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AT&T does right by weather-impacted iPad owner

by Michael Rose Apr 27th 2011 at 11:00PM

Sadly, the south central US has been hit with a powerful cluster of tornadoes today, and scores of communities have been affected. Tuscaloosa, AL has been particularly hard hit, with several fatalities, scores of injuries and thousands of structures and vehicles damaged.

While the human and fiscal cost of today's storms has yet to be calculated, in one small way AT&T helped to ease the challenge for a TUAW reader. Adam T. wrote in to say that his home in Huntsville, AL is likely to be without power for several days, meaning that his internet connectivity is also going to be knocked out. He planned to use his 3G iPad to keep track of weather alerts and emergency information, but realized that he was rapidly going to overflow his 250 MB data plan.

Adam called AT&T customer service to explain the situation and request a data plan upgrade to the 2 GB plan. To his surprise, the service rep gave him the bump to the 2 GB plan at no charge. A small gesture in the scheme of today's events, perhaps, but one that Adam appreciated -- and so do we.



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Sadly, the south central US has been hit with a powerful cluster of tornadoes today, and scores of communities have been affected....
 

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11 Comments

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Stanik

I live in Huntsville too and I'm glad he got the bump but even cell service has been shoddy. It's getting over loaded since everyone is using their phones to get out.

April 29 2011 at 8:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chimacintosh

AT&T doing something right? Well anything is possible. Although Mr. Berners-Lee would say it is a fundamental right.

http://chimac.net/2011/04/14/berners-lee-web-access-is-a-human-right-stumbleupon/

April 28 2011 at 10:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
iphone-user

I pray for him AT&T didn't do what they did to me!

They upgraded me for free as well. It wasn't until the bill came at the end of the month that a Customer Service Supervisor told me a rate change always starts at the beginning of a "billing period". Thus, I had to pay the $400 in overages even though I was promised it would take effect immediately!

Lesson learned, always have Customer Service send it in writing!

April 28 2011 at 10:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TheCastro

Actually AT&T will probably be reimbursed by FEMA for that plan. A lot of compannies have in place programs that go along with areas that are considered disaster areas or otherwise noted by FEMA and other disaster related agencies (ie CDC). These types of claims are either reimbursed by the government or taken off of the corporations taxes at the end of the year. The gesture was that AT&T wanted $25 not $15 or whatever that plans pricing is now.

April 28 2011 at 8:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Al

A real world case of how ludicrous the 250MB limit is.

April 28 2011 at 8:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Al's comment
Grant Buell

As small as it seems, I'm glad it exists. I'd hate to spend $30 to flip on 3G just so I could send a few emails from my hotel room, and that's the sort of 3G usage I'd envision myself using with the iPad, since 99% of the time I've got access to wifi. (Flipping on 3G for $15 still sucks, but it's a lot better than $30.)

April 28 2011 at 9:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AppleZilla

A few years ago my mother-in-law got seriously ill and died within three months. My wife pretty much lived with her the whole time and we went Way over our allotted monthly minutes. We didn't even think about it until the bill came.

I called and explained the situation and they adjusted our plan to temporarily have a Lot of extra minutes for no additional charge.

April 28 2011 at 12:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
stuff

All it takes is to get a hold of the right person with a big company like AT&T and it is amazing the kind of customer service you can get. They are not all jerks just 90% of them!

April 27 2011 at 11:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kyle Ritter

...verizon would never do that :(

April 27 2011 at 11:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Roberto

I would have asked for the unlimited plan.

April 27 2011 at 11:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Roberto's comment
Smitty

AT&T doesn't offer the unlimited plan any more.

April 28 2011 at 1:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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