AT&T made yet another move against customers who still have a grandfathered unlimited data plan. This time, they have taken it upon themselves to increase the price of the unlimited data plan to help put the squeeze on people, with a claim that it is the first price increase in 7 years.
If you’re one of these customers, then you know the price has increased a number of times since they introduced unlimited data. The magic in the way they do it is simply changing what they call the data plan to justify higher prices each time. For example, “In order for you to upgrade to the ‘new’ Samsung Galaxy (or HTC, Nokia or whatever else rocks your boat), you are going to have to upgrade to our ‘new’ 4G plan, because this phone won’t work with the ‘old’ 4G plan that you were on”–and of course the new one is more expensive. So really, they have increased the price a number of times over the years.
Our Senior Editor shared with us a bill from about 5 years ago. His data plan was listed as an Unlimited Data plan (simple, and straight to the point, right?). It didn’t say anything like “Unlimited Slow Data that Doesn’t Support New Versions of The Network As it Rolls Out Plan”. They told him that in order to upgrade his phone, that the old plan doesn’t have access to the 4G network of things, and he would have to upgrade his plan else he will not be able to use his new phone. Since then, the price on his account has increased 42.6% (which includes the discount that he receives from another job).
They could have very easily included the “unlimited data” plan users into the 4G network (I mean, it didn’t say anything about “Unlimited 3G-Only Plan”). Instead, they created a Unlimited 4G Data plan, as an excuse to force customers onto a more expensive package.
The only time they did this somewhat right was the original unlimited plan, which was referred to as something like Unlimited PDA Data. Obviously, we eventually dropped the usage of PDA as a term, so that plan was outdated. They could have simply renamed it and kept things where they were for grandfathered users, but instead they created a new (more expensive) plan and booted everyone off the old one. Another example, that this has been done before (just worded differently). Of course, you look at today’s announcement from AT&T and it’s the “first price increase in 7 years”.
They will say or do whatever it takes to put the choke on customers who have unlimited data, in the attempt to force them onto a limited plan. The letter (see expandable image below) even conveniently states that “of course…you could always *cancel* your unlimited data plan and switch to one of our not so unlimited plans if you’d like” (which is what they are hoping for).
We sat down with James, our Senior Editor to discuss what he felt about the situation. He wasn’t pleased at all and said that he is thinking about leaving AT&T. He has been a paying customer since they were still Cingular Wireless–which he raved about as being a reliable company that would have never sought to attack their customers so much.
“I understand that network costs can get up their with people abusing the privileges of ‘unlimited’. This could warrant certain restrictions on the account that won’t affect the majority (similar to cable internet providers going after users who run file servers behind their unlimited data accounts that eat giant amounts of data).
AT&T’s constant use of techniques that always affects the majority is becoming a headache. Through practices such as throttling, with a trigger point low enough to affect a large percentage of their users, they have proven time and time again that they don’t care about quality and happiness over money. They don’t seek to truly become the nation’s ‘best wireless company’–they simply want to become the nation’s ‘richest wireless company’, no matter what it takes to achieve this glory. It’s all about those bonuses!
Cingular, in its day, seemed to stand out as a company that wanted to give. It wanted to give because it wanted to become, the best. They did a great job as they stole a lot of business away from the other major networks. This was the whole reason AT&T wanted to get their hands on them–so that they could rebuild their image that they destroyed the last time they attempted cellular service. Instead, they squandered it by squeezing it until there was nothing left to be special about it. No better than the other major networks, they have done everything they could to get the most profit out of the least amount of service. If it wasn’t for the other (major) networks doing the same, AT&T would have found themselves once again with bankruptcy troubles.
These businesses should go back to the mentality of the ‘baker’ and the ‘candy store’. Business models that depended on bringing smiles to face of their customers, causing a reputation that brought more customers for miles and miles. Not fake smiles through actors on TV ads, but a quality of service that makes customers proud to give them their money. To feel as though they are getting the best they can for what they pay. Mixing it with love to make the world taste good. What ever happened to this?
Pandora seems to get it. They realized that a very small percentage of their users were weighing things down with the amount that they took advantage of their service with. Most likely small to mid-size businesses who used Pandora as their music source for ambient shopping noise. This affects the quality of the network if their profit return can’t keep up with this kind of usage. They solve this by setting the ‘throttle bar’ high enough that it wouldn’t affect the majority of their users. Instead, only those select few were pushed towards paying for their usage, while the rest of the world continued on talking about how wonderful they think Pandora is. A happy customer goes a long ways.”
– James Hrenak
Here is a copy of the letter that was sent out to customers (click for a larger view):
