AT&T Now Liberty - Thoughts on Impact

Last I read when the acquisition was first announced AT&T had agreed to support Liberty for 2 or 3 years so there may not be any noticeable negative quality of service changes for a while.  I use Consumer Cellular with stateside account which uses AT&T towers in USVI with none of the AT&T hoopla and contracts.  No idea if you can signup with them using a USVI address.  But I've only every dealt with them through the web site and over the phone, never needed anything in person.   

If you do not use a lot of data try and sign up with Google Fi... although I think the service will only work on select phones.

Worth a look into. Worked great when visiting STX.

Posted by: @sage

Any thoughts or experiences with T-mobile?

I've had T-Mobile for many years, at least 25 years, since before it was T-Mobile in the US.  Coverage on STX is spotty and I'd say poor, they don't appear to share towers with AT&T.  Our house is east of Christiansted and the T-Mobile coverage is/was almost nonexistent.  There is a possible fix, you may be able to get what is called an "LTE CellSpot", which I believe is also referred to as a femtocell.  Basically this is a mini T-Mobile only cell-tower inside your home, it connects to your router and works very well.  I installed one in our house this last February, it did take some doing on my part to get it set-up with the T-Mobile customer support people.  As a side note, we use T-Mobile because we're from the Boston area and also have a house on Martha's Vineyard, we've had an LTE CellSpot at that house for at least 5 or 6 years with zero issues, works great.  I don't believe T-Mobile charges for the LTE CellSpots, you only need to return the unit if you cancel your service.

@sage

I've been an AT&T customer on a mainland address for about 20 years now. I appreciate your question, as it made me do some digging as my wife and I complete our transition to St Croix.

Here are a couple of links that seem to shed some light on the changes:

https://martechseries.com/sales-marketing/b2b-commerce/customer-acquisition/liberty-latin-america-acquire-atts-operations-puerto-rico-u-s-virgin-islands/

https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1403056/

Here's what the articles seem to indicate the situation will be:

If you have the &More Premium plan, you won't be able to keep music service for your free service choice and will be moved to HBOMax (but you can choose a different video service).

All AT&T stores, staff and assets will transfer to Liberty - local stores and staff will provide support and service as Liberty and contracts (including Assurion) will move to Liberty.

AT&T will provide support to Liberty for up to 36 months.

According to the article, PR and VI customers transitioned to Liberty 'will continue to benefit from free roaming services between puerto rico, the u.s. virgin islands and the mainland united states, mexico and canada.'

I haven't found anything definitive about whether roaming from a mainland account will continue to be free, but will post an update and link if I can get documented clarification.

It looks like the following AT&T services will be discontinued in PR and VI on December 1st:

AT&T Navigator

AT&T Secure Family

IDnotify™

There isn't anything that I've found regarding share plans across the mainland and VI, but I'm also interested, as we will be in that situation ourselves. So far, we haven't had any roaming issues (that we know of) from our mainland account aside from the occasional take in service that we've come to expect.

I had found the other day that the Mi Banco app from Banco Popular was not working and unable to accept photo deposits.

After calling the Banco Popular internet Help Desk, they advised that since the transition to Liberty, Android phones using the app were now unable to do so.

The rep on the help line said they had received many calls that day about the glitch and were working on it with Liberty to resolve.

But, I had to actually go to the branch to deposit checks instead and even an employee in the branch verified that the app isn't working for Android users.

@vicanuck Why couldn't you just send it via wi-fi?  Or does their app not work on wifi?  Just curious.

@daveb722

The Mi Banco app won't send the deposits with WiFi OR on the ATT/Liberty network.

Its a glitch with the Liberty system I'm told.

They say they're working on resolving it but I won't hold my breath.

@vicanuck that's really strange, you should be able to use wifi?  I'm no super tech, but if used before on wifi, what would cause it to not work.  Have you tried turning your data completely off and use wifi?  maybe with data on, it's thinking foreign country or something like that.  I had an issue accessing my yahoo mail in punta cana when using the computers from their office center.  It recognized where I was and implemented some strict security settings and I couldn't log in.  maybe all the free booze didn't help.  

I also have a problem logging into my BC/BS website using wifi at my house.  If I shut the wifi off and just use my phone data, no problem.  Anyways, good luck. Being able to deposit checks without going to the bank is so awesome.  I have seen a few people do both with the same check, online and in the bank and somehow they think they will not get caught. ? 

Recently switched four phones, one is a 340 number, to Verizon from AT&T Stateside.  Everything works great, can even hotspot/stream movies when VIYA goes out.  Which hasn't been a lot lately.  

Well, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.  For the first time, at this moment, the Verizon phones show "no service."  Bizarre.

I too have been having trouble on my bank app if I’m not on WiFi.  Thanks for that tip.   I kept getting locked out despite putting in my correct password.  So I tried on WiFi and it went through no problem.   

I was going to switch my address to my mother's stateside address as she has a phone we pay for but since we are living here permanently I figured it's best to be able to see someone if necessary.  My biggest concern is with roaming as we visited St. John and must have been bouncing to BVI and had $100 roaming bill.  AT&T took care of it after a few calls, but wondering if Liberty would?

Posted by: @daveb722

My biggest concern is with roaming as we visited St. John and must have been bouncing to BVI and had $100 roaming bill. 

I've had the same problem with T-Mobile, they did finely remove the charges but it's annoying to have to deal with.

I am a long term AT&T customer and expressed my concerns over the sale of the accounts. I was right. 

My first bill under Liberty disguised as AT&T tucked in extra $10 Plus $3 in administrative fees by unbundling shared iPhone and iPad access. While we were explicitly promised that original AT&T contract will be honored it is not so. 

Phone call to AT&T customer service resulted in call transfer to Spanish call center that was closed at 5:30pm. 

so welcome to Central America gringos. I’m taking business elsewhere. 

I changed to a stateside address before the change, hope this keeps me on att. The advantage of being on liberty is one should be able to become a new att customer by going to a stateside att store and transferring your number, maybe getting a free phone, etc.

There is no such a thing as free lunch, brother. And I doubt there is such a thing as free phone. Unless it’s Obamaphone. 

Posted by: @stxmahn

The advantage of being on liberty is one should be able to become a new att customer by going to a stateside att store and transferring your number, maybe getting a free phone, etc.

Phones are never free...the cost is built into your plan. You can choose not to believe that but its the reality.

@vicanuck actually, there's a lot of competition now. Companies are offering good incentives to switch service, yes, you have to remain in a plan for a period. As a dare, I haven't checked in a while, go to atts website and see what a new customer can get, then compare to what an existing customer can get. The plans are the same, the new phone prices usually are not.

My friend tried to get one of the new iPhones over the weekend through AT&T (over the phone) and couldn’t do it because of the sale to Liberty.   I don’t know all the specific details but that certainly implies that things won’t be ‘unchanged for at least a year’ as Liberty said it would be.  

VIYA just send an email with bundle specials and notes a cell phone could be added to any of them for $20 a month per line.  The smallest bundle was internet and TV for $135 a month.  If the contract lengths aren’t too long I might give it a go.  I haven’t had TV (cable) in ages and I wouldn’t mind having it again for a spell.  And throw in the cell for my youngest son and give their service a try.  

Call to customer care get routed to service center in PR. Waiting time was 12 minutes on hold. Agent spoke rudimentary English and made effort to figure out what happened to my account. 
Looks like during data dump autopay and paperless option was annihilated hence up charge. Agent attempted credit but needed approval from supervisor. That took extra 5 min. Credit and corrections were made and I was warned that it will take several billing cycles before actual credit is issued. So looks like more calls ahead of me. Google Fi phone is on the way. Hopefully by Saturday I will activate. 

Speaking of new phones during my phone call to Liberty the agent made a lot of effort to sell me services and offered $700 credit towards new phone. I always decline these offers. I always chose unlocked phone with pay as you go option. These telecom contracts maybe advantageous on family sharing plans but not for individual accounts. 

That is why it is always better that there are other companies that compete, because otherwise in this case the telecommunications companies start to do what they want and take advantage of their customers.

I've already dumped Liberty's Broadband VI service at home and now have Starlink satellite internet which is beyond awesome. As soon as the wife's Liberty phone is paid off, we'll switch our cell phones to T-Mobile (you CAN port your 340 number). Soon, we'll be dropping Liberty's Broadband VI at our business too.

I was loyal to BBVI because a local guy who I liked and respected owned it, but, now that its not locally owned, I feel no need to continue being loyal to them.