Hi there,
I am a regular (2-4 times a year) visitor to the US from the UK (my wife and I are intending to visit all 50 states, 42 done!).
I have a simple basic Go-Phone that I use when in the US for both local US calls, and also to take advantage of the $5 international calls package for calls home. I top up $25 each 90 days to keep the account open and the balances live. I am on the 10c per minute plan as this is very straightforward. I currently have a balance of around $70 on my account.
Next time I visit I am thinking of transfering the Gophone SIM into my (unlocked) UK smartphone for both calls and data. If it works in the new phone then I know I will need to sign up for a monthly smartphone package.
The problem that I have is that it appears that smartphone packages auto renew each month. So if I sign up to a package then I will have to maintain payments at that level even when I am not in the country.
So, to get to the point, I have searched these forums and others on the internet to try and find out if I can revert to the 10cents plan for the time I am out of the country, so that I am not spending my account balance on a service I am not using. There seem to be conflicting opinions on this. Some people say you can revert (by calling customer services), others say you can't, and yet others say there is a 'grandfather clause' that prevents new users from using the 10cents plan, but allows former users (like myself) to change back.
I'm also not sure what would happen if, for instance, my renewal date for (say) the $60 plan arrived and there was only $40 in my account - would that just mean the renewal would fail, and my balance would therefore remain untouched, or would there be adverse consequences such as cancellation of the account.
Does anyone (preferably from AT&T) have a definitive answer to this. If I can't get an answer then I won't risk it, and I will just stick to the basic phone for calls, and use the smartphone for internet use via Wi-Fi only.
Thanks in advance from the UK, love your country,
JOHarris