Overview:
AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless and BellSouth, is one of the biggest and best cellular companies in the USA. They offer their customers more than just wireless – you can get residential and business telephone service, video and cable entertainment offerings, and a full line of Internet plans. They are headquartered in Atlanta.
Pros: The BlackBerry plans are pretty straightforward across the board – they offer a lot of features and often those features have no limit. There are a number of different plans, depending on your needs, including eight personal plans at relatively reasonable prices. As well, if you don’t have a BlackBerry, there are ten plans that deal with other handheld devices.
Cons: The prices are a little expensive, and many additional features will cost you extra. Additional fees may apply, depending on what state you live in, and AT&T includes a charge of up to $1.25 to comply with state and federal regulations. A credit check is required for all plans, cellular or data. There is also a hidden activation fee of $36 for each new line. As well, you cannot use personal BlackBerry plans with BlackBerry Enterprise plans to access corporate email.
Detailed Provider Information:
Voice Plan Options: If you get a voice plan, AT&T’s default rate for voice calls is 40 cents a minute and 69 cents for domestic roaming voice calls off of the network. Voice plan options vary by phone, but include the Early Nights and Weekends Plan, at $8.99 a month, and the Early Nights and Weekends FamilyTalk plan, at $16.99 a month.
Data Options: With all plans, data is unlimited in the USA. Canadian data is $0.015 per KB and international data is $0.02 per KB. You can access up to 10 different email accounts, including accounts on AOL and Yahoo!. However, if there are more than 1000 emails on the BlackBerry Internet Server (BIS) or your email is older than 30 days, it may be automatically deleted, which means you may have to be vigilant with your email.
Messaging Options: All plans include text, IM or video messaging, unlimited M2M messaging or tethering options (which means you can connect your device to your laptop with Bluetooth or a connection cable).
Customer Service: AT&T provides support online in the form of an answer center and forums. As well, you can call their number or email them if you have a problem with your service or phone.
Contract: There is a contract for these plans – if you want to terminate early, you’ll be subject to a charge of $175. Contract lengths vary from plan to plan in different states and depend on the phone that you choose.
Messaging: Depending on the plan that you get, you can have up to 1500 messages a month, either with unlimited M2M messaging or tethering. Prices vary from state to state, but are normally in the range of $44.99 to $94.99 for the data plans.
International Calling and Messaging: att.com/wirelessinternational allows you to determine if your wireless device will work in other countries. If it does, you’ll have to activate international roaming at an AT&T store to be able to use this feature. International calls and messages can be sent if your plan allows this. If you only call occasionally, the website offers you a table that will help you determine how much your calls will cost per minute. For BlackBerries, there is an International Long Distance Text Messaging package for $9.99 a month. This includes 100 messages and 20 cents for additional messages sent overseas.
Roaming Charges: Roaming charges may apply to some plans, but AT&T may not add them to your bill for three billing cycles. Default roaming charges are 69 cents a minute for domestic roaming charges off the network.
Activation Fee: You may be charged an activation fee of up to $36 for a new line.
Additional Features: The phones include additional data options, voice options, messaging, voice dial, GPS navigators, push to talk features, roadside assistance and enhanced voice mail. You can also join the AT&T Sounds Tone club, which will give you a subscription to receive text messages on music trivia, news and more. All prices for additional features vary from state to state.
Insurance: There is a one-year warranty on new phones and accessories and a 90 day warranty on refurbished phones.
Phones: You can buy both refurbished and new devices from AT&T, including the BlackBerry 8800.
Some Additional BlackBerry Models Available:
BlackBerry 8700c
BlackBerry Curve 8300
BlackBerry 8310
BlackBerry Pearl
Coverage Map: The AT&T coverage map can be found here.
GPS is a little rough around the edges (takes too long to download maps and location) but otherwise this is the best business-related phone ever.
small/compact and with a full qwerty keyboard. BB chat is a nice feature...although I wish it supported Y! IM better.
rock-solid email ... phone coverage is good and battery life is excellent.
buy it
Recently server is down regularly, attachments are deleted due to file size (I suspect AT&T reduced allowable size when they took over cingular) and performance is increasingly a disappointment. My service was much better 2 years ago or 6 months ago.
I switched from Sprint for the BB Curve, the phone is phenomenal, pricing fair, but the phone service is pure garbage. When Sprint gets the Curve, I'm buying out of my AT&T contract and going back to Sprint!
I really don’t understand why service provider makes it difficult on us. knowing that AT&T is the only wireless phone server provider that has satellites in the quiet zone makes me feel very good and confidant of using it as my prime provider. It works really well, so far proven AT&T is the last server to go down during hurricanes. Thank you AT&T...
At&T is NOT cheap, but they are flexible on payment plans etc and customer service is very good
The network is amazing, however, it does NOT work on NYC subways which can be a problem for some of us......
Otherwise, thumbs up Screw Verizon, theyr even worse.
Well i have switched my service to AT&T from a local little Texas company. By far AT&T plans are awsome compaired to what i have had for the past 13 years!! I have not got my phone yet, its on its way but i am excited. I have heard bad and good things but alot more good than bad......so from my stand point as of now (not haveing phone yet) I have studied on this for several days and AT&T plans are so much better......$15 more a month is what i will pay and i am getting so much more!!!! MORE BANG FOR MY BUCK!!!
I have been an AT&T customer for NINE YEARS!! Pacific Bell Wireless --> Cingular Wireless --> and now AT&T.
It has been a great ride for all these years, and will remain with AT&T indefinitely. I travel a lot, and am abroad as I'm writing this on my brand spanking new, and first ever, Blackberry Curve 8310! All I can say is W-O-W!! The OS (I currently have 4.2.2) could not be any more intuitive than it is. I downloaded OS 4.5.0.37, which will add even the maybe ONE "con" as far as Pros and Cons are concerned. And that being the ability to record videos, amongst a few other both visible as well as "hidden" updates that address stability, for example. I am so tempted to get the new OS on my "love at first sight" BB 8310, but for now I shall wait for the official upgrade.
I will also upgrade to the upcoming Blackberry Bold (9000), with the highest resolution of ANY Blackberry screen (HVGA!!), and, for that matter, ANY PDA or "regular cellphone". It will also be the first Blackberry with 3G, and wow...does it look HOT or what! ;)
AT&T also has the largest selections of Blackberry's, and cellular/PDA phones overall, for that matter. 3G is seemingly EVERYWHERE. Now THAT's an incredibly deployed network, which, only a year ago, was spotty, but only in markets that hadn't had 3G before. And to do with the 3G network what they did in only a year is just impressive and then some, and that's an understatement.
I travel a LOT, so I know how well everything works in different areas domestically, as well as internationally. With manual network selection enabled for international trips, it is stunning to see how many roaming agreements AT&T has across the pond, as well as Asian countries.
5 stars, my friends, 5 stars! :)
AT&T service in my part of Nashville is BAD. Sitting in my favorite chair: No Service. Lean to the left: 1 bar. Lean to the right: NS. Stand up: NS. In living room next to dining room door: 1 bar. Moved 1 step into dining room: NS. Front porch: 1 bar. On the steps: NS. In the driveway: NS. In the backyard: NS.
Do I need to go on? AT&T rep told me that there was nothing that could be done. I was in a dead zone.
Yes, dead zone for AT&T but just fine when I switched to Verizon.
I am hearing Imparied. I am T-Mobile service for 3 years. My Sidekick II is old and cant get the TTY service. Now I really can't wait to buy the Blackberry(Bold) 9000 from AT&T will help me out.