> Since I have never been an AT&T customer, I don't find that very >> persuasive.
> Doesn't really apply to you then, but it is true, there is plenty of
> evidence to support this. The TDMA customers are also unwanted, but
> not quite so badly as the others and I imagine since you're already
> on a Cingular plan they won't strong arm you into switching that.
> You'll have to let me know if they try to ask you to sign another
> one/two year contract to make this change though, I believe this is
> a special "bonus" reserved only for the AT&T customers.
When I called them up, they told me there was no way to keep my existing $30 plan and the only thing they offered was the standard $40 plan with a contract, take it or leave it. I left it.
There is absolutely no reason to think this surcharge has anything to do with ex-AT&T customers, and every reason to think that it's to get rid of AMPS and TDMA customers. As should be blindingly obvious, the large number of ex-AT&T customers with GSM plans won't be affected by this at all.
Even with the $5 surcharge, my current plan is a better deal than anything they offer now, but if T-Mobile has adequate coverage here, Cingular is history.
Regards,
John Levine, snipped-for-privacy@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be,