[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General] MasterDecker:
Well,

I got caught. My first AT&T phone was a "freeby," that had the data package with it. At the time it didn't cost much, and I never paid attention to it aside of that it was half of what everyone else was paying.

I then purchased a BlackBerry swapped the sim over and everything was fine for a few years. Then I bought an iPAQ and again swapped the sim over and everything went well for a year. Once I bought my Tilt, and swapped the sim over it worked well, that is up until about a year ago.

I had not even played with the tethering part except for once and it worked fine, and at the best 3G we have here in Alaska. With my wife and myself on the 450 shared family plan unlimited texting, everything seemed to go well.

That is until I had to warranty out my tilt due to the screen taking a header. Then they realized what I had and well brought me up to speed on paying for what they think I should be paying for.

Ok, so I tried the swap the sim into an older phone KRZR II and told them I wanted back on the $15.00 plan. The customer representative saw what I had on the IMEI, and immediately put me through to the plan. GREAT, I was happy again for not having to over pay for cheap slow 3G that we supposedly have here.

I waited about 2 weeks, using the KRZR and slid the sim back into my replacement Tilt. It connected just fine on the internet although I didn't try to tether it. A few days went by, and low and behold I receive a SMS saying that since I am using a smart phone that I am going to have to pay the higher rate.

I called up Customer service, and politely and calmly argued my point that I was using the KRZR, and the rep escalated the call to her supervisor. The supervisor being adamant that I was using the tilt instead of the KRZR refused to put me to the lower rate. I was even talking to them ON the KRZR. Which they could see via their crystal ball or what ever.

The call ended with the supervisor saying that they do monitor accounts that use data and with the information that each phone has they can determine which phone is which. Even though I was talking to them on the krzr, they knew I had put the sim into my tilt.

I immediately exclaimed that my wife has the tilt, and I used it the other day when my phone was out of charge. The supervisor (I swear I heard a faint sound of a hand smacking her forehead.) "Oh I understand now. Your wife has the tilt and you have the krzr." So back to the $15.00 plan. Great all are happy.

Until my bill showed up. $45.00 for data use. Of course this prompted another call to customer service with a slightly and I do mean SLIGHTLY elevated concern over this. The customer service rep passed me again to the supervisor, and after explaining all of what had previously transpired, she immediately removed the extra charge for data, but only by $15.00

Explaining that even though I had the plan for the krzr, I used the tilt, and it registered on the network for 28 out of 30 days. They determined that I was using the tilt, and my wife was using the krzr. I laughed and we ended the call with a slight refund, and a knowledge that AT&T doesn't care about their customers, but only their pocket.