working on it wrote:... Why we switched to another phone plan, using phones of our (not theirs) choice: we switched from AT&T mobile (but we kept their unlimited wifi, because it cost about the same as the others in our area) in January, to Boost Unlimited for $25 per line. We kept our phones (both Samsungs...S8 & S9+), and decided to purchase (in the future) any new unlocked GSM phones outright, from Amazon, Ebay, the phone manufacturer, or Boost, whenever we needed a new one, and we did away with the $10+ per line insurance we had for the last 25 years, because it:
- 1) never paid for "repairs", but furnished a "refurbished" phone instead,
- 2) the refurbed phone was always several years old, with no option for an upgrade to a later model, nor a brand change possible,
- 3) the phones we received carried a surcharge (they weren't entirely paid for by the insurance program, as they had been when we first started), of $150 for the S8, three years ago, and $210 for the S9+, a year ago...What was the $10 a month paying for?, and
- 4) we're not sure just how refurbished the phones were, since we had 3 of the last 4 (S7,S8,S8+, perhaps my S9+ is liable to, also?) have catastrophic battery swelling, that rendered them unusable
We had been loyal AT&T customers for 25+ years (we started out with VoiceStream Wireless...which became T-Mobile, later), then switched to Cingular (became AT&T mobile, later) for a year, after we found we had zero reception from VoiceStream/T-Mobile in our new home area. My wife switched to T-Mobile again, forgetting about the zero reception problem, which at least T-Mobile had increased to 1-bar reception by then, so finally after another year, back to AT&T again.
Forward to 2022: both retired, not wanting to pay $125 per month on our "Legacy" plan, I tried (for several months) to talk AT&T into giving us any sort of senior discount (I'm 72, she's 59), or a new lower cost plan (but with sufficient data for my wife's constant usage...I need less), to no avail. They said senior plans were only available in Florida??? And all the lower cost plans had much, much less data included, than the "legacy" plan we already had. So, I shopped (for three months) for a different carrier. Though I liked several MVNO's, and was leaning towards T-Mobile Magenta 55+ Plan ($35 per line, in 2022-early 2023), when I found Boost Unlimited ($25 per line, $25.76 w/taxes,
forever). Other carriers promised lower initial offers, but had a history of upping them later, so I liked the forever feature. And Boost Unlimited uses the same AT&T towers that we have already used, and that covered camping spots I've used, wher there's no Verizon nor T-moble coverage, at least in the recent past).
Another thing about switching away from AT&T: it took me 20+ hours on the phone(just with AT&T, another 8 talking to the others on this list), just to unlock our phones, so we could switch to another carrier; AT&T reps (except the last one), were totally useless, sending me to talk to
- 1) Samsung (the maker of our phones),
- 2) Assurion (the insurance that furnished our replacement phones),
- 3) Verizon (from whom Assurion had received the phones they refurbished), and
- 4) back to AT&T again.
The final AT&T rep had been there 20 years, and quickly furnished the info I needed to unlock the phones. She also tried to get me another, cheaper plan, but some higher-up prevented that from happening, but she did get me a $70 refund on our final bill! I had no problem at all with the Boost reps, even though I talked to three differnt people(I accidently hanged up, and one of our housecats hung me up a second time).
Eight months later, we've had no problems using Boost Unlimited, though I wonder if Dish Network (the owners) will have good reception from the towers they are building, and get away from using AT&T (and T-Mobile, in some locations) towers. I've seen T-Mobile's (and other carriers, too) prices fall since then, though I had to make a choice then, for the start of 2023, and I have no regrets choosing as I did.
A further benefit of leaving AT&T: Two months ago, my wife's S8 had it's battery swell up, cracking the screen. It had also been giving her some weird problems beforehand, and was barely usable, so when Amazon Prime day came, she grabbed the phone I had on my "saved for later" list (a
new Motorola G Power 2022), that I had earmarked to replace my S9+, when and if its' battery swelled. The price was less than a refurbed one from AT&T/Assurion, or Boost, or even Motorola...and it was delivered two days later. She's keeping the S8, just in case (I don't know why), and she loves it, despite not having wireless charging. I had Motorola phones back in the 2000's, and Lenovo (owns Motorola) tablets (I've had/have two), and liked them. We'll see about the slow updates that are reported...we're used to slow updates from AT&T/Samsung already.
by RJ Howell » Fri Aug 11, 2023 4:00 pm 
