AT&T Rolls Out Cheaper Unlimited Plans, iPhone Monthly Rate Drops $30

[Stately]

Existing customers will be permitted to change to the new plans as of Monday via AT&T's website, with no monetary penalty or extension to contract terms. It is unclear at this time whether there will be any adjustment to AT&T's non-unlimited plans to reposition its pricing tiers in relation to the new, lower unlimited price.

Article Link: AT&T Rolls Out Cheaper Unlimited Plans, iPhone Monthly Rate Drops $30

Now this is hilarious. AT&T customer plan prices will remain. They will find a way to sneak in some extra charges somewhere. That with the tax, will put it right back to where it originally was . . just without tax. Hence, no real deal.

 

[Vanarak19]

You better be sitting down when you get the news of what it's going to cost you to get out of the plan and return your Nexus One. It's about $550, I hear.

Yep, in the first 120 days. Nexus one is going back tomorrow I think.

350$ to google
200$ to tmobile

But I paid full price for mine anyways, so no contractual worries right now.

 

[the-oz-man]

I don't copy/paste plagiarize... I know it because I study it. Electric Engineering with concentration in communications at University of New Orleans... so, I don't need to plagiarize, I already know.

Also, Kdarling said texts are a call, which they are NOT.

Just proved you wrong.

Do you work for AT&T?

 

[jav6454]

Do you work for AT&T?

No I don't. I am still studying my field. I do however tell things as they are.

 

[Stately]

It is still a complete rip off... Sprint is the only one with a decent plan... Sure their cover coverage is lacking but if you are in a covered area its so much better, and SOOO much cheaper.. ATT and VZ are just screwing their customers... Why cant texting be included in their plan for 100 a month... 1200 a year and I still have to pay EXTRA to text... its RIDICULOUS!

Exactly. Unfortunately, no matter how much money I make, ATT will never again get it. Speaking of which, if this upcoming tablet is just another money vacuum, I'm not getting it no matter how much I have been longing for it. There better be some nice decent monthly packages associated with it, or Apple will definitely lose out this time. I hate to say that. But there are many who feel this way. People are becoming tired of being ripped off and then there's no quality to top it all off.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Exactly. Unfortunately, no matter how much money I make, ATT will never again get it. Speaking of which, if this upcoming tablet is just another money vacuum, I'm not getting it no matter how much I have been longing for it. There better be some nice decent monthly packages associated with it, or Apple will definitely lose out this time. I hate to say that. But there are many who feel this way. People are becoming tired of being ripped off and then there's no quality to top it all off.

I think you're in for disappointment for it seems that everything about the new mac products is about subscriptions (i.e. ways to vacuum your money). It's the new wave of consumerism. You don't buy a product anymore but a service that requires you to give an upfront deposit for the hardware to run the service which is otherwise totally useless.

 

[Love]

when does Ted (Rogers™) will do the same thing for canada users??

I'm pissed of being ass-raped by him...

Who wouldn't hate being raped by a dead person? How is that even possible? Ghosts can't have sex, much less rape..

Your post actually scares me a little.

 

[jared_kipe]

Do you work for AT&T?

Wait wait, can I try to guess where this is going?

No I don't. ...

[the-oz-man]
Then don't sit there and tell us how it all works, you couldn't possibly know.
[/the-oz-man]

 

[SteveLV702]

I am happy with my Nexus One. It's the best phone I ever used. The Nexus makes the iPhone look like it's from the 60s.

well good luck getting support when you need it.. which you will..

 

[jared_kipe]

Who wouldn't hate being raped by a dead person? How is that even possible? Ghosts can't have sex, much less rape..

Your post actually scares me a little.

Obviously you've never seen the Documentary

 

[Slim02]

It just seems to be so outrageously overpriced with the text messaging plan. With taxes, that probably comes out to be at least $225 a month for two lines.

Not really Because right now it is $199.99 (two lines with unlimited mins) + $30 family text and then $60 for both iPhone date plains. So that = as $289.99 and that before tax.. I would pay $209 over $289.99 any day..

 

[bacaramac]

Competition is good.

Still hoping that we get a carrier choice in the US for the iPhone with the next revision. Never minded AT&T much as I had good service where I am. However, I'm moving shortly and the coverage at the new house (in Surprise, AZ) is horrible.

Try moving out here by lake pleasant, service is non-existent until about three weeks ago.

 

[Dr. Scott]

I can't believe that AT&T still has texting as an additional option you must purchase. With texting becoming more popular over the last few years one might think it would be included in a plans price (much like Sprint has offered for quite some time). And speaking of Sprint... aren't they claiming they will be rolling out 4G technology before other companies? If so, wouldn't the iPhone be able to run on this 'bigger, faster' data configuration? Any ideas?

 

[dukebound85]

I don't copy/paste plagiarize... I know it because I study it. Electric Engineering with concentration in communications at University of New Orleans... so, I don't need to plagiarize, I already know.

Also, Kdarling said texts are a call, which they are NOT.

Just proved you wrong.

I believe the field, as well as major, is known as Electrical Engineering not "Electric Engineering"

I do find it hard to believe that they teach phone protocol, namely ATT protocol as part of your curriculum though...

 

[Jodeo]

I do cheaper than that...

For me, I have a prepaid T-Mobile phone. I spend less than $200 per YEAR for phone calls.

And I have an iPod Touch.

I get by just fine...

 

[CooKieMoNs7eR]

I thought the 450 min plan and the other ones would be cheaper too but I guess only the unlimited one

 

[jav6454]

I believe the field, as well as major, is known as Electrical Engineering not "Electric Engineering"

I do find it hard to believe that they teach phone protocol, namely ATT protocol as part of your curriculum though...

Yes, I meant Electrical, my mistake there.

UNO has an AT&T Tech center... so you can choose to do Internships with them. So it isn't curriculum based, it's more of, you want to know, you go the source to know and some reading on it. Also, the SMS/Text protocol is standard for all carriers GSM or CDMA. The same idea "piggybacking".

 

[branjosef]

Why would I sign up for an unlimited plan on a network in which I dont have service half the time. Maybe ATT could ensure connectivity before offering unlimited data plans, but what do I know. Its just getting worse and worse where I live as the iphone matures. Me thinks it might be time to switch to a different phone/provider and just go out and get a touch.

 

[Frisco]

well good luck getting support when you need it.. which you will..

Okay I was being sarcastic--no one got that

I don't have a Nexus One--I have an iPhone, but I fear Google will soon top the iPhone if Apple doesn't step up to the plate.

 

[rjohnstone]

... And speaking of Sprint... aren't they claiming they will be rolling out 4G technology before other companies? If so, wouldn't the iPhone be able to run on this 'bigger, faster' data configuration? Any ideas?

Sprint's 4G tech is WiMAX.
Pretty much useless as the iPhone will never support it.
Every other carrier in the US is going LTE.

 

[kdarling]

Mmmmm, no... Texts are not mini calls.

Texts do not use the same paths as a data transfer. They DO use the same paths as setting up a phone call. (Not a completed voice connection... only the call setup.)

Not true at all. Texts are sent by piggybacking on carrier signals, and MMS is standard data.

And what do you think those carrier signals are?

GSM texts are sent over the signaling channels used for outgoing or incoming connections. That's why they're so short: they're squeezed into normal control packets.

They are basically the same as originating a call or receiving a ring page. Text transfers thus may originate from or end at a phone, the same as a phone call. OTOH, internet data connections _always_ originate from the handset.

MMS throws in data transfer as well, but starts with a text.

Another part of SMS/MMS costs is that, unlike a phone call, they are stored for later delivery if the recipient isn't immediately available.

 

[CalBoy]

If you switch to a lower-minute plan, you lose all rollover minutes except for the number of minutes you get per month on your new plan. So if you switch to the 700 minute plan, you lose all but 700.

Hmmm, that's odd. I recently had my minute plan downgraded, and all of the rollover minutes remained intact (in the neighborhood of 3,000).

I did have to go quite high to get my problem resolved, however, so that agent may have waived the traditional "rollover minutes expire" requirement.

Bummer - This "new rate" is no cheaper for my wife and I both with iphones, 1400 mins, and unlimited data and text. Although I keep thinking of changing to the 700 min plan as we currently have just over 14,000 rollover minutes...(prob need to explain that crazy number - her family is on AT&T and we both work as physicians and have no time to talk during the day anyways)

If you have 14k in minutes saved up, you really need a much lower plan. Look at your monthly usage and buy the plan that's closest to that. I'm guessing if you have 14,000 minutes saved up over the past 12 months, you are only using about 400 minutes monthly, so it may be wise to just drop down to the 450 plan until your pool of rollover minutes drops into the low hundreds, and then reanalyze how many minutes you actually need.

If you've been with ATT for a while, they are actually quite willing to be flexible with your plan and will often give you bonus minutes that can make your plan just right for your usage. Give them a call.

That's what I'm wondering. Doesn't T-Mobile offer unlimited everything for $50 a month?

IIRC, the T-Mobile plan does not include data. However, even with data, T-Mobile still comes out about $20 cheaper.

Because then someone is going to write an SMS app that will overload the control channel

I don't really see the relevance here. Many people (if not most) already purchase unlimited texting plans. The problem most of us have with them is the cost. A carrier spends perhaps a few pennies per thousand texts, yet the price is very disproportionate to the actual cost. A 20 cent SMS, in terms of dollars per megabyte, is over $1300. That is simply absurd in pricing.

I, for one, wouldn't mind if texting was still sold without data (since one can want texting but not data), but the cost needs to be much lower. For those customers who do purchase data plans, texting needs to be included.

 

[jav6454]

Texts do not use the same paths as a data transfer. They DO use the same paths as setting up a phone call. (Not a completed voice connection... only the call setup.)

Yes they are compressed into the command packets (ie like the ones telling your phone how much current signal you have). However, they don't create a call. They are just small data packets, but not large enough to be billed such (because they are in the command packets).

That is why the cost next to nothing.

 

[Xibalba]

If you switch to a lower-minute plan, you lose all rollover minutes except for the number of minutes you get per month on your new plan. So if you switch to the 700 minute plan, you lose all but 700.

exactly, which is why I am debating if saving $20 monthly would be worth it - I phrased my statement wrong - I meant to imply not that I would keep the minutes but that we are not even using close to the 1400 our plan provides.

but thanks for pointing that out because i am sure that is not something everyone knows.

 

[jared_kipe]

Another part of SMS/MMS costs is that, unlike a phone call, they are stored for later delivery if the recipient isn't immediately available.

You should tell ATT that. Probably 25% of my text messages are not received by the intended party. I'll go to someone and say, "hey why didn't you respond to my text?" "What text?" says he.

Then usually we whip out our iphones and compare and contrast our logs. Sometimes to hilarious results where we find OTHER times where we didn't get something the other person sent.
Wait, I don't think I mean hilarious, whats the opposite of hilarious?