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AT&T Considering $10 Drop in iPhone Monthly Plan Rates?
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I'll believe it when I see it...
AT&T has gotten us iPhone 3G users pre-conditioned to paying $30 for data... That's a whole lotta profit right there as I would wager to guess the actual average costs per user for data is somewhere in the $10-15 range. For example, I average about 100-150 MB a month on my iPhone. A big part of that is I live in an area without 3G but also I have plentiful access to internet connected computers throughout my day. 100-150 MB a la carte (read: charged per kb) makes it mandatory I have the unlimited plan...
$240 per user per contract (minimum assuming people stay with AT&T after their contract expires) * millions of users is a big chunk of revenue to just disappear... I'd hope they sign up enough new users to offset this if true...
Still, if this were true, with my FAN discount I'd be paying about what I was paying before with my non-FAN RAZR... I could live with that
AT&T has gotten us iPhone 3G users pre-conditioned to paying $30 for data... That's a whole lotta profit right there as I would wager to guess the actual average costs per user for data is somewhere in the $10-15 range. For example, I average about 100-150 MB a month on my iPhone. A big part of that is I live in an area without 3G but also I have plentiful access to internet connected computers throughout my day. 100-150 MB a la carte (read: charged per kb) makes it mandatory I have the unlimited plan...
$240 per user per contract (minimum assuming people stay with AT&T after their contract expires) * millions of users is a big chunk of revenue to just disappear... I'd hope they sign up enough new users to offset this if true...
Still, if this were true, with my FAN discount I'd be paying about what I was paying before with my non-FAN RAZR... I could live with that
If they do this, I just hope they match their previous 1st Gen iPhone rates. What if they charge extra for MMS? Well, I'll consider MMS if I see many people texting me in MMS style.
The monthly plan is the whole reason I don't have an iPhone. It's still pretty high though, and I like T-mobile's text plans better. Right now its $75 w/basic text plan, $85 with a decent text plan as far as I know. My current T-mobile service is like $40, no data though.
"Deserve an iPhone"---Really where do these people come from? It is a phone!
i like the concept of it. BUT they need to make it applied to the iphone data charges, so that it would go across the board to ALL AT&T iphone users and we all can get lower pricing.
They're not going to reduce the price of current plans by $10. They're going to give you worse plans for less money.
Sure, that may sound good because AT&T provides you with a larger number of options for getting an iPhone, but I bet the new $59 entry iPhone plan will be so poor that most would probably opt for the $69 plan anyway. They just want to offer a $59 so they can advertise that plans start at $59. The plan itself will not be enticing whatsoever, and it'll be the worst mobile phone plan in America so that you will get a better plan.
Sure, that may sound good because AT&T provides you with a larger number of options for getting an iPhone, but I bet the new $59 entry iPhone plan will be so poor that most would probably opt for the $69 plan anyway. They just want to offer a $59 so they can advertise that plans start at $59. The plan itself will not be enticing whatsoever, and it'll be the worst mobile phone plan in America so that you will get a better plan.
Your point? I doubt it would be as severe as 250MB. Probably 1GB, 1/5 of the current soft limit. I just checked my usage and I have used ... 38MB. Granted, this is on an original iPhone with EDGE speed, but I can't fathom how to use 5GB on a mobile device in a month. If one of the new GPS turn-by-turn apps uses a constant data connection, OK, maybe. But I'm all for cheaper and limited.
Agreed. I don't think AT&T will lower the data price to entice new customers, and then have to deal with "old" customers wanting reduced data plans when that revenue was banked on for the iPhone 3G to be subsidized down to $199.
Their business model will be to introduce tiers capping the bandwidth to something horrific like 500mb at "entry level". Heck, my wife doesn't use her iPhone for much but she blows through that streaming with WunderRadio or Pandora.
So the iPod is NOT an Apple product? Apple is happy to have every retail site sell iPods and Apple accessories - so why not the iPhone?
D
$240 a year! Loving it..
Um...its $240 over 2 years.
Of course, if you ditch the smartphone stuff entirely and go to a KISS cellphone, you'll save roughly $1200 over the same two years, which means that you can buy a "FREE" MacBook with the cost savings.
Granted, you won't have an iPhone in your pocket, but looking at the other things that the money can buy is another way to look at what its true value really is to you.
IIRC, something like that. I recall something with them dropping text messaging at the same time and then having roughly a $10/month extra fee to add it back in, but I don't recall if this was the same or different price hike. If they were different, it would mean that they've effectively only given back half of their price hike.
Well, I'm paying only $20/month for Verizon DSL home internet, so I still consider even their revised price structure to be 'stratospheric'.
Give me every bell & whistle possible (including tethering) with unlimited minutes/data and I'll reluctantly part with $50/month (after tax). Anything more than that and I'll be content with a cheap KISS cellphone pay-as-you-go and put the money I save towards computer hardware, camera gear, fancy vacations ... and return trip to the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, DE.
-hh
Why not? People wondered why they charged for SMS for the iPhone 3G when other carriers and in fact AT&T themselves don't charge for it seperately on other phones.
Wal-Mart iPhone sales have failed to meet expectations????
Interesting, although I shop at Wally World I wonder if the writer does? The income of the average WM shopper probably doesn't permit the purchase and monthly fee of the iPhone.
Wally World to me is a poor sales outlet for the iPhone, now if they come out with an iPhone mini (cheaper ATT fees) might be a different story.
Interesting, although I shop at Wally World I wonder if the writer does? The income of the average WM shopper probably doesn't permit the purchase and monthly fee of the iPhone.
Wally World to me is a poor sales outlet for the iPhone, now if they come out with an iPhone mini (cheaper ATT fees) might be a different story.
Screw the price drop......How about since you already have a freaking data plan, givce us unlimited texting. What the hells the difference if I send 5000 emails to my friends cell phone or 5000 text messages. Nothing.....There's no reason that you should have to pay for text messaging when you have unlimited internet......
If this actually comes to pass, I wonder if current customers will get the discounted rate, or whether it will only be for new customers. AT&T doesn't have to give us current iPhone users a discount, since we're locked into the higher-priced contract. It does sound more like a strategy to migrate the 1st generation iPhone users over to 3G. And with MMS on the horizon, it's likely that AT&T will indeed charge extra for it. But I'm willing to be surprised.
Is this anything like the 7 year itch?
Eventually, the iPhone will become passe, but by then, Apple will have innovated something _else_ everyone must have...
How true. The iPod is sooooo unfashionable now seven years on after all. Apple products only seem to lose their 'fashion appeal' when Apple themselves replaces them with different looking ones.
Woohoo! A material change in my contract, I can cancel without an ETF... oh, wait. This is a good change.
In theory, one could opt out and close their contract without an ETF, only to restart a new one... with a new iPhone model. Then, you'll end up with two iPhones.
I'm just saying, of course.
In theory, one could opt out and close their contract without an ETF, only to restart a new one... with a new iPhone model. Then, you'll end up with two iPhones.
I'm just saying, of course.
A $10 monthly ($120 annual) reduction is good news. Hopefully we will see that here in Japan and other areas as well.
Here in Japan, Softbank did reduce the monthly data plan fee. Currently there is a base fee say $20 that increases up to a maximum, say $50, then flat lines from there regardless of use.
For those who use very little on the data plan, this is a benefit. However,if you use the Internet or e-mail it is very easy to exceed the lower level. So hopefully Softbank will reduce the upper cap fee level by $10 or so. That would be fantastic.
Here in Japan, Softbank did reduce the monthly data plan fee. Currently there is a base fee say $20 that increases up to a maximum, say $50, then flat lines from there regardless of use.
For those who use very little on the data plan, this is a benefit. However,if you use the Internet or e-mail it is very easy to exceed the lower level. So hopefully Softbank will reduce the upper cap fee level by $10 or so. That would be fantastic.