texts pop up in a blue box on your iphone. a lot of people don't check email for hours
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AT&T Simplifying Texting Plans, Enlisting Best Buy in Battle Against Verizon iPhone
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texts pop up in a blue box on your iphone. a lot of people don't check email for hours
I don't with US Cellular. All incoming texts/calls are free.
And with the standard data plan we have unlimited texts too.
Don't know if anyone pointed this out yet but paying for texts is a ripoff at ANY cost, since they are sent along in the sideband for voice that is there ANYWAY. It costs the carrier NOTHING to send along texts. It's all a perceived value.
there is a lot of infratructure that carriers deploy for texts, but it is a very profitable service. it's like upsizing fast food, car options, etc. everyone does it
A phone plan should cover texts. You get so many minutes of calls in a plan. A text should be equated to 10-15 seconds of call time. Only after the plan has been exceeded should calls or text be charged extra for.
Some people text more and some talk more. Either way the plan should cover it without having to add on extra for the texting.
This is my point - texts are sent in the SIDEBAND - the little bit of data used to keep your phone connected to the phone network anyway. They are NOT like a voice call at all. This is why they are so small, so they fit within the sideband. Sending texts doesn't use up ANY extra bandwidth than what the phone is ALREADY DOING just sitting there. This is 100% profit for the carrier, since they are charging you for using a handshake that is happening ANYWAY.
I'm actually a fan of this. I currently am on the 1,500/$15 month plan, and looking at my past useage, I only send/receive 5-600 texts per month. So at least I can switch to the 1,000 for $10 and save $5/month.
Additionally, I know others mentioned using email rather than texting to save on cost. I am the type of person that doesn't check my email right away. So I like the fact that when I receive a text message, I get a notification, so that I can respond right away rather than having that person wait a few hours for me to get back to them.
Additionally, I know others mentioned using email rather than texting to save on cost. I am the type of person that doesn't check my email right away. So I like the fact that when I receive a text message, I get a notification, so that I can respond right away rather than having that person wait a few hours for me to get back to them.
I'm curious if AT&T's idea of it's current iPhone user base includes all models of the iPhones when coming up with that number.
I know I switched from TMO to AT&T when the original iPhone came out. Eventually my family plan included 5 iPhones. After AT&T increased pricing on the data 4000% or whatever that came out to be, I paid an ETF On all our phones to move to Sprint. Some of our phones were grandfathered into the "unlimited" (5GB ********) plan. The line I use for dev related purposes didn't always need data though so I was consistently switching out an iPhone with a goPhone just to temporarily disable the data charges on that line when it wasn't being used.
What was so hilarious is that the AT&T rep that tried to talk me into staying tried to convince me that there were going to be so many hidden charges I wasn't aware of that and these charges would actually make the new service more costly. I'm not sure how you can deny the actual service fee structure - they they did. Needless to say I pay around $150 less every month for 5 Evos.
The sad thing is, we all LOVED our iPhones and would absolutely consider going back if not on AT&T.
...and I suspect we will be doing just that as soon as the first iPhone with VZW LTE lands.
Who out there is using twice as many minutes one month as the next? The vast majority of people get little real use from rollover minutes. My family has thousands of them stocked up that we'll never use. The 700 minute family plan is too few, but then the next plan up (1400 minutes) adds the "A-list" feature which reduces the number of anytime minutes we need and 1400 is way too many.
Same goes for data. "Unlimited" at Verizon vs 2GB at AT&T is really the same thing for the VAST VAST majority of people. AT&T released that 98% of their users used less than 2GB a month, even before they switched to the capped plans. So I guess the difference here is $5. Big deal.
I have GV, but my friend's feel it's a PITA that they have send a text to one number, then if they want to call they have to use my actually cell#. It would be nice if I could get them all on board. Then I could cancel my texting plan altogether.
There was a class action lawsuit about this. AT&T now has to provide unlock codes for phones sold after March 12, 1999 that had an exclusivity period of under 10 months provided the customer is 90 days into their contract. So, actually, depending on what the terms beteeen Apple and AT&T are, the iPhone 4 might be sbject to the same SIM unlock terms.
At the same time, I've gotten every non-iPhone in my family from AT&T SIM unlocked without hassle, even before the 90 day minimum. I usually tell the customer service rep that I'm going to be abroad long enough that it makes absolutely no fiscal sense (which is actually true) to be roaming and they comply.
Link to Engadget about the class action suit: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/24/proposed-class-action-settlement-would-let-you-unlock-almost-any/ Their wording says proposed, but IIRC it was the. final outcome of the settlement.
many people dont use push notification for email. i dont, because i dont care to be checking my various email accounts all day, most of it i dont care about.
but people who text me are people i generally want to hear from.
i use *data* (not just web) while on the phone all the time. im on hold, i switch it to speaker and check my banking, or movie times, or instapaper, etc..
but you don't have an iPhone and you're stuck with a crappy EVO android...sucks to be YOU
DUH! It is because Best Buy has no incentive to favor iPhones.
If you walk into Best Buy they want to sell you what they have, but they do not care if it is an iPhone or Android phone as long as you buy it there. Likewise, they do not care if you buy a Mac or Windows PC as long as you buy from them.
So it is hardly a surprise that Best Buy would choose to take this tactic to counter the Verizon iPhone sales. Best Buy does not have to convince customers to buy an AT&T iPhone; they simply have to talk the customer out of getting a Verizon iPhone and if that means convincing the customer not to get an iPhone at all then so be it.
What does that have to do with 4g or even more simple things like a camera on the 1st gen iPad (where they even left a spot for it but purposely chose to leave it out)? Choose to drink Kool-Aid if you want, but it's pretty obvious that Apple likes to leave pre-planned upgrades over time so there's a reason to upgrade in the future beyond the normal reasons (i.e. CPU is too slow for need).
However you look at things, it will benefit Apple financially to NOT do 4G at this time. They care clearly not worried about losing customers or ticking them off with the sales they are getting now.
Free? Excuse me, but I paid TWICE to update my operating system on my iPod Touch dude so spare me the bullcrap about "free" updates. There are plenty of iPhone users who would prefer to pay a few bucks to update software than just get left out in the cold completely for that matter. Apple charges for OSX updates as well, but they are clearly starting to cut off newer systems sooner than in times past. Maybe you are OK with it, but trying to force hardware purchases by artificially cutting off software isn't cool with me. I buy new hardware when I need it, not when Apple wants me to.
Good for you. I'm sure Apple loves having you pay them your money constantly. But I realize most fanboys on here don't comprehend that not everyone in the world that owns Apple products is thrilled with everything a large corporation does to rake it extra profits at their expense.
Cussing doesn't make your argument any stronger dude. In fact, it's just the opposite. And the fact you think it's bologna tells me you are out of touch with basic reality when it comes to Apple business tactics. Squeezing the core population (aka "The Apple Tax") is common knowledge.
The $0.01 Plan
Carriers, I have some marketing gold for you. Call it the "penny plan", or "1 Cent" plan or something. Charge as follows:
some base monthly fee, like $10 or something, and
$0.01 / Minute (avoids anytime vs. night/weekends)
$0.01 / Text
$0.01 / MB data
Its simple, and everyone pays for what they actually use. Stop ripping people off with overage charges for data/text. A gigantic number of people would use your service with all varying degrees of usage, and you have protection against people using "unlimited" data and "overloading your bandwidth" (although I'm still skeptical that once you have a connection to the tower, that overloading the bandwidth is even possible).
Carriers, I have some marketing gold for you. Call it the "penny plan", or "1 Cent" plan or something. Charge as follows:
some base monthly fee, like $10 or something, and
$0.01 / Minute (avoids anytime vs. night/weekends)
$0.01 / Text
$0.01 / MB data
Its simple, and everyone pays for what they actually use. Stop ripping people off with overage charges for data/text. A gigantic number of people would use your service with all varying degrees of usage, and you have protection against people using "unlimited" data and "overloading your bandwidth" (although I'm still skeptical that once you have a connection to the tower, that overloading the bandwidth is even possible).
That's pretty much how it works in Taiwan (and possibly other countries, too). You pay your monthly tariff and your useage for everything is subtracted from that bucket (and the more you pay per month, the more free useage bonuses you get and the lower the per-use rate for voice/text/data becomes. I like that system; makes more sense to me.
Although, realistically, I can't see your suggestion working in the US. It'd probably be closer to a dime or a quarter per instead of a penny.
Great news. I'm well over the 200 text a month limit but well under the 1,500 text a month limit as well. IMO this is a sensible change. Now if they'd only offer a plan with less than 400 voice minutes a month I'd be one happy camper. I'm on the 400 minute a month plan with 1,200 rollover minutes and counting that I'll never use.
It would've been the same battery life as it was a year later with the iPhone 3G.
Apple left out 3G in the first phone to save costs and maximize profits. Piper-Jaffray figured it saved them almost $100 per device in R&D, parts and GSM licenses.
Even the oldest Android phones already have multitasking and a decent notification system. They don't need updates as badly.