What I am saing is that the plan is no different than the other 3G plans. Unless I am missing something here. If I am missing something then I will gladly eat crow, but am is it not a case where all the 3G plans are $30 rather than 20? Plus the point of the message at the top of this post is that Steve LIED. No he didn't. He was not talking about Cost of Ownership. He was talking about the hardware price. He said the iPhone was half as much. That is entirely true. The plan may be more making total cost of ownership higher but the phone is the same. If you go and purchase a car that is marked as $19,000 are you going to bitch to the car dealer/manufacturer when gas goes up in price?
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AT&T's iPhone 3G Data Plan and No Longer Revenue Sharing
- Thread starter wakerider017
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What I am saing is that the plan is no different than the other 3G plans. Unless I am missing something here. If I am missing something then I will gladly eat crow, but am is it not a case where all the 3G plans are $30 rather than 20? Plus the point of the message at the top of this post is that Steve LIED. No he didn't. He was not talking about Cost of Ownership. He was talking about the hardware price. He said the iPhone was half as much. That is entirely true. The plan may be more making total cost of ownership higher but the phone is the same. If you go and purchase a car that is marked as $19,000 are you going to bitch to the car dealer/manufacturer when gas goes up in price?
I just wish all the flippin moaners would stick to one god damn thread, you keep making a new thread with a slightly different title but saying exactly the same s**t, it's completely pointless and only pisses off the people that are happy about it all (see my thread:https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/497948/)
Edit: Looks like all the threads got merged, nice.
Edit: Looks like all the threads got merged, nice.
Waiting?!?
Do we really have to wait a whole month? what a stinker. It'll be the SLOWEST month every. Every second will be counted.
Do we really have to wait a whole month? what a stinker. It'll be the SLOWEST month every. Every second will be counted.
You said that "considering that $1400 last year is $1530 today"
That's a $130 rise. $130 is 9.29% of $1400. 9.29% isn't the inflation rate.
And really, since when do mobile phone rates increase annually with inflation? I know that mine never has... And we're not seeing any other price increases from AT&T in its other plans or from other vendors, which should be the case if this is in any way related to inflation. Over time tech prices generally go DOWN. Yes, new shiny things cost more, but phone plans, internet plans, wireless data plans, etc. all get cheaper by the numbers over time. This year, this particular iphone plan is taking a huge jump. $20/month to $35/month for the same plan. Now that's a 75% increase, which well outpaces even your inflation numbers.
Sure, the phone itself is cheaper, but that's the lure. Steve didn't say: "The iPhone is now $199 and we've moved the rest of the cost into the mandatory service plan!" He said that they were making the phone more affordable, which it isn't.
Yes the US economy is in the dumps, but inflation isn't over 9%. In fact, the US economy is in the dumps because of people buying things that they cannot afford - and because companies convince them to do so. Apple didn't used to be in that game, now they are. That's the issue.
I don't doubt that this new iPhone can be a good deal, even a great one given all it can do. But I also don't think we need to go out of our way to justify higher service plan prices due to inflation. Although it would've been hilarious if Jobs had tried to explain it that way...
Iphone 3g Rates
Have you seen this yet?
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2008/06/10/apple-3g-iphone-plans-on-att-wireless-official-rate/
Not legit but helpful...
Have you seen this yet?
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2008/06/10/apple-3g-iphone-plans-on-att-wireless-official-rate/
Not legit but helpful...
FAN discount FTW!!! 
I am slowly becoming more and more excited about being able to score service discounts. Getting stacked discounts will take the sting out of a $160 Family Plan service charge.
I would advise everyone to see if they can get discounts on their line.
I am slowly becoming more and more excited about being able to score service discounts. Getting stacked discounts will take the sting out of a $160 Family Plan service charge.
I would advise everyone to see if they can get discounts on their line.
Well I sure wouldn't buy the car if I had to sign a service plan that would force me to buy their gas at say, $35/gallon for the next two years. And in this case you can't buy the car, or the iPhone, without signing that service plan.
To put it simply: $199 will not buy you a new iPhone, regardless of how nicely you ask. There's about $2000 in mandatory fees associated with it, which really makes that "purchase price" sort of meaningless.
FAN discount FTW!!!
I am slowly becoming more and more excited about being able to score service discounts. Getting stacked discounts will take the sting out of a $160 Family Plan service charge.
I would advise everyone to see if they can get discounts on their line.
What discount? Do you have to have first gen iPhone. I have been with ATT since 2002, that should be enough bs to get a discount.
True especialy that if you want to cancell your contract you have to pay the $200 and they will force you to give the phone back and will return your money. Now THIS is crazy.
The Press has caught on....Fox News
"That 'Cheaper' iPhone Will Cost You More"
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365347,00.html
"That 'Cheaper' iPhone Will Cost You More"
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365347,00.html
Yup, I have a Gen1 iPhone. I originally did want the 3G model, but didn't count on the service plan increase. I remember a lot of people here (including myself) were pretty sure there wasn't going to be a difference in data pricing. Of course we were wrong, so that news kinda turned me off to getting the new iPhone.
But if discounts are allowed (because they aren't on the Gen 1 iPhone) then the service plan increase won't be that big of a deal.
You can go to AT&T's Premier site and see if you qualify for a discount. If you go to College/University I would enter that email too. Some discounts are stackable so the more the merrier!!
I am currently searching other phone forums for any other discount tricks that can be used. (Wish there was a SERO plan on AT&T...)
I'd love to live in a world where my rent/mortgage plus food for my family of 4 was $45/month.Sure, they were pricey before. But what about the people like me than can simply not afford the $10 extra. I'm fine with the old iPhone plan, I have the $30 one (that's with 1500 SMS...) but the same thing on a new iphone would cost me what? $45? nope, I'd rather be able to eat everyday and pay my rent. TYVM.
It will be interesting to see how sales of the iPhone 3G compare to the original. I expect that there will be hundreds of thousands who buy the 3G who did not specifically buy the iPhone because of the high initial cost. The extra $10/mo. will be meaningless to most of these new iPhone users.
And how is this different than any other cell phone sold in the U.S.? You either get a subsidized PDA phone and pay the going rate for a voice / data / sms plan or you pay $500+ for an unlocked version of the phone and do what you want with it.
The nice thing in this case is if you think voice / data costs are too high, get a Touch.
It'll fly off the shelves, no doubt about it. Most buyers will never consider the extra $15/month (yes, texts count) - in fact they'll probably think that was always the rate for iPhone data plans.
The extra money won't be meaningless though - it'll likely just help a large percentage of buyers fall into even deeper debt. Unfortunately the real cost of paying off things they can't afford hasn't entered the popular consciousness yet.
Think of it this way: If the iPhone had a price of $2000, with free service for two years, would they sell millions of them and have scores of buyers waiting in line on July 11? Maybe, but it sure wouldn't lure buyers in like a $199* pricetag does. (emphasis on the asterisk)
People are also idiots, but yahoo did a story yesterday about it actually costing more in the long run. And it was proudly displayed on the front page of Yahoo!
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/94465;_ylt=Asa65zHJUg3S7iAqOuk15TwWLpA5
so have we received word on how or if this affects current iphone plans? Will customers already with the original iphone have to pay more for data? or will we be at our current plan forever until we upgrade to something else?
and what about people who buy an old iphone on ebay and wish to activate that, will they be forced to get the $30 data plan +txt? or can they still activate under the old iphone plan?
and what about people who buy an old iphone on ebay and wish to activate that, will they be forced to get the $30 data plan +txt? or can they still activate under the old iphone plan?
I'd love to live in a world where my rent/mortgage plus food for my family of 4 was $45/month.
you are an idiot and its people like you who line the pockets
of att. i think they call you a sucker. you can't compare rent and food
for a family to a cell phone with text messages. i really
feel sorry for you.
Personally, I can deal with $30 a month for data... I'd prefer the $20 plan, but $30 I can deal with. I just hate it because I'll be purchasing two iphones, and was hoping to be able to get both for $40 extra, not $60. My concern is going to be if SMS is on top of that $30 cost... that will be going a little too far for me...
Yes, to save you the trouble of fishing through this crazy post, text messaging will require an additional fee: $5/mo for 200 texts, etc. And it is per line, so if you have two phones, that's an extra $10/month for basic texting.
So yeah, your planned additional $40/month for the two iPhones is now $70/month. Plus taxes of course. It's enough to keep me away, although I was initially all in after the keynote.
That is exactly my issue (except the SMS, which I can do without). I'm harboring an irrational hope that the data plan will cover two phones on a family plan, but I'm expecting to be disappointed.
Lack of Revenue Sharing and Free Updates
Ok, so this is slightly off from where the current discussion is but bear with me for a minute.
When the iPhone was originally released there was revenue sharing in place such that Apple could book revenue for each iPhone over the long term. It was with this reasoning (accounting purposes) that updates could be provided for free on the iPhone vs the iPod Touch where it was a one time purchase. Now that the iPhone 3G will be a one time purchase with no future revenue stream, how will they handle update costs?
How will they justify the following:
1) Not charging for updates to iPhone 3G and iPhone v1 while simultaneously charging for updates for iPod Touch
2) Not charging for updates to iPhone v1 while charging for updates for iPod Touch and iPhone 3G
Or, will they have to go to everyone gets free updates?
Seeing as they already said that the V2 software will cost $9.99 (if I remember properly from the keynote coverage) for the iPod Touch, it looks like free updates for all will not be the choice (surprise surprise).
Ok, so this is slightly off from where the current discussion is but bear with me for a minute.
When the iPhone was originally released there was revenue sharing in place such that Apple could book revenue for each iPhone over the long term. It was with this reasoning (accounting purposes) that updates could be provided for free on the iPhone vs the iPod Touch where it was a one time purchase. Now that the iPhone 3G will be a one time purchase with no future revenue stream, how will they handle update costs?
How will they justify the following:
1) Not charging for updates to iPhone 3G and iPhone v1 while simultaneously charging for updates for iPod Touch
2) Not charging for updates to iPhone v1 while charging for updates for iPod Touch and iPhone 3G
Or, will they have to go to everyone gets free updates?
Seeing as they already said that the V2 software will cost $9.99 (if I remember properly from the keynote coverage) for the iPod Touch, it looks like free updates for all will not be the choice (surprise surprise).
The updates for the iPhone will remain free because it is still on a monthly plan. iPod touch will remain to have to pay because they are on no service plan. I think that's how it will work, although you bring up a good point. Anyone care to back me up or shoot me down?