why, it works
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was there ever a tdma plan with unlimited minutes???????????? i will either get 100 or lose it help me out please
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I read a couple of older posts regarding the old AT&T Blue unlimited plan and I was wondering if I could ask everybody a question about it.
I recently purchased a new Nokia E71-2 phone that utilizes the 3G network…I was told on Howard Forums that upgrading your plan simply involves the $15 Medianet add on…I tried doing this with CS at AT&T both in a store and through 611 but was rebuffed.
They told me that since I am on the old plan, the combination of my SIM and plan won’t allow me to get on or use 3G with that add on…I am having a hard time understanding that as I can see 3G signal being picked up by my phone right now.
They told me I can switch to the new $99 unlimited plan (With new SIM) before I can get the $15 medianet plan and that it is the same but I tend to have a hard time believing anything AT&T says in trying to get me to give up this older plan
Curious about a couple of things, if you know…1) Must I switch to be able to take advantage of the 3G much less the $15 plan and 2) Is the new $99 plan really the same as the old blue plan (i.e. what could be the differences?).
Thanks for any help you can provide.
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