Discounted Limited Data Plan for iPhone Coming From AT&T?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/18/discounted-limited-data-plan-for-iphone-coming-from-atandt/)

BusinessWeek reports (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2009/tc20090515_773194.htm) that AT&T is considering introducing a discounted limited data plan for the iPhone at $20 per month. AT&T currently offers only an unlimited data plan for $30 per month, and the data transfer cap for the rumored discounted plan remains unknown.

Analyst Richard Doherty claims that the additional data plan option is being driven by Apple, which wants to offer a lower-cost entry point for the iPhone. AT&T, which is reportedly still trying to lock up an extension to its exclusivity agreement for the iPhone, is also looking for ways to continue to increase its subscriber base.The exclusive U.S. iPhone service provider is considering cutting the price of its monthly service package or offering a range of lower-priced plans, say people with knowledge of the company's thinking. One plan that could be introduced as early as late May would include limited data access at a $10 monthly reduction, the people say.

The possible price cut likely reflects the back-and-forth between AT&T and Apple (AAPL) as they work out whether and under what terms AT&T would remain the sole U.S. iPhone carrier. Apple may want flexibility in pricing as a condition, analysts say. "We understand it's part of the extension [of its contract] that AT&T wants to maintain," Richard Doherty, director at consultant Envisioneering Group, says of the prospect of lower data-plan prices. As Apple considers whether to widen its circle of U.S. providers, AT&T may have less ability to balk at Apple's requests.The report also touches on rumors of a price drop for the next-generation as component prices continue to decline and AT&T considers offering the entry-level iPhone for $99 instead of the current $199. A prepaid iPhone is also reportedly under consideration.

Rumors of a discounted iPhone data plan from AT&T surfaced earlier this month (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/07/atandt-considering-10-drop-in-iphone-monthly-plan-rates/), although the previous reports did not include mention of limited data transfer at the reduced rate.

Article Link: Discounted Limited Data Plan for iPhone Coming From AT&T? (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/18/discounted-limited-data-plan-for-iphone-coming-from-atandt/)

[supmango]

I just don't understand why this has been so slow to come up. This should have been an option from the beginning.

[Eidorian]

A prepaid iPhone is also reportedly under consideration.You have my interest.

[barnaby117]

What would the monthly limit look like? Say a 1 GB cap on data usage?

[mobi]

They should def have more scalability in the iPhone plans.

[LagunaSol]

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

[TheCheapGeek]

I think this is the only way to draw new contracts to ATT.

[themoonisdown09]

A cheaper iPhone wouldn't interest me as much as a cheaper data plan. You only pay for the iPhone once, but you have to pay every month for the service. So a $10-15 price drop in a data plan would have me more excited than a $100 price drop for an iPhone.

If they put a 1GB cap on data usage and priced it at $15 or $20 a month, I would be very interested.


I bet the cap will be much lower than 1 GB.

Most likely, but it would be nice.

[Warbrain]

What would the monthly limit look like? Say a 1 GB cap on data usage?

Which I would love because I get somewhere between 500 MB and 1 GB on my iPhone.

I bet the cap will be much lower than 1 GB.

[smooth]

It's the data plan which made me ultimately decide not to get an iPhone. I do not have a need for a data plan and won't pay for one. While this is a step in the right direction, still no deal for me. Chances are, I'll probably get an iPod Touch when the prices come down so there will likely never be an iPhone for me.....

[WannaGoMac]

Great idea, but as long as there is a mechanism that warns you before you go over data usage.

I highly doubt it as that would be the ethical thing to do. However, they will likely just invisibly start charging you $1/1kb if you go over... huge earning potential.

[DiSFLyLaTiNa]

That's exciting! it might make my move to at&t and get an iphone finally!

The only thing about limiting data is you have to monitor you're usage but there are threads around where people state how much data they use per month.

I hope its a 1GB cap. Cuz that's a lot!

[chelsel]

Before the iPhone, AT&T (Cingular) had a MediaMax unlimited plan for $20/month. I frequently used it to tether my Cingular 8125 Windows Mobile phone to my laptop and run SlingPlayer...

I can only hope that someday the iPhone will let me do the same without costing a fortune.

[audioteknika]

Some people here in Canada pay $30 (Cad) for 500MB.
I hope this will push Rogers to lower their price.

[dontwalkhand]

I can only hope that someday the iPhone will let me do the same without costing a fortune.

Seeing as to what AT&T did with Slingbox, the sad thing is, I don't think the iPhone will ever let us do that, even if we are willing to pay a fortune :(

[dantherevelator]

$10 cheaper just doesn't make enough difference. iPhone plan + text messaging + data needs to be $20-$30 cheaper per month.

[butterfly0fdoom]

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

The original iPhone used the Media Net data plan which was for dumbphones and featurephones that generally don't use a whole lot of bandwidth and whose users have different priorities for their data usage. The 3G uses AT&T's standard smartphone data plan; I'd assume AT&T realizing that iPhone users happen to use a lot more data (maybe moreso than AT&T had predicted). It's lame, but it's business.

[sb9689]

i think that they may have the $20 plan unlimited for the iPhone and leave the $30 price point for unlimited data PLUS tethering. There was mention a while ago that AT&T was considering a possible $10 add-on for tethering even before 3.0 was introduced.

[Small White Car]

PLEASE.

I would love to see:
$20 = 1 GB cap
$30 = 5 GB cap
$45 = 25 GB cap w/ tethering allowed

(If those seem unreasonable to you, please get some wifi at home. You'll be fine.)

I'm sick of every company having "unlimited" things with invisible barriers that you never know about until you bump into them.

Just tell us what we can have, charge us what it's worth, and let us decide what to buy and how to use it.

This shouldn't be so hard.

[natebookpro]

This sounds great in theory... but thats assuming AT&T actually implemented it well. A 1GB plan for $10 less a month sounds great to me, but a 200MB plan for $10 less a month sounds like dirt. Especially when there is no warning that your about to go over and you end up spending $50 a month for the 350MB of data that you used. Sorry if I sound cynical... but I really doubt I'm that far off. Prove me wrong AT&T!

[ob81]

Anything that will save the consumers money, I am all for it. $10 is crap, but it is better than nothing. I hope that the talk about a price drop for the iPhone doesn't mean minimal updates. I sold my iPhone for 2 reasons. The bill was ridiculous, and the whole software update didn't really do it for me.

I would like a cheaper, more rugged device, considering that I have so many uses for it, and always have it out.

[SirOmega]

I bet the cap will be much lower than 1 GB.

This.

I just checked my data usage for last billing cycle and I was around 100MB. And while I don't spend all day surfing the net on my phone, I do use it a lot. I would expect the cap to be somewhere between 50 and 200MB. AT&T risks losing too much revenue if they set the cap too high.

One of the things AT&T would need to do is allow people to easily check how much data transfer they have left. They have the AT&T app for the phone but it doesn't specify data transfer (just minutes and txts).

[TraceyS/FL]

$10 cheaper just doesn't make enough difference. iPhone plan + text messaging + data needs to be $20-$30 cheaper per month.

I agree.

$10 off isn't enough for a lower amount.

The pre-pay should SOOOOO be there NOW.

[The Phazer]

AT&T's intention will be that the cap will be small enough to be a real pain in the ass to encourage upgrading.

I'd bet on no more than 250MB, with no streaming allowed at all contractually.

Phazer

[Enuratique]

i think that they may leave the $20 plan unlimited for the iPhone and leave the $30 price point for unlimited data PLUS tethering.

Hmmm - interesting theory... I could believe this... Tethering is definitely going to be a touted feature of OS 3.0, and I know AT&T is going to want to monetize it as much as they can (I'm sure they'd prefer you paid $30 as you do now for normal data usage on your iPhone and then an additional $30 for the ability to tether)... This seems like a decent compromise.

[adbe]

Anything that will save the consumers money, I am all for it. $10 is crap, but it is better than nothing.

This is just for the data plan. There's plenty of room for ATT to offer a minute reduced voice plan as well, so a drop of 15-20 USD a month is possible, if that's where ATT want to take things.

[Small White Car]

AT&T's intention will be that the cap will be small enough to be a real pain in the ass to encourage upgrading.

I'd bet on no more than 250MB, with no streaming allowed at all contractually.

Phazer

I wrote 1 GB above, but I'm starting to think you're right.

And you know what? I still like it. I use Wifi a LOT. I rarely use more than 150 GB in a month. So why shouldn't I pay less for staying off AT&T's network? I'd probably take this plan, even at 250 MB.

Just so long as Apple builds a better tracking system into the iPhone itself (not an app). Something where you can program it to pop up a message for every 50 MB you use, with a message every single MB for the last 3 MBs.

If I had that I'd feel very safe.

[Michael CM1]

i think that they may leave the $20 plan unlimited for the iPhone and leave the $30 price point for unlimited data PLUS tethering.

**Insert Heath Ledger's Joker laugh**

Please don't tell me you think that's a possibility. First of all, there is no "leaving" of a $20 plan. That thing was only for the first-gen iPhone. As for the rest, AT&T is NOT going to reduce the price of any plan without slashing something. Right now if it were available, you'd be paying $30 for an iPhone plan and $30 to tether it. A more-limited data plan is definitely a possibility at a reduced price, but don't count on some price cut on tethering.

[walnuts]

I just don't understand why this has been so slow to come up. This should have been an option from the beginning.

From the beginning, it was essentially a $40 phone plan, + $20 for unlimited data and 200 texts. With the iPhone 3G, the extra $20 jumped to $30 (matching most other data plans) and the texts were removed.

The $20 unlimited plan was what got me into the whole smart phone thing. Before the iPhone, for myself (and I feel like others must have been in the same boat), $30 on top of a $40 plan was simply too exorbitant for the common man and the the people who owned smart phones were executives whose data plans were paid for by their companies (and maybe the really rich).

To me, one of the revolutions of the iPhone was bringing affordable internet access to the common person. Until then, all of the cheap phones offered "data", but at least I stayed away for fear of high data rates. When the iPhone came out, it was the first consumer-oriented, mainstream, unlimited data only device. You were enticed into using all of the data functions because there was no data cap and no danger of encountering super high data charges if you reached some cap or had no data plan to begin with (well, I guess except if you left the country).

I say (knowing it won't happen), restore the iPhone to what it was- consumer oriented. Bring the price back down to $20 per month (with texts too!) and don't bring back the tricky game of complicated, trap-ridden data plans-keep it unlimited.

[jayducharme]

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

I absolutely agree. Texting uses almost no network resources. This just doesn't make any sense on AT&T's part (apart from the blatant grab for cash). Rather than lowering the data charge by $10 a month, how about giving us unlimited texting? I'd be happy with that.

[peepboon]

Damn... just bought a Blackberry Bold, lol. I dont like paying £150 for a phone O.o

[trainguy77]

I only wish canada got better data plans. We have $25 for 500mb.... or $15 for 2mb.......

[bruinsrme]

What would the monthly limit look like? Say a 1 GB cap on data usage?

If I could figure out how ATT tracks their data usage then I might be more interested in going to a cap to save some money.
Knowng that I downloaded 4 or 5 movies via 3G which totaled well over a gig but my bill is only showing 167,953 Kb

[Howardchief]

$10 cheaper just doesn't make enough difference. iPhone plan + text messaging + data needs to be $20-$30 cheaper per month.

Absolutely! Think how that would look compared to Verizon. AT&T wins, Verizon loses.

[bedifferent]

I would whole heartedly welcome less expensive, tiered data plans. Currently I do not use my iPhone's 3G cellular network enough to justify the $360+tax annual plan as I tend to use WiFi. A $10 plan with limited data would be perfect as WiFi takes most of the data I send/receive. Bring it on. :)

[JAQ]

AT&T already has a $20 data plan: EDGE. It's what I use on my iPhone 1G, and I'm perfectly happy with it (or I would be if AT&T coverage were a little better). If Apple wants to lower the barrier to entry, just give customers the option to go EDGE-only. (Get AT&T to offer some voice plans with fewer minutes as well, and you'll see lots of less-chatty users flocking to the iPhone.)

[iOrlando]

i would buy an iphone if they lower the monthly price. I don't think i would have a problem with a limited amount of data since i would prefer the wifi access anyway due to less-than-stellar 3G performance.

[Sweetbike40]

$10 less is a waste. Why bother. It should be at least half.

[MrGouda]

I only wish canada got better data plans. We have $25 for 500mb.... or $15 for 2mb.......

So true. The only thing preventing me from getting an iPhone is the ridiculous prices for data plans in Canada. Once you add on a decent voice plan and the monthly bill goes right over my budget. Darn recession!

[Enuratique]

One of the things AT&T would need to do is allow people to easily check how much data transfer they have left. They have the AT&T app for the phone but it doesn't specify data transfer (just minutes and txts).

My AT&T app tells me how much data I've used... There's a tab on that screen that lets you toggle between minutes & text and data usage... I average about 125 MB a month, I didn't really care to look at that until I got the app...

[b1wils1]

I'm willing and happy to pay for unlimited internet with NO data caps for $30. ATT is influencing though against companies writing apps to work over 3G/Edge. Example being Slingbox. A very small minority of iPhone owners also have a Slingbox, but ATT's network is too unstable to allow it. Being a Chicago resident, I can tell you that ATTs network here is very unstable. Many times the internet stops working, not to mention that I have no signal in my house.

All that being said, the $20 dollars for unlimited text messages is frankly a scam. I can't believe that they can charge that AFTER you already have an unlimited data plan. Frankly, I used to think using over 1500 texts in a month(that is the other option ATT offers for texting, as well as 200) was silly, but after several months of actually going over 1500, I knew better.

You can be quite sure that when my 2 yr with ATT is up, if things haven't improved, I will be unlocking without hesitation.

[moonzilla]

unlimited data is a joke anyways. it should be called "5gb of approved data."

yes, im still bitter about slingplayer.

[Harun]

They offer a nice pre-pay option and I would be interested.

[Ugg]

You have my interest.

Mine too as long as it's under $30 a month.

[Saladinos]

This.

I just checked my data usage for last billing cycle and I was around 100MB. And while I don't spend all day surfing the net on my phone, I do use it a lot. I would expect the cap to be somewhere between 50 and 200MB. AT&T risks losing too much revenue if they set the cap too high.

One of the things AT&T would need to do is allow people to easily check how much data transfer they have left. They have the AT&T app for the phone but it doesn't specify data transfer (just minutes and txts).

Doubt it. People don't know how much they use until they've already got the contract, so they'll balk at anything that "sounds low".

[Digipimp]

i dont know why people are all over this like its a big deal. $20 should more than cover data costs considering youre charging a seperate fee for texting still at $20 for unlimited. in addition you're still charging 39.99 for 450 minutes which is virtually at what prepaid places charge these days. most major carriers are adding better valued unlimited plans even without contract. att is far behind and the network just keeps getting worse.

i've owned each iphone since about 2 months after they first came out and at this point i'd almost prefer to have a virgin mobile phone unlimited plan for $49.99 and an ipod touch instead of my iphone.

[Eidorian]

Mine too as long as it's under $30 a month.I barely use my current T-Mobile prepaid. It just sits in my car until it needs to be charged.

[casik]

Some people here in Canada pay $30 (Cad) for 500MB.
I hope this will push Rogers to lower their price.

mmm i used to work for rogers and their structure is

$25 for 500MB
$30 for 1GB
$60 for 3GB

[casik]

So true. The only thing preventing me from getting an iPhone is the ridiculous prices for data plans in Canada. Once you add on a decent voice plan and the monthly bill goes right over my budget. Darn recession!

HAHA as a cell phone store manager I think one of the funniest things is how so many people pay for "unlimited" or the highest plan possible and only use a fraction of that. We see tons of people buy 2000 min plans that only use 500 min, or people that want unlimited data that only use 400MB a month, or people that want unlimited texting and only do 1000 texts a month, or blackberry owners that want a 3gig data plan and barely pass the 10MB mark on their plans.

Maybe if consumers actually knew what they used they wouldn't always want unlimited. Unlimited isn't something you actually use, it's just a word that makes you feel good about your plan.

[Macnator]

Come on Rogers give us Canadians better data plans! Maybe offer that 6GB/$30 plan again for a time period.

Please Rogers? Please?

[butterfly0fdoom]

I'd rather a lower voice plan, too. I remember 6 years ago when our FamilyTalk plan gave us 450 minutes for $50 a month. And now the cheapest FamilyTalk voice plan we can get is 550 minutes for $60. Between my dad, my brother, and I, we don't even go anywhere near those 550 minutes (we probably have effectively unlimited minutes due to all the rollover).

There's a lot of ways the costs can go down. But that's not about to happen in the US. Not with the oligopoly the way it is now.

[Michael73]

I smell a new iPhone App that you could choose to run as a background process that monitors data usage and alerts you when you've reached predetermined levels.

[ckurt25]

PLEASE.

I would love to see:
$20 = 1 GB cap
$30 = 5 GB cap
$45 = 25 GB cap w/ tethering allowed

(If those seem unreasonable to you, please get some wifi at home. You'll be fine.)

I'm sick of every company having "unlimited" things with invisible barriers that you never know about until you bump into them.

Just tell us what we can have, charge us what it's worth, and let us decide what to buy and how to use it.

This shouldn't be so hard.

I'm all for paying less but I doubt those prices are gonna happen.

I'd guess you'll see

500 MB for $20
*Unlimited for $30
*5GB & Tethering for $60

*Both WINMO and BB data plans are priced this way. I find it funny that unlimited for $30 is unlimited but data with tethering is limited to 5 GB. I'd consider paying for it at that price but not quite a no-brainer. Maybe at $45 or $50. I'd love to see 5GB of data with tethering and 1500 (or unlimited) text messages for $60 but that may just be a dream.

[Soreo]

Firstly, I'd like to point out that you can check how much data you use, can't you? Just go to settings and go General > Usage.

I like the "$20 for Unlimited, $30 for Unlimited + Tethering" theory, but it wouldn't be tangible. They would most likely put a 200 MB cap, or if they were being nice, a 500 MB cap.

To be honest, I'm seldom-concerned about the data plan being $10 lower anyway; it doesn't really make a difference to me unless they brought it down $15-$20 lower (which wouldn't happen either). I hold more excitement for iPhone 3.0 and the 3G network going to 7 Mbps.

And I CANNOT believe that Rogers is charging their customers that much for data plans... That's dirty. It makes me grateful that I live in the U.S, lol.:p

[GQB]

If I could figure out how ATT tracks their data usage then I might be more interested in going to a cap to save some money.
Knowng that I downloaded 4 or 5 movies via 3G which totaled well over a gig but my bill is only showing 167,953 Kb

Guess I'll never get why one would download movies directly to to phone (and incur the charges along with slower data rate) when you can just download over a much faster LAN to iTunes and sync?
I suppose everyone has their own reasons for use patterns.

[Deelron]

AT&T already has a $20 data plan: EDGE. It's what I use on my iPhone 1G, and I'm perfectly happy with it (or I would be if AT&T coverage were a little better). If Apple wants to lower the barrier to entry, just give customers the option to go EDGE-only. (Get AT&T to offer some voice plans with fewer minutes as well, and you'll see lots of less-chatty users flocking to the iPhone.)

This would be exactly what I'd want. I can't quite justify the data plan + texts costs given the tons of free wifi in my area, and would be more then happy to have a new iPhone with 2G speeds. It'd fit my needs perfectly.

[Surely]

Some people here in Canada pay $30 (Cad) for 500MB.
I hope this will push Rogers to lower their price.

Come on Rogers give us Canadians better data plans! Maybe offer that 6GB/$30 plan again for a time period.

Please Rogers? Please?

Rogers doesn't care about either of you. Now go pay your bill.


There are other ways to reduce your bill. I had some "issues" with AT&T over the past two weeks (reception issues, bad customer service and a lot of time wasted on the phone with them). On 2 separate occasions during the past 2 weeks, I was given $20 credits towards by account (so I have a $40 credit) and they also gave me an extra 1000 roll-over minutes.

After that, the tech rep transferred me to the magical Customer Relations department because I was so angry and frustrated, and the rep in that department offered me a voice plan that isn't available in stores/online. She looked at my account and noticed that we go over 700 minutes but don't ever go over 1000 minutes per month. We had the 1400 minute family plan with 2 phones. The first two plan options available are 700 minutes or 1400 minutes, with nothing in between.

She offered me a 1000 minutes plan plus an additional 200 bonus minutes monthly plan for $79.99/month. Not a spectacular offer, but I'll take it.

So in the end, I'm getting almost as many minutes as I used to get (200 less) for $10 less/month than I was paying before. I'd rather save the $10 than have those missing 200 minutes that I won't miss since I wouldn't use them.

I am all for a limited, cheaper data plan. I just looked, and my data usage on my iPhone is well below 100MB. So, if I decide to upgrade from my 1st generation to the alleged new version that is due out this summer, I will probably go for the limited plan and save another $10.

It may not seem like a lot, but every little bit counts. I've saved $120/year already with the voice-plan reduction, and if I can save another $10/month, that'll be a total of $240/year. Not bad at all.

[olternaut]

I just don't understand why this has been so slow to come up. This should have been an option from the beginning.

Apple didn't have the leverage back then to make stuff like this happen.
Now they do.

[skeep5]

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

the nickel and dime-ing for text messaging needs to stop. 5 bucks a month should get unlimited text messages, pleez!

[gkarris]

Wake me up when they match T-Mobile pricing:

$20/month unlimited data
$5/month 400 messages (I use about 300/month)

(at AT&T it's 200 messages, if you want more, then it's $15/month for 1500, no in-between - thanks, AT&T... :eek:)

[Eminemdrdre00]

Unlimited texts need to be included with the $30/month "unlimited data" I'm paying for.

[drober30]

$10 cheaper just doesn't make enough difference. iPhone plan + text messaging + data needs to be $20-$30 cheaper per month.

Exactly! There needs to be a noticeable difference in my monthly bill. $140.00 for two phones on a family plan is just ridiculous.

I have been using "smart phones" since they first arrived in the U.S (Motorola MPX 200) so I've had them all (except a BB) and I really like the iPhone but it is to darn expensive for the monthly bill.

[Macnator]

Rogers doesn't care about either of you. Now go pay your bill.

Rude! :p

But you're right. Rogers doesn't care about its customers. Too bad too, because if they offered cheaper data plans or possibly an "unlimited plan" they would make more money by having more people sign up for a lower-cost plan than less people signing up for more expensive plans.

I'm still hoping for better data plans though! ;)

[GQB]

HAHA as a cell phone store manager I think one of the funniest things is how so many people pay for "unlimited" or the highest plan possible and only use a fraction of that. We see tons of people buy 2000 min plans that only use 500 min, or people that want unlimited data that only use 400MB a month, or people that want unlimited texting and only do 1000 texts a month, or blackberry owners that want a 3gig data plan and barely pass the 10MB mark on their plans.

Maybe if consumers actually knew what they used they wouldn't always want unlimited. Unlimited isn't something you actually use, it's just a word that makes you feel good about your plan.

Unfortunately, you don't know what your actual data usage is until you've lived with it for a few months, at which point you're already locked into a contract. Nice scam.

[greenpaz]

If you have a cap of 1 GB, is surfing the Internet part of this cap? Or does a cap on data just have to do with actually downloading content like movie and picture files and sending and receiving text messages?

[Surely]

If you have a cap of 1 GB, is surfing the Internet part of this cap? Or does a cap on data just have to do with actually downloading content like movie and picture files and sending and receiving text messages?

Is this a real question?

Data is internet usage, which includes downloading content like movie and picture files. How do you think the movies and pictures are downloaded? Where do you think they come from?

Text messaging is completely separate.

[jnguyen4]

Unlimited texts need to be included with the $30/month "unlimited data" I'm paying for.

totally agree with you. because they are not, i'm boycotting AT&T's texts

[puffnstuff]

if they had a data only plan I may get one.

[greenpaz]

Is this a real question?

Data is internet usage, which includes downloading content like movie and picture files. How do you think the movies and pictures are downloaded? Where do you think they come from?

Text messaging is completely separate.

Yep, real question from an actual human being who has never dealt with data plans in any way shape or form and therefore has no idea what the word "data" actually means when people talk about 1GB caps and the like. Considering the fact that text messages are also "data" and are apparently not included in data plans, is it really that hard to believe that somebody somewhere might require clarification?

[ntrigue]

claims that the additional data plan option is being driven by Apple

Are you kidding me? Obviously AT&T would be on-board as they can gouge and exhort for overage data. I'd stay FAR away from a limited plan myself.

[MacFly123]

Unlimited texts need to be included with the $30/month "unlimited data" I'm paying for.

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!! :mad: That really pisses me off that they do that!

[hugo7]

Yep, real question from an actual human being who has never dealt with data plans in any way shape or form and therefore has no idea what the word "data" actually means when people talk about 1GB caps and the like. Considering the fact that text messages are also "data" and are apparently not included in data plans, is it really that hard to believe that somebody somewhere might require clarification?

Extremely well said.

[skellener]

Am I the only one that finds it interesting that AT&T is soooo worried about not keeping the iPhone exclusive? I mean, if they have such a great service and network, why should they worry, why would anyone want to leave? I'm being sarcastic of course. If they really did offer the best service, and best network - they really wouldn't have anything to worry about, would they? AT&T should really put all that effort into making a great product. Apple did. That's why people want the iPhone, not because it's on AT&T's network. If AT&T did that, I don't think they would have to worry so much if the iPhone was no longer exclusive. There are plenty of phones that are not exclusive. They need a great network with great plans. That will keep people at AT&T.

[gkarris]

Unlimited texts need to be included with the $30/month "unlimited data" I'm paying for.

HIGHLY UNLIKELY...

Text Messaging is a BIG money maker for providers, as Text rides on the Cellular Data Channel so it's free from the provider's standpoint.

It's also being use more and more over voice - so there's no way the providers will lower the price of Text Messaging.

If anything, if they lower the price of iPhone data - they could raise the price of Text Messaging to make up for it...

[Surely]

Yep, real question from an actual human being who has never dealt with data plans in any way shape or form and therefore has no idea what the word "data" actually means when people talk about 1GB caps and the like. Considering the fact that text messages are also "data" and are apparently not included in data plans, is it really that hard to believe that somebody somewhere might require clarification?

Yes, it is. Then again......

From the AT&T website:

[reckless2k2]

I'm hoping we don't see a cap on a lower priced plan. It would be more reasonable to see $20 unlimited and $30 including text messages of "X" amount. We've got to keep in mind that 3.0 will bring MMS and we are not sure where that pricing will fall. The $20 versus $30 might be a tier created to include MMS.

[acidfast7]

I just have to say that you guys really need more options, but at least you're moving in the right direction. We can get the pay of you go, or with a 6, 12, 18 or 24 month plan.

It's nice to pay for what you use and pick the plan that saves you the most.

It would be really nice for the US to open up the monopolies a little.

[Braindead360]

I wonder if maybe this is a sign that they wont go to hard on their tethering prices when the feature becomes available in 3.0. I really hope that they don't charge that much (if anything) for me to use my iPhone's connection on my personal computer. Where I live, I currently do not have access to any sort of broadband other than 3g, and I really hate using dial up. I was one of the few to snatch up Netshare while it was live, but many of you are probably aware that it is extremely limited on what you can do with it. I would like to have a better tethering solution without the additional $30mo. expense.

[olternaut]

Are you kidding me? Obviously AT&T would be on-board as they can gouge and exhort for overage data. I'd stay FAR away from a limited plan myself.

Your right. It has to be unlimited otherwise what the hell good is it for the consumer. Even if its at least "unlimited" data but no slingplayer type of apps I could live with that.
Apple had better flex its gawd damn muscles and use its considerable leverage in negotiations with AT&T....I mean for real!

[skellener]

It would be really nice for the US to open up the monopolies a little.I'd rather see it opened up a lot myself.

[xhambonex]

I'd rather see it opened up a lot myself.

Yeah and I expect to see that more when 4G network is on all carriers. I don't think we are quite there yet.

[Oman]

Apple should be moving away from AT&T not buying more blankets so they can cuddle more in the bed they have made. The sheets are soiled and it is time to find a new mate Apple! At&T has proven to be unpredictable, and crazy. I dont care about their cheaper data plans, no other phones needs or have them, keep things the way they are except drop AT&T. :mad:

[bobbleheadbob]

I'm all for more reasonable pricing, but I personally want the unlimited data and text options. I don't have the time or energy to monitor where I'm at in terms of usage all the time. I'd rather have a set amount to pay and know what it is up front, than get hit with a big surprise bill at the end of the monthly billing cycle.

[electronboy]

So glad to hear that a limited data plan is in the works. Not everyone will use the iPhone in the same way. Just like there are varying plans for voice minutes, there must be options for data. Customers should be charged for what they use and be able to purchase a plan that suits their needs.

There should be more of a difference in price and the 'lite' plan must be appropriately sized. It would be very unfortunate if AT&T or Apple were to create an artificially low ceiling, like say 2GB for the 'lite' plan and the only difference between that and the unlimited version is $10? The 'lite' plan should be a viable alternative and not just a tool to push people into an unlimited plan.

I believe three tiers are needed. A 4-6GB plan, 10-15GB plan and unlimited data plan. How about $18.99, $29.99 and $49.99 respectively? This would allow for the data hogs to pay for what they use and the folks who tread lightly on the 3G/4G networks to pay less in exchange for using less bandwidth.

[electronboy]

I'm all for more reasonable pricing, but I personally want the unlimited data and text options. I don't have the time or energy to monitor where I'm at in terms of usage all the time. I'd rather have a set amount to pay and know what it is up front, than get hit with a big surprise bill at the end of the monthly billing cycle.

Hopefully Apple and/or AT&T will give us options for monitoring data usage on the device itself. If not, one can always check--as I currently do--at the AT&T website.

If money is no object, then I can see why this is not important. But A LOT of people are holding off on purchasing smart phones cause right now it's a one size fits all approach to unlimited data--which includes NO SMS by they way--and that is a major turn off.

[xDYLANx]

it's a different target market, and a different carrier.

But, when you get a Sidekick @ T-Mobile, they have a required data plan that is $30 and INCLUDES UNLIMITED TEXT MESSAGES.

If the iPhone had that, that might be the best thing ever, but of course...they won't. At&t are greedy little jerks...that being said, I'm probably going to get an iPhone this month...my Sprint contract runs out

[Blue Fox]

Hopefully Apple and/or AT&T will give us options for monitoring data usage on the device itself. If not, one can always check--as I currently do--at the AT&T website.


^^ The AT&T "myWireless" App shows a bar for data used (but since the current plan is unlimited, the bar is grayed out). Not to mention that you can also check your data usage by texting *3282# and they'll send you a free SMS of data used.

I welcome a data plan with limited usage for less......just depends on what the limit is.

[nostradukemas]

If a tiered data plan system comes in, how do the current contracts work? Also, are we talking about current plan holders being forced into one of the tiers?

Granted we're all talking assumptions here, but say an unlimited data plan does end up costing more than $30 a month, what happens to those who are currently on the unlimited data plan at $30 a month?

[archer75]

I'll take no data plan. I have wifi almost everywhere I go.

[inkswamp]

This is exactly the right direction to go. I currently have an iPhone courtesy of my employer and I love it, but I would never own one myself and the rest of my family is on Verizon with less expensive, limited plans. The cost and functionality of the hardware is not an issue but the voice/data plan is stupidly expensive (and no, don't quote other companies' price lists to me. I think they're all too expensive.)

If Apple can encourage AT&T to drive down the costs and offer a wider variety of plans, I would consider getting one for myself and other members of the family. I don't need unlimited data to begin with so why I should pay the same as someone who does is beyond me.

[Trixster]

I honestly don´t get how AT&T can charge as much as they do for the Iphone but particulary for the Data plan... and not even offer 7,2mbit.

In sweden, all main providers offer 7,2mbit as standard.. and charge no more then 10-20€ for the data plans... and 20€ gives you unlimited useage.

so yea, there has to be room for lower prices for sure!

[BryanLyle]

The cap will probably be 50 - 100 MB and will be completely useless to 99% of the iPhone users. I'd rather pay $30 a month and have unlimited text messaging. That's the REAL rip off.

[SpinThis!]

A big thing might be 3G coverage—my area still doesn't have it and I'm sure I'm not alone here. One of the reasons I didn't upgrade to the new iPhone 3G was I would be paying $10/month extra, basically for just GPS since I wouldn't be receiving any 3G service... no thanks.

This might also be a way for at&t/Apple to try to get first gen iPhone owners to upgrade and/or deprecate the original $20/data iPhone plans to get everyone on the same page. Who knows how long at&t is going to keep grandfathering those original plans when many of the early adopters contracts are up for renewal in June or thereabouts? At least by tiering some of these plans they might keep non-3G customers happy so when at&t eventually rolls it out there's no change in plan necessary.

[olternaut]

Apple should be moving away from AT&T not buying more blankets so they can cuddle more in the bed they have made. The sheets are soiled and it is time to find a new mate Apple! At&T has proven to be unpredictable, and crazy. I dont care about their cheaper data plans, no other phones needs or have them, keep things the way they are except drop AT&T. :mad:

That will never happen. :rolleyes:
The only thing that is remotely hopeful is that Apple will have their products on another carrier besides AT&T. They want to expand their customer base not replace them.

[Maven1975]

WATCH OUT! $10 whole dollars for limited access! What a joke!

Maybe they are starting to panic because they can see their exclusive ending soon and their customers flocking to the next iPhone carrier.

Trouble is, Verizon (a better network in AZ) has the same business model. Nickel and dime the customer to death. :(

Example:

If a carrier can not turn off text messaging on their end, there should be no charge for incoming txt's. They are charging their customers for their network shortcomings. If someone doesn't want to use minutes, they don't answer the phone.

[22Hertz]

Great idea, but as long as there is a mechanism that warns you before you go over data usage.

I highly doubt it as that would be the ethical thing to do. However, they will likely just invisibly start charging you $1/1kb if you go over... huge earning potential.

Bingo!!!
Anyone half intelligent knows after taxes, chumped up hidden fees and overage charges its the same old thing...maybe MORE $$
The limit will be something ridiculous I'm sure

No thanks ATT
But let me know when you offer one plan to do whatever I want (talk, text, surf net) how long I want for one reasonable fee.

I don't pay by the minute for home phone, satellite TV, internet....:rolleyes:

[iansilv]

i think that they may leave the $20 plan unlimited for the iPhone and leave the $30 price point for unlimited data PLUS tethering.

This would get me to upgrade from the 1st gen...

[iansilv]

WATCH OUT! $10 whole dollars for limited access! What a joke!

Maybe they are starting to panic because they can see their exclusive ending soon and their customers flocking to the next iPhone carrier.

Trouble is, Verizon (a better network in AZ) has the same business model. Nickel and dime the customer to death. :(

Example:

If a carrier can not turn off text messaging on their end, there should be no charge for incoming txt's. They are charging their customers for their network shortcomings. If someone doesn't want to use minutes, they don't answer the phone.

Man I love potential class-action law suits!!!

[CaptSaltyJack]

Whatever, AT&T. What I wanna see from you guys is an intermediate text message plan, like 500 texts. Right now they offer 250 or 1500, I believe, and that's it. It's an obvious ploy to sucker people into the 1500 message plan. Jerks. :mad:

[ckurt25]

I'm somewhat surprised to see all the posts that they should have $10 1 GB data, and $5 unlimited text messaging and X price for this and Y price for that.... Take a look at AT&T charges for data and text messaging for Windows Mobile phones or Blackberry phones.... Do you really think it should be 1/2 of what people pay for either of those services? Maybe everyone posting that they should have $5 unlimited text messages has only ever had a 3G iPhone and nothing else but I can't believe no one else can relate to what the costs are for other phones. The Internet experience is much better on the iPhone than any other device AT&T carries so they could argue that they can charge more for the same service. I'm glad they don't but I think everyone should think about the price of everything else in the market place before saying they should get more for less and be thankful they don't pay more. Don't get me wrong... I'm all about paying less but I've also got a firm grasp on reality.

[anubis]

Something that's always bothered me is that AT&T offers an employee discount where I work on voice and data plans on every phone they offer. Except the iPhone, of course. For Blackberry's, AT&T offers the exact same price points for voice and data as the 3G iPhone ($39.99 for the base voice plan and $30 for unlimited data). However, with my employee discount, I could get the voice plan for $31 and the unlimited data for $20. If I got a Blackberry, I could save $20/month over the 2-year contract (Almost $500) and I would still be able to use unlimited data (Slingbox over 3G, anyone?)

In many ways, the iPhone is years ahead of the competition. In other ways, it's years behind.

[iansilv]

I just don't understand why these **** nuts at ATT don't do something like "Unlimited everything" at like 69$ a month- unlimited talk, text and data.

Offer no guarantees for speed, and kill torrents- I'm ok with that. 3g clogged? Sucks. Some people would bitch and moan, but the majority of users would happily use the service for their phone and tethering. Chances are pretty good it would not be drop-out free so large scale downloading and video streaming would stutter, ending that strain on networks pretty quickly.

Think of the savings on sales support, tech support, marketing, pr, advertising- and the increase in subscribers!

If businesses want a guaranteed data speed they can pay for a higher level dedicated plan. But most people just want to be able to surf the net, check email, update their computer, etc. They don't know what a torrent is, and Hulu can stream fine on a lower end connection. If it doesn't, well, they can pay for a higher data speed on 4g when it comes out.

They could call it the "It's 69 bucks for everything now piss off" plan.

[Surely]

Whatever, AT&T. What I wanna see from you guys is an intermediate text message plan, like 500 texts. Right now they offer 250 or 1500, I believe, and that's it. It's an obvious ploy to sucker people into the 1500 message plan. Jerks. :mad:

I am sure that plans between 250 and 1500 are there, you just have to know how and who to ask.

If I was able to get a voice plan that is in between what is offered, I'm sure it is possible to get a text plan that is in between what is offered.

[ji3yjo42ul3]

I just don't understand why this has been so slow to come up. This should have been an option from the beginning. I think it's just all about money and benefits.... I hope to see good deal for people come up soonest.

[ckurt25]

I just don't understand why these **** nuts at ATT don't do something like "Unlimited everything" at like 69$ a month- unlimited talk, text and data.

Uh... Because millions of people LINE UP to pay $100 or more for limited service. Why doesn't Comcast give me every channel including digital, HD and premium, internet service and a phone line for $69.....?

[kingtj]

I had the original 8GB iPhone and didn't really WANT to upgrade to a 3G, specifically for this reason. I saw no "additional value" in the 3G phone that justified paying another $15 per month on my bill, to have the same service options I had before!

I wound up getting "herded" to a 3G phone anyway though, when my original died, out of warranty. Repair cost wasn't reasonable, and I didn't want to pay close to what a 3G phone cost for somebody's 1-2 year old used first gen. iPhone.

If nothing else, I'd at LEAST like to see text messages get "rollover" like they do for voice minutes! If I pay for 200 texts and only use 100, I want my other 100 credited towards my next month's usage limit.


Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too? With my current plan (original iPhone), I get 200 messages included with my $20/month data plan. Once I go 3G, I'll pay $30 a month and get 0 text messages. I'll have to pay an extra $5 to get my 200 messages again, taking my monthly increase to $15. Lame. Very lame.

[Surely]

If nothing else, I'd at LEAST like to see text messages get "rollover" like they do for voice minutes! If I pay for 200 texts and only use 100, I want my other 100 credited towards my next month's usage limit.

Agreed.

That is a reasonable request.

[Blue Fox]

Wow, I just read through all the messages and can't believe how much bickering there is about the prices of the plan. No one held a gun to your head to get the iPhone, so why all the bickering about the prices now? I'm perfectly happy paying my $81.xx/month for my service because I WANT it. (and I'm in no way wealthy or "well off")....I wanted the phone, and being that it's a Premium phone, I expect to pay a premium for service.

Companies are out there to make money (obviously). And there is nothing wrong with that.....that's why companies exist. They offer a service, then the customer decides whether or not they want it. That's the way it works. You don't want to pay for it, then don't get it........but constantly bickering about the pricing when you have no idea what it takes to run/maintain & expand a company as large and complicated as AT&T is just foolish and ignorant.

Rant over, I feel better now. :D

[reallynotnick]

If this is seriously the best ATT and can do I am moving to Sprint, don't get me wrong I love my unlocked iPhone but I want a full data plan and unlimited text messaging and Sprint is just way cheaper. I don't want to start a flame war but it's just a fact and right now I don't have the money to be throwing at ATT just to have an iPhone.

[ckurt25]

Wow, I just read through all the messages and can't believe how much bickering there is about the prices of the plan. No one held a gun to your head to get the iPhone, so why all the bickering about the prices now? I'm perfectly happy paying my $81.xx/month for my service because I WANT it. (and I'm in no way wealthy or "well off")....I wanted the phone, and being that it's a Premium phone, I expect to pay a premium for service.

Companies are out there to make money (obviously). And there is nothing wrong with that.....that's why companies exist. They offer a service, then the customer decides whether or not they want it. That's the way it works. You don't want to pay for it, then don't get it........but constantly bickering about the pricing when you have no idea what it takes to run/maintain & expand a company as large and complicated as AT&T is just foolish and ignorant.

Rant over, I feel better now. :D

THANK YOU!!!

"I want (one of, if not) the best phone(s) on the planet and I want to pay 1/2 of what anyone else pays for similar service and AT&T are crooks if they don't give it to me" COME ON PEOPLE......WAKE UP!!!

[powaking]

Once Google releases a Google Voice app that pushes their SMS messages then there won't be a need for a text plan. People will be dropping the plans like flies and maybe thats what AT&T is worried about: the background notification that 3.0 is about to offer.

[Rot'nApple]

Great idea, but as long as there is a mechanism that warns you before you go over data usage.

I highly doubt it as that would be the ethical thing to do. However, they will likely just invisibly start charging you $1/1kb if you go over... huge earning potential.

Ther's an app for that...

Or at least I'm told by the :apple: commercials I see on tv. :D

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2009/05/05/atandt-mywireless-mobile-allows-iphone-users-to-manage-atandt-wireless-accounts/

[Andruw91]

i think that they may have the $20 plan unlimited for the iPhone and leave the $30 price point for unlimited data PLUS tethering. There was mention a while ago that AT&T was considering a possible $10 add-on for tethering even before 3.0 was introduced.

I like this plan idea. I wouldn't mind paying 20 a month since I don't plan on using tethering at all.

Just curious, but how much data would I be expected to use if I just use it for the internet say 2-3 hours per day. I never had a smart phone and I just wanted to get an idea if they do introduce plans with caps lime 1GB etc.

[JCastro]

^^ The AT&T "myWireless" App shows a bar for data used (but since the current plan is unlimited, the bar is grayed out). Not to mention that you can also check your data usage by texting *3282# and they'll send you a free SMS of data used.

I welcome a data plan with limited usage for less......just depends on what the limit is.

My mywireless app shows the amount of data I have used. Nothing is grayed out.

I also welcome a tiered data plan. I don't think I have ever gone over 250mb a month. And I have gone on a long road trip streaming radio over 3G (I wanted to listen to a channel that I could not pick up on the car radio).

[Rot'nApple]

If nothing else, I'd at LEAST like to see text messages get "rollover" like they do for voice minutes! If I pay for 200 texts and only use 100, I want my other 100 credited towards my next month's usage limit.

AT&T should do what t-mobile does, at least on the plan I'm currently enjoying, and that is giving 50 texts complimentary.

I don't text and have no need, so why pay. However, occasionally I receive a text from some unknown number and what does this all important text have to say???

"LOL, just because"! :eek:

Yep, that's all the message said and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for something like that! AT&T do you hear me now?!

[GQB]

Something that's always bothered me is that AT&T offers an employee discount where I work on voice and data plans on every phone they offer. Except the iPhone, of course. For Blackberry's, AT&T offers the exact same price points for voice and data as the 3G iPhone ($39.99 for the base voice plan and $30 for unlimited data). However, with my employee discount, I could get the voice plan for $31 and the unlimited data for $20. If I got a Blackberry, I could save $20/month over the 2-year contract (Almost $500) and I would still be able to use unlimited data (Slingbox over 3G, anyone?)

In many ways, the iPhone is years ahead of the competition. In other ways, it's years behind.

No, its AT&T that's years behind, not iPhone. (Well, years behind in ethical behavior anyway.)

[macjiro]

If the Iphone was GoPhone-enabled, i would buy it. Otherwise, no thanks.

[Digipimp]

Im definitely on the verge of early termination on my ATT contract and then just using my iphone on wifi which is how i use it most of the time already anyway. Pick up a virgin mobile phone with the $49.99 unlimited plan and $10 unlimited text and I should be good.

[Blue Fox]

My mywireless app shows the amount of data I have used. Nothing is grayed out.

I also welcome a tiered data plan. I don't think I have ever gone over 250mb a month. And I have gone on a long road trip streaming radio over 3G (I wanted to listen to a channel that I could not pick up on the car radio).

So it does! I could have sworn it was grayed out or just said "Unlimited" or something. Huh, that's cool. I've used a whopping 75MB so far this month. WOO! A limited-data plan would be good, we'll see if they roll it out. If not, I'm still happy with unlimited.

[bigwig]

Hey AT&T, how about getting rid of the ridiculous charges for text messages too?
Why do they even bother charging for text messages? They have so little data that their load on the network is probably indistinguishable from measurement noise.

[entropys]

For a point of comparison, in Australia, the majority of data plans are capped.
My provider (virginmobile) charges

AUD$5 for 50mb
AUD$10 for 300mb
AUD$15 for 1gb

and there are three other providers all providing various limited plans.
So, a US$20/month limited plan from AT&T sounds expensive.

For the majority of users, the 300mb package would be more than enough, but if you want a lot of youtube, you would be better off with the 1gb package. I have never exceeded 500mb, and I would be a heavy data user.

The sting in the tail is that if you go over your limit in a month, Virgin charge 15 cents a kb for the extra! That hurts!

[archipellago]

free Nokia E71

unlimited texts
unlimited internet
200 voice minutes (any net, any time)

£20 ($28/29) pcm

iPhone isn't worth the ridiculous surcharges....

[DELLsFan]

Hmmm - interesting theory... I could believe this... Tethering is definitely going to be a touted feature of OS 3.0, and I know AT&T is going to want to monetize it as much as they can (I'm sure they'd prefer you paid $30 as you do now for normal data usage on your iPhone and then an additional $30 for the ability to tether)... This seems like a decent compromise.

Not yet. SMS message billing needs to be reworked. No more 0.20 per message. No more $20 unlimited texts (single user). No more $30 unlimited texts (family talk). Throw in the text messaging as part of my supposed unlimited data plan now, and they're closer to a compromise in my view.

:apple:

[captain kaos]

Erm,

Going by the Slingplayer piece last week aren't you guys with ATT already on a "Limited Data" plan.

:)

[Applebyter]

Well according to the article the iPhone could be getting pre-paid plans (Go phone or Pay-as-you-go) which I would def. but if they do decide to do the pay as you go. I don't want to be tied down to a contract for 2 years, especially if they upgrade the device (like they are now) a year later. Plus my credit sucks and I'd have to pay 750 bucks just to sign up because of that. I'd pay it but I have been holding off for them to make it pay-as-you-go. I really do hope they do add pay-as-you-go plans..plus it would make Apple happy cause they will bring in more business to people who don't want to be on a contract or don't wanna pay the 750 to sign up. I believe the UK has it for their phones but I could be wrong...can't remember where I heard that at.

[Applebyter]

If the Iphone was GoPhone-enabled, i would buy it. Otherwise, no thanks.

lets hope it happens...i want the pay as you go

[contractcooker]

No, No, No..... See what they've done to us. We're starting to accept these RIDICULOUS PRICES. Maybe if ATT spent money on infrastructure and R&D instead of giving it to their executives they would have a network worthy of $30.00 per month with a 5 GB cap. PLEASE get rid of caps. It should be illegal to imply something is unlimited and then say..... OOOPS... just kidding. NOT COOL. I suppose someone out there must be paying the exorbitant prices or else they would lower them. Oh well, maybe I'm just jealous that I don't have that extra disposable income to throw at a ****** data plan from a crap carrier. I'm slowly plodding along with my 16GB 3G iPhone on T-Mobile USA with EDGE. What do I pay for unlimited data?

$5.99


PLEASE.

I would love to see:
$20 = 1 GB cap
$30 = 5 GB cap
$45 = 25 GB cap w/ tethering allowed

(If those seem unreasonable to you, please get some wifi at home. You'll be fine.)

I'm sick of every company having "unlimited" things with invisible barriers that you never know about until you bump into them.

Just tell us what we can have, charge us what it's worth, and let us decide what to buy and how to use it.

This shouldn't be so hard.

[reckless2k2]

Upon further thought, you guys voicing that even $20 is too much for data might be onto something. I pay between $40 and $50 monthly for cable internet. We are talking always on full internet with significant speeds. When you put it in perspective, we are getting ripped off paying $30 unlimited data on the iPhone. When you have multiple iPhones on your account, you are REALLY getting ripped off.

[Enuratique]

Why do they even bother charging for text messages? They have so little data that their load on the network is probably indistinguishable from measurement noise.

Therein lies the evil genius of it all... Text messages are sent via the control band of the phone - the one that polls the tower to gauge signal strength and to tell the tower of its existence for call routing purposes. It literally costs them NOTHING to send (on top of what the sunk cost in supporting your phone in the first place). Ever wonder why the character limit on phones is 160 characters? Because that is the maximum number that will fit in a frame sent via the control channel of the phone.

[twoodcc]

i don't know if i would want a limited plan. i like having an unlimited plan, but considering the price, i might consider it

[Brien]

A $99 iPhone with a cheaper data plan could push the iPhone into RAZR territory.

[winterspan]

Here is an idea for increasing sales: RELEASE A CDMA IPHONE FOR VERIZON AND SPRINT!

For god sakes, It's been TWO YEARS and the iPhone is still tied to one carrier, and a crappy one at that. I can't switch from Verizon and even If I could, I wouldn't anyways considering AT&T doesn't even have GSM coverage along many parts of the primary north-south highway in my state! I'm supposed to risk being unable to call 911 or a tow-truck on a major ***** highway I travel regularly just to get an iPhone? I mean come on!

I'm so frustrated with Apple. I understand that they needws AT&T to get into the market, but now they are just a ball and chain. At this point, there is NO logical business case for maintaining this exclusivity when you have millions of Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile customers chomping at the bit for an iPhone!

[iSamurai]

why? is Verizon getting on AT&T's nerves? :)

[Mac Dummy]

I wish we could get the iPhone 3G here in the states with the same unlimited data for $30 but drop the voice plans by $10 (include less voice minutes) I think I used like 20 or 30 minutes last month on my voice only (non iPhone plan). I also see no reason why we should have to pay an extra $5 for text messages (100 I think) when iChat for the iPhone uses that technology for communication. I wish AT&T would give us text messaging included.

[anubis]

No, its AT&T that's years behind, not iPhone. (Well, years behind in ethical behavior anyway.)

True

[onehoop]

Throw in the text messaging as part of my supposed unlimited data plan now, and they're closer to a compromise in my view.
:apple:

Throw my voice in with his. Unlimited texts with unlimited data makes sense and would make me less hesitant to give up my $30 unlimited data/text/navigation/(some free)SprintTV...

I'm probably going to give in anyway.

But, I wanted to revive this long-dead thread to ask, "This pretty much is not happening now, eh?"


M@