AT&T Split Billing? I'm receiving conflicting information from AT&T Wireless with regards tocalls which start in one particular peak period and end in another. Could someone please tell me which is true, whether calls placed prior to the start of off peak/peak are billed according to the time frame the call was initiated or whether AT&T's billing system splits the call into offpeak/peak segments? I spoke with a representative this morning who stated the latter, and just received word from an Email Rep indicating the former. What is true? The representative I spoke with on the phone this morning stated that any calls made before the end of off peak timings for my account (i.e. 645 a.m as off peak ends at 7 a.m. on my account) would be billed as an off peak call in entirety. Calls which begin prior to the start of off peak timings (in the case of my account, 801 p.m. ) and continue beyond the 8:01pm time frame would be considered a peak call. Can you sort this discrepancy out and provide me with accurate information? Thanks.
In my experience, if you start a call at 7:55 and end it at 8:05 (assuming your night minutes start at 8:00) then your call will be considered ALL peak minutes.
In my experience, if you start a call at 7:55 and end it at 8:05 (assuming your night minutes start at 8:00) then your call will be considered ALL peak minutes. ----- As a customer since 2000, this has been my experience as well, and it has been the remarks out of the mouth of customer service up until recently. I wonder whether AT&T is training its representatives to inform customers of the split billing phenomina to prevent users from reaping the benefits of cheating the system out of peaktime by starting their calls a little earlier in the morning? The following is an excerpt from the emails received from customer service with regards to split billing. "Thank you for contacting AT&T Wireless regarding billed minutes. When placing a call that begins in one time period and ends in the other, the call will be split and billed according to the peak and off peak rates which apply according to your calling plan. Both incoming and outgoing calls are billed from the moment you press Send/Yes until you press End/No in full minute increments with partial minutes of use rounded up and charged to the next full minute. Therefore, the actual number of billed minutes may vary from the call timer on your phone. You are not billed for unanswered calls or a busy signal as long as you press End/No within one minute. An automatic "dropped" call credit will be provided for airtime charges above the minutes included in your Calling Plan when a call is dropped by our switch on an outbound call and the number is redialed and connected through our switch within one minute." "Thank you for contacting AT&T Wireless regarding airtime split between off peak and peak times. When you are using airtime during peak time and continue on this same call into off peak time, night and weekend minutes, your call will be billed for peak airtime during the time that the call was using peak time and off peak airtime during for the time the call was using off peak time." "Thank you for contacting AT&T Wireless regarding a call started during off peak time and ended during peak time. If you started a call at 6:45am and the call lasted approximately 90 minutes you would have 15 minutes billed under off peak time and 75 minutes billed under peak time. "
I know US Cellular split bills calls, as I've had numerous calls show up on my bill as "P/OP" (Peak/Off-peak), whcih means they were split up and billed according to which minutes were used when.
Time for my monkey wrench..... I asked ATT (611 from my wireless) and they told me it IS split billing.
wireless) and they told me it IS split billing. -------------------------- This has not been the case up until recently, I wonder if this change was made in order to prepare for a possible Cingular takeover?? Does anyone know when the changes were implemented?
"The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated." The rumor of ATT/Cingular is just that. There are no facts to substantiate it. Months ago there was "talk" about it, but it died quicker than a daisy under the desert sun.
Cingular does the same, if I call or receive a call prior to the switch time between peak and off-peak, the call will be billed as the period in which it started regardless when it ended. To be on the safe side, if you find yourself in that situation again, just hang up at the peak/off-peak time boundary and continue the call a couple of minutes later after the off-peak period started. This way you save peak minutes. If the call started before 7am, by all means, don't hang up when 7am comes until you are done or else any call placed after 7am will be using your peak minutes.
If the call started before 7am, by all means, don't hang up when 7am comes until you are done or else any call placed after 7am will be using your peak minutes. ---- Actually, per Cingular's contract NJ (TDMA)/DE/MD/PA accounts will experience split billing. Now the questionis whether AT&T is now practicing split billing or if they're just telling customers this in order to save a few bux.
