I have been a customer of Cellular One for many years now. I have not had a contract for quite a while, so I pay month by month. I had received info in the mail that CellOne is now AT&T, but, I was able to keep my current plan, so the buyout did not affect me. Well, my phone quit working altogether, so, I went to the CellOne store in town to buy a new phone. Here’s the deal, they do NOT sell any phones that will work with old “cellone” plans. If you buy a phone there, it will only work with AT&T service. That means that I would have to change my service plan. I currently pay $50 a month for Unlimited minutes (on the CellOne plan), and the only Unlimited plan that you can get with AT&T is $100 a month- Can you believe that???!! That is double the cost!!! Now, you would think that since AT&T is a Nationwide provider that their service would actually be cheaper than CellOne was. That is definitely NOT the case!
So, while I was in the store, I asked if I could get a phone somewhere else that would work with my CellOne plan, and she said yes, you can get an unlocked phone off the internet, like on Ebay. This is fine, but, I really didn’t have the time to wait around for a phone to be ordered/sent from the internet.
Someone had mentioned to me at some point that there were “unlocked” phones at the Jammers store over by the post office. So, I headed over there. Sure enough, I got myself a new phone and used my existing SIM card. I was very impressed with the service there. They were very nice and knowledgeable about the phones, etc. They did not try to sell me anything that I didn’t need either. They do provide service for Einstein Wireless, but, at this point, I just needed a phone.
I think it is a total crock how CellOne/AT&T is getting people to switch plans to AT&T and selling only phones that work with AT&T. I could understand maybe a small increase in price, but, DOUBLE the amount of my current plan. I think NOT! If there comes a point when CellOne/AT&T says that I can no longer have the $50 unlimited plan that I am on, I will definitely be switching to a new provider. It will probably be to Einstein, if I don’t switch sooner.
I hope this post will help others to save money too and not be sucked into the AT&T conspiracy.
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Tags: cell one at&t, cellphone scam, cellular one at&t scam on phones and plans
Cellone has been using that ploy for years. Two and a half years ago I too was running month to month after my contract had run out. I noticed that me reception was getting really bad, so I went in to talk to the rep. I was told that they had updated their towers and transmission systems and that my phone would no longer work with the new system. I was then told that the only way to remedy the situation was to get a new phone and to get a new phone I had to sign a contract with their new plans. I was on a small plan(basically emergancy use only) for $19.95 a month and the new plans started at $29.95 a month with less minutes and options than my current plan. Needless to say, I switched providers.
Also, just FYI, many providers are now stating they will not activate unlocked phones, or phones that their origin can not be documented.
Also, ask around about Einstein. I only know two people who had them and although there service and plans were awesome they said their reception in the Antigo area wasn’t that great. They also said they were told that in time reception would improve when Einstein started using more towers in the area. Just something to look into.
I don’t know what your guys problem is, but I also was a cellone customer and I switched over and I still use my cellone phone, cause I liked it better, yeah I bought a new phone from att but I got the cheapest $10 phone and just use my nicer cellone phone. so I am not sure why you people are having problems.
Seems to me the author of the original post is somehow connected to Jammers.
Don’t be to sure about them having connection to Jammers. Dave (owner) does a great job there. I have’nt dealt with them on cell phones but i know quite a few people who get their phones through jammers and they have great service for a low price. I take any electronics or pretty much anything of value there and they buy it outright giving relatively fair prices. They are big in the R/C car, skateboard, ebay store, along with cell phones. They are now providing trophys and plaques.
Well i still have my cellone card in my phone and i have a AT&t phone.
all i did was go in and they gave me phone and put my card in the new phone.Also from Jammers all they do is Rip you all there. cause I know someone that went there and got 2 phones and they didn’t work that good and the sim card didn’t work and also it took Months before they even got a phone cause they couldn’t inlock them for some odd reason.
So Jammers took the money and didn’t do a dam thing for them..
They say one thing and do the other there they are using people for money.. cause you can go in and get a phone they give it to you for so much and the next person walks in and they get the same phone but cheaper Thaey are using everyone for money.. So I wouldn’t go to them at all cause they ask way to much for things and they take people for money. Jammers is a joke……………
You can go to Walmart, or Walgreens and buy a AT&T Go “Prepaid” Phone for $25 to $35.00. Use your old AT&T Sim card from your broken phone. That’s what I did.. At least I didn’t have to go with another contract.. The Go Phones are only basic Nokia phones with very little bells and whistles. They don’t have a camera.. But you can text and still use some internet on them. The phones also come with a $15.00 credit. When I put the sim card in mine, I got 150 rollover minutes added to my AT&T account.. I guess 150 minutes at 10 cents per minute is $15.00. You can buy more expensive Go Phones with Keyboards too.. The people at Jammers are usually nice and helpful.. But they are overpriced with unlocked phones.. If you have AT&T service just buy an AT&T Go Phone from any of the major stores.
Last week Verizon told me the same thing. i could not get a new phone unless I upgraded my plane. I was told that NO older phone would work, regardless of where I purchased it.
I work at Verizon and any customer with an Alltel plan can purchase a Verizon phone and keep their plan, unless they want a Motorola Droid. That is the only phone that you are required to switch to Verizon plan. We can also activate any Alltel phone onto a phone number that still has an Alltel plan.
If you have a standard phone on an Alltel plan, and want to purchase/ activate a Verizon smartphone or multimedia phone, you will be required to add a data pack to your Alltel plan. But we have phones that don’t require a data pack at all.
Maybe I wasn’t clear. We have a Verizon plan that we have had for years. We were notified that we were eligible for an upgrade which was good since the one phone was not working properly(We have three phones on this account). We picked out a phone and were told the upgrade was not available unless we upgraded our plan. The associate, Robert, told us that the plan had to be upgraded to be eligible. I asked about keeping the plan and purchaising the phone outright or purchasing a phone elsewhere and he stated that no phone would work on our plan unless it was updated/upgraded since our original plan no longer exited. I asked how that was possible since the plan has nothing to actually do with the actual service and he stated that that’s just how it is and to get a new phone (to replace an older non-working phone, not adding a line not changing a number, not changing company from Alltel to Verizon)to work we had to upgrade to another more expensive plan.
Oh, and it is not a smart phone…not a blackberry or anything else. Just a basic Motorola.
I wanted to upgrade my daughters phone but couldn’t without a new contract now they keep taking my address info but never send me a contract mean while the cost of the new phone keeps showing up on my bill and they won’t remove it until I sign a contract in which they keep failing to send I have interest being add because i am only paying my serves I would just tell them to forget it and send the phone back but this has gone on since Nov. and they would not take it back now, I sure miss Alltel they seemed easier to deal with.
blogger, don’t feel bad your not the only one. They seem to be having some problems with their mailings. Since Verizon took over Altel, I have not received a bill in the mail(or email). I have called them 3 times asking to verify my info and send a duplicate bill. They said the will/did but I never receive anything.
For those who are about to comment about my above posts about Verizon accounts, I have a Verizon account with three phones for work and my boyfriend and I have Altel accounts personally.
Alexis – that is strange. I don’t have much experience with older Verizon plans because we were Alltel until October, but it doesn’t seem fair to you that you can’t keep an older Verizon plan and get a new phone, especially since Verizon is letting Alltel customers keep their plans. But a lot of things like this are out of our control, the computer system will come up with an error message if we try to switch something that Verizon doesn’t allow. Not sure why it would matter what plan you have but maybe customer service could explain it or find a way around it