Former Suncom Customers...Plan Change?

[RaQHoliday]

For those unfamiliar with Suncom, it was a regional GSM provider in the Carolina's (and some small parts of VA and GA); T-Mobile bought Suncom and all of their customers' contracts. I got my first T-Mobile bill in September, if I'm not mistaken.

So I was speaking to a T-Mobile rep yesterday (I had called 611 with a billing question), and while I had her on the phone, I asked her if I could change my choice of G1 data plan from the $25 to the $35, even though I had yet to receive my phone. She then proceeded to drop a bit of a bomb on me.

According to her, my transferred Suncom Family voice plan will not be compatible with the G1 (whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? :mad: ), and I'll have to change to one of the T-Mobile voice plans in addition to changing to the G1 data plan. Any of you who are former Suncom customers can attest to the fact that, aside from the new "regional coverage" allowing you to make calls without roaming anywhere between Virginia and Georgia, the T-Mobile voice plans have NOTHING on the Suncom plan. My family plan right now basically involves paying $69 a month for UNLIMITED voice service on TWO lines; I pay an additional $31 per line for blackberry internet service, handset insurance, text messaging, callertunes, etc... totalling UNDER $140 basically.

Now I'm being told I'll have to switch BOTH phone lines over to T-Mobile's plans upon receipt of my G1, and the equivalent unlimited plans will balloon my total bill to OVER $200 A MONTH.

WHAT... THE... HOT... #%&@!?!?!?

So I checked into family plans... and the 3000 minute family plan w/free nights & weekends is STILL like $130, WITHOUT data or txt msging. Granted that's a national plan with pretty much no roaming in the US, but I don't travel frequently enough for it to make that big of a difference to me.

A friend of mine who had Suncom as well recently upgraded his phone to the Shadow, another T-Mobile phone that Suncom didn't carry; he did have to switch to a T-Mobile SIM card, but he was able to keep his original Suncom voice plan ($49 a month for unlimited service, he's been a Suncom customer since like 2000, lucky bastid lol).

So I'm asking, has anyone else run into this? If I have to change plans, I'm going to be more than a little upset, like upset enough to say "Damn that, I can do without the phone man"... with my current plan and the G1, I'd theoretically be paying $69 a month for unlimited regional voice coverage on 2 lines, plus $31 for one line's blackberry internet/insurance/txt etc, plus $42 for my G1's internet/insurance/txt, for a grand spankin total of about $142... I'd REALLY rather keep things that way.

Forgive the length, it's a lot of information.

[westoexpresso]

I'm a former Sun Com customer in NC who already has the G1 all I had to do was add the $25 data plan to my existing plan bought over from Sun Com and my plan which is great got extended for 2 years. I pay $29.99 a month for 1000 NATIONAL anytime minutes free nights and weekends and free mobile to mobile. I think this beats any Tmobile plan. I did have a $5.00 a month unlimited web plan with my old phone and contract that the new G1 data plan will replace. I did not have any text message plan with SunCom and now will have 400 minutes with the $25 G1 data plan. Your Sun Com plan should be honored by Tmobile and you should fight for it.

[Stewartwi]

I'm a former Suncom member since 2003 and I asked them before ordering the phone if it would effect my plan and they said no. I'll call them right now and ask them about it because I was on a similar plan to what you had minus the blackberry stuff. But as of right now they said nothing would change except the extra $35 a month for the data plan.

I'll write back if they say different on the phone.

[westoexpresso]

Also when I got my G1 I just popped in my old SunCom SIM CARD and all was well.

[RaQHoliday]

Also when I got my G1 I just popped in my old SunCom SIM CARD and all was well.
That's the best news I've heard ALL day. I KNEW it sounded fishy when that chick said it, it was just BANANAS to think my bill would jump that much just because of an upgrade.

I'm assuming all of your data services work fine then? You can access the internet/email/IM/Android Market without issue?

[Stewartwi]

I just got off the phone with Tmo and they were trying hard to get me to switch saying my features wouldn't work on the phone I was like that's strange they are all working right now and have been since the 21st. Sounds to me like they just want us ex-suncom people to change plans. I'm sticking with my plan for now until I see these things stop working on my phone.

Granted I did call them today because all my data had dropped out on me. But I got that working before I saw this post. Of course the tmo rep was trying to say that it was because I was on a suncom plan and not a tmo plan. How that would make a difference is anyones guess.

[RaQHoliday]

Oh, and btw... I'ma need y'all cats should join the "Carolina Androids" social group, there's only like, two of us lol.

[Stewartwi]

Oh, and btw... I'ma need y'all cats should join the "Carolina Androids" social group, there's only like, two of us lol.

But I'm from Georgia and Carolina is icky. :-P

[RaQHoliday]

But I'm from Georgia and Carolina is icky. :-P
HATERRRR! lmao

I can't even knock you yo, I'm considering a move to ATL as we "speak"

[Stewartwi]

HATERRRR! lmao

I can't even knock you yo, I'm considering a move to ATL as we "speak"

Yeah ATL is an awesome place to visit I don't know if I would move there though. I'm in Augusta which is on the border of SC and GA. I don't hate Caronlina either I was just messing ;-)

[Spicka]

So... I was a SunCom customer too. My phone arrived tuesday. I unboxed it and inserted my SunCom sim. When setting up gmail i got an error message saying "Could Not Connect To Data Servers". So I put the provided Tmo sim into the phone and tried to set it up again. I got the same error. So i decided to call Tmo CS. They told me that I could not get the G1 data on a suncom plan. Needless to say i was pissed. I have a great plan on suncom. Unlimited Calling/Messaging for 4 lines at like $150 a month. The CS rep told me i could either upgrade the plan or return the phone and they would credit my account. I told them i needed to think about it. I emailed the president of tmo and soon got a call from CS. They told me that i could return it or upgrade my plan. I said that i didnt want to do either. I said that i wasn't told when i was buying the phone that i would have to upgrade my plan. They acknowledged that they didnt put any information for previous suncom customers, but they told me that there was nothing they could do. We went on like this, I was asking how they could do this and stuff like that, but they wouldn't budge. So wednesday i went to my local Tmo store. I know the guys who work there (previous suncom employees), so i figured they could help me. I didnt tell them about my experiences the day before and just asked to add G1 data to my plan. When he was doing it, he said that something was wrong. He called CS and they told him that he was not allowed to add data to my plan. They talked for a while longer and he told me that he was sorry and he didnt understand why they were doing this. So now im kinda screwed. I dont want to upgrade my plan and pay more money, but i dont want to lose my G1. I'm going to email the president of Tmo again and express my anger. If they dont let me keep my plan and my phone, then i will drop Tmobile (or thats what i will say to them). We'll see how much they care about possibly losing a long-time customer. :(

[Stewartwi]

It's funny how they act like the phone won't work. I mean my phone works perfectly and I'm still on my suncom plan billing. I'm going to play it by ear. I renewed my suncom billing plan for 2 more years to get this phone. So I'll be damned if I'm going to change it now. To make something that is working already continue working. That sounds like straight up strong arming to me.

[Spicka]

Yeah it is. Everything on my phone works fine, but i dont have any data, which sucks.

[Stewartwi]

Yeah it is. Everything on my phone works fine, but i dont have any data, which sucks.

Try calling them and don't mention that your from Suncom I had to do this when I first got the phone and then again this morning because my data just dropped out for some reason. Granted I was on the phone with them for almost two hours they fixed whatever it was causing the issue.

Maybe they can do the same for you. Keep us posted.

[RaQHoliday]

Well, I'll figure it out tomorrow I guess... keeping my fingers crossed.

[mikef1182]

I too am in NC and my G1 works fine. The only thing is that I get the "R" for roaming. Anyone have an idea when 3G may be coming our way or if T-Mo is doing an expansion? Suncom's network is really bad.

[Message]

When I called T-Mobile weeks before I even received the G1, I asked if I needed to change my plan and the rep advised me not to. I didn't think my Suncom SIM would work so I picked up a new SIM card from a local store the day the G1 arrived and I called in to activate it that night. Even then, no mention was made about switching my plan. I had it working about 5 minutes after I got off the phone and I haven't had any problems yet. It's strange that everyone's experiences are so different.

[westoexpresso]

That's the best news I've heard ALL day. I KNEW it sounded fishy when that chick said it, it was just BANANAS to think my bill would jump that much just because of an upgrade.

I'm assuming all of your data services work fine then? You can access the internet/email/IM/Android Market without issue?
Yeah everything works fine. Like I said there was no SIM card in box upon delivery and my old Sun Com card worked fine had that error message also but after a few minutes it worked and has been flowing strong even on the EDGE network. I have no problem using WiFi either.

I once had a problem with SUN COM because I don't text and all my friends do and they wanted to keep charging me so after many attempts to get them to stop charging me or removing or blocking the text feature I had to write the FCC and the Better Business Bureau and they(SUN COM) sent me a full apoligie and never charged me for and incoming text again.. You guys that feel your getting screwed should use the BBB and FCC as a last resort and let T MOBILE know you will be contacting them if they don't honor your current contracts. My next fight with T Mobile will be trying to get them to honor my state empolyee discount that I had with Sun Com but want my first G1 bill to come then the gloves come off again.

If they screw 100 customers times the amount they profit they win every time. Keep fighting...Never give up.....Power to the People....

[RaQHoliday]

Man... a dude on another forum was basically just hit with the BS. T-Mobile said they'd allow him to return the phone and keep his plan.

DAMN that... if my joint doesn't work, I'm going to get an unlock code and see if I can enter the APN settings differently, man...

[jag6662]

weird i am a old suncom person

i added the data plan and didn't change anything else. my phone is working fine have not tried in a 3g network yet.. i have been just running on edge. in my area

all i did was put in the t mobile card in because the suncom card was not programmed or something ( forget what was wrong with it) and i do know they said the old suncom card would not connect to the 3g network

so we used the t-mobile card and everything is working

[RaQHoliday]

weird i am a old suncom person

i added the data plan and didn't change anything else. my phone is working fine have not tried in a 3g network yet.. i have been just running on edge. in my area

all i did was put in the t mobile card in because the suncom card was not programmed or something ( forget what was wrong with it) and i do know they said the old suncom card would not connect to the 3g network

so we used the t-mobile card and everything is working

Have you verified that they didn't go and change your plan for you or anything like that? I'd double-check it just to be on the safe side, my dude.

[RaQHoliday]

OK, phone arrived... got my suncom sim card in it... voice and data working without issue at the moment, but no MMS apparently. Trying to figure out how to add the APN so that i can receive MMS's properly

[J. Cook]

Any old Suncom customers out there who live in a 3G market? Atlanta maybe? Are you using your old Suncom sim? I'm in the same boat with the other posters in this thread. I'm using my old suncom sim card (no t-mobile sim card came with my G1), kept my $50 unlimited plan, only added the $25 G1 data plan, edge here in Charleston, SC works fine. I really want to know if it's going to work when I visit 3G markets (and when we eventually get 3G here in Chas). I have not tried MMS yet.

[RaQHoliday]

I posted this on another forum, but figured I'd add it here as well.

OK, MMS weren't working... I dug around a bit and found the APN settings for Suncom...

A little experimentation and a couple failed msgs later and VOILA. The APN settings below will allow you to send and receive MMS msgs from the G1 using a Suncom SIM card:

Name: Suncom MMS Data
apn: mms
proxy: <not set>
port: <not set>
username: <not set>
password: <not set>
server: <not set>
mmsc: http://mms.suncom.net:8088/mms
mms proxy: 066.150.033.125
mms port: 80
mcc:310
mnc:490
apn type: <not set>

With the settings above I was able to both send and receive MMS Msgs ... hopefully these will work for you as well.

[jag6662]

just checked my bill online i still have my suncom 39.99 plan for 800 mins and i have the g1 24.95 plan

no change

[westoexpresso]

Just checked mine on My Tmobile also and have my old Sun Com plan 1000 national min for 29.99 and they added the data plan for my G1 at 24.99 I noticed they still had me billed for T Zones (my former data plan from Sun Com but renamed by T Mobile) at $5.00, called customer service and they removed it. No need paying for 2 data plans when the G1 data plan covers it all.

Check your bills Andriods from the planet Sun Com and check to see if they're trying to double dip you also.:confused:

[RaQHoliday]

OK, i received my phone friday.. just peeped My T-Mobile, and the G1 data plan isn't on there, even though the phone is working fine. No idea why...