So, we had been loyal AT&T Wireless Customers for 6 years… From the moment my hubby and I moved back to the States from our time in Okinawa, we rushed to the mall in San Diego, and were excited to get back to the company we were with for the 4 years before we went to Japan. We went into the AT&T store, and signed up with our pretty new Motorola flip-phones… Yeah, remember those? We were pretty happy with things… Then the iPhone came out and we couldn’t wait! We got two of them the first week they were out! We got pretty lucky! We even upgraded to the iPhone 3G when they came out.

Well, in Spring of 2009, we moved out of CA, and out here to NC. Jacksonville, NC to be more specific. We started having issues with our iPhones. Dropped calls, and little to no service reception in our house. We double checked our service area maps on the AT&T Website, and saw that we were within the 3G service area, and well within the edge area. We couldn’t figure out why we got no service once we turned into our driveway. I called AT&T to see if there was anything that could be done. They told me that we were within a few miles of the nearest tower, and they weren’t sure why we had issues. They put in a network ticket.. and that was that. I called back repeatedly over the course of 18 months, and each time it was the same thing. Review the map, and put in a network ticket. I never got any calls back, or any better service. We had it. On January 6th, 2011, I called and canceled our service with AT&T.

On November 29th, 2010, we went out and bought the newer Evo 4G on the Sprint Network. We had friends over with several different cell services, and Sprint seemed to be the one that always received a call. We figured, they had a 30 day return period, so why not check it out. Well, it ended up that we had really good service with Sprint out here. No dropped calls, we could take and make calls in our house, and always be connected. The Evo wasn’t a bad phone either! It took a little getting used to after a few years of iPhone usage, but once I was able to find everything, I was good.

I had double paid my bill in December, so I figured that would cover December and the early cancelation fees. Boy was I wrong. Fast forward to yesterday. I received a bill for nearly $200… All of January and my early cancelation fees. Um… I canceled the phones… but apparently not early enough.

Why am I telling you all of this??? Because I don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake I did.

AT&T does not cancel your phone service as soon as you call them to cancel it. They keep it on until the next billing cycle… to avoid prorated fees, they tell me. I was told by @attemilia that

“If you call in after the billing cycle has begun the acct will be canceled the last day of the billing cycle to prevent prorated charges which can result in a higher bill because everything would be prorated, minutes, text messaging etc.”. So if you have an unlimited plan, they don’t prorate your plan itself and only charge you a few days of it.. They charge you a full month regardless of if you used any of it or not. Wow.. Way to go.. That money that could have gone towards other bills is now going to be spent on service that wasn’t even used. My mistake…

Double check your policies if you decide to change services, or cancel anything… Most contracts charge you an early cancellation fee, cable, satellite radio, etc… but most of them also prorate your plan if you cancel your service.. Be careful… Don’t lose out on your money..