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AT&T offering home phone & internet rural plan 250 gbs $60 & 500 gbs for $100 a month.


chiefneon

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This plan is always deprioritized, says so right in the terms. In a rural area it will never be a problem but if on a congested tower your speeds will be slowed, the reason I know this as I used to have the old plan that was only 25 GB, it was never a problem when I had it but just wanted to make sure you guys are aware.

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John, I successfully ordered with our Livingston address. And a number of others have as well. In my case I specifically asked them if "our" area qualified under the plan and the agent checked the zip and said that it did. That was the second agent I used. The first said that our zip qualified but that the plan was not available for marketing until March. Knowing other people did get it I simply called back and got someone else that understood things better. In BOTH cases I had to use the plan number. In the case I was successful the agent volunteered that he had sold several of them that day. Try again.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

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Blue, thanks for the device offer. I'll hold off for now, because I'm not sure they will, in the end, approve this plan for me. They say they are, but the "out of stock" thing is bothering me.....other people ordering after me have gotten them. It cold just be a regional out of stock, though. And now. with the revision of the unlimited hotspot plan, it may be an option. However I still feel the 250 high speed is a better plan.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhomeĀ 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Tried again and got a very helpful agent, who did a lot of research. In the end, her conclusion was that only certain states qualify, and she read them to me. They are the same as mentioned earlier, and does not include Texas. She could not sell me the plan if she wanted to because her computer would not call up the plan on my account to add it.

Ā 

So I guess I will keep looking. Maybe I'll try again....

Ā 

John

2015 Entegra Aspire 44BĀ diesel pusher with 2017 GMC Acadia DenaliĀ toad
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That is bad news John. They may have changed the software since I ordered. So that would imply my order would eventually be cancelled.

Ā 

I think I may move to the hotspot unlimited plan, and see if that works for me. For $20 a month it is not a big risk. Of course I'll have to move a phone over to ATT. But that is not a bad thing - having two companies.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhomeĀ 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Well I decided to upgrade my Verizon to Unlimited. I'll know in a few weeks if the 10GB or 22GB makes a difference to me. I'm in Conroe TX with a good connection, so we'll see. Upgrading from my 16GB plan ended up costing me $40 a month more but it would mean cancelling my T-Mobile account ($40) that I currently use for streaming.

Ā 

But it is much simpler to have one access point than to make sure you are on the right one when changing what you are doing...

Ā 

==John

2015 Entegra Aspire 44BĀ diesel pusher with 2017 GMC Acadia DenaliĀ toad
Web site, albums, blog and more here

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Just as an FYI, there are reports the standalone Mobley device on AT&T's network listed in another thread that was $40/mo as a standalone device is now only $20/mo after their lastest changes. Even those that were paying $40/mo had their price dropped. That device isn't the best as far as technology wise, but it might be an option for some if they don't want to move a phone to AT&T just to get the $20/hotspot on there?

Dan (Class of 2017) - 2012 Ram 3500 & 2005 Alpenlite Valhalla 29RK
Contact me at rvsolarconsulting.comĀ orĀ Two Wheel Ramblin

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I wanted to confirm my second order did actually ship yesterday, and arrived out our Americas Mailbox location today. (Scheduled to ship to where we are now tomorrow. Should see it Monday, or perhaps Tuesday.)

Ā 

A summary of my two orders:

Ā 

Order 1 - Used our Livingston Mail Forwarding Address as the Service Address. Had the Shipping Address set up to an RV Park outside of Sedona we were going to be going to in a few days. And our Billing Address is our South Dakota Americas Mailbox location.

Ā 

The CS Rep helping on this order said all looked good to her, including a Credit Check (But, possible that was a preliminary screening.). No problem with three different addresses in the mix from her viewpoint, or the software she was using.

Ā 

A week later when the device was not waiting for us at the RV Park, we started the research on what happened. No sign of the Order could be found. Either by me, or a second CS Rep that I finally make phone contact with. And the phone number assigned to my account from the first order, had been assigned to someone else on the same day as the first order.

Ā 

Order 2 - The CS Rep that could find not record, nor could his Supervisor, of the first order, went thru the process with me again. This time I just used our Billing Address, which is our Domicile Address too, in Box Elder, SD - for all addresses... Billing, Service, Delver Too - addresses all matched. And the CS Rep said that another Credit Check would be run. All got along far enough on this order, that I got another phone number assigned, and this time I got an Order Number too.

Ā 

The next day, I could now see not just the second order, but the first order too, including the first phone number assigned to us. It referenced 'Canceled' by as Current Status. But, I could also now see the Second Order, and phone number, and the status was 'In Progress', with a shipping date range of 2/28 - 3/1. Stayed in the In Progress phase until late 3/1, when it went to Shipped, with the FedEx tracking number...

Ā 

=====

Ā 

I repeated much of this from earlier posts to have it sort of summarized. From reading hear on this forum, and a few others too, it sure looks like the first order was Canceled due to the Billing Address not matching the Service Address. Never had any communication from ATT that they had canceled the order, so felt that was a Customer Service fumble on their part.

Ā 

Sorry the Livingston Zip now seems to be causing problems for some. I felt lucky that ours made it thru the system, and should have it in the near future to actually setup and start using.

Ā 

Best to all,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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I'll just toss in that our 250GB rural plan continues to work well near Bushnell, FL. Sunday we'll be moving to Myakka River State Park near Sarasota for a couple of weeks, and I'll see how the speeds hold up there. Since activating the plan, we've only used about 8GB so far, but we haven't done any serious streaming yet.

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
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Howdy!

Ā 

I just check on the status of my order at att.com/orderstatus. It shows to be delivered by FedEx tomorrow. It had been showing the order "in progress" with a delivery date 3-24 to 3-27. Looks like they got a shipment of the devices in.

Ā 

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

"Class of 2007 Fulltimer's"

Gary & karen

Smoochie & Michaela (fur babies)

2018 Chevorlet 3500 HD/LTZ 2L Custom Hauler

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I just check on the status of my order at att.com/orderstatus. It shows to be delivered by FedEx tomorrow. It had been showing the order "in progress" with a delivery date 3-24 to 3-27. Looks like they got a shipment of the devices in.

Ā 

Mine too. It should hit Livingston today....it currently shows it is in Conroe, TX. So it shipped earlier than they specified. I should have it re-shipped from Livingston on Monday (or perhaps tuesday).

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhomeĀ 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Having had our Homebase for 8 days now, I'm very pleased and satisfied with it. According to my WiFiRanger, I've used ~19GB in the period. We streamed ~4GB of Netflix last night without any problem. I'm not sure why the download speed seemed slow the first day the device was connected; since then the average has been ~9-15BMbps which is enough for HD streaming without any problems.

Ā 

But with the BRAND NEW AT&T Unlimited Plus plans that became available yesterday (3/2) it's no longer clear that the Rural Plan is such a big deal. According to Technomadia the AT&T unlimited plan doesn't have data restrictions on stand-alone hotspots and it includes roaming to Canada and Mexico at no extra cost. So the only difference I can see is that the Rural Plan isn't subject to the "22GB Network Congestion" deprioritization threat but it does have a "true cap" at either 250GB or 500GB.

Ā 

You can read Technomadia's article here: https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/att-tries-again-new-unlimited-plus-choice-plans-are-way-more-competitive/

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
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Having had our Homebase for 8 days now, I'm very pleased and satisfied with it. According to my WiFiRanger, I've used ~19GB in the period. We streamed ~4GB of Netflix last night without any problem. I'm not sure why the download speed seemed slow the first day the device was connected; since then the average has been ~9-15BMbps which is enough for HD streaming without any problems.

Ā 

I'm 5 days in on mine and have been exclusively using it to work from home in my S&B home on my work laptop & desktop. I'm only about 5gb in so far, but I'm not using it for anything else except to work right now and very happy with how it has performed. I'm regularly getting 10-15mbs hrough my VPN at work. When I disconnect from VPN, I get closer to 30mbs speeds. I have had no obvious throttling in my area even though I'm not in a target area.

Dan (Class of 2017) - 2012 Ram 3500 & 2005 Alpenlite Valhalla 29RK
Contact me at rvsolarconsulting.comĀ orĀ Two Wheel Ramblin

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Mine too. It should hit Livingston today....it currently shows it is in Conroe, TX. So it shipped earlier than they specified. I should have it re-shipped from Livingston on Monday (or perhaps tuesday).

Howdy!

Ā 

Jack, we picked ours up at the Escapees mail center today. We are now up an running. I did have to make a call to AT&T CSR to find the internet site to activate it. Once I did that I simply had to turn the homebase off and back on again and it's working great. Below is the link to activitate it.

Ā 

https://www.att.com/checkmyorder/activations/activateDevice.rt

Ā 

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

"Class of 2007 Fulltimer's"

Gary & karen

Smoochie & Michaela (fur babies)

2018 Chevorlet 3500 HD/LTZ 2L Custom Hauler

2014 Heartland Cyclone 4000

2016 Smart Car Prime

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Thanks Chief!! Mine is sitting in the mail center until Monday when I can have it forwarded. I should have it in hand by next Monday. I'm leaving on a trip this friday so will have it shipped to that location - that will extend the time before I get my hands on it.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhomeĀ 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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We've had the Homebase since last July and it has worked great connected to my Go2. Occasionally I'll sit the homebase on top of the wilson cradle for a better signal, but most of the time it sees ~6-18Mbs.

I was unaware of the increase homebase data plans. We started on the 25GB and moved to the 50gb for $80 per month, which was a better deal than my Verizon hotspot, but I will now get the 250GB plan!

George and Ann Marie

2014 Cedar Creek 36CKTS, 640W of Solar

2012 Ram 3500, DRW, Cummins, Big Horn, Q20, Retrax Pro

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Howdy!

Ā 

Our new AT&T homebase is working great with good signal here at our property in Livingston at Escapees and our Maximum Signal booster. We also have a old unlimited 3G plan with Verizon. I have tried for years to upgrade it to 4G and Verizon would not without moving it to a data plan. I tried again when Verizon came out with the new unlimited plan. They would only do it if I also had a phone line also. So yesterday after 16 years with them I dumped Verizon and we are now totally AT&T. Would like to have kept duel coverage but Verizon just would not work with a long time customer.

Ā 

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

"Class of 2007 Fulltimer's"

Gary & karen

Smoochie & Michaela (fur babies)

2018 Chevorlet 3500 HD/LTZ 2L Custom Hauler

2014 Heartland Cyclone 4000

2016 Smart Car Prime

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Well I got my device today. Followed the set up process, renamed the device and change the password and activated the SIMM/phone number along the way.

Ā 

Can't get out to the internet, so something is not quite right. Went into my account, and dang it it does not reflect this:

Ā 

Mobile Share Advantage 40GB

Ā 

Somehow, my rural plan that I ordered, and now finally got my device, is classified as some other kind of plan? (This has become a long thread. But my first attempt at ordering the plan, after the assignment of a phone number, ended up being Canceled by ATT. We were never communicated with by ATT that hey were canceling the first order. Had to start the process all over again, and lost about a wee and a half in this process.

Ā 

Now I have the device. It's activated. I an connect to it WiFi wise - but not getting out to the internet. And our account does not reflect the 250GB plan that we called and signed up for??

Ā 

I will call ATT again in the AM, but have been less then impressed with their software and their communication with us as we've attempted to establish this plan...

Ā 

(Just a word or warning. I will probably also be calling Verizon later this week on our other phone plan. I suggest anyone needing to do business with Verizon in the near future - get it going and complete before I call. I have away of causing phone company software to implode:)!)

Ā 

I am smiling as I go thru this. What else can I do:)! Will update once I've talked with ATT in the AM...

Best to all,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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I wanted to confirm my second order did actually ship yesterday, and arrived out our Americas Mailbox location today. (Scheduled to ship to where we are now tomorrow. Should see it Monday, or perhaps Tuesday.)

Ā 

A summary of my two orders:

Ā 

Order 1 - Used our Livingston Mail Forwarding Address as the Service Address. Had the Shipping Address set up to an RV Park outside of Sedona we were going to be going to in a few days. And our Billing Address is our South Dakota Americas Mailbox location.

Ā 

The CS Rep helping on this order said all looked good to her, including a Credit Check (But, possible that was a preliminary screening.). No problem with three different addresses in the mix from her viewpoint, or the software she was using.

Ā 

A week later when the device was not waiting for us at the RV Park, we started the research on what happened. No sign of the Order could be found. Either by me, or a second CS Rep that I finally make phone contact with. And the phone number assigned to my account from the first order, had been assigned to someone else on the same day as the first order.

Ā 

Order 2 - The CS Rep that could find not record, nor could his Supervisor, of the first order, went thru the process with me again. This time I just used our Billing Address, which is our Domicile Address too, in Box Elder, SD - for all addresses... Billing, Service, Delver Too - addresses all matched. And the CS Rep said that another Credit Check would be run. All got along far enough on this order, that I got another phone number assigned, and this time I got an Order Number too.

Ā 

The next day, I could now see not just the second order, but the first order too, including the first phone number assigned to us. It referenced 'Canceled' by as Current Status. But, I could also now see the Second Order, and phone number, and the status was 'In Progress', with a shipping date range of 2/28 - 3/1. Stayed in the In Progress phase until late 3/1, when it went to Shipped, with the FedEx tracking number...

Ā 

=====

Ā 

I repeated much of this from earlier posts to have it sort of summarized. From reading hear on this forum, and a few others too, it sure looks like the first order was Canceled due to the Billing Address not matching the Service Address. Never had any communication from ATT that they had canceled the order, so felt that was a Customer Service fumble on their part.

Ā 

Sorry the Livingston Zip now seems to be causing problems for some. I felt lucky that ours made it thru the system, and should have it in the near future to actually setup and start using.

Ā 

Best to all,

Smitty

Ā 

Ā 

I wanted to update on this again.

Ā 

> We picked up the device yesterday

> Went thru the online activation process

> Could see and log onto the device, change the name/password's/etc, - but could not get out to the internet with it

> Logged onto the account, where I see the newly assigned and now activated phone number is referencing a 40GB plan

> Online Chat was an exercise of patients and frustration, and the end result after 25 mins, was the CS Rep explained to me how my wife's and MIL's existing phone lines share 10GB of data... She had zero clue as to what the other device was, and at that time wanted to punt me onto another department.

> I decided to wait, and call fresh in the AM. Before calling, I powered off the device. And when I powered it bak on I went back into check it's settings. All looked like I should be able to get out to the internet. So I chose the device as my WiFi source, and now I can get out to the internet... (Even got my first download speeds tests of ~4.23 down and .061 up (We're in a weak ATT area, even with the Maximum Signal Amp on:)!)

Ā 

I also want to confirm that the '2nd CS Rep & Supervisor' did get the account established at zero costs to me. I have a bill of $143, followed by a credit of $143. So zero complaints on their attempt to help, and, I did get the device:)!

Ā 

Now I just need to call and ask a live person, why the account does not reflect the rural 250GB account I ordered.

Ā 

Best to all,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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A follow up questions on my account Rural Line 250G "250gbwhpi" plan establishment.

Ā 

The first CS Rep that tried to help me on 2/17, suggested it would be best to 'link' this to our existing account. So it is now linked to my wife's main cell phone account.

Ā 

How have the rest of you established these new accounts? Are they a stand alone account, or are they linked to other ATT phone/accounts? I wondering if that is why it is now reflected as a 40GB plan(?).

Ā 

TIA,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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On ā€Ž3ā€Ž/ā€Ž5ā€Ž/ā€Ž2017 at 1:36 PM, chiefneon said:

Howdy!

Ā 

Our new AT&T homebase is working great with good signal here at our property in Livingston at Escapees and our Maximum Signal booster. We also have a old unlimited 3G plan with Verizon. I have tried for years to upgrade it to 4G and Verizon would not without moving it to a data plan. I tried again when Verizon came out with the new unlimited plan. They would only do it if I also had a phone line also. So yesterday after 16 years with them I dumped Verizon and we are now totally AT&T. Would like to have kept duel coverage but Verizon just would not work with a long time customer.

Ā 

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

Glad our Amplifier has got you working there . That park is tough for AT&T signal

Keeping You Connected

Proud Commercial Member #129 http://www.maximumsignal.net/

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Well had an 'interesting' 3 1/2 hours the AM. Some of it is blurred by self protection of my mind:)! At least four different calls. Each call ended up with a transfer to a different group, two times of which, after being on hold waiting for the second group to pick up - I'd be 'disconnected'.Ā 

Finally got thru on the last call to I'll say the Loyalty Department (Transferred from a Tech Support person that really tried hard to help me.) I was on the phone with the Rep from the Loyalty Department for about 1 1/4 hours. She tried everything she could think of. Had me on hold two or three times as she went to get help from others. Here is how this has ended for today:

>She could not explain why the 2/17 orderĀ was canceled. Or why no contact had been made with us. She could see the 2/15 order had been delivered, and that I had activated it. But she could not see how it was changed to a 40GB type plan.

> She could see the '250gbwhpi' plan - but nowhere would here software allow her to input it, or anything similar, to correct our plan. She confirmed it was still an active plan, not discontinued. Talking to someone else, she asked if I would hold and she called the local ATT Store in/nearĀ Box Elder, SD (Our ZIP code area.). They could see it, and said that they could update my account to that plan. But, that they could only do that by me coming into the store in person.Ā 

> I explained we were traveling, and asked her to update the account to reflect our conversation, and what that I would be going into another ATT Store to accomplish this. She did, taking a solid 5 mins to update everything, and even read it back to me. (Very cool Rep, really used to being able to 'solve' problems. She said she was going to look into this plan for her and her family too - she said this is a great plan!!!Ā 

>Nearest ATT Store is just under 1 1/2 hours away. We had commitments today, so it will be tomorrow before I can get us over to that store, and see what they can do.Ā 

====

My opinion is that they wanted to administer this plan in the store in person, so that they could validate Drivers License reflecting the Service Address. That is all speculation on my part. But it fits from what I'm reading on two or three other boards, about how the plan is now very difficult to get.Ā 

IMO, also very scary that they cancel plans with contacting us, and on the second order changed the plan with out contacting us. (The 40GB plan would have been billed at substantially higher then the $60 for the Wireless Home Phone and Internet's 'Rural Line/250GB' plan...Ā 

====

And admission on my part. As I was activating the phone/device yesterday, I 'clicked' thru the Terms & Conditions agreement - so suspect the 40GB plan is what was reflected if I had read down thru everything.Ā 

====

Finally, once I hopefully get the plan changed over on our account by the in store visit to ATT. I will send a summary of this experience to a ATT Customer Advocate. I understand that problems occur. But no communication back to us as customers of first the cancellation of an order, and then the 'change' of a program on the second order, again with no communication, is just not right. Add in the different calls to different departments, the 'punt' to a different department every time I called. The 'disconnection' two times after long times on hold. This is the kind of customer service that shows that ATT has really not yet stepped up to the plate to roll out effective training. And, their software testing that they roll out to not only me as customer, but also internally to their staff - is way below world class...Ā 

Will update how it goes tomorrow for us. And to those of you that have this, and are on the two year contract - salute to you... Still hoping to be, as it is a great plan.Ā 

Best to all,

Smitty

Ā 

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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On 3/8/2017 at 8:11 AM, Smitty77_7 said:

Ā 

Ā 

I wanted to update on this again.

Ā 

> We picked up the device yesterday

> Went thru the online activation process

> Could see and log onto the device, change the name/password's/etc, - but could not get out to the internet with it

> Logged onto the account, where I see the newly assigned and now activated phone number is referencing a 40GB plan

> Online Chat was an exercise of patients and frustration, and the end result after 25 mins, was the CS Rep explained to me how my wife's and MIL's existing phone lines share 10GB of data... She had zero clue as to what the other device was, and at that time wanted to punt me onto another department.

> I decided to wait, and call fresh in the AM. Before calling, I powered off the device. And when I powered it bak on I went back into check it's settings. All looked like I should be able to get out to the internet. So I chose the device as my WiFi source, and now I can get out to the internet... (Even got my first download speeds tests of ~4.23 down and .061 up (We're in a weak ATT area, even with the Maximum Signal Amp on:)!)

Ā 

I also want to confirm that the '2nd CS Rep & Supervisor' did get the account established at zero costs to me. I have a bill of $143, followed by a credit of $143. So zero complaints on their attempt to help, and, I did get the device:)!

Ā 

Now I just need to call and ask a live person, why the account does not reflect the rural 250GB account I ordered.

Ā 

Best to all,

Smitty

(Following is a cut and paste from another board, of my lack of results today:)!)

Final, for now, update. Short answer 'No Cigar!', and the ATT Store would have had to charge me a $45 re-stocking fee to leave with them as I cancel the unit... Even the store manager was embarrassed about how this has, has not, worked out for us. (Both her and the employee helping me, did not seem to be too happy of campers... My perception is that ATT has rolled out too many changes, too quickly, with insufficient training, and very insufficient software testing... These guys and gals on the phones, and in the stores - take the front line abuse from customers that are not pleased. (And to be clear. I do the very best that I can to always explain how I know it is not the person, or manager, helping me that is the problem - this is a top down problem, where executives are too buffered from the impact of their decisions.)

OK - Here is how it game down:

> Drove 1hr 45mins to the ATT Store, as recommended by the Loyalty Specialist who had helped me for over an hour the day before...

> Gent looked over her notes. Looked at the software options he had available to him, and said that he had no way to activate that plan on our account.

> He said that only specific ATT Stores, in certain regions, had the ability to update this on their software. (He tried lots of tricks and work arounds. Went to his Manager for help too, and she could also do nothing.)

> So I said OK, let's go ahead and cancel this, and I'll leave the device with you. We were in the process of doing this, when the software popped up the $45 re-stocking fee. No, he could not override it. So off to the Manager again. She said she had only a 20-25% success at waiving these. She said it was quite a bit of work around to do it. And even though it may appear to be waived, she'd had customers come back in very unpleased to see it on their bill the following month.Ā 

> So, she and the gent helping me, both recommended that I call Customer Support again, and get cancel the unit, and that they would be able to not charge me the $45 re-stocking fee. I politely pointed out, that I was not too excited about having to go back onto a phone game with ATT Customer Support, after having spent probably a total of 10 hours on this order, including almost 1 hour of Online Chat. And, that too often what one department says that another department can do - they can not.... (Key word here was politely. And the manager again apologized, and offered to take it in and charge the re-stocking fee if I wanted 'to be done with it' - or, take my chances the CS would be able to provide the waive of the restocking fee... My choice. So, I still have it with me, with the return label ready to go. And I will try calling and getting this behind me.)

========

So, what did I end up doing? Well before the new ATT Unlimited Plus came out, I had just dropped my wife's grandfathered UDP, and her and her mom were sharing a 10GB plan between them, with rollover of up to one month.Ā 

But after reading here, and elsewhere, about the ATT UDP Plus, I went ahead and:

-Added both phone lines to UDP Plus (No charge for my wife's lines Hotspot, so that is good.)

-Added the Unite Explore, after validating it had the two external ports for future antenna plug in. Catch 22, the ATT Store, was out of stock. But, working as hard as they could to help me, they found that another ATT Authorized Retailer had 3 in stock. Called to validate this, and asked them to hold one for me, as I was driving over to pick it up.Ā 

-I got the store, another 15-20 mins away from where I'd come from... They had it, and got everything all set up for me and activated. Ready to pay the $49 fee with the two year contract for it - when they also said my bill would have a $45 activation fee too... So that took another 15 mins of me explaining that the account has a Qualcomm Group Discount - that includes No Activation Fee's.... Again, they could not figure out how to override their software for this. And boy was I not surprised when they suggested I call into, yep, Customer Support - see if they could credit the activation fee. So, they're 100% on this saga:)!

Ā 

All and all, I'd liked to have had the 250GB/Phone Line for $60. But, the UDP + with 22GB for each phone, and also the hotspot, provides a total account off 66GB - before the possibility of de-prioritzation on their networks. (44GB to us as we travel, as MIL does not travel with us.)

And, with the $25 Direct TV discount, all of this should result in a lower overall bill then we were paying for the 10GB shared plan.Ā 

Finally, back in the same place that I was. The Unite Explore is providing 16-18 download speeds, where as the Home Base Network (With older technology, as pointed out but the 2C's.) was only pulling 5-7 download speeds. (A different day, but I also tested this agains my wife's iPhone 7, and it is much faster then it too. So the chip/antenna combo is far superior.)

I will be contacting a Consumer Advocate in a few days, outlining my full experience, and many wasted hours... By going up the tree, it's the only way to 'maybe' get their attention.

Thanks to our great hosts, and best to all - this adventure is over!!

Best to all,

Smitty

Ā 

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I posted my journey of not being able to establish this plan.Ā 

Curious if any of you that had units in shipment, have in the last week or so been able to actually activate and validate you have the Rural Plan 250 or 500?

I have not yet received a response from the ATT Advocate I sent my experience too, with a request for ATT to either provide me the plan, or explain why I don't qualify.Ā 

I'll also share that while I asked ATT Store CSR to cancel my plan, and have used the return label and shipped the unit back within the 14 day period (Now 9 days ago.) - my account still reflects this unit and phone number as an active account. (But for the 40GB plan, at a much, much higher rate. The one they assigned to me, without contacting us proactively before doing so.)

And while I admit the MyATT billing is per designed difficult to understand - it looks like I have charges related to this exercise. This after the Supervisor helping on the second order waived all costs due to the first order being canceled by ATT without any notification to me. So I'm going to have to call back to ATT CSR again, more time, for them to try and sort out/reverse any charges we may have incurred for this exercise in frustration:)!

Just curious if anyone else has had any luck with this plan recently?Ā 

TIA,

Smitty

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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