Jolt Mobile, an AT&T MVNO that simply doesn’t get as much time on our blog as it should, has made some changes to its $20 pay-as-you-go plan. Unfortunately, the changes were mostly not for the better. Effectively immediately, the
$20 PayGo plan now comes with 200 MB of data (previously it was 300 MB) and the rate per megabyte increased from $0.066 to $0.10 each. Additionally, now the plan will only last for half the time—60 days instead of 120. The talk and text values are unchanged.
This change is a surprising step back, but with the imminent 2G shutdown, it may be possible that the company is experiencing higher costs for its customers, especially in the data range, than it had enjoyed previously.
On that note, the company posted a notice for customers effected by the 2G shutdown. All customers who are using 2G should have been noticed that service will discontinue starting on December 31, 2016. While most of the notice, is standard, there is something that caught my eye. Below the standard notice of the end of service, the text reads:
“…There will be no refund on airtime. The accounts will stay active until it expires and then cancel. If the customers phone is not working come January 1st 2017 then it would be due to customer using a 2G device. All the customer has to do is upgrade to a 3G/4G/LTE device and continue service…”
While I understand that customers have been forewarned, refusing to refund customers who purchased service that cannot be used seems pretty sly to me. In my personal experience, there are two types of people who use prepaid: those who are very savvy and looking to save money, and those who don’t really want to mess with all the technicalities of phones because they are not as savvy. The latter are the ones most likely to be hit by this sneaky move. Shame on you, Jolt.]]>
