My wife and I received the same letter stating we are tethering. We should stop or be migrated to a metered data plan from our unlimited plan. We have been AT&T customers since the first iphone came out in 2007.
The first letter came out in July, and we called to contest the claim we were tethering. They couldn't provide any real information on which device or what activities could be causing this false reading. We received a second notice in Aug, and called. A third notice in Nov and called. In Dec, they switched us over to a metered plan. Erasing my wife's voicemail. Now this is where technology and this mess up got personal. My wife's voicemail had messages from her mother. Who passed away in Oct. You can imagine losing the only opportunity to hear your mother's voice again. Needless to say, we called and complained.
I understand they want us to update and restore our phone's to factory settings. This, I am sure, is to eliminate the ability to tether illegally. All their assumptions and tactics on how to resolve the matter have to do with us coming back into compliance with their system. We are not tethering... so why would updating an app cure the problem? One rep mentioned that some apps will make it through the app store that allow for bad data consumption that looks like tethering. But really, we have a bluetooth enabled car, and use our phone paired with our Acura to make phone calls. I doubt this is the cause. it is only occuring on my wife's phone, so we can go through her phone and see what could be eliminated.
Today they put us back on the unlimited plan. It took escalating the issue to a supervisor. The first rep assured me the supervisor would not be able to do anything, and then sure enough, he was able to re-instate my unlimited plan. A small success.
They have lost the confidence of a customer. I stay for the unlimited data and if I ultimately lose this battle, I'll be heading to another provider.
Their questions and what they mean to me:
Do you use bluetooth? Meaning: do you use your phone to share data through bluetooth through some screwy mechanism or jailbroke app that is configured to share data through bluetooth.
Do you have any new apps that could cause this? Meaning: there is a recent app that may be allowing tethering... again, assumes ill intent, that the customer is trying to tether through some new app. Either this, or that there is malware sending data through bad data practices.
Do you use the pandora app in your car? Meaning, are you using a device that can only work with tethering... again... you are tethering, and probably don't realize it.
What about the consistent problem I present to AT&T that they cannot dispute? I have not switched my device over to tethering in the settings. I have not jailbroken my phone, and I do not have a need to share my data with another device, or devise a plan to do so. Our phones run the latest OS update. Our apps are all the top 100 most popular apps available and kept up to date.
I find it hard to believe they have an active plan to move people off unlimted data by falsely accusing them of tethering. Seems more practical that they would adjust their options and do away with the grandfather'ing all together.
I can only reason that they are getting false reads in some way. I offered to call repeatedly to see if I can help them identify the problem with their recording / detecting practices.
Any other ideas as to what could cause this?
