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AT&T: Don't Want a Data Plan for That Smartphone? Too Bad.

Posted by Soulskill on from the we-enjoy-taking-your-money dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Joel Runyon recounts a tale that will be familiar to many people who have bought secondhand smartphones. After his old dumbphone died a few months ago, Runyon picked up a used iPhone. He just needed it for basic phone capabilities, and used it as such, turning data off. However, AT&T eventually figured out he was making calls from a smartphone, and they decided he needed a data plan, even if he wasn't going to use it. They went ahead and opted him into a plan that cost an extra $30 a month. Quoting: 'According to AT&T: They can opt me into a contract that I didn't agree to because I was using a phone that I didn't buy from them because it had the ability to use data that I wasn't using (and was turned off). To top it all off, they got the privilege of charging me for it because I bought a differently categorized device – even though the actual usage of their network did not change at all and I never reconstituted a new agreement with them.'"

26 of 798 comments (clear)

  1. Too bad. by NettiWelho · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Yes, too bad, for the AT&T.

    It is usually good business to do stuff that make customers want to continue using your services.

    1. Re:Too bad. by aurispector · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Your sarcasm meter may need recalibrating, but you're right about the new ad campaign.

      This kind of shit is exactly why people hate AT&T. I wonder what kind of language exists in their user contract that makes them think they can do this sort of thing?

      --
      I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
    2. Re:Too bad. by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If coverage area is your only metric, then yes, Verizon is the bestestest ever. However, there are other metrics. My primary metric is cost, so I'm on Virgin Mobile in spite of the limited coverage. For some people, the extra coverage is worth the money, for me it is not.

    3. Re:Too bad. by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      $35 unlimited data is working out pretty well. How's your $70 very-limited data working out for you?

    4. Re:Too bad. by desertrat_it · · Score: 5, Informative

      I use Ting - they are a division of Tucows, use the Sprint network, are no-contract, and have reasonable monthly fees and no overage penalty (they just move you to the next tariff). I have an Android smartphone which I can use without any data plan if I so wish.

      www.ting.com

    5. Re:Too bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I work as a manager in a call center for ATT and while I disagree with my employer 90% of the time I am the guy who usually gets these type of users escalated to me. They begin with" I never asked for a data plan when I bought my LG flip phone." An I point out they are using an iphone, they usually claim they are not even though we can see it on the network, from the time they stuck their sim card in it. And most of the time they lie about it. We used to be able to lock down smartphones without any data, but the problem is that part of the data plan is used to offset the higher level of support required with smartphones, and unfortunately only about 10% of Iphone users actually no how to use them, and the rest need hand holding. I call it the George Jetson syndrome, they only have one button to press, and they whine about doing that. We started getting tons of users with off contract Iphone they were given, bought, or found, and they stuck their sim cards in them. Now these people want no data but want support in connecting via wifi to check their email, facebook, use company vpns, play words with friends, and all the neato things they can do. They want support for it, but without paying the toll. No one opted him into a "contract" he was informed for that type of device to be used on the network, he would recquire a data plan, and as such one was added. He is free to go back to his old phone.

    6. Re:Too bad. by Eivind+Eklund · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you need to split your charges into "Smartphone support tax" and "Data plan", and not bundle them.

      --
      Doubting the existence of evolution is like doubting the existence of China: It just shows that you're uninformed.
    7. Re:Too bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Be that as it may, this means of responding to that problem is incorrect. A client was opted into a plan he did not want, without his consent or even informing him of this. THAT is an egregious way to treat a customer.

      If the data plan is mandatory, for the reasons you stated, clients need to know that the moment they sign up. If it is so easy to detect that they are using a smart phone, then they should get a "service denied because you are on an invalid plan" error the moment they plug their card in, so they can call support and hash that out.

      That may create more friction, but it is more honest and more appropriate than the "ha! gotcha!" practices going on now.

      This makes me glad I don't use AT&T.

    8. Re:Too bad. by mesterha · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This doesn't make much sense. If the support for data plans is expensive then just refuse to give data support for people who don't have data plans. Of course, there is the associated cost of dealing with them on the phone and refusing to help. This could be offset by offering them a minimal data plan or a data support plan.

      The real reason ATT doesn't want people to use this option is that lots of people would drop their data plans. There's a lot of wifi around and many people would be satisfied with just wifi. I guess this opens up an opportunity for someone to come up with a way to get a phone to report a false id to the cell phone company.

      --

      Chris Mesterharm
    9. Re:Too bad. by trevelyon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I hate to say but I've read the contracts from Sprint, T-mobile and AT&T and they basically all have screw you clauses. They are customer hostile contracts and the reason I've gone to pre-paid now. It's sad but this is the face of corporate america now, bad lock-in contracts pervade so many sectors in the US now from cable (tv, phone, internet) to fitness centers. Many places now won't even let you see and take away the contract to go over it (you have to read and sign there or sign on a digital pad only to be given a paper copy that is readable after). It's simply shameful. I won't even waste my time listening to companies that don't let you properly review their contracts. If their contracts have hostile terms (allowing them to change the contract but not you) it shows even they don't believe in their quality. If they had a good service they wouldn't need such terms.

    10. Re:Too bad. by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They begin with" I never asked for a data plan when I bought my LG flip phone." An I point out they are using an iphone, they usually claim they are not even though we can see it on the network, from the time they stuck their sim card in it. And most of the time they lie about it. We used to be able to lock down smartphones without any data, but the problem is that part of the data plan is used to offset the higher level of support required with smartphones, and unfortunately only about 10% of Iphone users actually no how to use them, and the rest need hand holding. I call it the George Jetson syndrome, they only have one button to press, and they whine about doing that. We started getting tons of users with off contract Iphone they were given, bought, or found, and they stuck their sim cards in them. Now these people want no data but want support in connecting via wifi to check their email, facebook, use company vpns, play words with friends, and all the neato things they can do. They want support for it, but without paying the toll.

      This is entirely your fault. The carriers that is. You complain about people wanting support without paying the toll. Yet you charge people the subsidized phone monthly service rate even though they have an off-contract phone. (T-Mobile is the only major carrier who doesn't - they'll cut your monthly fee $10-$20/mo once you're out of contract and paid off the "subsidy" for your phone purchase.)

      You're the one who decoupled the relationship between "service" and "toll", and turned it into one amorphous "monthly service fee". You can't act like it's all fine when it favors you (off-contract phone owners paying subsidized service rates), then in the next breath complain about it when it doesn't favor you (non-data plan users asking for non-data support for their phone). You're currently charging them a toll for a subsidized phone, even though it's not a subsidized phone. Turnabout is fair play - give them the damn support.

  2. It ought to be illegal by mcgrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Too bad the corporations own the government, needed laws restricting companies from screwing over customers no longer get passed here. More corporate rights, fewer human rights.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
    1. Re:It ought to be illegal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      From someone who doesn't have a cell phone now and doesn't intend to ever get one, why do you HAVE TO HAVE a cell phone? Exactly what does a cell get you that you cann't live without?

    2. Re:It ought to be illegal by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We don't need more laws, we need more honor. You cannot legislate honor. The problem is, honor is an outdated notion that is contrary to "law".

      Honor is doing what is right, no matter what, even when nobody is looking. Too many people want to screw the next guy and get away with it that we need laws to stop them from doing the wrong thing. They are brazen in their deeds. Quoth the asshole, "it isn't illegal, that makes it okay"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  3. Obligatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    " I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further. " - AT&T

  4. Consumer Cellular by msk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Since you have a phone that can use AT&T data (even though you don't want), switch to Consumer Cellular, which uses the AT&T network but doesn't force you into a data plan.

  5. Re:First post! by tsadi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holy UID Batman! If you never got first post when you were just competing against 1,501 other users, I don't think you'll ever get it now.

  6. Over a year ago, I complained to the FCC by Slicker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My contact was over and I wanted a smartphone but not a data plan. Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon all said that if I used any kind of smartphone, I must have a data plan. My brother bought a Nexus One outright and his carrier discovered this and added a $30 charge per month for data against his will. My plan was to use WiFi only for data...

    Each carrier responded by calling me and telling me that that is their policy and therefore I was not wronged. I responded that I think law trumps company policy. As far as the FCC was concerned, that was it... they had done their due diligence, I suppose..

    I send an email to one law firm that specializes in class action suites but never got a response.

    If a lawyer anywhere on this planet would be willing to take up this as a class action suite, I will strongly support it. I am a web developer, I can build an excellent web site to begin the process of finding the many, many other victims.

    1. Re:Over a year ago, I complained to the FCC by realityimpaired · · Score: 5, Informative

      Your phone's IMEI identifies the make/model of the phone.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMEI

      You can't use a cellular network without transmitting your IMEI to the network. It's one half of the authentication circle required to actually make a cellular phone call.

  7. Welcome to America by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 5, Informative

    That sort of shit doesn't happen anywhere else in the world.

    You can use any kind of phone you want, and get whatever kind of plan you want. You aren't forced to use a dataplan just because you have a smartphone.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  8. Re:An iPhone just to make calls? by Simply+Curious · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have wifi available everywhere except in transit. I have no need of a data plan whatsoever. It would be nice, however, to have my phone be more user-friendly, able to notify me of mail, and have a few games on it for passing the time.

    Of course I would be doing more with it than just making calls. However, I would not be doing more on the network than making calls. The requirement of a data plan prevents that.

  9. Re:Car analogy please! by zm · · Score: 5, Informative

    They charged him highway toll because he has a car capable of doing highway speed, even though he never drives on a highway.

    --
    Sig ?
  10. Re:I picked up an unlocked iPhone4s last month... by acidfast7 · · Score: 5, Informative

    T-mobile is horrible because the minutes expire after a year and it costs roughly 20 cents/min. Straight talk is a monthly plan for at least 30USD/mo.

    Both options are terrible, at best.

    Here (Germany), I can walk into a store, show ID, get a prepaid SIM put it into the phone, buy a recharge card for as little as €5, scratch the foil, send as SMS and have €5 immediately (at .05€/min or .€.05/MB).

    Another way to think about it is that, I can walk into almost any third-party store and for €30 walk out in 15 mins with a new functioning Nokia candy-bar phone with credit. Can't really get that in the US?

  11. Re: I wanted a smartphone but not a data plan by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe the answer is to use their own sales processes against them in the opposite direction.

    I have an iPhone. On AT&T. With no data plan. That's the spec required here, right?

    So let's go play a little. Go to the "stores" aka those mall outlets, rather than someone in corporate. Just like we/they/someone says about Greater ______ ****wad, the workers in those stores have to earn their living doing real work rather than being a faceless voice of policy. So my example is from AT&T. It could be different on those other carriers.

    1. Go to AT&T Store. "Hi. I want to end my contract. What if any fees do I need to pay to get out of it?" (Sometimes/often you'll have a minimum left on the "subsidy".) End your contract. Or, if this was that "second hand phone" you might just go to step 2.
    2. "I want a Go-Phone plan on this phone. $100, so that the minutes last all year." By making a purchase, you are directing the discussion. There's nowhere for them to wiggle you.

    Put facetiously for slashdot humor effect, you can go all baby-steps on this.
    "Go-Phone plan. You still sell those, right? I like the Meatloaf ad on TV. He's my hero."
    "Yay. Now I can be just like Meatloaf. Or something. Here's $100. In the $100 option the minutes last a whole year right? Good."
    GoPhone *doesn't have* data. Since we all know companies don't like giving away stuff for free, and you handed them five $20's, "of course you can't get free data". Which is ... wait for it ... what we wanted. There's nowhere for them to charge anything else because you handed cash to the sales person at an AT&T store.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  12. Re:Welcome to... by vokyvsd · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I have altered the details of our arrangement, pray I do not alter it any further."

    Hmm, now who said that?

  13. Re:Welcome to... by Gaygirlie · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you're a woman, instead of pressing that reply button, why not just go make yourself useful and pleasure a man?

    Pfft, why would I? Pleasing other women is a much more fun and useful use of my time!