AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson Speaks About iPhone and iPad

[elhungarian]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/5.0.17405/922; U; en) Presto/2.4.15)

Whatever they change..most users are going to have to pay more..booooo

 

[4JNA]

i'm the map, i'm the map, i'm the MAP!

At this rate Verizon will have more 4G LTE coverage than AT&T will have 3G coverage.

oh GOD, not another map commercial campaign...

 

[sandiegobrian]

Tethering?

What ever happened to iPhone tethering?

I'm willing to pay.

Why force me to carry a second device for broadband wireless internet?

 

[slimpunk]

That is uncanncy - the AT&T guy looks exactly like the man in the Crucial ad in the same page! Even the tie v similar!

Hahaha, that's amazing.

 

[blinkytoo]

********

ATT is a ******** company run by a ******** CEO.

 

[countrydweller]

ATT is a ******** company run by a ******** CEO.

Stay away from AT&T then, quite simple.

 

[gnasher729]

It depends on the tiers:

$30 for 100MB
$45 for 250MB
$60 for unlimited???

That would be ridiculously expensive. In the UK, O2's Pay-As-You-Go costs £2 for 1 day, 500 MB; £7.50 for 1 week, 1 GB and £15 for one month, 3 GB. £15 is less than $23.

But here's the REASONABLE part... If I sign up for the 250MB plan but, in an odd month here or there, I go OVER 250MB, instead of then charging me some OUTRAGEOUS amount for each extra megabyte, kick me up to the 500MB for that month and only charge me $25. Likewise, if I go over 500MB, kick me up to Unlimited for $35.

O2's Pay-As-You-Go stops working when you reach either the time or data limit, so you just pay again. So for £4 you get 1 day, 1000 MB. For £6 you get 1.5GB etc.

 

[twoodcc]

something sounds fishy there about the iPad. this guy sounds like he doesn't know what he's talking about

 

[marksman]

att rools, verizon drools!

koobasacka

 

[marksman]

Dear AT&T and other wireless companies: You want to have tiered pricing that might not get the whole of the country all pissed off at you? Then implement it in a fair and REASONABLE way!

Example:

250MB per month: $15
500MB per month: $25
Unlimited: $35

But here's the REASONABLE part... If I sign up for the 250MB plan but, in an odd month here or there, I go OVER 250MB, instead of then charging me some OUTRAGEOUS amount for each extra megabyte, kick me up to the 500MB for that month and only charge me $25. Likewise, if I go over 500MB, kick me up to Unlimited for $35.

But only for those months that I go over. If the next month, I'm back down to under 250MB per month, then I only pay $15.

The above pricing structure would REDUCE my iPhone bill. Instead of paying $30 for EVERY month, I'd only only pay $15 for some and $25 for others. I never used over 500MB in a month.

I'm HOPEFUL that is how the iPad plan will work. But, I have my doubts. I suspect if I sign up for the 250MB plan and I use 300MB, AT&T will charge me some ridiculous amount for the extra 50MB instead of simply kicking me up to Unlimited for that month.

Mark

The reason why doing this would not work in practice is simple. Each tier is dependent upon a percentage of the actual bandwidth being used. Sure some people will manage it to get to the top end, but on average, the person in the lowest tier might only use 40% of their allotted bandwidth. Letting it just fallover to the next level means everyone is going to pay on that plan and you will have a much higher average on that first tier. It might then be 65%. This means you are making less money, and thus would have to raise the price of the bottom tier to make up for it.

This would all flow upwards, where the next tier would have the same problem as well.

I don't disagree with your idea, but in reality and in practice, doing that would cause all the lower tiers to suffer a significant price increase, really hurting people who use the services less.

 

[/dev/toaster]

That is uncanncy - the AT&T guy looks exactly like the man in the Crucial ad in the same page! Even the tie v similar!

His smile looks like the joker without makeup

 

[yg17]

ATT is a ******** company run by a ******** CEO.

What did Randall Stephenson ever do to you? Did he piss in your Cheerios this morning or something?

 

[NorrisKillsKids]

In Canada we have Voice + Data combo plans for smartphones starting at 50 bucks (not including caller ID which is an extra 7 bucks). Comes with 500mb and some other voice stuff.

To get 500mb separately it costs us 25 bucks at the cheapest, 30 at the most. 1 gig is 30 at the cheapest. Obviously all depending on the carrier. Just in-case Americans are wondering how they are likely to be screwed around with

 

[/dev/toaster]

AT&T has some of the worst customer service, only slightly behind Comcast. They have done very little to beef up the network in San Francisco, its just empty promisees, they haven't done jack. San Francisco and New York should have been the FIRST cities they fixed.

Thats what I know about the company, is how poorly they have treated ME as a customer. So sorry if we could care less about what you think of the company looking from the inside.

 

[Detlev_73]

How about bringing back pay for the minutes one uses? I'm on the lowest AT&T minute plan, and don't even use half my minutes every month. Then I wouldn't mind paying SLIGHTLY more for UNLIMITED data, I mean UNLIMITED is just about synonymous with "be a pig", "infinite", "eat all you want". Not the piss poor excuse of, "well, unlimited means any number up to X mbs/month".

That really burns my butt.

 

[s1m]

Dear AT&T and other wireless companies: You want to have tiered pricing that might not get the whole of the country all pissed off at you? Then implement it in a fair and REASONABLE way!

Example:

250MB per month: $15
500MB per month: $25
Unlimited: $35

But here's the REASONABLE part... If I sign up for the 250MB plan but, in an odd month here or there, I go OVER 250MB, instead of then charging me some OUTRAGEOUS amount for each extra megabyte, kick me up to the 500MB for that month and only charge me $25. Likewise, if I go over 500MB, kick me up to Unlimited for $35.

Mark

This wouldnt work for AT&T - why on earth would anyone sign up for anything but the cheapest plan knowing that they just pay the higher price if they go over?

 

[countrydweller]

AT&T has some of the worst customer service, only slightly behind Comcast. They have done very little to beef up the network in San Francisco, its just empty promisees, they haven't done jack. San Francisco and New York should have been the FIRST cities they fixed.

Thats what I know about the company, is how poorly they have treated ME as a customer. So sorry if we could care less about what you think of the company looking from the inside.

Yet, you stay with them?

 

[AidenShaw]

What did Randall Stephenson ever do to you? Did he piss in your Cheerios this morning or something?

Love the avatar.

Got cut off by a car yesterday - started to cuss, but then saw
an FSM emblem on the back of the offender. Instant mellow....

 

[goobot]

people complain cause they have no life. there are 3 other us carriers get one of them. you have no right to complain.

 

[macFanDave]

What ever happened to iPhone tethering?

How come we haven't heard anything about iPad data plans for existing iPhone customers? If they kept their promise about tethering, my bill would be unaffected because I'd use my iPhone as a modem for the iPad.

Sounds like AT&T is trying to rip me off. Again. I'm already paying you for unlimited access to your (deficient) 3G network and I can't really use two devices at exactly the same time. Why shouldn't my iPhone payment be sufficient to cover my iPad data access?

 

[/dev/toaster]

Yet, you stay with them?

Soon as the iPhone is available on another carrier I will be switching without a second thought.

No, not interested in Jailbreaking the phone

 

[yg17]

Sounds like AT&T is trying to rip me off. Again. I'm already paying you for unlimited access to your (deficient) 3G network and I can't really use two devices at exactly the same time. Why shouldn't my iPhone payment be sufficient to cover my iPad data access?

Because no carrier lets you have one data plan for your phone and another device.

 

[deconstruct60]

Can't agree more for getting discounts. But I don't think variable pricing is the answer. ....still think infrastructure still the issue.

Consumption of the infrastructure, not the infrastructure itself is the issue. Tiered perhaps is not as much of an issue damping the folks in the upper 10 percentile. Tiered pricing with unlimited at the top won't impede the bandwidth hogs much unless quite high.

The issue is that if cut that top 10-15 percentile bandwidth consumers there would be enough bandwidth for the rest of the customers in majority of locations.

However, the cell providers are also likely to use it as traps to snag folks on those months where have unexpected bandwidth hiccups (which get hit with overage charges ) as much as it is to impede the bandwidth hogs.

 

[OpenWheelFan]

Sorry MacRumors, but I think it's pretty clear.

Right -- iPad = pre-paid, iPhone = subscription.

AT&T is saying that they're expecting to do a nice business on 3G connectivity for iPads, but that they don't expect the arrival of the iPad to cause a bump in iPhone contracts.

Simple!

 

[OpenWheelFan]

Because no carrier lets you have one data plan for your phone and another device.

Aah, the benefits of carrier exclusivity!

Once we have the iPhone on multiple carriers (and, presumably, the iPad as well) -- assuming that both have high enough demand -- we'll see about that...!

(I hope...!)