I don't know if this illegal, but at best, it's unethical.

[dchawk81]

So they completely cut you off from using data entirely?

Yep. Without warning I had my voice/text signal but the data was nonexistent. I had to call them and get it reinstated. It was then that they basically threatened me and said if I used too much data again, it would definitely not be turned back on.

I started looking at other options at that moment. They say unlimited but don't sell unlimited. It's a cheap service that I put my father on since he isn't a heavy user, but I can't use something like that with disconnection threats hanging over my head.

 

[androidluvr2]

Yep. Without warning I had my voice/text signal but the data was nonexistent. I had to call them and get it reinstated. It was then that they basically threatened me and said if I used too much data again, it would definitely not be turned back on.

If they cut off data at any speed after a certain amount, that really is misleading for them to call it unlimited data. They should be required to tell customers that not only will they throttle you, they will cut your data off entirely.

 

[dpham00]

Where do you get those deals?

Bought from best buy pm to sams club 98.88, best buy also offered a $50 gc if you signed up for it, when buying a mobile phone from them. In my case, they messed up the pm, so I got it a little lower.

I bought it last month, best buy policy changed recently.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[androidluvr2]

I bought it last month, best buy policy changed recently.

So they won't price match sam's club any more?

 

[Tall Mike 2145]

There are a lot of differences between the telco industry and anyone else. For example, a telco provider is required by Federal law to maintain service on an essentially "no matter what" basis, and so therefore they have massive equipment redundancy. Double, triple, and quadruple redundancy is fairly typical in that industry. In Orlando there is an AT&T telco facility that's double-walled, brick exterior, and the big access entry ways into the building are normally kept bricked up and over, and then that section of the wall is disassembled, the massive entry doors opened, access is granted, and then after the fact everything is closed up and bricked up again. At this point, the building is largely empty because it was designed to warehouse telco equipment of a different era, and modern equipment, even highly redundant, takes up a fraction of the space.

Now, take a look at how your local cable company, which offers VoIP-style telco, varies. There is no such equivalent redundancy requirement. They don't have to necessarily deliver a certain minimum-quality service to your home. They can have all kinds of outages. Cell carriers are in largely the same boat as cable VoIP providers. If they had to provide an equivalent amount of redundancy, who knows how large all of our cell bills would be.

Now, as far as monopoly and oligopoly are concerned, let's consider that the cellular industry started out as a fairly capitalist "invisible hand" style marketplace, and it's still somewhat like that. However, there are far fewer national carriers today, and so it is much closer to being an oligopoly. Typically your physical utility services -- telco, power, cable -- are geographical monopolies. In many cases there is nothing devious behind it; it simply is what it is. However, in other cases (and I'm thinking telco and cable) it is no longer a completely legitimate geog. monopoly. Rather, it is a contractual monopoly; that is, other providers could come into an area, but existing ones have signed exclusive-deal type contracts with counties / cities to be the only one available. This is part of the reason that, traditionally, satellite t.v. providers have been so popular.

 

[dpham00]

I disagree about OP and searching. No one actually searches "AT&T ST contract dispute" unless they had some kind of inkling and ST wasn't exactly forthcoming about this.

Heck I stay up on things as much as I can and had no idea this was occurring. In fact, I just activated an AT&T sim for my father and the rep mentioned nothing about any dispute or potential for the service to be killed off.

OP's entitled attitude is ridiculous but so are the expectations for people to just know about these things or search for them when the slightest thought there might even be any kind of problem doesn't exist in one's mind.

He didn't have to search for anything other than on the retailers store or website.

Before telling grandmother the price, he should have checked first to verify that the att straight talk sim and phone was in stock and pricing , then asked his grandmother. Then, after she said yes, immediately buy the sim and phone. If in the few hours that it took (at most) for all this to transpire, the att straight talk sim went oos, then I would have some pity for the op. But, correct me if I am wrong, I do not think that to be the case.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[dpham00]

So they won't price match sam's club any more?

If you bought the phone before 3/3,then you can still pm within 30 days of purchase (assuming sams club still has it at that price) . The price was only good for Verizon Galaxy Note II and I believe only in silver. If you bought on or after 3/3,their policy now states no pm of contract phones.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[Jennifer Stough]

I understand about throttling, which is why I continue to pay a premium price for my Verizon unthrottled unlimited data plan. You are getting unlimited data, though if you never have to pay any overage charges no matter how much data you use. What you are not getting is unlimited data at HSPA+ or 4G LTE speeds.

Also, I don't think it is the MVNOs that are able to throttle their subscribers; it is the wireless carriers that are doing the throttling. The MVNOs don't have access to the network's infrastructure that is required to throttle.

And AT&T throttles their remaining unlimited data plan subscribers at 3GB, so really the only difference between unlimited and 3GB data plans is no overage charges on unlimited and with 3GB plans, you can get more than 3GB at HSPA+ or 4G LTE speeds, you just have to pay for it.

I know, I was just referring to the statement about getting unlimited att data, which is impossible. STs agreement with att, and tmobile as well, is that you can have "unlimited" as long as there is no streaming, and up to a certain amount. Once you reach that amount, speeds are throttled and if you continue using data at what they consider an above average use, they will discontinue your service. This has happened to me with all three services offered through straight talk (and i use about 2.5-3 gb a month). I am sure it is the services providers whom do the actual throttling and disconnecting, but it is straight talk who advertises unlimited that they cannot gaurentee and it is straight talk who notifies you when your usage has become a problem. Straight talk is a good option for those with a limited budget or bad credit, but realistically they do not offer what they advertise, their customer service is at best atrocious, and it is very limited in what devices you can use and what services are provided depending on what phones you purchase and through whom. I left three years on straight talk for Verizon and I will never look back.


Sent from my Verizon Droid DNA

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

I think that's the most unethical thing thing in this thread. Advertising unlimited data and then cutting off data completely. I can understand speed limits after some amount, when that transition point is explicitly stated in the fine print. I can also understand if they block tethering, and say so, because it's only unlimited data consumed by the device on the plan. However, to cut off access completely because you went over some secret limit they imposed on an "unlimited" plan sounds like false advertising.

It would be like an apartment advertising that utilities are included, then cutting off power in the middle of August because you used the A/C too much.

 

[androidluvr2]

I left three years on straight talk for Verizon and I will never look back.

I left AT&T for VZW a year+ ago because AT&T won't have 4G LTE in my area until 2014 and VZW already had it over a year ago. 4G LTE is very nice. However, when you are somewhere where you can only get a signal at VZW's 3G speeds, it really sucks because their 3G speeds are slow.

 

[Jennifer Stough]

I think that's the most unethical thing thing in this thread. Advertising unlimited data and then cutting off data completely. I can understand speed limits after some amount, when that transition point is explicitly stated in the fine print. I can also understand if they block tethering, and say so, because it's only unlimited data consumed by the device on the plan. However, to cut off access completely because you went over some secret limit they imposed on an "unlimited" plan sounds like false advertising.

It would be like an apartment advertising that utilities are included, then cutting off power in the middle of August because you used the A/C too much.

Oh, its not even data they just cut off. They completely discontinue all service and the only way to have service after that is to buy another months service card. In their fine print they strictly state no tethering or streaming, so that's a given. But I had a sidekick 4g with tmobiles st SIM and one week into my month service card I was getting automated calls about discontinuing my service. I was primarily using ifunny, wattpad, and internet. No Netflix, Pandora, or streaming services. After week three they cut off my phone, I was at 2.35 GB of data.

Sent from my Verizon Droid DNA

 

[dchawk81]

Oh, its not even data they just cut off. They completely discontinue all service and the only way to have service after that is to buy another months service card. In their fine print they strictly state no tethering or streaming, so that's a given. But I had a sidekick 4g with tmobiles st SIM and one week into my month service card I was getting automated calls about discontinuing my service. I was primarily using ifunny, wattpad, and internet. No Netflix, Pandora, or streaming services. After week three they cut off my phone, I was at 2.35 GB of data.

Sent from my Verizon Droid DNA

They didn't cut me off completely. I was still able to use the phone to call and them out.

Even so, I agree that it's unethical and should be illegal. Heck they don't even have a control panel on their website to see your own usage, which adds to the impression that it doesn't matter.

Again, for my father who will likely never use more than a gig a month, it's pretty much ideal and even with their sleaziness it's worth it for him to save money. For a lot of us, it's not the solution it claims to be.

I also made it clear how they are when I set my father up with it, relaying my entire experience to him. This way if he does like his new smartphone too much, he won't be shocked.

 

[dchawk81]

I'm not even opposed to limits. Tell me it's 2 gigs and I'll adjust my habits. But don't tell me it's unlimited, and then cut me off when I'm asleep after I've reached some arbitrary unstated limit.

That's literally what happened to me. I woke up to a phone with only a voice signal. They didn't call, text, or even email to say I'm at risk of disconnection and need to scale back my usage.

 

[Jennifer Stough]

My service was completely discontinued. When I called and asked why, they said I violated their terms of service for streaming and abnormal data usage. I streamed Pandora all of 10 minutes. Either way, I learned my lesson. I had nothing but problems with straight talk for three years.

Sent from my Verizon Droid DNA

 

[tgp]

I'm not even opposed to limits. Tell me it's 2 gigs and I'll adjust my habits. But don't tell me it's unlimited, and then cut me off when I'm asleep after I've reached some arbitrary unstated limit.

That's literally what happened to me. I woke up to a phone with only a voice signal. They didn't call, text, or even email to say I'm at risk of disconnection and need to scale back my usage.

My service was completely discontinued. When I called and asked why, they said I violated their terms of service for streaming and abnormal data usage. I streamed Pandora all of 10 minutes. Either way, I learned my lesson. I had nothing but problems with straight talk for three years.

Sent from my Verizon Droid DNA

My wife is on Straight Talk AT&T, and I'm worried about this happening to her. She was throttled a couple months ago, and since I had used a 90 day refill on her plan, the data speed didn't reset until after that period was past.

I recently got a Net10 AT&T SIM and activated it for a month for testing. I'm considering porting my wife's number to that plan when I'm done with it. My question is whether there would be any advantage to Net10 over Straight Talk. I know they're both owned by Tracfone, but I haven't heard horror stories about Net10 like I have about ST. Any advice? The 1.5 GB limit isn't a problem for her. At least we know what the limit is! She's at home most of the time and on WiFi.

 

[androidluvr2]

My question is whether there would be any advantage to Net10 over Straight Talk.

I would start a new thread to ask this question.

 

[jdbii]

My wife is on Straight Talk AT&T...Any advice? The 1.5 GB limit isn't a problem for her.

Personally, and speaking with no actual knowledge of any of this, my advice would be for your wife to stick with ST for time time being. Net10 isn't going anywhere and that will always be an option for you. People seem desperate to get access to ST's AT&T's network. All you have to do is see how hard people are trying to get their hands on ST micro sims and and how much they are selling for on ebay. If ST and Net10 were equal, or if Net10, was superior, then what is driving the inflated prices for AT&T ST micro sims? It doesn't make any sense unless ST was better. Walmart is marketing ST and Walmart isn't going anywhere. Despite the horror stories of people getting arbitrarily cut off on ST, I think the same thing could happen on Net10. And at least paper, per the fine print, ST data policy is superior than Net10. I mean, ST supposedly give you more than 1.5 GB. In practice that might be different, but on paper it is better. And the most important piece of advice --- BUY ONLY 30 DAYS OF SERVICE AT A TIME -- so if you do get throttled it will reset at the end of the 30 days cycle.

 

[dchawk81]

It doesn't matter what the policy is on paper if it's nothing like it in practice.

I agree though that Net10 probably won't be any better since it's the same people.

 

[androidluvr2]

I agree though that Net10 probably won't be any better since it's the same people.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, right? If it costs $120/mo + a $36 activation fee to get unlimited voice & text + 3GB of unthrottled data from AT&T directly AND you have to sign a 2 year contract, what is the likelihood that there isn't some catch when ST offers an even better deal (because it includes "unlimited" data and you don't have to sign a contract) at $45/mo + a $15 SIM card on the same AT&T network? Zero.

So there probably is a catch with Net10, too and it is not because it is run by the same people so much as it would make no sense for AT&T to price their network so much lower when they sell it wholesale to the MNVOs that it undercuts their retail sales directly to subscribers.

 

[dpham00]

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, right? If it costs $120/mo + a $36 activation fee to get unlimited voice & text + 3GB of unthrottled data from AT&T directly AND you have to sign a 2 year contract, what is the likelihood that there isn't some catch when ST offers an even better deal (because it includes "unlimited" data and you don't have to sign a contract) at $45/mo + a $15 SIM card on the same AT&T network? Zero.

So there probably is a catch with Net10, too and it is not because it is run by the same people so much as it would make no sense for AT&T to price their network so much lower when they sell it wholesale to the MNVOs that it undercuts their retail sales directly to subscribers.

You just have to know how to work the system. I get Verizon unlimited unthrottled 4glte(i have used over 60gb a month before), and my share of family plan is just under $45(including taxes and discount) . Yes, I only have 550 minutes and no texting, but with unlimited unthrottled 4glte, this is not an issue as I can make calls and over my data connection, although I have never even gone close to my cap. Obviously, i have to lose some convenience, but to me, it is worth it. I just text with Google voice.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II