Acy

So I'm on the nation plan with AT&T. I'm from California and have only used my phone there in the past. Last month, I moved out to Richmond, VA for my summer internship and I've been using my cell phone regularly since I'm on the nation plan.

I got a big surprise when my bill came in. $960! My normal monthly bill is around $60. They charged me for roaming on every call I've made out here!


I gave them a call and they claim that my area is not part of their service area.

I just checked their service map and Richmond, VA is on it. I need to call them again. It takes forever to get a hold of a real person on their customer service lines.

brain

From my recollection, Richmond, VA is a Suncom AT&T market which is considered a "partner" market. I just used a prepaid phone while I was there since I didn't want to pay for roaming fees. Looking at the GSM coverage map on the mLife national plan, Richmond, VA is an area where you will pay for roaming charges. The only way you would for sure be covered would be if you were on the AT&T Digital One Rate plan which has no roaming anywhere in the 50 states.

Acy

I'm looking at the coverage map online and it looks to me like Richmond is covered, but it's hard to tell because it's so small. I'm going to go into one of their stores and ask their sales rep.

The ridiculous thing is there is an AT&T store less than a mile from where I live, which is where I am making most of my calls.

brain

Are you sure it's an AT&T Wireless store, not a Suncom AT&T store?

look_ma

Although I have Cingular service =(, I LOVE my plan.

250 ANYTIME to anywhere from anywhere continental US
3000 Night and Weekend to anywhere from anywhere continental US

I got the plan because of all this BS roaming charges, although I go over on my minuets sometimes it is worth paying the extra than having to deal with roaming charges.

Acy

What is a Suncom AT&T store? Is that a different service provider that uses the AT&T logo? Why is AT&T in their name if they are not AT&T?

I haven't had the chance to go back to the store. I just remember seeing an AT&T sign, but I'll take a closer look next time.

I called them up again and had a look at the map. Basically, they agreed that it is not possible to tell whether or not my area is roaming or nonroaming just by looking at the map. Richmond still looks like a service area on the map to me.

They claim that my phone will display "roaming" whenever I'm in a roaming area. My phone, Nokia 8310, which I bought from AT&T when I signed up, does no such thing.

Instead, it shows, "USA 490," which is meaningless. I mean, how am I supposed to equate "USA 490" with "roaming."

Another thing that bugs me about AT&T is that there is no paper contract. It makes me nervous because they could just pull something on you and there would be no way for you to defend yourself.

Anyway, I'm really sick of this. I don't think they are going to do anything about it. Their customer service reps are nice people, but they say they can't do anything.

I just lost $500 and I have no phone to use while I'm out here

brain

Are you sure you have an 8310? The Nokia 8310 is a dual band phone for European/Asian frequencies 800Mhz and 1800Mhz. You probably have the 8390 which is the US equivalent. Suncom AT&T is an AT&T Partner market. It's not owned by AT&T Wireless but they share the AT&T name. Since you are on the AT&T next generation network, Richmond is definitely not covered on their national plan unless you have digital one rate.

Acy

My phone is either the 8310 or 8390. If you say the 8390 is the US one, then it's probably the 8390 unless AT&T sold me a phone designed for a different continent.

Ok, I now know that AT&T has 2 different national plans. I would think that a large company like AT&T would cover major U.S. cities like Richmond in their national plan. It's not like I'm out in the middle of nowhere.

brain

Richmond is covered, but not included in their national network because the network is owned by a partner (Suncom AT&T).