Hi MITERS,
I am writing to try to expose an unethical practice by AT&T Wireless. Â For the past 4 years, I have been a customer of AT&T Wireless until just recently. Â The reason I switched is because out of 4 lines on a family share plan (2 of which are smartphones we own outright - and not subsidized) we were spending $183 monthly on our wireless bill. Â This amount was for voice and text service on all 4 lines plus mobile data on 2 of the lines which were smartphones. Â To save my family some money, I elected to discontinue the text messaging service and data on our account (a difference of $80) and our final monthly amount would have been around $100 monthly, which is a number we felt was acceptable and viable for our family. Â For our data needs, we elected to use the WiFi function on our smartphones (which we paid more than $500 outright for) in liu of AT&T's expensive mobile data plans.
After dealing with 5 AT&T reps, we were sternly told that AT&T's new "policy" was that ALL smartphones were now required to have a mobile data plan and could no longer opt out. Â They told me our only option was to put our SIM cards into a "dumb phone" to escape the data tariffs. Â I don't find this an acceptable or ethical practice, especially since we use these devices on WiFi and are happy with that, with the added fact that they also function as media players for us when we go to the gym (like iPods). Â We've invested a lot of money on these devices which we worked very hard for and are now being told essentially that we don't have the right to own them in order to escape these "mandatory fees", which clearly are technically not required.
Further more, AT&T now performs an extortion practice whereby they scan their network for the IMEI (a phone's unique identifier) to detect if you are using a smartphone, so even if you "downgrade" to a dumbphone, remove the data tariff, then insert a SIM back into a smartphone (which you own outright) their system identifies the change and AUTOMATICALLY adds, without your permission, the mandatory data tariff - even if you disable it on your phone and use WiFi instead! Â The equivalent analogy to apply here is a cable company detecting that you are using an HD TV and automatically upgrading you to a mandatory HD Cable package - why should they? Â They certainly aren't allowed to do this, so why is AT&T & Verizon allowed to? Â This should be illegal practice and the consumer should have the right to opt out of data if they own a smartphone outright and without carrier subsidy!
As a result of this issue, I went to a T-mobile store and brought my family share plan to them - porting all 4 lines over and because T-mobile does not require us to buy a data plan, we happily use these devices on their network and pay only for the services we desire (voice and text). Â Since our smartphone handsets are GSM, we are able to make this move easily by just inserting the new T-mobile SIM cards into our existing devices. Â Since we are bringing our own equipment, we also receive a $10/month discount on the family service plan which effectively services all 4 lines at a $103/month savings. Â We now pay $80/month for the services we want and are happy T-mobile exists to be able to do this for us. Â
When you buy an expensive device, like a smartphone, you should not be told you are not allowed to use it as a result of opting out of a data plan. Â This story badly needs to be broken and put in the public spotlight. Â Our "smartphones" are more than just smartphones, they also perform many other essential functions: music player, personal calendar/assistant, pocket computer, and even on some models, an FM radio.
If the merger goes through, we are sure that we will once again be subject to the extorted fees the new firm will likely implement under the control of AT&T. Â A good reason to write the FCC, FTC, and SEC about stopping this merger. Â If you use a GSM phone, you owe it to yourself to get your pens moving!
--
- John
