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Why can’t they raise the rate directly or shut off these older plans? Am I missing some contractual issue?

by kobpow 3y ago

Paul-Craft 3y ago
FYI, your account appears to be shadowbanned for no reason I can discern. I had to vouch for your comment to get it to show up.
- colejohnson66 3y ago
  I’ve noticed many new/green accounts that get shadowbanned before (with?) the first post. The accounts will be less than a day old and all comments will be [dead].
catchnear4321 3y ago
the rate change would need to be communicated. harder to slip by. as opposed to just another fee. it also can wind up causing a legacy plan to cost more than a current one. at times insultingly so. again, if you don’t notice and do (auto)pay, this is just fine by the companies. and if all that is enough to get you to move to the new plan, good, now it was you that made the choice. you will defend the choice more strongly than if it were made for you. for it was yours, after all. in time, those with legacy plans will “upgrade,” switch companies (same difference) or die. the cycle continues.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  A few years ago (10?), AT&T got into a lot of trouble - they lost in court - for making unilateral changes to an unlimited plan. 1. The AT&T unlimited plan being talked about here includes the HBO Max streaming for $0. 2. Just a few months ago, Xfinity started breaking out their free streaming service on internet bills, and put in a statement that said that in either late 2024 or early 2025 they were going to start charging a monthly fee unless you cancelled that part. If any of y’all have Xfinity and don’t have a habit of reading your bills, you’d better go take a look! 3. I’d be willing to bet that the “new” AT&T unlimited plan has contract language that will let them also do what Xfinity is doing, and the “old” one doesn’t. Maybe AT&T is considering a sale/spinoff and needs to have that charge broken out for accounting/valuation purposes.
  - mynameisvlad 3y ago
    Considering a sale/spinoff of what? HBO? That already happened last year.
    - Kon-Peki 3y ago
      Ah, well there you go. I doubt that they can keep including that service for free forever. Do you?
      - mynameisvlad 3y ago
        They certainly can but it would impact their profits, which is a no-no. Will they drop the subscription? Almost certainly. Even if the spinoff included free access to AT&T subscribers, it'd likely only be for a few years.
unsignedint 3y ago
I think that how country like Japan do that generally. (They hardly have any services that featuring "grandfathering") and new contract and terms under the new plan would be established in the renewal window. But in the US, I believe post-paid plans (as opposed to prepaid) there seem to be fairly major red tapes on changing terms while staying compliant with whatever rules set by FTC and also States' equivalent, and that probably makes this very tricky.

Why can’t they raise the rate directly or shut off these older plans? Am I missing some contractual issue?

by kobpow 3y ago

Why can’t they raise the rate directly or shut off these older plans? Am I missing some contractual issue?

FYI, your account appears to be shadowbanned for no reason I can discern. I had to vouch for your comment to get it to show up.

colejohnson66 3y ago
I’ve noticed many new/green accounts that get shadowbanned before (with?) the first post. The accounts will be less than a day old and all comments will be [dead].

catchnear4321 3y ago

the rate change would need to be communicated. harder to slip by. as opposed to just another fee. it also can wind up causing a legacy plan to cost more than a current one. at times insultingly so. again, if you don’t notice and do (auto)pay, this is just fine by the companies. and if all that is enough to get you to move to the new plan, good, now it was you that made the choice. you will defend the choice more strongly than if it were made for you. for it was yours, after all. in time, those with legacy plans will “upgrade,” switch companies (same difference) or die. the cycle continues.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
A few years ago (10?), AT&T got into a lot of trouble - they lost in court - for making unilateral changes to an unlimited plan. 1. The AT&T unlimited plan being talked about here includes the HBO Max streaming for $0. 2. Just a few months ago, Xfinity started breaking out their free streaming service on internet bills, and put in a statement that said that in either late 2024 or early 2025 they were going to start charging a monthly fee unless you cancelled that part. If any of y’all have Xfinity and don’t have a habit of reading your bills, you’d better go take a look! 3. I’d be willing to bet that the “new” AT&T unlimited plan has contract language that will let them also do what Xfinity is doing, and the “old” one doesn’t. Maybe AT&T is considering a sale/spinoff and needs to have that charge broken out for accounting/valuation purposes.
- mynameisvlad 3y ago
  Considering a sale/spinoff of what? HBO? That already happened last year.
  - Kon-Peki 3y ago
    Ah, well there you go. I doubt that they can keep including that service for free forever. Do you?
    - mynameisvlad 3y ago
      They certainly can but it would impact their profits, which is a no-no. Will they drop the subscription? Almost certainly. Even if the spinoff included free access to AT&T subscribers, it'd likely only be for a few years.

unsignedint 3y ago

I think that how country like Japan do that generally. (They hardly have any services that featuring "grandfathering") and new contract and terms under the new plan would be established in the renewal window. But in the US, I believe post-paid plans (as opposed to prepaid) there seem to be fairly major red tapes on changing terms while staying compliant with whatever rules set by FTC and also States' equivalent, and that probably makes this very tricky.