AT&T Discontinuing Original Grandfathered iPad Plans?

Hello jeffalexander1970, we're here to provide more information.

We are retiring DataConnect Pass plans and offering another option for prepaid wireless data service - AT&T PREPAID data plans.

On March 14, 2023, AT&T will no longer offer DataConnect Pass plans. To keep you connected, we are providing a free SIM card.

It’s easy! If you are a current DataConnect Pass customer, visit att.com/GetYourSim to order your free SIM card and then activate an AT&T PREPAID data plan for your tablet, mobile hotspot, or other connected data device. If you take no action, your account will be canceled.

Hope this helps you out!

Thank you for visiting AT&T Community Forums!

Carlton, AT&T Community Specialist

Grandfathering is voluntary on the service providers part. 

The only requirement if they change the conditions is that they notify you in advance. Which they did.

And it's prepaid.  There is no contract on either end with Prepaid

You could add the tablet to a postpaid plan with a phone for $20 a month for unlimited data

To answer your question yes anyone on that plan is getting the same message 

So you are taking away an unlimited plan, replacing it with a limited plan , and trying to spin it as a good thing

Got it 

I feel your pain jeffalexander1970.  Yes, I just received that same message.  After having my plan for about 20 years (??), they are kicking me to the curb.  I have never abused their service, always paid my bill, and only used the service on my one ipad, which is what the rules stated, and honestly, I only used it when I traveled, which was not that often.  Less than a year ago, I received a notice that I needed to upgrade my ipad because they wouldn't support 2G any longer, so I went out and bought a new ipad because I wanted to keep the at&t unlimited data service, I wish they would have just cancelled their service at the same time I could have gotten a new ipad from another service provider for a discount, instead I paid full price for my ipad just to keep their service, thanks for taking care of your customers AT&T - NOT.  I have one question, are you really losing money on the handful of people that still have this grandfathered account or you just don't want to be bothered by your loyal customers any longer?

@Oldipadplan 

The iPad with 3G service was introduced in March of 2010. A little more than 12 years ago, not 20.   The iPhone is only 15 years old

iPads are sold unlocked and will work on any service provider. If you purchased and activated from AT&t, your eSIM has to be set up for the carrier reveal program in order to use another service providers eSIM, but your physical SIM card will work with any service provider

 It's inflation folks.   And it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Dear AT&T,

The law has already been established that "Lifetime" subscriptions are for the lifetime of the customer. See the legal precedence in the case 0f Sirius XM.  SPOILER ALERT: XM Lost.  

https://www.lifetimesiriusxmsettlement.com/

Yes, true while the iphone is only 15 years old, there was a thing called flip phones prior to the iphones which AT&T also provided service in the late 1990s, which I had.  So technically I have been an AT&T customer for over 20 years before adding my ipad unlimited data plan.  Of course I am well aware that my new ipad will work with just about any service provider, you missed my point, being that if I started a new service with another provider, they provide discounts/interest free financing on a new ipad with the new service.

Yes, you can casually sit back and blame it on inflation, and honestly believe it will be getting worse before it gets better.  It won't get better, no pricing ever comes down once it goes up, AT&T is just jumping on the bandwagon of companies that are raising their prices because they can, NOT because they have to (everyone else is doing it).  AT&T offers a service, not a tangible object that has to be shipped/manufactured.  Unless their executives are taking extremely large profit bonuses, what does inflation have to do with their service?  Actually, their profits have probably increased because of COVID, since the work at home thing has become a thing, much of their very expensive office space is no longer needed.

Here is my take on why AT&T has decided to cut this grandfathered program, again let me emphasis this, this is my opinion, based upon my personal experience when upgrading my ipad and my background as the head of an IT Department for a very large national company.  When COVID hit, many of AT&T Wireless workers (specifically the technical people that wrote and understood their systems), retired/quit/left the company.  While some still stuck around, much of the knowledge of those systems left the company at that time as well.  The new/younger employees weren't around for these older service offerings, so when 5G became a thing, no one thought about this older grandfathered unlimited ipad data plan because they simply forgot about it.  So, no design consideration was given for this old plan.  When I upgraded my ipad less than a year ago, it took over 2 weeks to get the service to work.  That took me being on the phone with support for 8 hours a day over the course of 5 days, going to multiple AT&T stores (corporate owned), and finally contacting their president's office where I finally was able to get my service to work.  They had to get one of their programmers to "fix" my service.  So if AT&T has to utilize one of their very expensive young programmers to stop what they are doing to "fix" a problem with a service that they wish would just go away, it needs to just go away.  The unfortunate cause is that many of these long-time customers are losing their service plans, the other unfortunate thing is that AT&T doesn't care, we are just a handful of annoying customers to them, so sad.

(Edited per community guidelines) (Edited per community guidelines) to follow...

AT&T should take a look at the settlement for Sirius XM.  (See below: Full Settlement is here: https://www.lifetimesiriusxmsettlement.com/Content/Documents/Settlement%20Agreement.pdf)

  "WHEREAS, Sirius XM provides and offers, among other products and services, a subscription-based satellite and internet radio service. WHEREAS, Named Plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that: (i) Sirius XM and/or its predecessors (Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Inc.) marketed and sold Lifetime Subscriptions to its satellite radio service that would last the lifetime of the subscriber, (ii) Sirius XM misrepresented the Lifetime Subscriptions that it marketed and sold, and refused to honor such subscriptions for the lifetime of the subscriber; and (iii) instead, Sirius XM claimed that each Lifetime Subscription was limited to the life of the radio originally used for the subscription (as opposed to the life of the subscriber) or that each Lifetime Subscription was subject to a limited number of radio transfers, subject to a $75 transfer fee for each such transfer. WHEREAS, Sirius XM denies Named Plaintiffs’ allegations and asserts that it marketed Lifetime Subscriptions for the lifetime of the consumer’s radio and subject to the terms and conditions of the subscriptions provided to the consumer at the time of purchase."

"Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

SiriusXM agreed to pay $96 million to settle the SiriusXM lifetime subscription (Edited per community guidelines) (Edited per community guidelines) in June 2020.