Carrier At&t is clueless on how to respond to Verizon's unlimited data

[Applejuiced]

I'm not sure whether the government forced the easy porting of numbers. They might have (or maybe they "strongly encouraged" them to do so, like they did with interoperability).

Softbank's acquisition of Sprint may have shaken up the market even if the AT&T/T-Mobile merger went through, but I agree that T-Mobile's reaction to the merger being blocked started the current price war.

I agree.
Tmobile started this uncarrier thing and they shook the US wireless scene.
Before that it was no competition or price wars.
Just the 2 big carriers coming out with new and better ways to charge more, add fees and give customers less service for more money. What AT&T did Verizon soon followed with the same less options and bad deals and vice versa.
Im really happy the way this is headed...

 

[vit_don]

The Iphone 7plus will work with Verizon - I spent about 1 hour on the phone with Verizon, At&t and apple and it will work. The issue is you have to wait until March 4th to cancel your contract (if you are still on contract with them) and avoid ETF.

I think that AT&T will respond when many people on the grandfather UDP call them to cancel on March 4th. They stand to lose a lot of people who are grandfathered in and want the tethering.

Spoke to an AT&T rep earlier today-you don't have to wait until the march 4th- you have 60 days to cancel without ETF being charged. First notice was a letter from AT&T a little while ago, and then email followed.
Ported my 4 grandfathered UDP lines to VZW just now-got all activation fees waived too. Also got 32GB "free" iPhone 7.
With auto payments and 15% government discount, my monthly charges will be -$165+fees/taxes.

 

[NougatDude]

Spoke to an AT&T rep earlier today-you don't have to wait until the march 4th- you have 60 days to cancel without ETF being charged. First notice was a letter from AT&T a little while ago, and then email followed.
Ported my 4 grandfathered UDP lines to VZW just now-got all activation fees waived too. Also got 32GB "free" iPhone 7.
With auto payments and 15% government discount, my monthly charges will be -$165+fees/taxes.

Is Best Buy or anyone giving away or will give a way a 256gb 7 plus for free if and when I open new lines?

 

[mmomega]

For one, how can you use that much data? Utilize WiFi more and you won't have a problem.

For some, you would first have to even have WiFi available to use it.

I know for myself, there are plenty of places I travel too that have little to zero WiFi at all and I can't allow that to stop me from doing what I need to do. If a system crashes at one of my offices the income lost to downtime + wasted man-hours is higher than my cell phone bill.

Since being on this plan we've yet to exceed the 80GB plus any rollover data in a month so hitting that or being charged for overages is a non issue.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Well that sounds like a nice big s**t show.
I live in Columbia SC, and have a verizon phone as a work phone but ATT as my personal, and everyone I have ever been with both my ATT phone is always faster and has better coverage. Sometimes it's full bar LTE as opposed to it dropping to 3 or 4g on my work phone..

I have to say I'm not all that impressed with Verizon after the first day. I've seen one spot between work and home with five dots of coverage. Given that my commute is short (about 15 minutes) and the dots aren't incredibly accurate when signifying actual signal strength, I'm not really letting that part get me down too much.

What really bothers me is the one call I made this morning greeted me with a terrible connection where I could barely understand the person on the other end (for you IT guys, I'd say 50% or more of the packets were being dropped or lost). This was before I initiated WiFi calling so that's not a big issue while I'm at home but still unnerving.

 

[CoriG]

Spoke to an AT&T rep earlier today-you don't have to wait until the march 4th- you have 60 days to cancel without ETF being charged. First notice was a letter from AT&T a little while ago, and then email followed.
Ported my 4 grandfathered UDP lines to VZW just now-got all activation fees waived too. Also got 32GB "free" iPhone 7.
With auto payments and 15% government discount, my monthly charges will be -$165+fees/taxes.

So I don't have to wait until 60 days after March 1st

 

[Channan]

I think because it's so easy to switch nowadays. Even moving my grandparents and their phone number to my Verizon plan from an AT&T landline that they've had since the late 60s was super easy. I always thought it was weird that the carriers suddenly became obsessed with getting rid of contracts since that's what kept people from having a free choice before. This has opened up competition dramatically and now you can more easily switch between whatever carrier is offering the better deal. I never thought this would happen, and better yet I don't think it took any extra government regulation to make it happen—aside from the government not approving the T-Mobile/AT&T merger. And thank God they didn't. This is closer to how free markets should work.

It's not all better now than it used to be. Since most people still finance their phones through their carriers, they're still effectively on contract, but before you could get a 650 iPhone for $200, pay a $350 ETF, and get the iPhone for $100 less than retail. Not really a good way to make a profit, but if you did leave shortly after signing a contract, it was cheaper the old way.

Now you have to pay off the cost of your phone before you switch.

What needs to happen is OEMs need to sell phones directly and offer their own financing (like Apple does) so you can switch carriers whenever you want and just continue paying off your phone but use it on another network.

 

[npolly0212]

I have to say I'm not all that impressed with Verizon after the first day. I've seen one spot between work and home with five dots of coverage. Given that my commute is short (about 15 minutes) and the dots aren't incredibly accurate when signifying actual signal strength, I'm not really letting that part get me down too much.

What really bothers me is the one call I made this morning greeted me with a terrible connection where I could barely understand the person on the other end (for you IT guys, I'd say 50% or more of the packets were being dropped or lost). This was before I initiated WiFi calling so that's not a big issue while I'm at home but still unnerving.

Wow, that is horrible to hear. Yeah I hate the verizon service with our work phones lol

 

[KillaMac]

Okay, now you have me worried if Verizon is really that bad?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Okay, now you have me worried if Verizon is really that bad?

One incident in his area does make for bad Verizon service / coverage (in and of itself).

 

[macduke]

It's not all better now than it used to be. Since most people still finance their phones through their carriers, they're still effectively on contract, but before you could get a 650 iPhone for $200, pay a $350 ETF, and get the iPhone for $100 less than retail. Not really a good way to make a profit, but if you did leave shortly after signing a contract, it was cheaper the old way.

Now you have to pay off the cost of your phone before you switch.

What needs to happen is OEMs need to sell phones directly and offer their own financing (like Apple does) so you can switch carriers whenever you want and just continue paying off your phone but use it on another network.

I suppose that's true. I don't think about it since we buy our phones outright now. Verizon lowered our bill by like $15-20/line when we weren't doing contracts any more, so really there wasn't as much of an upside. Personally I like it better this way as it takes more control away from these companies and, as I said earlier, has seemed to make them a bit more competitive. Although I think it's mostly T-Mobile making things better.

 

[ilifecomputer]

every bit of literature i have seen says you have to wait and cancel AFTER march 1 to get your ETF waived. Maybe they made an exception for poster a couple of messages above me, but isn't it true that we have to wait until the increase actually posts?

 

[Applejuiced]

every bit of literature i have seen says you have to wait and cancel AFTER march 1 to get your ETF waived. Maybe they made an exception for poster a couple of messages above me, but isn't it true that we have to wait until the increase actually posts?

I believe you are correct.
I had to wait till the increase appeared on my bill till I could port ETF free from AT&T before.
They notified me weeks before it happened via email and by mail.
Maybe with enough calls and convincing an AT&T rep may let you get out early since the increase is eminent but I dont know if I would risk it cause they might say you're not eligible for the ETF waive since you didnt cancel within the right timeframe.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

So I don't have to wait until 60 days after March 1st

I had my ETF cancelled when I told them I had received a second letter regarding a price increase. No need to wait.

ETA: It appears I'm the exception rather than the rule. YMMV, obviously.

 

[ilifecomputer]

I had my ETF cancelled when I told them I had received a second letter regarding a price increase. No need to wait.

ETA: It appears I'm the exception rather than the rule. YMMV, obviously.

def seems like more of an exception. i am waiting patiently. not that i dislike att; its been great but i know verizon blankets more areas i travel to.

 

[vit_don]

I had my ETF cancelled when I told them I had received a second letter regarding a price increase. No need to wait.

ETA: It appears I'm the exception rather than the rule. YMMV, obviously.

It's all very weird. My info aligns with yours. Decided to call att again, just to clarify-been on hold for a few minutes.
Rep came back and confirmed-I can cancel before the charge shows up and avoid ETF. Also, and it's really funny - my 4th line - is a 3GB data line. Rep offered to switch it to unlimited for free! As not charging monthly!

 

[ilifecomputer]

It's all very weird. My info aligns with yours. Decided to call att again, just to clarify-been on hold for a few minutes.
Rep came back and confirmed-I can cancel before the charge shows up and avoid ETF. Also, and it's really funny - my 4th line - is a 3GB data line. Rep offered to switch it to unlimited for free! As not charging monthly!

interesting. im in no real hurry to cancel but I am curious since i dont want to pay for an extra month in the overlap.

 

[vit_don]

interesting. im in no real hurry to cancel but I am curious since i dont want to pay for an extra month in the overlap.

Same here, as my billing cycle ends 16-17 each month. My SIM cards and daughter's iPhone from VZ were already shipped, so will see...

 

[ilifecomputer]

Same here, as my billing cycle ends 16-17 each month. My SIM cards and daughter's iPhone from VZ were already shipped, so will see...

lol yea mine is same time too

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Can anybody on Verizon explain "Extended LTE"? Still trying to get a feel for how this network is going to work for me and I'm in the breakroom at work with two bars. Speeds seem on par with regular LTE.

Does extended mean I'm roaming?

 

[Applejuiced]

It's all very weird. My info aligns with yours. Decided to call att again, just to clarify-been on hold for a few minutes.
Rep came back and confirmed-I can cancel before the charge shows up and avoid ETF. Also, and it's really funny - my 4th line - is a 3GB data line. Rep offered to switch it to unlimited for free! As not charging monthly!

Wow, you are lucky.
Take the deal and run
[doublepost=1487205404][/doublepost]

Can anybody on Verizon explain "Extended LTE"? Still trying to get a feel for how this network is going to work for me and I'm in the breakroom at work with two bars. Speeds seem on par with regular LTE.

Does extended mean I'm roaming?

No it's not roaming.
It's supposed to be a better/faster LTE.
More like a name gimmick.

 

[2298754]

Also, and it's really funny - my 4th line - is a 3GB data line. Rep offered to switch it to unlimited for free! As not charging monthly!

Can they even do that? I would double-check your account in a few days.

When I called to ask about the ETF, the retentions rep kept offering me an "unlimited" plan to switch to... but it was the normal X amount at 4gb, unlimited 2G after.

 

[vit_don]

Wow, you are lucky.
Take the deal and run
[doublepost=1487205404][/doublepost]

No it's not roaming.
It's supposed to be a better/faster LTE.
More like a name gimmick.

Can't stay with AT&T-my wife has no service at her workplace, and no wifi allowed for a microcell. Plus, I'm saving, by switching to VZW $100+ a month
[doublepost=1487209626][/doublepost]

Can they even do that? I would double-check your account in a few days.

When I called to ask about the ETF, the retentions rep kept offering me an "unlimited" plan to switch to... but it was the normal X amount at 4gb, unlimited 2G after.

The rep never gave any details as what kind of "unlimited" that is - didn't ask, as I don't plan on staying, but she confirmed that I'm free to cancel without ETF. Yeah, I will check my account just to see there is no funny business.

 

[JakeT85]

Can anybody on Verizon explain "Extended LTE"? Still trying to get a feel for how this network is going to work for me and I'm in the breakroom at work with two bars. Speeds seem on par with regular LTE.

Does extended mean I'm roaming?

Do you have voice over LTE on? Typically if extended LTE shows up it means you are connected to an LTE in rural America's partners 3g/1x CDMA network for voice and their LTE network for data. If you turn on voice over LTE it should all turn into Verizon native coverage as their LTE in rural America partners LTE networks are treated just like native Verizon coverage.

You can check if voice over LTE is on on an iPhone by going to settings -> Cellular -> Cellular data options -> Enable LTE -> voice and data. If you click voice and data and it won't activate you'll have to call customer service and have them add the feature to you acct.

 

[KillaMac]

Is it true that Verizon can't switch from LTE to 3g or other bands without dropping the call?