“Unlimited” is the new black for mobile phone operators (at least until the iPhone Black is released in two weeks), but what are the implications for consumers? After a surprise overage of $150 last month, I found out! It seems that I’ve been burning up the airwaves with calls lately, and my rollover pool dried up. Now I owed them the dough fair and square.
So I called AT&T and asked for a reprieve. Surprisingly, the friendly (!) rep offered to remove the charges (!) and change my plan. I could pay $10 or $30 more for a larger pool to chat in or $50 more for “unlimited calling.” So I asked for details.
Turns out “Unlimited” actually feels kind of limiting, and I’m not alone in my reaction…
- (On AT&T) only voice calls are unlimited for $99
- The iPhone data plan (which is actually really nice and cheap) is $20 extra
- Text messaging is still embarrassingly expensive and limited
-
This is the real kicker – additional family lines are not available with unlimited calling, so I would have to pay $30 or more extra to keep my wife’s line active, even though she used 8 minutes of talk time last month.
So no thanks, AT&T. I don’t want to upgrade my calling plan to unlimited and pay $80 more per month.