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This is why...

USA = 3.79 million square miles (9,826,675 sq km)
Sweden = 173,860 square miles (450,295 sq km)

They have to spend money to cover the areas in between, not just the population centers.

Also, in cities like San Francisco, it takes about 3 years of government red tape to put up one tower to provide better coverage.

And whos fault that is?

----------

No. It's not a price increase.

Whatever the amount they offer it doesn't matter, because it's still a rip off. Continues to be a rip off.
 
I was about to move from Tmobile to ATT. The cost keeps going up. I don't use anywhere near 2GB, so having 3GB limit is pointless. Since it's a family plan with 4 lines, I would pay an extra $20 buck for nothing. This is like a big fu for those wanting to switch. I guess Tmobile isn't too bad now except for the HORRIBLE phone selection.
 
I actually really like this.
I always thought the pricing was weird before when it was $25 for 2GB. Now if I pay an extra $5 I get 3GB instead? Yeah, I'll probably do that. And instead of $45 for 4GB and tethering, now it's $50 for 5GB and tethering? Sweet. Also sounds reasonable. I like this. For once, a phone company changing their data plan setup doesn't really tick me off. Impressive.

SuperTroll
 
Because American mobile operators suck. Note that other American cellular companies have similar deals.

That said, American telecommunications companies get very little government subsidies compared to their brethren in other countries. That means that American taxpayers aren't really paying for mobile telephony infrastructure via taxes. They are paying directly to their cellular companies.

If Aussies are paying less taxes than Americans and lower cellular bills, please let us know.

Well I don't know about taxes for you guys but we pay an absolute ***** load in taxes, and then some; so I see your point.
 
wow so many people here are whining and complaining, and some ppl think there was a 250mb plan when its 200 so its a 100mb increase for $5 more, which is just fine because you can keep your current plan.

Just as before when they switch dot tiered data plans it says "current users can keep your their plans"

so even of u upgrade your line on the SAME number you can keep, w.e plan u have

if you have the $15 plan like i do, you will STILL have it

these prices only effect NEW customers to ATT

and IDK why ppl r complaining its not like most of you use more then 3GB of data a month, plus with wifi being better and every where its better to turn the 3g OFF and use wifi, its much faster too.

Also Verizon charges $30 for 2 GB
 
I'm not too bothered by the price hike.

But did you ever notice that with everything else in the tech world, each year you get more for less? Why is that not so with Cellular Companies. Each year with them, we get less and pay more.
 
Wow...

These plans are highway robbery like all other mobile data plans in the USA... I pay €10 a month for an unlimited use, 14Mbps mobile connection in Finland, and it's actually unlimited, none of that "fair use" crap. I can torrent and download all I want. Last month I transferred over 300GB.
 
Remember a few years ago when gas was <$2 a gallon?

More smartphone users = increased data traffic = more employees required to maintain network = more revenue needing to be generated to maintain profit margins.

When people make this arguement it sounds stupid. More smartphone users also means more subscriptions which means more people paying for that network. Economy of scale lowers prices, not raises them. I can't believe the ignorance I hear on here soemtimes.
 
When people make this arguement it sounds stupid. More smartphone users also means more subscriptions which means more people paying for that network. Economy of scale lowers prices, not raises them. I can't believe the ignorance I hear on here soemtimes.

Well, in theory sure, but as has been pointed out that isn't always the case. Bell Mobility in Canada has about 7 Million subscribers and their prices are cheaper, by a little, than AT&T Wireless which has about 100 Million subscribers. In other words, AT&T is 14 times larger. Why isn't the economy of scale difference here producing cheaper prices?
 
These plans are highway robbery like all other mobile data plans in the USA... I pay €10 a month for an unlimited use, 14Mbps mobile connection in Finland, and it's actually unlimited, none of that "fair use" crap. I can torrent and download all I want. Last month I transferred over 300GB.
Scandinavia has some of the finest cellular networks in the world at similar population densities as the United States.

It is worth pointing out that much of these Scandinavian networks' development is subsidized by the local governments. That is not the case in the United States.

If I understand correctly, Scandinavians have a relatively high tax rate so they are paying a lot to their governments to finance much of the work that Americans are paying to individual business like AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
 
The information your giving on this site is completely incorrect. Try to know the facts before you state something. You might sell cell phones but you cell them at best buy. That alone should tell people not to believe a thing you say. I've had to fix thousands of customer plans because they went to best buy and some idiot sales associate forced them to take one of the new data plans.

Dude, I realize that my post was long, but did you even read it? I did say YMMV. I mention in my post that some associates will help you keep your data plan.

Let me explain why. Best Buy uses a program called BEAST which allows an associate to access any carrier's customer's plan and assist in upgrades. That program is not perfect and is managed by the coding team at Best Buy, which does not work very efficiently. When clicking through and selecting the features, there are times when BEAST will not let you continue, even though what you have selected is correct.

For example, I have had customers come in with an iPhone 3G and an unlimited plan, wishing to upgrade to an iPhone 4. Everything is fine until the "required features" comes up. It'll display a list of required features, at the time, being the 200MB, 2GB, and 4GB plans. Sometimes BEAST lets me just click through and not touch features at all; sometimes it will give me an error and say "required features have not been selected". In which case, depending on how lazy your sales associate is, the sales associate can go into phone-in-web mode.

The sales associate, if they decide to do this, calls ATT (or whichever carrier) and asks a national sales associate to complete the upgrade. Managers cannot override BEAST. Phone-in-web mode means that the carrier completes the upgrade on their side, and the sales associate essentially fills out some fields to generate a contract, since ATT obviously can't sign a contract over the phone.

I completely admit that there are some poor sales associates. Personally I would call the national retail support (for any carrier), if something occurred that should not have. I already explained it before, Best Buy neither makes nor loses money in regards to what features you choose. Theoretically speaking, Best Buy has no incentive to upgrade a customer to a different data plan. In reality, as I have already explained, some sales associates are lazy. I agree with you, which is why I originally stated YMMV, that some associates are lazy! How am I incorrect here?! But not all are...some of the people at my old store were not lazy and tried (and often succeeded) to help grandfather a customer through an upgrade.


At&t has stated that all current plans would be grandfathered in when the new plans take affect. This includes everyone on unlimited data plans, 2GB plans, 200 mb for 15 dollars, and 4gb plan with teething for $45.

Of course this is prob not going to be the case forever and at one point at&t might say no grandfather plans will be allowed to be carried over. at this point all old 2G unlimited plans were allowed to be grandfathered all 3G unlimited data plans have been allowed to be grandfathered over to LTE 4G.

Again, I fail to see how I am "incorrect". I said that "it is difficult to say" whether customers will be grandfathered in the future, say, when the next iPhone comes out. I did not say that ATT would not be grandfathering; but I did not say that ATT would be for sure grandfathering in the future. The unlimited plan is almost (almost is a bit of a stretch, I admit) two years old. How long one is able to grandfather that plan in, I am not sure.


What wrong information did I give? In fact, I was not even firm or absolute on anything I said. I said YMMV with Best Buy associates, and I said "it is difficult to say" whether or not unlimited plans will be grandfathered in later down the road. I did not give any definite yes or no answers; I spoke about my experiences at Best Buy Mobile, which was not incorrect, and I gave my thoughts on grandfathering, which cannot be incorrect because these are my thoughts and opinions. Honestly, before attacking me and accusing me of working at Best Buy (I am no longer there), consider actually reading my post, instead of the first few lines. Hell, I agree with you on most parts actually. Yes, Best Buy does have some lazy associates (but that does not mean the good ones will not help you out); Yes, ATT will grandfather you in for now, that much is clear for sure; Yes, this probably isn't going to be the case forever.

Smh.
 
So will people will "unlimited" :rolleyes: plans be throttled at 3GB's now? Or do they still get throttled at 2 GB's to force people over to the 3GB plan?
 
Minimum costs for a new iPhone 4s individual customer on carriers with voice, data, text features:

AT&T: minimum voice 450 min ($40), minimum data $300 MB ($20), minimum texting ($20 with unlimited cell minutes).
Total: $80 before taxes and fees.

Verizon: minimum voice 450 min ($40), minimum data 2 GB ($30), minimum texts 1000 ($10).
Total: $80 before taxes and fees.

Sprint: minimum voice 450 min w/ unlimited texting and data bundle ($70) + $10 "premium data smart phone charge":
Total: $80 before taxes and fees.

Ain't competition grand?
 
Minimum costs for a new iPhone 4s individual customer on carriers with voice, data, text features...
The problem with this comparison is that if you're dabbling with minimal service options from a mobile operator, a pay-as-you-go plan might be more advantageous.

Here's what I pay for

AT&T GoPhone:

$0.10/min voice calls
500MB cellular data for $25, expires after thirty days, but leftover data rolls over if you buy another data package, as low as 10MB for $5.

I use Google Voice for text messages; it's a far better value using cellular data rather than paying $5 for 200 messages or $10 for a thousand. If I don't have WiFi reception I can turn on cellular data, not a big deal, nor big expense.

I'm averaging about 100MB of cellular data and 20 minutes of calls per month, which works out to about $11-13 a month.

If you are a low-voice, low-cellular-data user, there are some substantial savings that can be had by going GoPhone Pay As You Go. Yes, I paid full retail for an unlocked iPhone, but that's worth more in the used market.

As far as I can tell, versus the cheapest $55/mo. subsidized contract plan, I will break even in the 10th or 11th month.
 
As more and more depend on mobile Internet access for business or pleasure these wireless companies sure are taking advantage.
 
Lol you americans are getting raped!

Here in UK £25 a month gets me 2000 mins 5k texts unlimited data with no fair use policy and a free iPhone 4S

Whats the point in the big LTE roll out if you data costs that much!
 
Lol you americans are getting raped!

Here in UK £25 a month gets me 2000 mins 5k texts unlimited data with no fair use policy and a free iPhone 4S

Whats the point in the big LTE roll out if you data costs that much!

Simple. To encourage us to reach our overage charges faster.
 
Simple. To encourage us to reach our overage charges faster.

No wonder they are keen to roll it out. 2014/2015 here in the UK.

But if I'm getting 4mbps of 3G i don't think ill need any faster any time soon.

Everything loads very quickly and i can stream HD video well enough of my iPhone.

Also free hotspot and tethering helps which means ill only need a wifi iPad 3 when it comes out.

Oh well.. at least you get cheap Petrol ;)
 
1) I never said they were losing money, I clearly stated in:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14180781/

That tiered pricing helps manage the limited bandwidth available at each tower - did you read that? no you didn't.

I believe tiered plan do limit bandwidth, but at$t's plans do not. Look at the huge gap between the 300 MB and 3 GB plan. I'm guessing, but based on my and my wife's usage, that 95% of current iPhone users use more than 300 mg, but much less than 3 GB per month. So, they are stuck with paying the $30 3 GB plan. Now, people may think that since they're paying for 3 GB, they might as well use it, thus increasing their usual data usage.
 
I can't even believe that MB's are still an option to buy. Welcome back 1999.
I would love to see the actual cost breakdown for what the per MB cost is to deliver such gold over the air.

Someone needs to exploit these asshats and open up another carrier on US soil and start showing ever mom and pop how badly they have been raped over these iPhone years. Oh, and about those texting plans....

Come on T-Mobile-'you can do it
 
I can't even believe that MB's are still an option to buy. Welcome back 1999.

Why? As long as GBs are as expensive as they are, it's needed. Not everyone needs GBs of data and not offering a lower cost package (since data is required) would hurt sales. You have to keep in mind that a lot of people have iPhones because it's a phone + iPod. They don't necessarily use a lot of data and 200-300mb is the sweet spot for them.
 
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