SubscribeAT&T has been mailing letters to customers caught tethering without the benefit of an add-on plan that if they don’t stop, they will be automatically enrolled in a $45 tethering-data plan this Saturday. But Stop the Cap! has learned some tethering customers have already been scheduled for enrollment in the pricey plan, even though they abandoned the use of the tethering application that got their account flagged.
The warning letter, dated May 31st, gave Stop the Cap! reader “K” less than 10 days to notify AT&T they are not authorized to make any plan changes without our reader’s explicit consent. When “K” called AT&T, the company explained the account had been flagged for the ‘tethering violation’ and was scheduled to be enrolled in the $45 DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering data plan this Saturday.
“K” is not the only reader discovering AT&T has plans to change their account this weekend, resulting in dramatically higher bills.
Kai from San Francisco noted he started receiving text warning messages about tethering starting last month, discontinued use of the app that allowed him to avoid paying AT&T’s tethering prices, and still received AT&T’s letter and further text message warnings anyway. He says it is a good thing he called AT&T.
“I didn’t believe AT&T’s claim that I would not be auto-enrolled in this tether plan if I stopped the tethering, especially after receiving their letter,” Kai writes. “Sure enough, AT&T had already scheduled my enrollment, which I was able to stop by calling them.”
AT&T is quoting some callers portions of their terms and conditions:
We may change any terms, conditions, rates, fees, expenses, or charges regarding your Services at any time. We will provide you with notice of material changes (other than changes to governmental fees, proportional charges for governmental mandates, roaming rates or administrative charges) either in your monthly bill or separately. You understand and agree that State and Federal Universal Service Fees and other governmentally imposed fees, whether or not assessed directly upon you, may be increased based upon the government’s or our calculations.
IF WE INCREASE THE PRICE OF ANY OF THE SERVICES TO WHICH YOU SUBSCRIBE, BEYOND THE LIMITS SET FORTH IN YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUMMARY, OR IF WE MATERIALLY DECREASE THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA IN WHICH YOUR AIRTIME RATE APPLIES (OTHER THAN A TEMPORARY DECREASE FOR REPAIRS OR MAINTENANCE), WE’LL DISCLOSE THE CHANGE AT LEAST ONE BILLING CYCLE IN ADVANCE (EITHER THROUGH A NOTICE WITH YOUR BILL, A TEXT MESSAGE TO YOUR DEVICE, OR OTHERWISE), AND YOU MAY TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT PAYING AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE OR RETURNING OR PAYING FOR ANY PROMOTIONAL ITEMS, PROVIDED YOUR NOTICE OF TERMINATION IS DELIVERED TO US WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER THE FIRST BILL REFLECTING THE CHANGE.
If you lose your eligibility for a particular rate plan, we may change your rate plan to one for which you qualify.
The company has also told some callers complaining about the tethering crackdown that use of third party applications to tether without payment to AT&T already represents a breach of the customer agreement, so waiving an early termination fee may not be an option.
Stop the Cap! recommends consumers who have received text warning messages from AT&T about unauthorized tethering call AT&T and explicitly opt out of any data plan changes scheduled by the company. This is particularly important for customers grandfathered in AT&T’s unlimited smartphone data plan, because once forfeited (even by AT&T’s own actions), the company has declared you cannot get it back.
See the entire letter from AT&T below the jump.
Click to enlarge
My position with ATT is I personally have the Unlimited ATT Data Plan and I called them immediately after receiving their letter telling me that they would ‘automatically enroll me’ ect.. and this is a record of my dealings thus far with ATT. Note: The information below can be, in fact, applied to all contracts you have with any carrier service provider. I am in no way an attorney and in no way can my words below be construed as legal advice. It is simply my opinion to what I know in regards to the Law of Contract. Now people,… Read more »
Interesting post, thanks for sharing.
What pisses me off even more than the tethering is AT&T telling you what you can and cannot do with your phone. Yes, your own property, not theirs! You pay them for access to their network through your phone. It shouldn’t matter what you have on your phone because it is none of their damn business. This is one of the reasons I don’t see anything wrong with hacking a device, like the PS3, iPhone, or Android phone. It is your property and they shouldn’t tell you how, when, and where to use it.
Someday, in the not too distant future, we will just pay for X gigabytes, no matter what device uses said data. Please tell me this is true?
How about you pay a fee for unlimited uselike television service all speeds being the same, or better yet it is delivered free as is over the air broadcast and those not wanting ads pay extra.
I found this article to be very insightful and luckily I did to contact AT&T immediately and had an identical experience. Thank You
Can anyone give an update as to what happened? Specifically anyone that tried to fight this. Did they change your plan? I am on the grandfathered unlimited plan. I just received the email. I still have my original signed contract from 2010. There is nothing in there that says my unlimited data is limited. There is no mention of the word tether. I checked my past history. Going back over a year, I averaged about 1.2GB a month. Only one time did I go over 2GB (2.2) . Far from abusing the system I called and got the same run… Read more »
Hey Jim, This is ‘K’ Ken from the main entry from above. In short, an ATT supervisor from the high-use called me. I basically told her that, ” I do not “understand” what ATT is alleging (a very important legal term) and do not consent to ATT or any representative altering all or any part of my contract without my written ‘wet ink’ signature……..and if ATT or a any ATT representative does, not only will I seek litigation against ATT, but also against the rep them self (piercing the corporate veil utilizing ‘deep pockets’ theory) and that my ‘notice to… Read more »
One thing people should be aware of is that someone cannot unilaterally change the material terms of a contract (material terms being cost, level of, or particulars of services provided), without your agreement. In other words, this could constitute a NEW agreement, and the old agreement (if they refuse to honor it) would become void. You do not have to agree to a new agreement. At the very least, this should get you OUT of any early termination fee, because they are essentially voiding the old agreement by refusing to honor the original terms. Again: dispute any termination agreement if… Read more »