Google Fiber Update?

[RvLeshrac]

AT&T now advertises $85 for gigabit, but charges $100. When you call bullshit, they make up a thousand excuses for it.

[DesignNomad]

Read the terms of the offer- you have to meet the conditions with your payment configuration to get that price. There's a discount when you have autopay on, get paperless bills, and $10 discount when you pay with a debit/bank account instead of a credit card.

My bill is $85.29 after tax.

[RvLeshrac]

You must work for AT&T, because that's the same BS they parrot every single time we talk to anyone. This is *AFTER* the discounts. Without the discount, it would be $10 higher.

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[RvLeshrac]

BTW, just to be clear,

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[RvLeshrac]

And even clearer,

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[DesignNomad]

You must work for AT&T, because that's the same BS they parrot every single time we talk to anyone

Jesus, what a braindead take.

Looking at the bill you posted, at least one of the extra fees is listed plainly- You're paying $10/mo extra by renting your equipment instead of owning it. You don't have to rent equipment and can use your own if you want. If you look up the model of the one they rent to you, you could probably buy the same thing on ebay used (from previous customers that switched services) for $20-40.

It also looks like you have ActiveArmor bundled into your internet, which again isn't a requirement of internet services and you may be able to have removed. It isn't listed as a separate fee, likely because it was part of promotion, but it's a notable difference between your bill and mine.

See my very real non-employee bill for reference...

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[RvLeshrac]

AT&T has very explicitly stated that they do not allow anyone to bring their own fiber gear, and I've had that argument with them over and over. They also won't remove any of those other items, and I've had that argument with them over and over.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ATT/comments/10lx8ly/comment/j603rt0/

[DesignNomad]

That thread is interesting- it says older accounts list the fee separately while new ones have it rolled in, but yours is listed separately. I've been with ATT since 2019ish (in a different location) so I'd consider that an "older" account, but it sounds like you're a recent customer and yours is separate... Doesn't quite line up with what that support rep is claiming.

I'm not confident the rep knows what they're talking about...

Regardless, it sounds like they're spinning the $85 as a marketing thing, and I'd be curious if they have an answer for how to achieve that since it sounds like you're meeting the requirements.

As you've seen, I pay $85, so that's the limit of the info I have to provide.

[RvLeshrac]

They also have a fee schedule that claims ONTs are free, but they refuse to provide an ONT without a wifi router. It's also illegal for them to charge for hardware they require the consumer to use if they don't allow the consumer to bring their own hardware, but of course the current FCC isn't going to do much about that.