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AT&T To Acquire T-Mobile USA

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What do you think, can TMO Customers keep grandfathered plans/features?

tether

Mar 20, 2011, 5:40 PM
In the new AT&T, I wonder if T-Mobile Customer will be able to keep their grandfathered plans and features. I for example am on the $49.99 1000 minute family plan with preferred (free) myfaves, $10 unlimited messaging for families (every line on the account) and have the preferred unlimited web for phone first devices for $5.00 per line. I also get a AAA discount of 14% off per bill. So I get a lot for just a hair under $70 plus the discount for two lines. Option this out with AT&T, I think I'm at around $210 or so plus tax? If they knock out grandfathered deals like this, Boost Mobile's $35 (eventually) plan per line is just screaming for me!
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 5:41 PM
This would be optimal. Anyone know if Alltel customers were able to keep theirs with the Verizon merger?
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Great Gadsden

Mar 20, 2011, 5:43 PM
analyst422 said:
Anyone know if Alltel customers were able to keep theirs with the Verizon merger?


I worked as an indirect dealer for a few months after the merger, and during that time existing plans were kept the same, although I can't say whether that is still currently true or not.

Personally, if I ran AT&T I would kick everybody off of their grandfathered plans. What is the incentive for AT&T to offer them? Some are so cheap that the carrier must operate them at a loss, which obviously makes no business sense.
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 5:46 PM
Possibly. AT&T recently bought a local company on the central coast of California, and they weren't able to keep the plans because the company was going out of business, and their prices were outrageously cheap, but it was local and small, so it made no sense to grandfather anything. Some people didn't like it and left for Metro, but everyone else moved right along. Not sure if it would be the same deal in this case though.
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Great Gadsden

Mar 20, 2011, 5:48 PM
It will be interesting. These types of mergers are always fun to watch - there is so much bureaucracy to deal with, and then there's the fact that AT&T's last major merger resulted in an identity crisis. Can't wait!
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 5:49 PM
Always is ^_^
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:41 PM
They'll pacify T-Mobile's customer base as much as possible.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 5:49 PM
"What is the incentive for AT&T to offer them?"

They aren't offered, the incentive to allow customers to keep them is basically customer satisfaction, and as far as it goes, most of the old grandfathered plans are not as good as what is offered now, the only reason they didn't change is because they didn't know there were better options, which is why whenever I saw someone on one of those old plans I always offered to switch them...

One grandfathered plan which is surprisingly common is a family plan for 450 minutes $39.99 for the first line, $19.99 for every line after that....

Compared to what is offered now, that is a really crappy plan. I have no idea where it came from originally.
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Great Gadsden

Mar 20, 2011, 5:50 PM
Right, I shouldn't have used the word offered - keep available would have been a more fitting phrase. Regardless, cutting off grandfathered plans would surely piss off many a 'valued' customer, but I think it makes the most business sense - at least in the accounting sense.
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:51 PM
What about in the retention sense?
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:39 PM
No. Not really. At a loss? Maybe not what they would prefer to make in revenue but never at a loss. Never.
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:30 PM
Yes. Of course. They don't want to give them an excuse to opt out of the contract without an ETF.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 5:42 PM
That is almost always the case with these kinds of mergers
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 5:43 PM
That's what I would assume, and then probably with any contract renewals or phone upgrades it might require some changes...then again, current grandfathered plans can be upgraded to new phones without changing the plans.
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tether

Mar 20, 2011, 5:48 PM
I just would like to know on AT&T current plans that are grandfathered, do they allow you to keep the plan indefinitely? I don't see how me paying them even the $70 is making TMO or soon to be AT&T "lose money". The towers and infrastructure are there. Do they make more money if they don't get my $70? Does Enterprise make lots of money if the car sits unused on the rental car lot?
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 5:51 PM
As far as I've seen. I've seen people with plans almost ten years old, never have upgraded, never wanted to.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 5:55 PM
In 2010, I talked to someone who initiated service in 2002 with a Motorola Razr, still in use, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to upgrade..... 🤣

My advice was 'hey, no need to switch phones if the old one is still working', could have probably made a sale on a new phone but I figured that wouldn't necessarily be in the customer's interest, his phone still worked and he was happy so leave well enough alone....
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analyst422

Mar 20, 2011, 6:04 PM
Definitely have done the same. I've seen nasty old phones that were horrendously old, but worked just fine and did exactly what they wanted. I'm here to provide customer service, not to screw people over. I couldn't care less about the politics of it all...if I can save someone a buck in this economy, that's what I'm striving for.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 6:16 PM
Well, that's the job ain't it? Some customers get antagonistic 'you are paid to support the company line' and I always responded 'no, I am paid to be your advocate, to look out for your best interests.'

During my tenure there we had visits from some people at AT&T corporate, they flat out told us that they didn't want us to think our job was to protect the AT&T bottom line, but to serve the customers....they told us not to hardasses saying 'policy, policy, policy' but to try to find a way to make the customer happy, and if that meant bending policy, so be it. They flat out told us that is what they wanted us to do.
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Azeron

Mar 20, 2011, 10:54 PM
I would see people on old PrimeCo plans which were pure garbage when I was at Verizon and they refused to budge. ZERO minutes for $20 in a local area and they swore they were making out in the deal. I would just chuckle at them smirking.
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Versed

Mar 21, 2011, 9:33 AM
Azeron said:
I would see people on old PrimeCo plans which were pure garbage when I was at Verizon and they refused to budge. ZERO minutes for $20 in a local area and they swore they were making out in the deal. I would just chuckle at them smirking.


I believe you, and you know what the first question of many of the former T-Mobile customers is going to be on there about this time next year? Can I get an iPhone?
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savage05

Mar 20, 2011, 7:44 PM
YOU CAN!! THATS UNTIL YOU OR ANY ONE ON YOU PLAN NEEDS A NEW PHONE. WHICH MEANS IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY PLAN AND SOMEONE WANTS TO UPGRADE. THATS WHEN THE WHOLE PLAN WILL CHANGE. U CAN KEEP YOUR PLAN!! BUT SAY HELLO TO EBAY , CRAIGSLIST ETC. TO GET A PHONE
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Beef Supreme

Mar 21, 2011, 11:34 AM
WHY ARE YOU TYPING IN CAPS? IT DOESN'T HELP GET YOUR POINT ACROSS OR ANYTHING
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tether

Mar 20, 2011, 8:07 PM
On the flip side of all this as much as I dislike AT&T now, I would grow quite fond of them if they did let all of us on T-Mobile Grandfathered Plans/Features keep all of our stuff. I bet what will happen though is a stripping of the " grandfathered features" such as text messaging and data plans but they will (because of the contracts) allow us to keep our calling plans until renewal time when we will be told "unfortunately the plan you are currently using is no longer available but we have plenty of great calling plans to cover on our nationwide network" or such...
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Azeron

Mar 21, 2011, 12:21 AM
You sound just like those Alltel customers who were praying to keep My Circle on Howard's Forum. They had their own thread and everything. Well...they got their wish AND Verizon customers were given a watered down version as well. Keep churn down.
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JeffroPuff

Mar 20, 2011, 8:23 PM
This includes all those $45 unlimited plans and also the obnoxious $19.99 plans... Every Dobson Cellular One plan that people had, they could still keep - to this day, even after switching equipment, SIM cards, etc. AT&T has been very good to those customers.

I assume with as big of an acquisition this is, they'd load up Telegence with the proper plans/features/etc.

A lot of customers see value in Rollover and the new mobile to any mobile option, so they often switch up anyway.
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T Bone

Mar 20, 2011, 8:38 PM
Do people still use Telegence to change plans?

We always used Phoenix, and we were told to never use Telegence unless Phoenix was 'unavailable' (i.e. not working).
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Still-At-Work

Mar 21, 2011, 10:24 AM
Ha, I was just working for customer care for at&t until july of last year and they still used telegence.
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T Bone

Mar 21, 2011, 11:27 AM
I once found an article in MyCsp which said that using Telegence without first trying to use Phoenix could result in termination....but that might have only applied to my department.
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Still-At-Work

Mar 25, 2011, 2:27 PM
That is possible. What department are you in?
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Markviii

Mar 20, 2011, 10:59 PM
Those plans and rates are what was killing t-mobile. The company's plan to try and lure mass amounts of customers into their network by using cheap plans in the hopes that, when those masses came in, they'd be able to use that little revenue to pay for the network and it's upkeep and still be profitable. If a company is to stay in business, the must not only make enough money to maintain their network but also to pay their employees, support advertising, pay insurance costs AND make a profit on top of that. These people are businesses not charities. AT&T probably won't keep those plans considering how insanely un-profitable they are. They'd be wise to get rid of them.
Think about it like this....Customers want a net work that will do every...
(continues)
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Beef Supreme

Mar 21, 2011, 10:41 AM
And can you believe that one of the most common things i hear when people call in, is that "our prices are so high" i get told that many many times a day, "well Sprint has bla bla bla"
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Markviii

Mar 21, 2011, 1:01 PM
I can easily believe that. People love to do that. But sprint is also losing massive amounts of money and only recently starting to actually show some small gain in any given area.
People need to understand that the plans cannot be changed via haggling. If the honestly NEED unlimited, then they need to pay for it. That is the only way a company can stay in business
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JeffroPuff

Mar 21, 2011, 11:23 AM
I see grandfathered plans from Dobson ALL day. Now and again I'll see legacy AT&T Wireless plans (before Cingular took the name. Now if you want to talk about keeping plans that are low revenue, take a look at the old (and still active) $45 unlimited calling plans.
As far as I am aware, all the Centennial customers are grandfathered...
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Markviii

Mar 21, 2011, 1:05 PM
I've heard of them as well but from all that I've heard, if any of these people want to upgrade to a new device, they need to change their plan. Migrating I think. From the old system to the new. On top of that I know there are times when AT&T has had to cancel or give customers options if their plan is so old (in the terms of a merger) that it is costlier for AT&T to keep that old plan to run then to lose that customers revenue.
Oh, and before all the verizon Fanboys and girls chime in about "verizon doesn't do that", they do and they will continue to until all these plans are set up on 1 company system.
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Versed

Mar 21, 2011, 2:25 PM
Markvii,
I have an older legacy plan, AT&T never asked me or even hinted that I should change. You may have heard, but its doubtful its true. In the future, their policy may change, but don't know. But the fact is right now, they don't.

And yes I have added phones and signed new contracts.
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Markviii

Mar 22, 2011, 11:29 AM
Which legacy plan? If it is a compatible one from cingular days it would be fine. There are many cingular plans still going strong. Only a precious few plans for AT&T wireless days are compatible on the new system. Those with incompatible plans are forced to change if they want a new phone. Alltell plans are being forced to do the same thing. Same with some of the Dobson plans. Anyone still using an AT&T wireless (original) sim was given notice that they will have to change or be canceled. Please note: that was about 2 months ago.
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Drunk

Mar 21, 2011, 1:00 AM
At&t has lied to every carrier they acquired in my area and forced them to either "get with us or lose service"
That's back when I got a ton of customers from Edge Wireless. Great move at&t. Something tells me they will do the same thing here.
I witnessed the Alltel Verizon thing and that's pretty much what happened there too. Bye bye unlimited data and cheap rates.
This is a bad deal for the consumer.

I throw a shoe at you AT&T, then spit in your eye and cry alone with my t-mobile pre paid phone that I love so very much.
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Still-At-Work

Mar 21, 2011, 10:23 AM
To tell you the truth I am more concerned about my dealer lines. I work for Tmo and have 3 dealer lines. ☹️
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RiggsTmobile

Mar 21, 2011, 11:14 AM
Yes all plans created before the purchase of our company will stay Grandfathered in. it will take approx: 12 months before FULL merger will take place. so all plan currently offered will stay the same until merger is finished. and the if that plan is established before full merger takes place. its considered grandfathered to t-mobiles pricing.
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