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AT&T Secretly Offering Unlimited Data Again

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

But only if you make threats.

The Verizon iPhone 4 just two weeks away, and there looms a large cloud of "non-exclusive" over AT&T. Now AT&T must compete on both a level of service on top of having one of the premier smartphones on the market.

With AT&T having taken away its unlimited data option, and Verizon offering it for $30, it seems that competition has done what it is supposed to and now AT&T could be bringing its old plan back from the dead.

AT&T isn't making anything official yet about unlimited data coming back, but the AP reports that a couple of customers phoned into customer service and threatened to cancel to move to Verizon.

The two customers mentioned in the story had previously been on the unlimited plans, and AT&T allowed them both to switch back to the $30 unlimited option. Other customers who tried the same thing, but had never been on the unlimited plan in the past, were unsuccessful in getting the option.

AT&T's only comment was, "We handle customers and their situations individually, and we're not going to discuss specifics."

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icepick314 01/28/2011 4:12 PM
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it's true that squeaky wheel gets the grease...

if a customer doesn't say anything, the business doesn't have to provide...

if there are better alternate, then by all means, go for it!

ikefu 01/28/2011 4:15 PM
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You want to make people really happy? Offer an automatic adjusting plan. Only charge me the $15 for the month if I use 250mb or less but pop me to the $25 if I use the 2Gb amount and then back down to $15 the next month if I'm under 250mb again.

There is zero reason you need to charge me exorbitant rates for every addition mb I use over my plan if I'm still well within the next tier that is only $10 more.

superblahman123 01/28/2011 4:32 PM
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AT&T has always had unlimited data plans? At least I do on my phone.... on a family plan with family wide texting, it's only an extra $5 a month... Or is this referring specifically for smart phones like Blackberry, Adroid, Windows, and IPhone? I'm sporting an LG Vue Plus

george21546 01/28/2011 4:58 PM
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Kinda makes me think of my health insurance plan. The doctor bills the plan $150 and yet they take the $50 that the insurance pays.

Anonymous 01/28/2011 4:59 PM
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@ikefu

Since when does a telco exist for the benefit of its customers?

Anonymous 01/28/2011 5:03 PM
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No one mentions TEXT MESSAGING charges. I'm paying $20/month extra for this feature with AT&T, but my Verizon family plan includes unlimited text (SMS & MMS). On principle only, I'm ready to dump AT&T for this completely bogus fee.

Anonymous 01/28/2011 5:06 PM
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and in return they had to surrender their souls for another 2 years.......

matt_b 01/28/2011 5:51 PM
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k hock :
No one mentions TEXT MESSAGING charges. I'm paying $20/month extra for this feature with AT&T, but my Verizon family plan includes unlimited text (SMS & MMS). On principle only, I'm ready to dump AT&T for this completely bogus fee.


Unless I missed it, which I doubt it, where is this Verizon plan with FREE and unlimited texting? The top plan I'm offered is $20 per month for 5000 text messages with unlimited mobile to mobile or with ATT I could get $20 for unlimited (basically level playing field). Where am I missing something?

PostmanPat 01/28/2011 5:51 PM
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deralaand :
@ikefuSince when does a telco exist for the benefit of its customers?


I don't know if they still do it, but O2 in the UK used to do something like this... this was years ago when it was mostly calling minutes that made up plans but they had a 100 min, 500 min, 1000 min and unlimited tiered calling setup. They would automatically bill you for whichever plan was most appropriate, eg if you used 90 minutes one month and 9000 the next you'd pay for 100 plan the first month and unlimited plan the next. I was a big fan of this pricing policy.

@k hock... +1, I've heard that in-network text messaging is essentially a free service as far as the providers are concerned and going between networks only adds 3c which just makes me more mad about paying for them...

Blessedman 01/28/2011 6:04 PM
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fair and balanced, everyone is equal? Not according to AT&T

helldog3105 01/28/2011 6:10 PM
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I'm on Verizon and I have the family plan, and we don't get texting for free. I wonder who I call to yell at about that? Also remember that Verizon's unlimited data plan is like all the others... unlimited until you hit 4GB then they start charging you overages.

captaincharisma 01/28/2011 6:11 PM
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AT&T giving unlimited data again? if AT&T subs had bad service before its about to get worse.

milktea 01/28/2011 6:16 PM
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Looks like AT&T is only giving unlimited data to iphone users. Since they are the ones who'd likely to switch over. :(

captaincharisma 01/28/2011 6:17 PM
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I know my wireless carrier doesn't have unlimited texting on all calls but i can pick up to 5 numbers on my plan where i get unlimited texting and calls.its the closest thing to it.

xantek24 01/28/2011 6:24 PM
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$10 Unlimited Data @ T-mobile...wake UP!

icemunk 01/28/2011 6:26 PM
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At least you have this type of option in the USA, here in Canada we get 500MB for $25, and 1GB for $35. There is nothing higher than that, except overage charges.

Anonymous 01/28/2011 6:40 PM
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I would say recently over the past few years, the competition in Canada has increased with better plans coming out of it than in the states. I used to wish we had the same deals, but now my plan is better than a lot of the horror stories I hear, and I have great service to boot. $65/month unlimited incoming calls, unlimited evenings/weekends, unlimited text/pic messaging, free voicemail and call display, 6GB data, then 100min for day use (not much but i don't really need any more). All 3 major carriers in Canada carry the Iphone, and all of their low cost sub companies do as well. I'm with Virgin on Bell's network and I love it. Then again, our cable tv is way more expensive and we don't get the same superbowl commercials... :(

Marcus Yam 01/28/2011 6:40 PM
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icemunk :
At least you have this type of option in the USA, here in Canada we get 500MB for $25, and 1GB for $35. There is nothing higher than that, except overage charges.


If you're in a major metropolitan area, you should check out the unlimited minutes, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $45/mo with Mobilicity or Wind.

iboomer 01/28/2011 6:45 PM
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Just checked my verizon bill, yep, I get unlimited text/vid/pic messaging, and I don't pay for it. Well, I pay for it, but not as a seperate line item.

icemunk 01/28/2011 9:08 PM
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iboomer :
Just checked my verizon bill, yep, I get unlimited text/vid/pic messaging, and I don't pay for it. Well, I pay for it, but not as a seperate line item.



Yeah, I will definetely be switching if they ever start up here in my community.. Northern NB though, so probably not for a while

truerock 01/28/2011 9:32 PM
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What I want is a $0.01 per MB. Screw the $XX.00 per GB per month plans.

Hellbound 01/28/2011 9:35 PM
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Not only is their reception not consistent, but their data plans...

Marcus Yam 01/28/2011 9:52 PM
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icemunk :
Yeah, I will definetely be switching if they ever start up here in my community.. Northern NB though, so probably not for a while


Wind owns wireless spectrum in New Brunswick, but Mobilicity does not. You guys will get Wind, but I don't know when they're expanding out there. The next expansion city is probably going to be Victoria.

MattPenner 01/29/2011 12:20 PM
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Me and my family have been on the unlimited plan since we first got our iPhone 3GS's and have never opted for the other plans. We are still on unlimited.

ikefu, you've got a great idea. If AT&T had rollover "data" that would be great, but I don't see that happening. If I have 5GB, but I only use 2GB, put 3GB in my rollover account. :) Yeah, I'm dreaming.

enforcer22 01/29/2011 8:11 AM
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matt_b :
Unless I missed it, which I doubt it, where is this Verizon plan with FREE and unlimited texting? The top plan I'm offered is $20 per month for 5000 text messages with unlimited mobile to mobile or with ATT I could get $20 for unlimited (basically level playing field). Where am I missing something?



Um well my family plan also includes unlimited text pix flix messaging. your defiantly missing something. that 5000 text plan is for people on the super super super super cheap plans with like 200 minutes that just wana text. which if thats all you want to do verizon offers a text only plan for like $20 a month for text only devices. And right now they are running something i really want to switch to. $15 for like 125 megs a month.. i use at most about 60 megs a month on my phone so this would be great for me. not so for alot of other people i suppose.

Anonymous 01/29/2011 3:42 PM
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I've been an iPhone user with AT&T for going on 4 years now. Switched from unlimited to the 2GB pro plan in June. After seeing a similar story a few days ago, I called this morning and tried to switch back to unlimited. They refused to do so.

eddieroolz 02/01/2011 4:20 AM
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So it looks like AT&T is seriously worried about losing customers to Verizon.