This post has been updated since it was first published. Please note the updates at the end of the post.
While we had no problem getting an iPhone 4S while keeping our grandfathered data plan, that’s because we ordered direct from Apple. On the other hand, we’ve received at least two reports of readers who are being told by AT&T that they have to give up their unlimited data if they want an iPhone 4S. Uh oh. Luckily, there’s a way to make sure you keep your unlimited plan: don’t give att.com the time of day.
It’s a really shady move on the part of AT&T, who has been boning things up all morning. Here’s the deal.
If you go to Apple.com’s iPhone 4S pre-order page and sign up for a new handset through AT&T, Apple’s site will register that you have an unlimited data plan and everything’s hunky dory.
Whatever you do, though, don’t order an iPhone 4S directly from AT&T. When you try to order one, the AT&T website will tell you:
Your new device requires a different Data Add-on Plan than you currently have. We selected a compatible Data Add-on Plan for you. If you want a different plan, you can change the Data Add-on Plan by selecting Change here or from within myAT&T after you receive and activate your new device.
If you notice and try to change the data plan manually, AT&T won’t give you the unlimited data plan option (unlike if you do it on the Apple website.)
So basically, here’s what it boils down to, at least as far as we can tell. If you order an iPhone 4S from AT&T, they will force you to give up your unlimited data plan. So don’t even bother with att.com. Just head on over to Apple.
Hat tip to Chris and Teng!
Update: Reader Michael explains that what is going on isn’t nearly as devious as it appears, just confusing.
I believe this may be a misunderstanding. I have the grandfathered $30 unlimited iPhone data plan on my current 3GS, and my purchase on the AT&T site looked just like the example here. It preselected the $30 plan for my new 4S and despite the same ominous message, I checked out with the $30 “iPhone data plan”.
I also ordered a new 4S for someone else right afterward. That order required me to pick from one of the new data plans ($25 or $45) with radio buttons before I could proceed. That order summary showed a new ongoing monthly $25 fee for the DataPro 2GB plan. It did not offer anything called a “$30 data plan for iPhone.”
Thus I believe that my order and yours are in fact grandfathering the old, unlimited, $30 plan, and the message is just misleading.
In other words, if you ignore this message, you still get your unlimited data plan. Whew. Here’s the question, though: is AT&T trying to trick people out of their unlimited data plans? Sure seems like it.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
169 responses to “AT&T May Be Trying To Trick iPhone 4S Upgraders Out Of Their Unlimited Data Plans, Here’s How To Keep Yours [Updated]”
Story is not correct, you just add the unlimited data plan for iPhone 4s. Did it twice on att
Good to know. I am waiting for my 2 yr contract to be up with AT&T. I cannot get a signal in my house or yard. I live 5 blocks from three towers. Goodbye AT&T.
This isn’t true. You remove Unlimited for iPhone, and in the next step, you add Unlimited for iPhone 4S. Ordered mine directly through AT&T.
What DID happen though is that my $10 for 1000 texts plan is no longer available. That was a bummer.
I believe this may be a misunderstanding. I have the grandfathered $30 unlimited iPhone data plan on my current 3GS, and my purchase on the AT&T site looked just like the example here. It preselected the $30 plan for my new 4S and despite the same ominous message, I checked out with the $30 “iPhone data plan”.
I also ordered a new 4S for someone else right afterward. That order required me to pick from one of the new data plans ($25 or $45) with radio buttons before I could proceed. That order summary showed a new ongoing monthly $25 fee for the DataPro 2GB plan. It did not offer anything called a “$30 data plan for iPhone.”
Thus I believe that my order and yours are in fact grandfathering the old, unlimited, $30 plan, and the message is just misleading.
Either way, I had called AT&T earlier Thursday to check in to this. There will be an opportunity to speak with the AT&T rep at the point of actually activating the new 4S, and she assured me that I would have no trouble keeping my existing unlimited plan at that time.
great. thanks. i tried to get one through Apple last night but had a tough time doing it. So I went to ATT.com and was forced to change the data plan. I had no idea what to do. I was getting on the site to se how much data I used in the past to make sure I wasn’t going to blow it. But I’ll try it and see. If I get too pissed off about it I guess I’ll contact them. I’m not sure if I should be scared to get off the unlimited plan. Can you do a little research to see how many people this would make a real difference for or if the $15 difference between 4G and unlimited (as they have on their site) is really all that horrible. Also, I’d like to compare apples to apples (so to speak)…since it looks as if Sprint is going off the unlimited plans this month, why not compare the biggest data plans for the companies. Also (sorry I’m on a roll), I wasn’t sure with the iCloud roll-out, what is the best plan for this?? The good news is I came to you guys for the answers (as I always do). Thanks!
For a new connection , why don’t people buy a unlocked iPhone 4S and go for T-Mobile $50.00 all you can use plan – I a comparison of it is here http://senseapplied.com/index….
If the Apple ordering page works.
Same here. It is a bit sneaky to make us do that. Espcially at 4am Eastern. Yawn.
Why not just switch to Sprint instead? Unlimited data for 79.99 per month?
Just ordered mine, coming from an unlimited 3GS plan to the iPhone 4S…and didn’t get this message. My data plan was set to “Data Plan for iPhone,” which is the name of same plan current set on my 3GS account.
Just to be sure what “Data Plan for iPhone” meant, I clicked on the details of my current plan…
https://www.att.com/olam/showF…
Thanks for all of the corrections, guys. I can’t actually confirm this personally, since I’m not an AT&T customer. Updating the post with your info now!
The story is kind of correct. You have to keep trying. AT&T prompts you that you can no longer have unlimited but after clicking through a few times, on the 4th try, it did prompt me that I could not get it but the next page did allow me to select $30 unlimited data. KEEP TRYING. Do not give up.
Not true, just a name change to Unlimited for 4s at $30. Apple site does not give you the Sam emessaging options and seems harder for those with family plans as it did not let me do two phones at once.
> just a name change to Unlimited for 4s at $30
There is a REASON why they are switching you to a new plan. Read the fine print, I bet there are all sort of NEW CONTRACT language in there giving them more ammo to throttle or eliminate all unlimited plans after the 4s.
I checked out through ATT with unlimited. I think that they’re just hoping that a lot of people won’t notice that it’s pre-selected and let the default selections go through.
I called ATT and they said I would get my grandfathered data plan if I went straight to the store – no questions asked.
No surprise here.
Shared and posted elsewhere. Thank you for doing the research. I was a fingers width form moving to Verizon do to this move by ATT
should i pre order the iphone 4s at the online apple store online or buy it at a location store? what’s the pros and cons? please advise, thank you.
AT&T took away my husbands grandfathered data plan when he upgraded his iphone. I spent time yesterday aruging with them to no avail! :(
……This is crazy….My best friend’s mom makes $77 an hour on the computer. She has been out of job for 9 months but last month her check was $5487 just working on the computer for a few hours.. CashMany.com …..
you guys should go into an att store and pre order there. pre ordering off the web will make you lose your unlimited. they will not work with you to “change” it back
I would not put it past AT&T to do the wrong thing to make a buck. This is one reason why they should not be allowed to buy T-mobile. There will be no GSM competition if they do.
AT&T service is great – they simply suck as a company and would rather screw their customers than win them over by doing business honestly. They are really Southwestern Bell that brought a bunch of telecom companies including AT&T and renamed themselves AT&T. They are dishonest to the core.
Related to this, my wife and both have unlimited data on our iPhone 3GSs, with contract set to expire on Oct 15. Do we have to sign another 2yr contract immediately in order to keep our unlimited data, or will AT&T roll us over to a month-to-month plan when our current contract expires (but keeping the unlimited data along with it) until we are ready to sign another 2yr contract?
I assume a phone call to AT&T was made to verify this story before publishing on what claims to be a “news” site? This is the same top notch journalism that produced an article that looked like an obituary for Steve Jobs, but was in fact an apology for not having produced an obituary.
Good thing I don’t come here for journalism!
I pre-ordered my 4S on Apple.com this morning and it made me select from a variety of plans. I got scared at first, but the unlimited plan was one of my options, thankfully. Still, this is a change from just a few days ago, when the unlimited plan was automatically selected for me.
Well, I ordered mine off AT&T’s site and the Unlimited Data plan is intact, although I, too, noticed the intentionally ambiguous message regarding this alleged “different plan”.
As for text messaging, however, I had only two choices, the unlimited for $20 and the $0 pay-as-you-go BS. I am currently on the same plan that I’ve been on for over a year I believe and that’s the $5 for 200 msgs. I use Google Voice and Toktumi most of the time, both of which have unlimited SMS in the U.S. and Canada. Hopefully they won’t take my 200 bundle away, although I’m not so sure I care that much. Having the Unlimited Data plan is what’s a big deal to me.
And yes, btw, unlimited can be tacked back on if it “accidentally” departs someone’s account. ;-)
When I upgraded our phones thru AT&T’s website, it said that our current data plan was not compatible. Fortunately, I read the whole page where there was an option for unlimited data for $30/mo. It’s AT&T. Don’t you know they’d try and pull this. Read the page!
I just visited the Apple website and even though I currently have a grandfathered unlimited data plan, there is simply NO OPTION to upgrade to the 4S without choosing a data plan. I chose unlimited, at $30 a month, and at checkout it added $199 to my current voice plan of $79.99/mo, and added $30/mo for my data plan. I cancelled the order. I tried on the AT&T website and saw the same thing. I see no way to upgrade to 4S and keep my unlimited data without paying $30 more a month, so I’ll pass.
This isn’t a news site by any stretch of the imagination.
And Brownie certainly isn’t a journalist.
Keeping the grandfathered unlimited data plan was easy, placing the order when your billing address is a P.O. Box is a whole other story. AT&T doesn’t allow you to add a separate shipping address so when you try to order from apple.com or att.com, it says that they can’t ship to a P.O. Box. I then called AT&T and they say to go to att.com/iphone4s to place the order to avoid paying $9.95 shipping. That would be great if I could place the order without getting errors everytime saying that it can’t ship to a P.O. Box. This whole process has been a NIGHTMARE for the past 2.5 hours. How does AT&T not allow you to add a separate shipping address? It’s a bit ridiculous. Rant done :)
I thought the 1,500 text messaging plan was also grandfathered on AT&T. There was no option in both the Apple and AT&T website. BOOOOO!
was told the exact same thing
Oh, and one more thing. I upgrade every year and it had always been $199 for the full subsidy, $399 for half and if you lost your phone, $599 is what you needed to get back into the game. Besides the strange language used so as to confuse customers into thinking they cannot retain their unlimited data plan, I find the fact that the “Early Upgrade Discount” has been raised from $399 to $449 just a tad sneaky. It’s probably Apple who found this nifty way to extract another $50 from millions of people and I’m cool with that because I usually find a way to get my statements “adjusted”, as if I wasn’t already way ahead of that game. I’m merely officially and publicly acknowledging the gesture of the corporations that I am a such a valued customer of. Make sure that you appreciate the privilege of the early “upgrade”, along with resetting the 2-year clock and having 24 more months added to your sentence.
If you go to A&TT directly and request to keep the original data plan you had they can not change it. when I got my 4 they told me this
This is not really related to the data plan, but has anybody tried to order through AT&T and also been able to buy AppleCare+? I am reading that you have to buy it at the same time you buy the phone, but there is no option to add it to my cart through the AT&T website.
I just called Premier support (866-499-8008) because I was having the same problem and wanted to make sure I didn’t lose my unlimited data. The rep said I needed to be using IE because they were having problems with all other browsers (I had been using Chrome) and instead of choosing the iPhone upgrade, pick the link under it about seeing all available phones. Then, from that list, choose the iPhone 4S you want (you can narrow it down quickly by choosing Apple from the left hand side). As you click through, you’ll see that you get the “Data Unlimited for iPhone 4S” for $30.
I don’t trust AT&T so I just went through Apple. Gave me the option of $30 for unlimited data (which is what I have now) but made me alter my text messaging plan. Either pay as you go or unlimited for $20. It wouldn’t let me skip this step either. Previously had the $5 for 200 plan. Not sure if I lost that completely or if I can add it back in later.
So I lost my unlimited data plan. Any hopes of getting it back?
They’re defiantly up to no good. Thanks for reporting it.
Why would you think Apple has anything to do with AT&T’s upgrade cost?
Go read the fucking Times then and stop your whining.
I knew that AT&T would do something shitty like this I just knew it LOL. When I tried to buy it from AT&T it said that I wasn’t eligible for an upgrade and I had to pay full price BS!!!!!!!!!! I went to Apple and of course I was able to buy it at the discounted price DOUCHEBAGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn, sorry buddy they tricked you. Fucking assholes!
I can’t believe that Apple hasn’t fixed this family plan ordering problem. The situation was the same back when the 3GS came out.
One day I hope to asend, too.
It’s strange you mention that, because usually when I’m to no good, I do it complacently!
After 69 minutes on the phone with AT&T, I finally was able to upgrade my wife and I to 4S’s. I’m sure the 69 minute will be worth it :)
You could make a phone call… AT&T have PR people who love clarifying situations for journalists…
I got the same message saying unlimited data for iPhone is not compatible with iPhone 4s. I had 4 choices at the bottom of screen: 200mb, 2gb, 4gb pro and “unlimited data for iPhone 4s”. I chose the latter. Curious what would be different. Maybe HPSA+? price is $30/mo.
I was in chat with an Apple Rep, as I was having trouble with the site, and she said no matter what plan you choose via the Apple website, you just need to call AT&T before you activate to keep your same plan as is or make further changes. Nothing done with your plan via the Apple website is set in stone.
ROFL. I like your update. Especially the last sentence: “Here’s the question, though: is AT&T trying to trick people out of their unlimited data plans? Sure seems like it.”
Rephrased for clarity: “I might be wrong, but I’m still right!”
All joking aside, I agree. What’s so unfathomable about the fact that AT&T might try underhanded tactics to take away a product they wish didn’t exist? Remember before the official admission that AT&T was throttling “data hogs”? They were still doing it.
I am on the phone with AT&T now. Call them and they can keep you grandfathered into your texting plan. She said select either option, and they’ll set up a case and fix it. I don’t need unlimited texting especially now that there will be iMessaging available!
When I ordered mine at about 4am my message was different. It said that my unlimited plan is not compatable with the new phone but then I was given the choice to click the 30.00 “data unlimited 4gs” plan again but if I didn’t read it carefully I would have lost my unlimited plan. I printed out my confirmation email which also says that I choose the data unlimited iphone4gs plan for 30.00. Just incase but people I bet a lot of people are gonna make that mistake and loose there unlimited plans and I’ve heard that even if you call them and tell them you made the mistake and choose the wrong plan they won’t change it and your basically screwed. If anyone orders from att make sure you read very carefully what you click and print out the confirmation to cover your self just incase
I am on the phone with AT&T now. The customer service rep said that if you had a grandfathered plan, it stays that way unless you actively change it. Even though it says AT&T selected a “compatible plan”, you’re still on the same plan.
You will have to commit 2 years for each iPhone 4s to get the $199/$299 price it would be more than double that without 2 year commitment and they are not available w/out 2 year contract until November.
You can keep your unlimited data plan on month to month. My son has my old iPhones when I
Upgrade and he’s out of contract 2 years and kept his unlimited data
Call AT&T. I did before I placed my order on Apple. She set up a case for me noting that I wanted to keep my 1500 text messaging plan. I’m supposed to receive an email from AT&T. I’m assuming when my new phone arrives from Apple, I’ll want to call AT&T back and make sure it gets activated with my grandfathered in texting plan.
Just ordered two phones (one was add-a-line, the other was an upgrade to my existing iPhone unlimited data plan) … and I was able to keep the unlimited plan for my line since I’m “grandfathered in”. Spend the time on the phone to pre-order, it’s worth it.
I ordered through AT&T’s “AT&T Upgrade” application on my 3Gs. I also got this message, and it IS extremely misleading; however, you can accidentally remove the unlimited plan if you’re not careful. After clicking “Continue” after getting the message shown above in the article, you’re taken to another screen that offers the “Unlimited Data for iPhone 4s” which is also $30. I think I hesitated on that “continue” button for a good 20 minutes before giving it a shot.
I was hovering over the “continue” after getting the message that it wasn’t compatible with the new phone. Thank Jobs I was given the option of choosing the $30 unlimited plan next!
I read somewhere that AppleCare might not be worth buying until after one year after buying the phone, because it’s covered under a warranty already and AppleCare just extends the warranty to 2 years.
That $30/mo will continue being $30/mo! It won’t ADD ANOTHER $30 to your plan!
If you are going to get AppleCare on an iPHone, you MUST now buy it with the phone. They changed the rules for the iphone coverage plan and it can ONLY be purchased at the time you purchase the device. After that they won’t allow it.
It’s withing 30 days, you can undo anything!
AT&T is completely desperate trying to get every one of their grandfathered customers out of their unlimited plans. They want to eradicate it but they do not want their customers to leave. Guess what AT&T, the day I cannot have unlimited with you will be the day I move to Sprint (Hopefully unlimited is still there). Phone data should be unlimited same as internet at home, and should not be limited by how much you can use.
I happen to work for at&t…. you see this screen when you change between 2 devices that use different data technologies… there are different packages for different types of data… if someone unintentionaly removed the unlimited, all they would have to do is call us in a timely manner and we have a special procedure to have it readded
Not true. I just bought a 4S from the Apple Store and declined AppleCare, but the confirmation email I received said I could buy AppleCare any time before the one-year warranty expires.
yes, dorks that they are. Even when buying a 4s on Apple’s site, I lost my wife’s original DataPlan + for $15 amd had to choose a new version which was $10 more per month.
it is up to one year of the purchase date that you have to buy it. Also it doesn’t matter when you buy the after car. if you buy it before the one year is up it still only gives you one more year of warranty not two
it is up to one year of the purchase date that you have to buy it. Also
it doesn’t matter when you buy the after car. if you buy it before the
one year is up it still only gives you one more year of warranty not
two
I tried using the AT and T site which froze up and then locked me out, but before that, I did find the screens to be incredibly confusing. It would not show me the new phone. Then I went to the Apple site which was working but I chickened out because we have family plan w/unlimited data and I was afraid that I was canceling that. So then I just called AT and T wireless. Was on hold for about 10 minutes, but then a real, live, English-speaking human being came on the phone and we were able to successfully complete the order for 2 4S iPhones as upgrades to my existing plan with unlimited data.
Same here, the described options to select the $30 iPhone 4s unlimted plan are NOT available to me on the Apple.com site, there are no other links to check any other plans. T
No I can confirm what NWGuy is saying. It’s not that there’s a $30 option, there is no unlimited listed for some people on the Apple.com site, no matter what you do. Seem somehow tied to the phone #s. My guess is that if you haven’t expired yet (and are paying the full upgrade) they’re not showing the grandfathered plan.
How many months where u away from an up-grade
They aren’t trying to trick anyone out of it, just to clarify that they did this for the iPhone. if you change phones, you lose and it ain’t coming back.
If they wanted to eradicate they can. legally they aren’t required to grandfather anyone. So they could simply say that after Oct 6, 2011 the unlimited plan is no longer available. anyone that buys a new phone must choose another plan.
Are you sure it added $199 to your voice plan and that wasn’t the actual phone you were seeing
Sure they will. Because they are betting if they don’t you’ll tell them to F off and go to Verizon or Sprint
Yes, regular AppleCare is available for up to a year after purchase. But, AppleCare+ is only available at the point of sale.
Not true the site won’t let them. If you change to the 4s you can keep your unlimited. I was able to. I had to go through the phone support to do mine because of the premier account I have but I kept my 900 min plus unlimited data text.
It doesn’t look like I lost my unlimited plan. When I checked the my order status this was the first line: New Service
iPhone 4S 64GB BlackData Plan Unlimited for iPhone
Does this work for Verizon to?
Verizon wont let me keep my unlimited data with a move up from a LG Dare. I have called three times. I’m not a yeller, should I yell. I think I’m mad…yep…yep I am.
I added that feature before July 7th. Went in to a store made sure it was good. Called last night Verizon said if I would have been using an actual “smartphone” it would be there. I said I do have the 29.99 Unlimited Data dont I? She said yeah but its different. We dont have that code. WTF
They bone you by forcing a ridiculous $20 unlimited texting plan.
There is no other option except 20 cents per text
Forcing 20 for something I barely use past 500 texts a month
What about just going into a AT&T store or apple store and just purchase the phone there?
I tried to go to a store and get my 4s and was told my unlimited plan was going to be $40 a month now, instead of $30. I told them nevermind. Also, when I tried to order online the website wouldn’t let me pass the page asking me to pick a new plan.
I have an unlimited data plan originally from Alltel which was taken over by AT&T in my area. When I called on iPhone 4s the AT&T rep said that there was no way I could keep unlimited data. He read a quote he said was AT&T policy. I asked him when it went into affect and he said when it was written. I then asked for an emailed copy of the policy and he said he wasn’t sure if he could email it since he wasn’t near his computer. Just a bunch of BS. Still not sure I can keep my unlimited (Alltel) dataplan on AT&T. They suck!!!
Soon the Great Journey shall begin. But when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay your feet. And you shall be left behind.
What is “unlimited data” anyway really if AT&T is just going to SLOW YOUR DATA DOWN IF YOU HIT THEIR ARBITRARY LIMIT THAT PUTS YOU INTO THE “TOP 5%” of Data Users for a given plan month!!!??? How is that unlimited? I smell a class action lawsuit.
What if I want to go from iphone to an droid phone will I still be able o keep my unlimited data plan