Sorry this is kind of lengthy but I'm very pissed and need to vent and I also need some quick advise.
Okay perhaps the title is a bit misleading but at&t has finally pushed me beyond the point of no return. I share a family plan with two of my closest friends. Two of us have smartphones and one only uses a messaging phone. While this may seem odd, the two of us with smartphones only had a grandfathered 200mb data plan. I know it's abysmally small but we're fortunate enough to live in an area where we almost always have access to free WiFi. I attend graduate school and also work on the compass so between home, work, school, and the few bookstores and cafes I frequent regularly I'm never without access. We're not chatter bugs, at least not during the day time because who has the time. I hardly ever use my phone to actually call people but the other smartphones user can talk for hours on end with her boyfriend in the evenings (long distance relationship). The one with the messaging phone only uses that particular phone to keep in touch with people abroad, the time constrains of which actually forces her to call them in the early mornings to make for the 6 hour time difference. Between the three of us we have a 700min plan and have never gone over in the 5 years we've had the plan. We had the unlimited text, 100 international texts and everything came up to about $150 every month.
Well the other smartphone user dropped her cell and absolutely smashed it. Since I only use unlocked phones we went into the store so she could use my upgrade to get a iphone 5 and transfer the phone over to her number. While there we were dumb enough to get caught up in an upsale. The rep basically told us we could sign up for a shared data plan of 1gb and pay the same amount we're paying now. "You barely even use 400mb now but for the same price you never have to worry about accidental going over." Okay. The first bill after that was exactly $150 plus tax. Awesome. The next bill: $200.36 without overages. Immediately called at&t and spoke to a rep who said she didn't why the store rep would say the bill would only be $150. I explained that the first bill after the change was exactly $150, she explained that it was because the store rep had applied some credits to the account (which we were unaware of). Angry at the bait and switch I asked to switch back to the original plan for the next billing cycle. Was told that it wouldn't be exactly the same because parts of our old plan was grandfathered in and we lost them when we switched. I was literally boiling at this point. I got her name then worked out what the new plan would be: $180 plus taxes. Okay so we switched. Yesterday I get the bill for the new month and it's $346. The freak!?
Called and asked immediately to speak with a supervisor. He explained to me that the last rep I spoke with had retroactively applied the new plan up to the previous month when we were supposed to be sharing 1gb. And because we had gone over 600mb (which was the new plan) we were being charged overages. I'll be honest, I just can't with at&t right now. I've been using them for over 10years but customer loyalty really means nothing. Right now I want to leave and go to straight talk or simple mobile or some similar service but thanks to my friends using my line to upgrade I'm now stuck there for the next 17 months. Since I rarely use my phone to talk and 98% of my phone usage actually occurs on wifi, I've decided to buy a dumb phone for calls and use my note 2 for everything else over wifi.
I haven't had a non-smartphone in years and the only dumb phones I had before switching to Nokia and eventually iphone and android were sony ericssons. I had like 5 or 6 phones from their walkman series and I remember loving their volume and call quality. I can't be assed to mess around symbian (leaving that platform was the best thing I ever did) but I don't have experience with any other manufactures. Knowing what I would be using it for, can anyone recommend a dumb phone that I can buy unlocked from Amazon prime for under $75? I don't want to pay a lot for a phone I'll literally uses less than 30mins a day.
I'd really appreciate any recommendations.
Okay perhaps the title is a bit misleading but at&t has finally pushed me beyond the point of no return. I share a family plan with two of my closest friends. Two of us have smartphones and one only uses a messaging phone. While this may seem odd, the two of us with smartphones only had a grandfathered 200mb data plan. I know it's abysmally small but we're fortunate enough to live in an area where we almost always have access to free WiFi. I attend graduate school and also work on the compass so between home, work, school, and the few bookstores and cafes I frequent regularly I'm never without access. We're not chatter bugs, at least not during the day time because who has the time. I hardly ever use my phone to actually call people but the other smartphones user can talk for hours on end with her boyfriend in the evenings (long distance relationship). The one with the messaging phone only uses that particular phone to keep in touch with people abroad, the time constrains of which actually forces her to call them in the early mornings to make for the 6 hour time difference. Between the three of us we have a 700min plan and have never gone over in the 5 years we've had the plan. We had the unlimited text, 100 international texts and everything came up to about $150 every month.
Well the other smartphone user dropped her cell and absolutely smashed it. Since I only use unlocked phones we went into the store so she could use my upgrade to get a iphone 5 and transfer the phone over to her number. While there we were dumb enough to get caught up in an upsale. The rep basically told us we could sign up for a shared data plan of 1gb and pay the same amount we're paying now. "You barely even use 400mb now but for the same price you never have to worry about accidental going over." Okay. The first bill after that was exactly $150 plus tax. Awesome. The next bill: $200.36 without overages. Immediately called at&t and spoke to a rep who said she didn't why the store rep would say the bill would only be $150. I explained that the first bill after the change was exactly $150, she explained that it was because the store rep had applied some credits to the account (which we were unaware of). Angry at the bait and switch I asked to switch back to the original plan for the next billing cycle. Was told that it wouldn't be exactly the same because parts of our old plan was grandfathered in and we lost them when we switched. I was literally boiling at this point. I got her name then worked out what the new plan would be: $180 plus taxes. Okay so we switched. Yesterday I get the bill for the new month and it's $346. The freak!?
Called and asked immediately to speak with a supervisor. He explained to me that the last rep I spoke with had retroactively applied the new plan up to the previous month when we were supposed to be sharing 1gb. And because we had gone over 600mb (which was the new plan) we were being charged overages. I'll be honest, I just can't with at&t right now. I've been using them for over 10years but customer loyalty really means nothing. Right now I want to leave and go to straight talk or simple mobile or some similar service but thanks to my friends using my line to upgrade I'm now stuck there for the next 17 months. Since I rarely use my phone to talk and 98% of my phone usage actually occurs on wifi, I've decided to buy a dumb phone for calls and use my note 2 for everything else over wifi.
I haven't had a non-smartphone in years and the only dumb phones I had before switching to Nokia and eventually iphone and android were sony ericssons. I had like 5 or 6 phones from their walkman series and I remember loving their volume and call quality. I can't be assed to mess around symbian (leaving that platform was the best thing I ever did) but I don't have experience with any other manufactures. Knowing what I would be using it for, can anyone recommend a dumb phone that I can buy unlocked from Amazon prime for under $75? I don't want to pay a lot for a phone I'll literally uses less than 30mins a day.
I'd really appreciate any recommendations.
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