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Topic: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal (Read 205 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #1 –
Yup, VZ opened the door and everyone is rushing in to give the farm away.  :o
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #2 –
Read through it earlier today and there are some concerns, mostly because it is a program designed to be for home phone/Internet in rural areas where wired broadband might be challenging.  Specific states/locales were mentioned.  Chris and Cherie (of Technomadia) found an AT&T corporate store in one of those locales willing to do phone orders, but there is a pretty high risk (IMHO) that a billing/service address outside that short list of locales is ultimately going to be a red flag to AT&T and could potentially result in contract violation.  I would read the T's&C's of the contract carefully.

Memories of the school district in the south-central US who extended their VZW service outside immediate community comes to mind.

Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #3 –
OK, I'm diving in to see if some of y'all who are waaaay more technoliterate than I can throw me a lifeline on this.  Thx so much, Jon, for this original posting, & Michelle for your followup.

I am still sort of in the 20th century as far as telephonic devices--no cell phone.  I wanted to escape ATT, and shortly after getting LDy Lulubelle I read a post on the old Yahoo group where someone (wish I could remember & give credit) shared about the Straight Talk Home Phone plan from Walmart.  I bought the router for $100 (they're now < $50) & a service card for $15/30 days unlimited local/long distance service, & was able to port my old landline number over to this system.  I unplugged the ATT line in the box on the outside of the house, plugged a phone line in the back of the router & into one of the phone jacks in the house & voila...presto-chango all my dinosaur touch tone phones in the house work (does not work with any of the old rotary phones).  The fella who shared this on the forum said the system was portable...apparently it is on the Verizon network, and with a 12volt jack it plugs into LDy Lulubelle's system quite nicely--in fact, I've even taken it with me in the car & plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet.  So, for three years the phone happily works in the house & the LD (at the farm, Michigan, Ladeze in Moab & Idaho, Denver).  The only place I've not had service is actually a dead spot about 60 miles north of home on US 65 around the Iowa line (where people I know with cell phones have mentioned having reception problems as well).  Overall, I've been very satisfied with this phone system (except when they stopped selling service cards at the local Walmart for a while & I had to buy service online, but that's changed back again).

I know some friends here in town who told me about their similar system with ATT a few years before I got the Straight Talk, but they didn't mention anything about portability, so I didn't follow up.

I'd been getting some flyers about the DirectTV/ATT merger & advertising satellite/internet bundle for $80 (as well as some that bundle phone/internet/satellite), and had given some thought to dumping the cable since LDy Lulubelle's previous family had DirectTV, had installed a satellite receiver on her roof, & said they just took the box from the house when they hit the road.  When I went to our local ATT store they had me set to sign up, then claimed they couldn't sell the package because my end of town didn't get their internet service after all (my confusion grew, because I saw ATT pop up for several neighbors when I would fire up the MacBook, back before my local rural ISP dumped the service I had & wanted to sell me a new one for >$$).

So, my question, before I try to follow this very interesting, bright shiny new thing into the local store & get them & myself confused all over again:  would this phone work on the road with a *landline* phone like what I have now (so that I'd have phone in the house & away)?  Am I correct in understanding from what Cherie wrote in the link above that the internet service could go from the house to travel in the LD?

Golly--if this works, I might come further into the 21st century.   ;D   Thx for any further discussion on this.

Lynne
Lynne
LDy Lulubelle, Green '05 31' TB
Lilly, the 4-Legged Alarm
Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #4 –
Hello Lynne.  I took a quick  look at both services to see if I could help you with this matter.  The AT&T option requires a signal from a cell tower near your home.  So the first question is how strong is the AT&T signal inside your house?  Without a good signal, you'll be worse off than with your present service.  If you have a good AT&T signal, then this new product from AT&T might very well work for you. 

If you don't have a AT&T phone, perhaps one of your neighbors or friends has AT&T wireless.  Invite them to your house to check the signal strength with their phone.

"You can use the ethernet port to connect a more capable router if you have more extensive local networking needs, and the phone jacks will allow you to connect a traditional "landline" phone."  This is a cut & paste from the link in the OP.

Btw, I'm guessing you'll need to buy a new phone that is AT&T compatible.

With that information and a careful review of the fine print, you could be ready to switch.
Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #5 –
For us low usage except for an LD trip Verizon users, we went in and upgraded our plan for same price from 3GB to 4GB and now carryover non-used GB (not sure if it keeps rolling or you only get to use the previous month's unused GB, DW handled and I wasn't present nor had the desire to dig through the paperwork to read all the this and that).

When we are out for long periods in Ruby (well, long for us, a week) we should be able to do most anything we wish online.
Ruby, the red 2004 26' RK hauling Dave and Kristine hither and yon
Re: Unbelievable (?) AT&T Data Deal
Reply #6 –
Lynne,

The device being sold for AT&T's "home base" router rural plan works similar to your StraightTalk box - it uses cellular data to provide Internet and VOIP (voice over IP) phone.  You should be able to use it with your existing "home phone" phones.  You can also take it with you when you travel - that is part of the marketing information.

Now, that being said, AT&T is marketing this to a small area.  Some folks who have been ordering them based on Technomadia's announcement/article have had the order cancelled due to not being in the target service area.  Others are reporting being unable to order if their billing address is not in the target region.

From the article:

    It's only available in certain areas...

    States where this can be found are Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Western PA, and Upstate New York.

    These rate plans are intended for specific customers and rural areas with sufficient network capacity. Customers attempting to use these plans in non-targeted areas with network congestion will experience slow data speeds and will likely find the experience unacceptable.

If your billing address is in one of the target areas, it might be worth pursuing.  If not, it appears unlikely you could purchase the plan now.

Note that this is also a very new offering and is not shown on the AT&T Wireless website.  You would have to check with a local corporate-owned AT&T Wireless store for availability.

Michelle