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

These remarks by the CEO of AT&T just explains what is wrong with the mobile phone carriers in the US today and why the government needs to step in and start policing their ridiculous monopolized pricing structure for data, texting, and everything else. The overages they charge alone on data is just raping their customers and throttling on a data plan that was sold as Unlimited should be against the law regardless of what kind of fine print there was in the terms of service.
 
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racer1441 said:
Dear Apple,

Please just buy one of these jokers, sale the iphone on your own carrier and push the current cell communications model into extinction.

Thanks.
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I agree about AT&T being greedy, but the very idea that Apple would not be greedy is a freaking laughable JOKE. These are the same people that charge for Mobile Me while Google and Yahoo give away e-mail and in Google's case digital phone for FREE. Apple is just as greedy as AT&T, perhaps more so.
 
erio said:
Sprint CEO cuts his pay for iPhone, while this @$$#0L3 bitches about iMessages? :eek:
I guess I know who has their priorities straight.
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Sprint is on the verge of bankruptcy. It's a desperation move to save a company that has been in a nose dive for years.
 
These cell companies in America are really failing and screwing the consumer.

AT&T has the right technology but not enough resources to pursue it.
Verizon has the resources and coverage but their prices are too high and they have no decent fall back from their 4G LTE.
Sprint has the right ideas but lacks the coverage and technology.
T-Mobile has an ideal HSPA+ network but lousy phone choices and spotty coverage and still no iPhone.
 
NEWSFLASH: Ma Bell says "Thank You Very Much Sir Bend Over And Have Another!" and millions upon millions are on their knees before he finishes talking.

So long as the sheeple keep bending over, nothing will change.
 
I don't know how it works on the iPhone, but my original "unlimited" plan from AT&T on my iPad doesn't allow any downloads over 10MB.

So AT&T can kiss my you know what!
 
I'm happy I ditched them 3 years ago and switched back to Verizon. My Droid suffering was repaid with a Verizon iPhone last year :)

BTW, I have unlimited data with Verizon and they HAVE NOT throttled me back once. My store manager says the company stance is they WILL NOT do anything to hinder my experience on their network at all. I can't, per say, get a shared data plan on my existing plan when they finally unveil it. Oh, well. VZW is still top notch in my book!

Vega can go jump off a VERY short pier. He may be too cheap to invest in a nice one for walking into the water.
 
Don't delude yourself in to thinking Big Red is any more altruistic than Big Blue. They both bend you over as much (and as often) as possible.
 
progx said:
I'm happy I ditched them 3 years ago and switched back to Verizon. My Droid suffering was repaid with a Verizon iPhone last year :)

BTW, I have unlimited data with Verizon and they HAVE NOT throttled me back once. My store manager says the company stance is they WILL NOT do anything to hinder my experience on their network at all. I can't, per say, get a shared data plan on my existing plan when they finally unveil it. Oh, well. VZW is still top notch in my book!

Vega can go jump off a VERY short pier. He may be too cheap to invest in a nice one for walking into the water.
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Yeah you have unlimited data with Verzion but on their slow/limited EV-DO network. AT&T will always have the advantage except when the LTE iPhone hits.
 
MattMJB0188 said:
Yeah you have unlimited data with Verzion but on their slow/limited EV-DO network. AT&T will always have the advantage except when the LTE iPhone hits.
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im in the same boat as progx with verizon and i love it. have you ever used an iphone on verizons network? i wouldnt call it blazing fast, but its not exactly slow; its more than reasonable for what i pay a month and when i use my 5+ gigs a month, im not throttled for using them or more. while there customer service isnt great, its far better than anything i ever had with at&t. plus, when the lte iphone rolls around this fall, verizon customers will be in a far better position than at&ts.
 
kdarling said:
In fact, I suspect that SMS cost has actually been going up because of the massive switch to texts by today's youth. At times, over a million messages a minute are being handled by each carrier.
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A million SMS message a minute and...

Do you think one million SMS messages a minute puts any(significant) load on AT&T's network?

SMS messages cost the phone companies nothing when compared to regular switched voice traffic.
 
I'm gonna laugh so hard when either Apple or Google announces their inevitable entry into the carrier market.
 
In fiscal year 2011, AT&T had expenses of over $57 billion (yes, BILLION).

So tell me again what exactly costs them nothing to provide? They should foot the bill for $57 billion a year in expenses to build and maintain the network, and then give a whiner free internet service?
 
GoldenJoe said:
I'm gonna laugh so hard when either Apple or Google announces their inevitable entry into the carrier market.
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Nah, Blue and Red will be laughing, as usual. Because either of those would just be another MVNO with a contract for services from Red and/or Blue. I always laugh when I see these stories...do you have any idea what kind of investment is required to start up a carrier?
 
mclagman said:
in fiscal year 2011, at&t had expenses of over $57 billion (yes, billion).

So tell me again what exactly costs them nothing to provide? They should foot the bill for $57 billion a year in expenses to build and maintain the network, and then give a whiner free internet service?
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exactly!!

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shinobi-81 said:
I have seen many comparisons with Apple here. I would say that Apple and AT&T are poles apart, since Apple spends far more money on innovation than what they ever spent on dividend to the stockholders. In either case one can talk about corporate greed, but at least Apple is striving to create something of value, as opposed to the executives of AT&T who won't even give their customers decent data speed.

I do not hate AT&T, and I have never had anything to do with them, but I can understand why many customers are frustrated.
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#1 AT&T Provides the FASTEST data speeds when compared to all carriers in the US.
#2 Just because you can buy a "Apple Product" and see the innovations (that are behind the PC when comparing their Mac Line) doesn't mean that AT&T is not doing the EXACT same thing in their product offerings. DO you thing LTE just appeared out of the sky? How many towers do they have to errect so you can use it ALL OVER THE COUNTRY?
#3 Corporate greed is no different than personal greed which I am sure you are guilty of. If you are not in business (or working) to make money, then what?
$4 If we are going to compare greed, Apple is hands down the greediest company to ever exist. EVER. $100B in free cash in the bank and they are not using it but still overcharge the consumer. But let me guess, they get a pass because you need your iPhone or iPad while you occupy wall street.
 
I stay with AT&T for a couple reasons.

1: I'm a big family plan with my whole family. I only have to pay $30 a month for it with unlimited texts

2: I still have unlimited data.

3: honestly AT&T is the absolute best carrier around here. Verizon is absolutely terrible around here (I even work for Verizon). I can't tell you how many times I have gotten customers coming in saying that their service has been terrible. Verizon flat out sucks around here.

Though reading half the crap they do and reading this, I sometimes want to just leave them.
 
McLagman said:
In fiscal year 2011, AT&T had expenses of over $57 billion (yes, BILLION).

So tell me again what exactly costs them nothing to provide? They should foot the bill for $57 billion a year in expenses to build and maintain the network, and then give a whiner free internet service?
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They just netted 3.5 billion. Last quarter. Alone. So, I think they can handle it.

57 billion is a lot if you're right on the figure. But their revenue was 31 billion last quarter.

These guys don't need you to cry for them.
 
Macboy Pro said:
exactly!!

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#1 AT&T Provides the FASTEST data speeds when compared to all carriers in the US.
#2 Just because you can buy a "Apple Product" and see the innovations (that are behind the PC when comparing their Mac Line) doesn't mean that AT&T is not doing the EXACT same thing in their product offerings. DO you thing LTE just appeared out of the sky? How many towers do they have to errect so you can use it ALL OVER THE COUNTRY?
#3 Corporate greed is no different than personal greed which I am sure you are guilty of. If you are not in business (or working) to make money, then what?
$4 If we are going to compare greed, Apple is hands down the greediest company to ever exist. EVER. $100B in free cash in the bank and they are not using it but still overcharge the consumer. But let me guess, they get a pass because you need your iPhone or iPad while you occupy wall street.
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#1: Verizon actually does. Just not on 3G. Which means not iPhone.
#2: Sell for a fairer price, get more customers. And have marketing to make it not seem like you're evil.
#3: Personal greed makes you lose friends. Corporate greed acts against the best interests of everyone. You can make money without selling everyone out.
#4: I agree.
 
GQB said:
in other words they're using an obsolete technology that deserves to die.
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Probably. After all, it's originally based off ancient GSM tech. However, I can think of a few reasons to keep using SMS for now:

1) It's the primary method that works even with non-smartphones... which still outnumber smartphones 2:1 worldwide.

2) Because no extra pings to a server are needed to maintain connection or check for messages, it's the closest thing we have to real mobile push.

3) There is no need for an app on the phone to initiate a data connection to a server before being able to receive a message.

4) Because of (2) and (3), it's very battery efficient.

5) No data plan is needed. This also can save money sending/receiving messages overseas.

6) Most carriers have gateways that translate email <-> SMS.

Sedulous said:
Aren't all comms from a phone digital data anyway?
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Yes, but just saying it's all digital isn't very helpful in this case.

There are many types of data involved. The types are not handled the same way or take the same paths or even have the same capacity.

It's like saying that a voice on a CD and an image on a DVD are both digital, but they are not in any way the same kind of data or used with the same input/output devices (in this case, microphone/speaker vs. camera/display).
 
chiefpavvy said:
Don't delude yourself in to thinking Big Red is any more altruistic than Big Blue. They both bend you over as much (and as often) as possible.
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Correct.

None of the nationwide American cellular companies have great customer satisfaction ratings. Verizon has been on the top of Consumer Reports annual cellphone survey (of readers) but by the slimmest of margins. All of them had mediocre scores.

Basically, Verizon is a 37" giant in a land of 3-foot midgets.

No American mobile operator can be proud of their customer satisfaction rating.
 
Almost every developed country in the world offers reasonably priced unlimited plans. The US falls behind in broadband development and expansion yet again, and it's not just AT&T's fault.
 
McLagman said:
In fiscal year 2011, AT&T had expenses of over $57 billion (yes, BILLION).

So tell me again what exactly costs them nothing to provide? They should foot the bill for $57 billion a year in expenses to build and maintain the network, and then give a whiner free internet service?
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Of course not.

What they should do is pay a dividend yielding 5.3% to shareholders. :p

Actually AT&T are cheapskates. France Telecom pays out 13.1%, Telefonica pays out 12%, Frontier Communications pays out 10.2%, Windstream pays out 8.8%.

The co-owners of Verizon Wireless -- Verizon Communications and Vodafone -- respectively pay out 4.9% and 3.4%.

America Movil are even cheaper than AT&T, paying out a paltry 1% dividend, but at least their Straight Talk service is only $45 a month, not $120 like AT&T's.

Another reason to use Straight Talk over AT&T. Save money using the discount brand of America Movil/TracFone and invest in AT&T for the dividend checks.

It's far smarter being an AT&T shareholder than an AT&T customer. And it's far smarter being a Straight Talk customer than an America Movil shareholder.

:D
 
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