I got the email yesterday

[Jimbos Jumbos]

From ATT. Telling me that I can no longer tether. Then went on to say that they will automatically change my unlimited account to a 4GB account. My price will go from $30 to $45.

Interesting that they targeted me. I am usually around 1GB of data a month. This month, we lost power for a week, so I tethered the ipad. My Data jumped to just under 2GB for the month.

Has anyone been successful fighting this? When I signed up with ATT, they did not offer tethering. There is nothing in my contract that mentions tethering. Now, they are trying to change my contract. The way I see it, since there is nothing stating that I can not tether, they are breaking the contract.

any thoughts?

 

[Jimbos Jumbos]

no thoughts? I guess no one has had any luck fighting this.

I spent about an hour on the phone with customer service. I was passed around to 4 different departments, finally ending up with a department called the Specialty support team. This was a much different conversation. The first 3 departments were giving a scripted answer. Saying that my plan will be changed because I was tethering. When I asked these people to show me where my contract says that I can not do this, they all were speechless. I had my contract in my hand during this conversation. There is nothing in my contract that says anything about tethering.
This is the point that they would transfer me.
When I ended up at the Specialty Support team, the tone was much different. The first CS rep was very cold, reading from a script. She kept repeating the same comments over and over. No matter what I asked, she would read the same script. After about 10 mins, I finally asked to speak with her supervisor. She told me that no one else was there and that she is the last person that I can speak to about this issue. She repeated that comment at least 5 times. I finally said that she was avoiding my question. I then said, "Do you mind if I record this conversion for future record" She hesitated, then I heard her whispering. She finally said "sure, I dont care". I asked one more time. "Yes or no, can I speak with a supervisor about this issue". She game the same answer, "I am the last person that you can speak to about this issue. If you continue to tether, your plan will be changed" I asked her another question and I heard more whispering. I finally said "Just put the other person on the phone" She said "what are you talking about" I said, you are asking me to repeat my comments so often because you are talking to someone else, just put them on the line so I do not have to repeat myself anymore. There was a 10 second silence, then a voice came on saying "This is Rosemary, how can I help you". I asked who she was, and why she was listening to our conversation. She said, "I am Rosemary Taylor and I am the manager of the Specialty Support team". I was so pissed. They had been lying to me that no supervisors were there. When she was actually there, and listening to the conversation the entire time.
Bottom line, I repeated several times that I do not authorize any changes to my contract. If anything is changed without my consent, I would consider our contract and my commitment to be void. She said I would still be held responsible for any ETF if I tried to walk away from my contract.

I followed up with an email to the BBB and to ATT corp. I will update you if I hear anything.

 

[dwfw]

Technically since tethering is not a part of your contract, you have already broken your commitment, and set yourself up for this. I don't necessarily agree with their tactics, but they aren't changing anything. You violated the terms and are already subject to cancellation WITH ETF.

 

[Massie]

I'd have to double check, but I believe the contract also specifically states that the unlimited data provision is restricted to on-device usage.

 

[Brickman]

From ATT. Telling me that I can no longer tether. Then went on to say that they will automatically change my unlimited account to a 4GB account. My price will go from $30 to $45.

Interesting that they targeted me. I am usually around 1GB of data a month. This month, we lost power for a week, so I tethered the ipad. My Data jumped to just under 2GB for the month.

Has anyone been successful fighting this? When I signed up with ATT, they did not offer tethering. There is nothing in my contract that mentions tethering. Now, they are trying to change my contract. The way I see it, since there is nothing stating that I can not tether, they are breaking the contract.

any thoughts?

IMHO, the best you can hope for is to get them to "waive" or "reduce the charges for that one month. If you call and tell them what happened they may cut you some slack. For one time only though. They will be watching though.

I don't like it either but it is the hand we have been dealt. Unfortunately all the Carriers seem to be doing this as well.

 

[Jimbos Jumbos]

I have an update. No change, just an update.

I received a call today from a manager (Tom). I explained my case and he pretty much said "so what". This is our new policy and you will follow it.

I again reminded him that tethering was not offered at the time I signed a contract with ATT. Since it was not offered, it was not in the contract or the terms of service. I asked him for a copy of the TOS from Feb 2010. Tom told me that he did not have access to any old copies or versions of the TOS.

I know that ATT can change anything they want at any time, but I do not think they have to right to change contracts.

If anyone has access to the Feb 2010 version of the TOS, I would be curious to see if tethering is a violation of the contract.

If it is, what does that mean? If I violated the contract, doesnt that make it void?

 

[Guacho]

How many lines do you have?? How far to the end of the contract?? You could always cancel and go to sprint while they have unlimited data ( 5gb a month )

 

[korp#IM]

You are mad because the data offered for your phone doesn't transfer to computer usage. What is interesting is the time you are wasting on an issue where you are technically stealing for a purpose other than intended. You are fighting a battle you have no shot in hadies of winning.


Sent from my iDevice using Tapatalk

 

[Timberwolf]

Well, I do think that they are technically in the right, but since you are using so little data per month, I don't think they should be going after you. I would be more careful in the future, maybe promise AT&T that you're not going to tether anymore without a tethering plan? That might get them off your case, at least for a while.