After being elevated several levels AT&T esentially flat out told me that it was an adminsistrative fee and that was the end of it; they've claimed someone even higher up will call me back within 24 hours — we'll see.
I'd oddly consider all of this, as I consider this a ploy to increase their revenue and see who notices plain and simple (as opposed to other contract changes they pull sometimes that might be arguably necessary) but given that I'm still relying on the good ol' 2007 unlimited iPhone contract, I'm hesitant to risk them agreeing with me and terminating the contract so they can modify the unlimited access.