BenA

If I end up needing to find a different option, I'll end up switching to Google Project Fi. I can recommend it to others - while it isn't unlimited, data is fairly priced at $10/GB, and the SIM can be used in an iPhone once it's been activated on a Nexus device.

I've been using Fi and giving my AT&T International SIM to my wife on occasion while traveling. It works pretty well - Google recently bumped up the speeds to a usable level, which was the main blocker at first. Unfortunately, their set of roaming partners isn't as strong as AT&T's, but there's usually at least one per country that works reasonably well.

$10/GB is a nonstarter for ordinary domestic usage for me, though... so I may need to pair a Fi account with another carrier like T-Mobile.

Dubai Stu

I noticed that ATT was having doubts about honoring its commitment. First they killed cruise ships, then they decide Cuba wasn't a country, and now this. Maybe I'm worry for no good reason, but I have a bad feeling.

kupe

Hey Stu! Long time no see! Another old prepaidgsm.net alum!

This gave me a smile since this past fall I was A) on a cruise, and B) it was in Cuba! And ATT had recently pulled Cruise Ship support, and the announced Cuba roaming agreement with ETECSA had been delayed and was not working in mid-October with my grandfathered ATT Unlimited World account. Not sure if it would work today, and given today's news, this doesn't look good.

Does anyone have a feel for the scope of what ATT's announcement could mean for us? Regarding the ATT grandfathered domestic unlimited plans, they managed to tread fairly lightly for quite awhile. Only two price increases over many years (though comparatively recently) from $30 to $35 to $40. And yes, they tried to cap and throttle service, but on that they backed off substantially.

But in the case of the Domestic grandfathered unlimited plans, we were talking quite a large number of subscribers. For us on the World Unlimited...well...I'm worried.

I'll post anything I learn.

Kupe

BenA

AT&T just rolled out new international day passes, so I suspect that was an impetus for them to rethink their overall roaming strategy. I'm hoping that this is just a price increase, which honestly would be expected at this point given that I've been paying the same cost for quite some time, but I'm not optimistic...

Dubai Stu

They wouldn't be warning of the day in a text and to watch out of a letter for a $10 increase in price.

kupe

Stu-

I agree. Uggghhhh.

Kupe

BenA

I tend to agree as well, although it's worth noting that some of us are under contract with this plan - so any price increase is basically AT&T breaking the contract and raising prices midstream, which carries certain regulatory notification requirements.

Still, if that were the case, the notification would have been "Prices are increasing for your plan", not an ominous "changes are coming".

kupe

Ben-

Interesting point regarding the contract. I'm currently contract-free on my iPhone. So you're still under contract and also got the text from ATT?

My iPhone is unlocked and if ATT imposes anything too onerous on our Unlimited International Plan, I'll have to give a serious look at T-Mobile for their free International data roaming. Yes, I realize it's throttled to basically 2G, and not as many countries as we've enjoyed with ATT, but at least it's an option.

Kupe

nmenaker

There might be some notificatin requirement, but there isn't anything regulating their ability to change the terms, prices, fees, etc, the only recourse the consumer has is that they then have the right to terminate the contract without penalty for 30 days (although mobile cos have been able to of course recover phone subsidies and ETF fees). If they simply change the terms here, and you are for some reason under contract you can get out scott free. That's about it though.

gwade

I did some math yesterday. While I've enjoyed keeping the plan for so long with a nice FAN discount, I really only travel internationally about 3 or 4 times a year. If I take the new unlimited plan, I essentially save enough over the course of a year to "buy" 40 days of international service using their new $10 buck a day thingy. So while I hate losing it on principle, I'll survive.

GadgetFreak

Yeah, I agree. I'm sure I would as well under normal circumstances. A few years ago I was doing 250,000 miles a year, mostly international. I was in Europe probably once a month and Asia once every two months on average. But many were short trips time wise and in addition I've cut way back on travel. A $10 a day plan would possibly save me money and at worst wouldn't cost me an inordinate amount unless I step up my travel again.

BenA

Yup, I specifically signed a 2 year contract on the last possible day in the hopes it would improve my chances of keeping the plan as long as possible. I'm under contract through mid-January 2018.

(As others have pointed out, that doesn't really mean much, though, and my recourse will just be the ability to cancel and not repay the device subsidy I received. a pretty unconscionably one sided situation for consumers, but AT&T holds all the cards here.)

gwade

Just got a letter, pretty damn benign if you asked me.

1) The added a clause about canceling your plan if more than 50% of your usage is from overseas

2) Cruise ship went up from $5/mb to $8.19/mb.

3) Pay per use in Cuba and Vietnam (and referred you to a website for country coverage). I didn't really check the list to see if anything major has dropped off, but they specifically called out Cuba and Vietnam.

NO price change.

Color me shocked...seems like a whole lot of hub bub for this.

GadgetFreak

Very interesting. I got to talk to a seemingly very competent person when I called back and they were very nice and said they were conforming with their supervisor on two occasions. They also said no big changes.

Dubai Stu

Exhale. 50 percent outside the US over what period? Two months?