Old school AT&T plans

I knew this would happen to people so before they took the maps off line, I took the time to save them all. Now, what might've happened to you is that your account was migrated to the Cingular orange billing system in June while keeping your existing plan. But I know Cingular is careless about certain details so they might've not programmed the orange billing system exactly as the old blue system was programmed.

Here's how the old AT&T blue regional map looked like. Now, this is the NYC/NJ map, but I think this should be the same for PA since there wasn't any other map for PA that I remember. The yellow areas are roaming:









And below, here's the latest Cingular (orange) regional map for the area of Philadelphia. Either way, MD is covered in both maps.

 

Another piece of information I came across about a year ago said that Cingular was changing all regional customers to national. I heard of people receiving letters from Cingular stating that their regional plans were being automatically upgraded to national plans with no other changes in their minutes, etc. I wonder whatever happened to that, but I am just mentioning it just in case because it was my understanding all regional plans were changed to national, but I guess that's not the case.

Where in PA was your account originally opened? Did you keep the same PA number when you moved to MD? Let me know if you need any more help.

 

You are correct bobolito, they did send out letters to all AT&T & Cingular customers that were on regional plans they would be moved over to National plans.
It does sound like something didn't get programmed right in the computer, but when the OP stated he got a central PA phone #, it took him out of the NY/NJ/DE/MD Regional area and something got messed up in the system.

 

Sounds to me that even with a Central PA number, every map, whether it is local or regional, it covers MD regardless.

By the way, it looks very clear to me the date on that map you posted is 4-4-03.

 

I just think it's amazing that you did this, bobolito. Looks like this will be very helpful ammunition for the OP. Good thinking!! :clap: :notworthy

 

I'm looking at the central PA local map as I type this (due to compay firwalls I cannot up load or I would)

what is the zip in MD where uou are? and the EXACT call plan name (there were some variants on local plans years ago)

gimme that info and I can tell you whether there was roaming involved or not...from what I can see now it looks good for you (guessing with the plan map tho)

but to put things in context...there are a couple of rules that we MUST follow...your situation is covered by rule number 2 (Pasted below)

Misunderstanding – If any customer requests a billing adjustment because of a misunderstanding, miscommunication, or unexpected charge, the customer may be eligible for an adjustment based on the facts of the situation. Examples include miscommunication associated with new activations, rate plan changes, rate plans, SOCs/features, or disputed roaming or overage charges.

so rather than nattering about maps and such just call back and request a supervisor

 

I don't understand why they are giving you the excuse that "it wasn't true until September 2003." That has nothing to do with it. Today it is 2006 and as far as you are concerned today you should be billed as the way the maps are today, not what the maps were at some point in the past. That is a very poor excuse. You need to talk to a supervisor or some higher up and bypass the first line of ignorants.

You have shown them the map that supports your theory. Have they been able to show you a map that supports their theory?

Another thing, AT&T Wireless always called their regional plans "Local". It was Cingular that used the word "Regional". At some point Cingular used the words "Home" and "SuperHome", but AT&T Wireless, even on their latest GSM America plans were called "Local." I just closed an account that was opened in 2005 and it was always called GSM America Local. I don't remember AT&T Wireless ever using the word "Regional" in their plans.

 

Due to the fact that maps have been removed from all websites and the inefficient way in which the map information has been handled by Cingular, it should be very easy to claim a misunderstanding in this case. But I don't think the misunderstanding is in the part of the customer because no matter what, all maps cover both PA and MD.

 

This is the rope you should hang on to. This demonstrates that you were not roaming in the first place and should've never been charged for roaming. Just keep on insisting on an answer to that question.

 

sounds to me like its time for a letter to stan.

 

AT&T did offer regional plans called Local plans prior to 03 as others have stated. What I don't get is if Cingular made ALL Regional plans National plans, then you shouldn't still be getting charged roaming after they give you the credit for the past months.
It really sounds like they have a billing problem with your account, and may be trying to get you to migrate over or have you cancel the line to go to another carrier. (especially since it's a $29.99 plan & there little rating people episode within the last 2 months)

Tell them you got a letter saying your plan was switched to a national plan last year & you don't understand why you would be getting charged roaming under a National plan & see what happens.

 

now we are getting somewhere...
from that description its obvious the coverage has changed... what was once a non roaming area is now roaming...this will continue to be problematic as long as you are on that plan...


the business standpoint is that you started the service in one area... moved and didnt change your number (to effect the market change)...coverage areas do change...you can try to get the credit again, but I wouldnt be suprised if it was declined...you *might* be able to negotiate something

as a solution ould make the move from ATT (blue) to Cingular (orange) and you wont have to worry about roaming charges again..

 

The other business standpoint, and the most ethical point, would be to inform the customer before coverage areas change, if that's what really happened. If it was my case, I think that changing plans is not be the solution. The only solution here is to straighten out the bill and change the number so that the coverage area fits his region. But it seems very odd to me that a coverage area from PA would not cover MD since there was never such limits on GSM plans. Coverage areas tend to grow, not diminish.

I would say, get the credit applied and get the number changed to the MD area to ensure this doesn't happen again, and if they give you grief just cancel and switch to a different carrier.

 

the regional plans in ATT were TDMA only

the northeast regional plan coverage area was virginia to maine and NY state (north south boundry)to PA/OH state line (east west boundry) and they were retired in june 2002

the PA local (TDMA) Pre-9/12/03 covered all of MD except for the skinny part at the mouth of Chesapeake bay the boundry went thru Welbourne east to west after 12 dec 2003 it covered it all to bring the coverage inline with the GSM plans (it was becoming a billing nightmare) hence the change... but the billing macro was changed to increase coverage later to stop a billing nightmare caused by the change (so the OP should not be charged roaming in MD at all... (contrary to my other post that I am going to amend)

the pa local (GSM) is exactly the same as the post 9/12/03 TDMA coverage

if the OP had moved to GSM he/she would have had to select a local or a national plan

pre merger cingular plans that were called regional were the rough equivalent to the ATT local plans


ATT about 2-3 years pre merger were moving towards all national plans to remove thmselves from these type of disputes...and it was finally instuted on a national scale at the time of the merger... you will note that cingular plans all include national roaming if they were activated after nov 2004

 

The GSM plans also allowed you to choose between a Local/Regional plan or National plan, that is why they changed all GSM customers from Regional plans to National plans this year.

 

this is where the confusion between ATT (blue) and cingular (orange) comes in....the key is who the original provider was and the technology of the service (just to confuse everyone)

the GSM regional plans were orange

the ATT regional plans were all TDMA


the change in coverage was mainly affecting customers in the New York market giving them national roaming included regardless if they were former Cingular Region or former ATT local...

 

elmo01, rather than having glacier206 talk to someone unfamiliar with the situation, which is probably less knowledgeable than you and with less will to help, is there any way you can help glacier206 directly by exchanging the account info over email? I think that will save a lot of hassle.

 

makes sense.... pm me the phone number