40% roaming rule?

[Cluemeister]

I was advised not to buy the iphone tonight at an at&t store, as I live in a "partner" area (Unicel), and don't get at&t coverage in my town. The retail guy said that if I exceeded 40% of my anytime minutes roaming, then at&t would possibly shut off my service. And when I read the at&t terms carefully the 40% rule applies to all "services" used (read web surfing) compared to anytime minutes in your plan. With 450 anytime minutes, there's no way I would be less than 40% roaming for any given month. That's equal to a limit of 6 minutes per day of calls and data. Yikes!

Anyone have any insight or way around this rule?

thx

 

[Gee-Air-Mo]

Seems logical that if you are roaming on someone else's network, AT&T would not like it. I have also heard of this happening.

 

[anon(4698833)]

As far as i knew...if you're on a nationwide plan, AT&T didn't charge anything extra for roaming (within the united states).

 

[boomhower1820]

As far as i knew...if you're on a nationwide plan, AT&T didn't charge anything extra for roaming (within the united states).

They may not charge but they can terminate service. Roaming costs cell providers a ton of money. Sprint does the same thing. Roam to much and they terminate your contract.

 

[jsntrenkler]

Yeah, does make sense, they have to pay their roaming partner ... I agree, don't use at&t if you don't have coverage in your area.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Yeah, i didn't think of that...though it seems a bit of a false "welcome" if they sign you up for service with the knowledge that you'll prob exceed their preset "cap" on roaming. You'd think, without service in the area where the customer lives, that they would proactively refrain from signing them on...then again, that doesn't really fall in line with the money hungry business model these days...and i highly doubt the little $9/hour CSR in the store really cared at all.

 

[jsntrenkler]

Yeah, i didn't think of that...though it seems a bit of a false "welcome" if they sign you up for service with the knowledge that you'll prob exceed their preset "cap" on roaming. You'd think, without service in the area where the customer lives, that they would proactively refrain from signing them on...then again, that doesn't really fall in line with the money hungry business model these days...and i highly doubt the little $9/hour CSR in the store really cared at all.

I totally agree!

 

[Cleveland]

I was advised not to buy the iphone tonight at an at&t store, as I live in a "partner" area (Unicel), and don't get at&t coverage in my town. The retail guy said that if I exceeded 40% of my anytime minutes roaming, then at&t would possibly shut off my service. And when I read the at&t terms carefully the 40% rule applies to all "services" used (read web surfing) compared to anytime minutes in your plan. With 450 anytime minutes, there's no way I would be less than 40% roaming for any given month. That's equal to a limit of 6 minutes per day of calls and data. Yikes!

Anyone have any insight or way around this rule?

thx

If the salesperson limited this to the iPhone, they are just full of it, wouldn't matter what smartphone you use, still be in the 40% rule, which I haven't ever heard of until now so I'd try it and see, but the question is, do you have to pay an ETF if they cancel it because of that ?

 

[chobbs1]

Actually, if you do a search on these forums you will find this was discussed several times. And it is not unusual. AND AT&T will find out and will either charge you or cut you off. And it is not limited to iPhones. Your better off listening to the advice of the salesperson. If you are not in an AT&T covered area. Don't get the AT&T iPhone as it will be useless once your cut off

 

[chobbs1]

http://forum.tipb.com/iphone-ipad-carriers-plans/182091-att-off-network-data-usage.html

There is a link to just one of the threads I remember reading in 2009

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

Guys, look at when this was posted

06-29-2007, 08:02 PM

 

[chobbs1]

Lol! Talk about reviving the dead thread!

 

[ChrisGonzales90]

Tell me about it, but this gets me on the members stats

Join Date: Oct 2002

So was this an error or what exactly was this site before TIPB