Following up on yesterday’s report regarding the return of AT&T BYOD SIM cards to Straight Talk, another new development has transpired in the saga between Tracfone and AT&T as Net10 customers are now reporting that they are receiving the following email from the virtual operator regarding their AT&T data service:
TracFone Wireless, Inc. is very pleased to announce the return of Unlimited Data* on GSM, no contract 30-day monthly plans. Effective immediately, the 1.5 GB data cap for AT&T SIM cards has been removed and replaced with Unlimited Data* for all new as well as existing customers already in their current billing cycle.
*Tethering is prohibited. Other limitations apply. See latest NET10 Terms and Conditions of Service at net10.com for full details
A request for confirmation has been sent to NET10’s PR firm, but should this indeed be the case, this will mark the latest positive move by AT&T towards Tracfone in as many days as the virtual operator previously enacted a hard 1.5GB monthly cap beginning in March and shortly followed the removal of AT&T SIMs for sale from Straight Talk.
The initial news of the cap was followed by speculation that Straight Talk was going to follow in Net10’s lead and enact the same 1.5GB monthly data cap, speculation that turned out to be unfounded. To add to the validity of the email, the Net10 Data portal that was rolled out ahead of the data cap implementation in March has been pulled offline without any explanation. Attempts to access the portal through Net10’s own site result in being redirected to the Net10 Wireless homepage.
Update: Tracfone dealers that sell Net10 are also being sent the same email confirming the removal of the 1.5GB cap with the same message above being sent to customers:
Update 2: Net10’s new PR firm has now confirmed the veracity of the above emails. Another request for further comment has been sent regarding the extent of the new unlimited service and whether it applies to all Tracfone brands or just Net10.
I called and emailed and also chatted with Net10 Reps. All of them said the same thing. “There is no change in the 1.5GB data cap”. Is this slowly going to be rolling out? Or are there just going to be some customers receiving this change? I have seen many people saying they got the email but I haven’t.
The Terms and Conditions on Net10’s website still state that the 1.5GB cap is in place. I am a customer who hit the 1.5gb limit today. If the limit is supposed to be gone, Net10 has not actually taken steps to turn off the cap yet.
It’s true I’m at 1.9G now just called a very reliable wireless store that I use and they confirmed almost switched to T-mobile so glad I didn’t
May I ask what reliable store you called? Also, have you, yourself received an email stating the cap is no longer in effect?
Here is the information I received from the Rep I spoke to today 8/14/2013
Dylan: As of 8/8/2013 I have read on several forums including NET10’s that the Data cap is no longer. Is this true?
Vince: The 1.5GB data cap for AT&T BYOP SIM has been removed and visit Net10.com for more information.
Dylan: The TOS are still the same
Vince: We have receive a response from the higher management that the 1.5 data cap for AT&T BYOP SIM has been removed already.
Dylan: They still claim on the NET10 website that the 1.5GB data cap is still in effect.
Vince: The terms of service has not yet been updated. You can check the terms of service periodically.
I then asked about the new TOS and this is what he gave me.
Vince: Tethering or using your mobile phone as a hotspot device is not allowed. Using pandora, netflix, youtube or any other streaming sites, heavy downloads is not allowed. Accessing a website for checking the data speeds on your phone also requires a large amount of data to load so it is also not allowed. Not logging out completely to Facebook or any other social sites is also a violation.
>Accessing a website for checking the data speeds on your phone also requires a large amount of data to load so it is also not allowed.
Well that’s just a straight up LIE.
I’ve had the Net10 unlimited deal for a couple of months now, with the ATT sim. I came close to 1.5 GB last month, but didn’t go over. I did notice this month that I couldn’t stream anything, either music (like pandora or google music) or youtube over 3G. I was able to do this last month without any issues.
I’m going to switch back to Straight talk next month, see how that goes.
Looking at Net10 vs. Straight Talk with LG Optimus Extreme. Your comment about switching back to ST, can you clarify if they let you use the same phone on both? Concerned about buying Net10 version of LG that if I want to switch to ST won’t work. Appreciate any help.
Yes, I have the LG Nexus 4 that i’ve used now on Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10.
I would just buy an unlocked GSM phone from Amazon or Ebay or some other reseller. I’m really not certain in regards to Net10, buy carriers, even MVNO’s will lock the phones they sell down to only their own network.
Straight Talk (with an ATT sim for me) speeds have topped out at 5Mbps, but I haven’t seen any issues with streaming services over my data connection. I was getting much better speeds on Simple Mobile (a Tmobile MVNO). With Simple I was getting 10-15Mbps down consistently. I’m going to switch to the Tmobile $30 5GB plan next month. I am done with Net10, unless I needed a dumb phone plan.
I wonder if this is also for straight talk I’ve already used about 2.5gb of data this month and no shut off so far
Straight talk is actually really unlimited
I think it may depend on what towers you are using off of Straight Talk. They piggy back off of all the major carriers, including CDMA, depending on where you are in the country. I have seen them throttle, but only after about 3-4 GB of data usage.
FALSE ADVERTISEMENT!!! 1.5 gb is NOT UNLIMITED!
[…] I was researching some other NET10 issues earlier tonight and ran across the following… Net10 Removes AT&T Data Caps And Goes Back To Unlimited? (Updated Again) | PhoneNews.com UPDATED: TracFone's Net10 brings back unlimited data for AT&T SIM subs – FierceWireless Both […]
I signed up not long after this announcement, I am being throttled to 2G speeds after using about 4GB of data.
ive been under reduced speed for two weeks a manager today told me that i am under reduced speed ….the cap is there…
I called tracfone and told me that the 1.5gb cap has been removed. Il
I THINK ITS VERY MUCH A BUNCH OF BULL SHIT FALSE ADVERTISEMENT It SHOULD STATE CLEARLY ON THE FRONT OF THE PRE PAID CARD THAT THERES A LIMIT ON DATA I THOUGHT UNLIMITED MENT JUST THAT UNLIMITED SO I’M THINKING ABOUT SUEING IT DON’T SAY ANYTHING ON THE CARD YOU BUY I’ve read it four time and I’ve found nothing at all but i guess that just another company to big for it britches
I’ve been a Net10 user now for about 2 years. I never received a message that they took off the 1.5 cap.
I got curious about whether there had been any changes recently and read the cap for AT&T SIM cards was removed. This made me happy.
I am now half way through my 30 days and hit 2.5gig, at which point I received a msg from Net10 stating I had reached my max and they are now throttling (slowing down my speed).
Now my phone acts like it’s on a 14.4 modem! If you ask me, that slow of speed is equivalent to still having a cap!