How to Dump AT&T Over Sneaky New Administrative Fee

...no ETF and you get to pay half the price you were getting ripped off at.

Of course they are cheaper, they use at&t's own network to sell service. It's easy to provide cheap service when you don't have a network to maintain or build. If it wasn't for at&t and Verizon building out their networks StraightTalk wouldn't even exist. Enjoy the shitty phones with Gingerbread and 3G speeds.

Except StraightTalk doesn't offer AT&T sims anymore. Good luck getting back on AT&T's network (You'll get a T-Mo sim instead).

and absolutely no data roaming.

actually it's not that hard if you get out of your contract you still own your phone and you got away without paying an ETF. You simply just sign up for AT&T go phone service it's as simple as that. The point of our discussion is jusT To be relieved of your conTracT.
I have t mobile as my provider And I'm on their prepAid and Yes I still am allowed to roam on some of AT&T towers just no data access.

Same here, I dont get data roaming, but on the 30 plan I do get to roam onto their network when T-Mobile isnt present, and still make txt and phone calls no probs

except I am quite enjoying my SGS3, or any other SIM card based phone with straighttalk. In fact, with the money I save every year versus post-paid services, I can buy a new phone, in full, 2 times every year. Also, LTE sometimes works on AT&T(yes, i have an AT&T ST SIM, which they do not offer anymore), and Tmo has said that LTE will work for prepaid MVNOs and such on their network as well, so what exactly am I not enjoying?

I'm enjoying that moron subsidize our cheap service.

+1

You're not getting LTE. And you sure as hell are not getting unlimited data either. Once again if at&t and Verizon were to go belly up as many here hope Straight Talk would no longer exist since it would not have a network to work on. I'm not sure which part of that you are not getting.

i am getting unlimited data. last month i used 5.2GB. i am on track to use 4GB this month. i have never gotten a text ot warning either. the LTE icon on my SGS3 pops up about 3 times per month. i suspect itis a mistake, but 3G does not support 35mbps speeds. you should do more research before you make an ass of yourself.

doubt it

are you a f-ing moron? You can bring ANY att/T-Mobile phone to ST, not just the phones they offer....do you even bother to do 10 seconds of research? What a clown.

I'm keeping an eye on the new no-contract aio service that ATT is starting to roll out. I'm kind of screwed where I am because ATT has the best coverage, but aio provides service on the ATT network at a much lower cost (I've heard $35 for unlimited everything). It's kinda like StraightTalk, it sounds like.

I have been with AT&T since Bellsouth Mobility. While I may not agree with some of their practices, they provide the best coverage for me and my business. It's a big decision for me to switch to another provider as I rely on my phone day in and day out. I can't be stuck without service or I could very well lose a customer. I have considered Straight Talk and other providers, but just can't find any that provide the same coverage and service level (LTE).

Must live in an odd area. I get better reception from a cheap Tracphone than I do AT & T in some areas.

In the Hilton Head Island area of SC AT+T is the worse carrier, Verizon being the best and my tracfone uses the Version network.

Verizon does indeed rock the house in that area. Was happy to see 4G finally lit up when I was down that way last September.

And then this past April, saw that they'd done a little 4G lighting in the Fripp Island area. But it was not that great of a signal. 3G did pretty well, though.

I don't know if he lives in an odd area but I'm willing to bet that from his backyard or business address he can see an AT&T tower in plain view.

I live in a city of about 80,000. Great AT&T coverage, LTE added just recently and rarely a problem. Is it perfect? No, but it's much better than the alternatives in this area.

AT&T is great here. 4-5 bars everywhere I go on my grandfathered unlimited iPhone and iPad. I stream constantly driving everywhere with no interruptions.
Also no need to worry about 61 cents if you own AT&T stock.

So you are implying that the 61 cents they are taking from you will be awarded back to you with at least a 61 cent increase in dividends?

I doubt that, it will still cost you. Maybe less than a non-stock holder, but it will certainly still cost you.

I'm saying its easier to deal with the 61 cent increase when I'm getting around $800 every three months reinvested dividends with this stock in my Roth IRA.

So you have SIXTY THOUSAND dollars in ATT stock? Because at the 45 cent dividend they give, you'd need like 1778 shares @ 45/each to get 800$ every three months....

Doesn't sound like you have much of an unbiased opinion there.

yea good luck with that grandfathered ,try watching 2 hd movies and see what happens

Your pessimism is entertaining at best. There are few carriers out there that offer such poor service that you MUST go with AT&T to maintain your living standard.

I'm not quite sure what the purpose of your post is but contrary to what some like to say AT&T overall isn't horrible. I have rarely had an issue with them. I do pay more than I would like too, but overall I get a solid signal everywhere I go and little problems.

So are people really going to cancel their service over a 61 cent monthly increase?

It's the principal of things, would you be happy if they raised it $1 every month until they got a normal phone contract to $150 and $50 more per phone ?

It's more about stopping them from doing this stuff when ever they feel they want to.

No, almost no one is. And even those who say they will are just blowing smoke in a public forum and will do nothing. And other than retired people, who has the time to spend hours on the phone to save 61 cents/mo.

When it gives unhappy subs a way out with no ETF, you bet!

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney

Maybe if they bill the ETF, you could use breach of contract when defending a debt collection suit when they try to collect the ETF.

Also, most states have laws against unfair and deceptive acts.

For a family that have 4 lines, this new fee will be a total of $29.28 a year. Yes that is a big increase. This should be big enough to get out of your contract.

AT&T Customer Service reps and even supervisors/managers with all the escalation you go simply will NOT agree to waive the ETF and/or allow customers to cancel for this reason. They have all been trained to deny all such requests. Period.

99% of the people posting on the forums are indicating that AT&T denied their request to cancel service without the ETF. The very small handful of folks claiming success I doubt are accurately reporting their situation; they may have been out of contract already or had some other mitigating factor without having to rely on the recent price increase. Or more likely they are either simply blowing hot air to troll or are simply mistaken thinking that an AT&T rep agreed to allow them to port-out and waive the ETF but will find out the hard way on their final AT&T bill when they in fact will be billed the ETF. At which point it will be too late for them to do anything about it. (Other than actually paying it or allowing AT&T to mess up their credit history/FICO.)

And it is important to note that the vast vast majority of posters are indicating being denied. (Usually with a token amount of credit to their AT&T account.)

If ANYTHING goes to arbitration you WILL LOSE no matter WHAT! The arbitrators are always on the companies side (and payroll)... only in extreme cases will they save face and let you off the hook.
Get a good lawyer familiar with arbitration clauses, take it to a judge and have him throw out the arbitration (they can do it just fine; ie lawyer has to make the case its unconscionable) and you'll be on easy street. Usually companies who's arbitration gets ignored by a judge don't show up to court, automatically giving you the win. But you need a good lawyer not joe schmoe from down the block.

I advised someone else to do this (someone I know locally) and they're going through this right now (actually waiting for small claims court date, judge threw out arbitration).

Oh and most judges know that arbitrators are biased but they still need a good reason to throw out arbitration.

Oh; for anyone worried about arbitration...
check this link, good info (albeit incomplete)
»skloverworkingwisdom.com ··· bitrate/

EDIT: uh oh, grammar nazis...

I wrote in to the FCC regarding this when my last statement had the notice posted. I recieved a call from AT&T because the FCC handed my complaint to AT&T to resolve. The AT&T lady said the standard response, that the fee is not regulated by the FCC, but the ATT administration will review the new fees if enough people complain.

My recommendation is to start sending the FCC billing complaints every month until AT&T caves in. And that's exactly what I plan to do here when my bill comes in today or tomorrow.

You have 30 days after receiving the bill with it first on to TAKE action. It being under review by their account does not suspend the clock on that.

Essentially, AT&T was charging way too much for too little.

Yes, their network is great, but its not worth the extra cash to us. We were seeking to merge our two cell accounts with AT&T, and they wanted a minimum of $200 for 300mb of data on 2 lines + the other 2 voice lines. No texting. Of course they did not mention fees.

We were with AT&T for 11 years, since it was Cingular. The CS and Retention reps we spoke with were rude with us, even though we were polite. When calmly informing them that we will be switching carriers if they cant provide a deal, one of the reps flew into a rage rant full of technical lies (AT&T phones wont work on T-Mos network??? Bull, they work fine on EDGE, and have 3G in the refarmed areas.) The rep hung up on us actually, so we called back.

The retention person we got on the line did not care that we were leaving at all, and maintained a rude attitude.

Good riddance. They made Comcast CS look fantastic that day!

T-Mobile gave us 500mb of Data on every line, unlimited voice, and unlimited texting for $100 total on 4 lines. Their CS has been very good. We had issues with number porting, and as a result they paid our last AT&T bill in the form of a credit. No rude attitude so far out of their support.

I dont care that I cant make a call anywhere, all of the places I frequent have stable signal. Its true that some people depend on their phones for their jobs, and I cant see T-Mo working for them.

Heck, T-Mobiles efforts in improving their network are visible. I saw 3G light up on my iPhone 20mi from home.

-wow this was a long post-

I am one of the few who does not need cellular data when around my local town. I have wifi at work, home and around town when needed.

Found h2o pay as you go sim card at 5 cent per min all I really needed day to day. But when I travel, I use data, and just switch my sim over to the att byod sim from net10.

Try contacting both FCC and BBB.

When they implemented data caps on DSL, I immediately cancelled and was billed $90 for the ETF. Filed complaints to FCC and BBB, the $90 was "credited" to the account, didn't have to pay a dime.

F*CK AT&T!!!!

I called about it last month. Eventually I got put through to customer retention. After debating a bit she counted the number of months left on my newest phone, multiplied that by the 5 lines and that by .61. I don't remember the exact amount, but the credit was around $75. This seemed fair to me. I know this was just a customer good will credit and to make me go away happy, but it will cover the $3.05 per month until the time when I can choose to stay and pay the increased price or leave. By that time I hope that the Sprint network has improved and they still offer unlimited data. I only stay with AT&T right now because I have unlimited data on my line and Sprint network speed is so bad.

Be polite. Be persistent. Use good examples, like "I realize this is only $3/month, but what if it was $30/month for a new fee. Wouldn't you consider that materially changing the contract? They will agree. Well then, why should the amount determine whether or not it is a change in terms". The other thing they like to argue is that it is just a change in billing, ie an accounting change. I said "ok, then I expect the amount above the line to be decreased by the same amount, since this cost has obviously always been there and you have been paying it as part of my contract with the money we agreed upon."

Be polite, it's not the CSR's decision to add the fee to our bill.

Just called AT&T and explained that I wanted a credit or to be released from contract, since they changed the terms. The rep gave me no trouble and applied the credit and a little extra. I only wanted what was fair and AT&T gave me no issues at all. Maybe if I only accepted getting out of my contract, I likley would of had more issues, but since I just wanted a credit for the .61c x remaing months, it was no problem at all.

I called 4 times to get fee and etf removed with no results. So I ported my number and sent a Notice of Dispute on May 29 via certified mail. The letter arrived on Sat June 1 and they called 4 days later.

The rep waived both the fee and the etf. She tried to get me to sign a non disclosure agreement but I refused.

This is all to say that you can indeed get out from under AT&T and its shoddy business practices.

fyi fatwallet has a good thread about this with input from an arbitration professional. Most people got out of their contracts with no ETF by just sending the Notice of Dispute from from AT&T's site.

Well I tried and tried to get out of it and after 3 hours of phone time I couldn't get anywhere. But I did get my text messaging free for the next 6 months if that counts for anything... Eff AT&T