AT&T CEO's "Only Regret" is Offering Unlimited Data Packages

[scottsjack]

Not only is Randall Stephenson greedy, he's one-sided and kind of stupid for a CEO too. Take my account for example. I've had $30.00 unlimited since the 3G. I hardly use the thing for other than the built-in apps for weather, stock prices and email.

For about five years now I've been using maybe five bucks a month of AT&T's oh so precious bandwidth but I've been paying full price. My guess is that there are more people whose use is like mine than there are who use whatever GBs thirty bucks buys you currently from AT&T.

 

[bniu]

Stephenson is also concerned about services like Apple's iMessage texting service and Skype affecting AT&T's existing business models.

Crybaby! Times change, get with it!

 

[SirHaakon]

Apple made $11.6 B on $39.2 B in sales last quarter... who's the greedy one now?

It's fine to make money... I wasn't harping on that. It's just the tone of his message that's douchey. "I wish I wouldn't have offered unlimited data so I could stick it to our customer base even more." Even if you're thinking it, it's a ridiculous thing for a CEO to say.

 

[badpinoy]

I am grandfathered in. but I don't use anywhere close to the a gig a month. Maybe if I am traveling and I am streaming like hulu maybe I'll get close to 2 gigs. but if the most part I do not get close to gig of data month. I have wifi at work, home, church. I would like to be to tether to use my iPad, but it doesn't help me at all. the rate plan for me to downgrade and spend an extra $20 is not worth it to me. I'll stick with my rate plan for now.

 

[i-John]

Greedy? God forbid a company wants to make money!!

 

[SirHaakon]

It's just not possible to sustain such a plan with what is ultimately limited bandwidth.]

Bandwidth is not a finite resource.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Greedy? God forbid a company wants to make money!!

Not all money is created equally.

 

[rjohnstone]

It's fine to make money... I wasn't harping on that. It's just the tone of his message that's douchey. "I wish I wouldn't have offered unlimited data so I could stick it to our customer base even more." Even if you're thinking it, it's a ridiculous thing for a CEO to say.

"Tone"??? It's written text.... there is no "tone".
There's a lot to be said for listening to a conversation vs reading one.
Emotion, voice inflection, hell the rest of the conversation before and after the comment are what set the tone.
Simply reading a transcript leaves the "tone" to become implied by the reader's own feelings.
Even your own rewording shows the tone you set is biased against him.

I see the comment as a CEO doing his job. Trying to maximize profits for his shareholders.

 

[Tinmania]

He's right, of course. Offering unlimited at a low price was a mistake in the long term.

It's just not possible to sustain such a plan with what is ultimately limited bandwidth. Only children think everything can be both free and unlimited.

One question is, who came up with the original idea that the first iPhone should come with unlimited data, Stephenson or Jobs or both?

I am sure Jobs insisted on that.

But I am equally sure he mentioned the iPhone would have no apps other than what it came with (not counting "web apps"). A year later, apps AND 3G. That is when the wheels starting coming off the cart.



Michael

 

[grmatt]

AT&T isn't holding it back. They just want to charge you more for more data, so they can make an outrageous profit. Same as Apple.

They (and other carriers) have time and time again. It's why Verizon didn't have the iPhone from the beginning, and it's why we still can't FaceTime over 3G for instance.

 

[Potus]

Occupy AT&T

This guy is clueless. No wonder the economy is weak: the 1% is only interested in profit not the creation of capital.

 

[PDXoPDX]

You've got us by the balls and you're the one complaining? ******* off! No wonder cell phone carriers are some of the most reviled companies on the planet.

 

[emt1]

Greedy piece of trash.

 

[NoStopN]

Apple has FaceTime for video, iMessage for text. They need to Add Talktime making it free between iOS and OS X users. How's that's gonna cut into your revenue stream AT&T?

Apple would have to fashion an app like that to use data (VOIP, like Vonage). Not that it would be a problem for me.

Sorry.... but I remember a day in the mid 90s when we paid for capped dial-up data and as competition grew (along with broadband), they did away with "limited" data plans and went with an unlimited model.

This too shall pass.

Love you fanboy guys. Apple making huge profit margin = GREAT. ATT&T making small profit margin = EVIL.

We're just waiting for it to pass. But, the cell phone companies are not seeing each other as competitors. They watch each other, then jump on the bandwagon for whatever new charge that they can get away with.

I have AT&T and have never had a problem, I've even pleasant experience with customer service, but things like this just make me want to leave them. I understand a business needs to make money, but as new technologies emerge people are not going to pay to use the old ones. A company has to be fluid and innovate if they want to keep making money, not harping on progression.

I guess he wants us to still be using Nokia analog phones (like my first one). [sarcasm] It worked then, so why change the status quo? [/sarcasm]

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

The question is how big will Sprint's LTE network be when the next iPhone releases? Verizon will be almost 2 years into their network, AT&T 1 year in. At least Verizon's LTE is available in my area, AT&T is not, & Sprint's WiMax is borderline at best.

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?

And what is the company using our bill payments on? After paying employees, I would hope that network upgrades & maintainance is one of the top priorities. And as to what I do with all of that data? My work locks it's wifi, Comcast overcharges for it's internet, & I use apps for many things at work. Weather apps during bad storms. Remember, your phone isn't directly connected to an electrical plug.

 

[rjohnstone]

This guy is clueless. No wonder the economy is weak: the 1% is only interested in profit not the creation of capital.

Do you even know what the heck you just typed?
Do you even know what capital is or how it's obtained?

The "1%" have so little impact on YOUR daily life it's not even funny.

 

[SirHaakon]

I see the comment as a CEO doing his job. Trying to maximize profits for his shareholders.

I refer you to JohnDoe98's post directly above yours.

For some people, making money - no matter how, what, or why - is the only goal in business.

The rest of us are civil human beings.

 

[kevinbomb123]

Just ended my contract with atat because of this, i now have a sprint 4s i was getting 7-8 mbs on atat and now on sprint im getting 2-3 which is more then fast enough for me to do whatever i want. The plus.....unlimited data!

 

[frostiex]

WOW...at&t how much can you really use on a single iPhone???
Data cost have gone WAY DOWN...every megabyte used cost capital??? With or without these unlimited plans, you have to invest in these "capitals" to keep your network going anyway....anything is revenue to u.
It costs pennies per gig. Stop your lies...

 

[baryon]

The world is changing and you no longer use your phone to either call or text: there is a lot of things in between that matter even more. Operators have to adapt to this, and they have to let go their old pricing model. Everything will be going through the internet soon, and there will be no possibility to discriminate between calls, texts, videos, voice, emails, and other forms of data. It will just look like "some form of data".

If they want to keep making money, they should change their pricing models, not force users to use crappy old SMS instead of iMessage that has many advantages.

 

[racer1441]

That is an illegal business practice in the USA ever since the break up of Ma Bell in 1984. A single company may provide equipment or content/network services but not both. This prevents a proprietary network from having exclusive content control over their network. This is also why you will never see Orange in the USA.

Yeah, like that couldn't be fixed.

 

[JohnDoe98]

They (and other carriers) have time and time again. It's why Verizon didn't have the iPhone from the beginning, and it's why we still can't FaceTime over 3G for instance.

Yeah I'd like that one explained to me (no FaceTime on cell network). You'd think they would be happy for you to use up your data and move to the next price tier, or pay overages.

 

[racer1441]

Dear Apple Fanboys,

Please stop thinking Apple can simply buy whatever and whoever they like.

Thanks.

You do know how much money they have right? Keep your snarky grade school comments to yourself.

 

[ixodes]

It's just business. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[azentropy]

I really don't have any issue with them eliminating unlimited data. I have much bigger issue charging for texting, which should be part of data, and charging to turn on a feature that is included in the functionality of the iPhone (personal hotspot). If I pay for a fixed amount of data I should be able to use it however I want.

 

[rjohnstone]

I refer you to JohnDoe98's post directly above yours.

For some people, making money - no matter what - is the only goal in business.

The rest of us are civil human beings.

You think Apple is being civil?
They're exploiting their customer's loyalty by charging as much as humanly possible for their products and then sticking it to the service providers by demanding high subsidies.
Trust me on this... Apple will see the carriers begin to revolt on the subsidy very soon.
If the data is correct, the ROI on each subsidized phone will hit negative territory in the next year. Carriers will have no reason to offer them at that point.
Apple will be forced to drop the subsidy requirements or lower the retail price.
A popular phone is meaningless if the carrier can't make money off of it.