T-Mobile to cancel line for excessive roaming

[Mobile Mike]

Originally Posted by tmobileman

that's it in a nut shell you can always see the networks, but you will only be able to register on another network if tmobile is not available, and if the other network has a roaming agreement with tmobile most AT&T agreements have expired this is with Tmobile branded handsets, with a Tmobile SIM card in them. I don't know about unbranded handsets.

Unlocked/unbranded handsets work the same.

[RJB]

Originally Posted by tmobileman

that's it in a nut shell you can always see the networks, but you will only be able to register on another network if tmobile is not available, and if the other network has a roaming agreement with tmobile most AT&T agreements have expired this is with Tmobile branded handsets, with a Tmobile SIM card in them. I don't know about unbranded handsets.

Great thanks for clearing that up for me.

[CellTones]

My problem is that they didn't offer any options. A more expensive plan for instance. I'm on the road 11 months out of the year and have to have a phone. The first thing that I know about this is that my phone quits working. They probably did send a letter, but I would never have gotten it (that's the reason my bill is set up to pay automatically). I have to say that I have always been pretty happy with Tmobile, despite pretty limited coverage areas and extremely poor signal in many areas, along with customer service that once was good, but which has taken a dive. Heck, I am on roaming IN the WalMart where I signed up for the thing. Now they give me a week to find a new service and act like they're doing me a favor. As long as they know that instead of recommending them, they're now going to get the opposite (via my blog, my websites and any forum I can leave a post on).... Look, I understand they need to make a profit, but they weren't even polite and they offered 0 options. They just told me to try another company. I refrain from saying what I really feel about this for the sake of being polite. Best Wishes to all.

[JasonWells]

I feel bad for faciliating a thread for T-Mobile bashing. Overall, my experiences have been great! And the other people, in various areas, agree with me. I frequent the Minneapolis area and have been qutie impressed with coverage. Even Consumer Reports found T-Mobile best in the Mpls/St. Paul areas. But others have different results. However, the T-Mobile phones I have used allow me to roam on other GSM networks, even if T-Mobile has a perfect signal. For example, in Southern MN, it allows either Alltel GSM roaming or T-Mobile. In Sioux Falls, SD, it allows me to use LongLines (USASXLP), Alltel GSM (ROAMING), Unicel GSM (UnicelUSA). It will show AT&T but not allow me to use it. In metro areas, it will display other networks usually AT&T & T-Mobile, but if I select AT&T, it just resorts back to T-Mobile.

****ANYWAY....My friend has been using the HotSpot phone with great results. He has a question that you may be able to help with. Use on the HotSpot@Home is usually during N&W mins, and the peak minutes are used on roaming partners (when he works). Do the N&W mins count toward his 20%? Overall, his plan is for 1000mins. He uses about 450mins roaming, and 2000mins N&W on the HotSpot@Home. Will that be OK? Thanks!!

He chose a Nokia phone, which seems to be exceptional for signal. Comments?

[tmobileman]

the 80% is overall usage regardless of times so the nights and weekends is considered on network since it is through the wifi service that he is paying for. Glad to hear it is going well for him.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by CellTones

My problem is that they didn't offer any options. A more expensive plan for instance. I'm on the road 11 months out of the year and have to have a phone. The first thing that I know about this is that my phone quits working. They probably did send a letter, but I would never have gotten it (that's the reason my bill is set up to pay automatically). I have to say that I have always been pretty happy with Tmobile, despite pretty limited coverage areas and extremely poor signal in many areas, along with customer service that once was good, but which has taken a dive. Heck, I am on roaming IN the WalMart where I signed up for the thing. Now they give me a week to find a new service and act like they're doing me a favor. As long as they know that instead of recommending them, they're now going to get the opposite (via my blog, my websites and any forum I can leave a post on).... Look, I understand they need to make a profit, but they weren't even polite and they offered 0 options. They just told me to try another company. I refrain from saying what I really feel about this for the sake of being polite. Best Wishes to all.

So now you're upset because we tried to get a hold of you and cancelled you because as a business we decided it wasn't worth suppporting your roaming, I understand that you are upset but I don't think it's fair of you to to hold a grudge, but you probably will anyway so whatever. What other options would you have liked to have...ok mr customer your acct is costing us money instead of us making money but if you pay us more and we break even on your acct we will keep you around, oh and by the way here take this phone free that should you decide to cancel we can't hold you to a contract because of your roaming and we would be happy to lose that money too but in the end as long as your happy we don't mind breaking even or losing money on your acct. Should we change our name to UNICEF, because as far as I know charities are the only types of orginizations that are not in it to make money. Like I said sorry this had to happen to you, but be realistic. Good luck to you hope your happy with whichever carrier you find.

[CellTones]

Originally Posted by tmobileman

So now you're upset because we tried to get a hold of you and cancelled you because as a business we decided it wasn't worth suppporting your roaming, I understand that you are upset but I don't think it's fair of you to to hold a grudge, but you probably will anyway so whatever. What other options would you have liked to have...ok mr customer your acct is costing us money instead of us making money but if you pay us more and we break even on your acct we will keep you around, oh and by the way here take this phone free that should you decide to cancel we can't hold you to a contract because of your roaming and we would be happy to lose that money too but in the end as long as your happy we don't mind breaking even or losing money on your acct. Should we change our name to UNICEF, because as far as I know charities are the only types of orginizations that are not in it to make money. Like I said sorry this had to happen to you, but be realistic. Good luck to you hope your happy with whichever carrier you find.

Not exactly. I do feel that if you had wanted to contact me, you could have; you certainly had my phone number and I never received a text message pertaining to this either.

Also, I understand the need to charge for certain things and I understand when costs go up. I pay my electric when the rates go up and I pay for gas at the pump, even when it is higher. I'm not asking for something for nothing; I'm asking to be able to pay enough to make it worthy the companies while. But that isn't even an option. The reason I'm really irritated is that the customer service rep was rude (which I was not) and couldn't give me the time to even figure out an option. One week when I'm on the road is nothing. I would have paid almost any price to keep my phone on and active. Anyway, I will remain irritated and I will be quite vocal about my unhappiness with this policy, or at least the way it was handled. In any case, I hope things go well for you too. But as far as realistic... all I'm asking for is an option. I've always paid on time and paid whatever was asked of me.

[wildwestten]

This has happened to me as well. I was cancelled for excessive roaming. I have owned my home the entire time I have been with tmobile 1 and 1/2 years.
I paid an activation fee which was supposed to last for my entire two year contract. I upgraded my phone twice, once to get a razr and again because the razr2 came out. I also convinced my son and wife to switch to tmobile last january costing me just over $300.
Last Saturday I had to pay almost $600.00 to set up my wife, son and self with Alltel because tmobile decided to cancel. How is that even remotely ethical or fair that I should have to pay all the same fees 6 months later to another carrier for a new 2 year contract.
I have lived in the 54935 zip code the entire time and tmobile has made it clear that they are eventually going to cancel all customers in this region.
My costs have included:
3 activation fees = $105
Razr = $100
Razr2 = $200
Nokia = $100
They have said I will be receiving a prorated refund for equipment purchased of $30.00 and that's it.
I am going to sue them in small claims and hope that a class action suit is filed. They have sold service to people knowing that they could not adequately service the contract. Just because a contract has wording that lets you out of a contract does not mean you automatically get out of it. If you knew the contract you were offering was worthless (ie roaming/coverage) then you entered the contract with malice and you are in violation. Specifically the Fair Credit Act and the FCC both cover this type of behavior with regard to service providers and deception. And they are not allowed to hide behind fine print.
I spoke to ATT and was told that tmobile lost their contract with them and that is why some of this is happening.
By all means feel free to contact me to be added to a growing list of individuals who are interested in being represented in a class action lawsuit against tmobile.

E-Mail deletd

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by wildwestten

Last Saturday I had to pay almost $600.00 to set up my wife, son and self with Alltel because tmobile decided to cancel.

Wow, how did you have to pay Alltel that much to activate Alltel service?
Activation is $25 plus many of their phones are $20 or less with a 2-year contract.

I think my 1st Alltel bill (almost 2 years ago) was $160.
($80 on 2 different accounts, 1 added line on each).
Plus $100 for activating 4 phones, plus the 4 phones were each 99 cents with a 2-year contract.

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by wildwestten

Just because a contract has wording that lets you out of a contract does not mean you automatically get out of it. If you knew the contract you were offering was worthless (ie roaming/coverage) then you entered the contract with malice and you are in violation.

I do agree and disagree on this.
Yes we rely on our phones so much, and sometimes roaming is our only choice.
I use my phone about 10,000 minutes per month, and 25-50 % of that is usually roaming (forced roam).
some companies like Alltel will only care if you roam about 100% of the time.

Others like AT&T or Sprint will drop you if you even try roaming alot for an extended period of time.

But overall I think all companies will drop only the roamers who use their phones alot, sadly.
Others can move to an area of 100% roaming, and barely ever use their phones and the company won't cancel them.
Only the ones that costs the companies too much,
but IMO, there should be exceptions to the rules.

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by wildwestten

And they are not allowed to hide behind fine print.

I do agree with the "fine print" issue, and that they do not actually tell the customers until it's too late.
I've spoken to many Alltel reps about excessive free roaming and they all thought it was a joke.
But I do know now not to overuse my phone way too much while roaming,

Company trust goes both ways,
I trust Alltel to provide great service,
and they trust me not to abuse or overuse services, like "free" roaming.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by wildwestten

I spoke to ATT and was told that tmobile lost their contract with them and that is why some of this is happening.
By all means feel free to contact me to be added to a growing list of individuals who are interested in being represented in a class action lawsuit against tmobile.

Wow what a surprise somebody from ATT said something negative about Tmobile, that's big news, the contract was not lost it was ended. you know Tmobile is not the only company that does this either, Sprint, ATT, Verizon, AllTell hall have an excessive roaming review that is conducted. So there is no guarantee that this won't happen to you again, but best of luck with whatever you decide to do, if you sue I think you'll lose, what a waist of your time and money, not to mention the mandatory arbitration clause of your contract that you agreed to. I have never sued a company, so I am not familiar with this process of arbitration but from what I have heard it's pretty much set up and in the companies favor, so good luck. seems like a waist of time to me but hey if you have nothing better to spend your time and money on more power to you.

[Barciurek]

I would buy a nice nokia e90 instead of sueing .. better use of money

[n9upc]

This cancellation thing is taking place all over and it makes me wonder why ALL of the sudden T-Mobile is doing this farming of accounts?

Here is an article from the Chciago Tribune that shows that it is causing problems for everyone! But, hey at least now everyone will now have a way to get out of their contract without ETF's!

Persistence key to finding sympathetic ear at cell companies -- chicagotribune.com

Hey how is the 3G rollout going?

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by n9upc

This cancellation thing is taking place all over and it makes me wonder why ALL of the sudden T-Mobile is doing this farming of accounts?

Tmobile is not the only company doing this, and the answer why is to ensure profitability. This is becoming standard practice with the national carriers so get used to it.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by n9upc

This cancellation thing is taking place all over and it makes me wonder why ALL of the sudden T-Mobile is doing this farming of accounts?

It's not all of a sudden - probably at least a year it has been occurring in significant enough numbers to get attention on the forums.

[Cailiff04]

Originally Posted by KyleAndMelissa22

I guess that's standard for Alltel also....
Six months.... up to 80% roaming.....

I've heard Alltel could cancel you for excessive roaming,
but I've also heard of people moving to Non-Alltel areas with their phone for 2 years with no problem.

Maybe this will change now that Verizon bought Alltel....They roam on eachothers network anyway!!!

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Originally Posted by Cailiff04

Maybe this will change now that Verizon bought Alltel....They roam on eachothers network anyway!!!

Oh lets hope this doesn't change,
I could always dispute against Verizon if they decide to change Alltel's roaming policy
(well if the roaming policy is strictly enforced, which it isn't with Alltel).

How strict is Verizon with their roaming policy?

[Barciurek]

From what I read on forums and heard live, they don't really enforce it..