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Mr Fusion

macrumors 6502a
May 7, 2007
841
1,061
My only regret has been staying an AT&T customer as long as I have. :cool:

I'll say goodbye with an LTE iPhone from Sprint in the Fall. With unlimited data. :p
 

neiltc13

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
3,126
19
Unlimited data is unsustainable unless you as the customer are prepared to help the company foot the bill to massively improve capacity.

I still don't understand why people need it anyway - at home you have WiFi, at work you likely have WiFi. What do you do between those two places that requires so much data?
 

cwt1nospam

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2006
564
129
It's the problem with the way big businesses have been run for the last 30+ years. Making a profit isn't enough. Even making more profit than before isn't enough. You need to make more profit than the Wall Street expects you to make so that the top brass can get their bonuses. In 2007 introducing the iPhone with unlimited data was fine because
  1. Very few people used much data on the lousy phones they had.
  2. It meant AT&T would sell a lot of phones and contracts. Nobody was thinking about 2012 and beyond, they were only thinking about 2007 bonuses.
Now they're selling lots of phones, but need to make even more money because the phones are already baked into their stock prices. If they want their bonuses they have to find other ways to get money out of the rest of us.
 

Dwalls90

macrumors 603
Feb 5, 2009
5,427
4,399
Another reason to hate AT&T.

Their board of directors needs to make a clean sweep of their marketing, PR and customer relations executives.

You know what my biggest regret is Randall? AT&T being the first and only carrier to offer the iPhone, and now I'm contracted to your service for at least another year. :rolleyes:
 

jozo

macrumors newbie
May 4, 2012
4
0
A note to Mr. Stephenson - You are supposed to invest the capital BEFORE we need to use those megabytes. Instead, you put the wagon before the horse, roped people in with an unsupportable all-you-can-eat option, and built up afterwards. The data was unlimited in theory, but in practice you couldn't support it. It was a sham. Now that you DO have the infrastructure in place (for the most part), you are throttling the very same customers who provided you with the capital to build up your network in the first place. Way to reward your most loyal customers.
What a d.b.
 

JohnDoe98

macrumors 68020
May 1, 2009
2,488
99
Mr. Stephenson,

All I can say is you have confirmed my switch to Sprint when my contract is up in July. Hell, I might switch right now and just not pay the bill you send me for $375.

**** you, sir.

Funny but you willing to take a hit on your credit rating?
 

DTphonehome

macrumors 68000
Apr 4, 2003
1,914
3,377
NYC
Moron. Data plans were incredibly confusing back then, especially because no one really knew how much data they needed. So in order to have a nice, easy to understand internet experience, Apple pushed for a simple unlimited plan. For every person using massive amounts of data, there's 10 who barely use any.
 

unlimitedx

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2010
635
0
Unlimited data is unsustainable unless you as the customer are prepared to help the company foot the bill to massively improve capacity.

I still don't understand why people need it anyway - at home you have WiFi, at work you likely have WiFi. What do you do between those two places that requires so much data?

Because cellular data has the potential to fully replace home internet. at&t does business in both so they won't want the wireless segment to cannibalize the dsl/u-verse segment.
 

cwt1nospam

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2006
564
129
Unlimited data is unsustainable unless you as the customer are prepared to help the company foot the bill to massively improve capacity.

I still don't understand why people need it anyway - at home you have WiFi, at work you likely have WiFi. What do you do between those two places that requires so much data?
The problem with unlimited* is the asterisk. That's the part where they tell you they lied when they called it unlimited.

Give me truly unlimited high speed access and I won't need wifi at home or work. I won't even need cable tv. I'll do everything over one device.
 

Dyspareunia

macrumors regular
May 2, 2010
190
24
Southern California
All he is really whining about is the foreseeable inevitability of the carriers turning into simple data providers and the downturn of profits from "overages". He just need to accept the fact that raping people via SMS overages and data overages and voice minute overages is an outdated business model and his company's all-you-can-overcharge buffet is also coming to an end.
 

Drunken Master

macrumors 65816
Jul 19, 2011
1,060
0
Oh no, the messaging revenue streams have been compromised. Quick, ping me so we can touch base and find time to monetize your solutions for continuing upward revenue!

Just kidding, awful business-speak aside, unlimited data plans probably were not the smartest idea for the providers (but great for people with the phones). It's kind of like newspapers putting every story they run online; great for us, but it wasn't a good idea because it's really ended up costing them a lot of money in the long run, to the point that they've had to lay off thousands of employees.
 

p3gamer

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2008
14
0
My only regret, not switching carriers. Yes, they are all greedy, but when you stay stupid stuff like this... Without the iPhone's early exclusivity on AT&T, would AT&T be able to compete with Verizon and try to purchase T-Mobile?
iPhone 5 (rumor redesign) + new carrier (not AT&T) = **** you AT&T
 

Tones2

macrumors 65816
Jan 8, 2009
1,471
0
Define "small profit margin"

Well, not small but MUCH smaller than Apple's. Apple made $11.6 B on $39.2 B in sales last quarter, or a profit margin of 30%. AT&T's was something like 12% - still good but nowhere near Apple. Why not cry for Apple to give us a price break or subsidize the cell costs in some way? You wouldn't. So why should AT&T give us something that cuts into it's profits? It's the same thing really.
 

Skika

macrumors 68030
Mar 11, 2009
2,999
1,246
Cellphone business in the classical way is dying. Its all about data now. And services that will work non-dependant on the connection are the future.

All we need is something like iMessage for voice being standardized.
 

joueboy

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2008
1,576
1,545
One more thing he'll regret!

Another thing he'll regret soon is saying this stupid comment. I wish he's comment will go viral so we all know how AT&T hate their customers. I bet when SJ is still alive he'll be mad as hell when he heard this kind of comment. This is just plain greediness and stupid comment, when everyone else is trying to bring new customers in by offering unlimited data.
 

WhoDaKat

macrumors 6502
May 20, 2006
379
665
What he should lie awake at night worrying about is Apple becoming their own network provider. I can't wait for iMobile!

With that patent about dynamically switching carriers for the best signal, Apple could provide a service that gives you the best signal and fastest data speed despite what network it is.

Protect me in the warm embrace of your walled garden Apple! lol
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,560
6,059
Apple aught to buy T-Mobile's existing network, sell all of their non-iPhone users to AT&T, and then just have their network be the main iPhone network. Initially, iPhone users can stay on other networks, but once the new Apple network is strong enough, they can reel in all the iPhone users and we can all stop dealing with networks like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.
 

bwillwall

Suspended
Dec 24, 2009
1,031
802
Love you fanboy guys. Apple making huge profit margin = GREAT. ATT&T making small profit margin = EVIL. :rolleyes:

Apple makes profit fairly. Cellular companies charge people ridiculous amounts for almost nothing. Being a company that charges monthly they are accustomed to force people to pay ridiculously huge bills... You don't get this attitude from Apple. Can you imagine Tim Cook saying something like this? Apple things have gotten way cheaper over time as technology gets better. Why should carriers get to charge more and more because they get more use? The more use should give them more business and more money... It's the mindset... If you cannot see this then you have no place on this website.
 
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