Average iPhone Consumer Data Usage Pegged at Five Times That of BlackBerry

[mikem7522]

Blackberry = Superior communication device
iPhone = Not so good communication device

I'd also had to the fact the iPhone users download loads of crap apps they don't use at all.

The blackberry's web browser is adequate enough to check footy scores, quickly gain some info from mobile websites. Why do you need to do more? Can't wait to see Blackberry's webkit browser though.

This all just shows how much time iPhone users waste web browsing from a tiny screen 5 times more .

+1

 

[davidahn]

Smokescreen

Well, I had AT&T before the iPhone and it stunk then too.

This was not funded by Consumer Reports (what the hell do they gain from this research?). It was funded by AT&T as another lame excuse to pocket the billions they're making from iPhone users rather than improving their infrastructure. Boo-hoo, poor us, iPhone users are straining our networks. BTW, what do you think of my new yacht... which I did NOT buy with my bonuses from iPhone revenue?

AT&T is spending LESS a year on improvements than before the iPhone! And yes, their service sucked WAY before the iPhone. If the data usage were truly responsible for the poor call quality, you'd get "network busy" errors, not dropped calls and no signal.

 

[OnlyShawn]

"Average BlackBerry 1/5 as easy to use as iPhone."

--Econ grad student.

As prices go up, quantity demanded goes down. Or, in shorter terms: Demand--still sloping downwards.

 

[smirking]

The Proxying on the BB side of things can also make some websites difficult to access. There are certain websites that are often coming back with errors and intermittent outages. Oddly enough, CNN.com is one of the sites that is very iffy on my BlackBerry 8900.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

Too bad RIM can't do a "Visit one website, get one free" promotion to boost their users' online presence.

I remember discussing this one before....

Didn't we come to the conclusion that the BOGOF were conducted by the carriers, not RIM?

 

[Povilas]

Blackberry = Superior communication device
iPhone = Not so good communication device

I'd also had to the fact the iPhone users download loads of crap apps they don't use at all.

The blackberry's web browser is adequate enough to check footy scores, quickly gain some info from mobile websites. Why do you need to do more? Can't wait to see Blackberry's webkit browser though.

This all just shows how much time iPhone users waste web browsing from a tiny screen 5 times more .

BS.

 

[Journojulz]

The blackberry's web browser is adequate enough to check footy scores, quickly gain some info from mobile websites. Why do you need to do more?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes

Regret does horrible things to a man.

 

[Tunster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes

Regret does horrible things to a man.

I had the choice to jump to the iPhone and denied it totally. Not regretting adopting the blackberry one single bit.

a) The device is a rip-off money wise (especially when you look at it SIM-Free)
b) I don't have time/money to waste on the apps
c) Already have an iPod that isn't very old
d) Blackberry does what it needs to do (make calls and send messages reliably)

I'm not saying the iPhone isn't a good device, I just didn't need one in my circumstances. I find irritating when you make a jokey jibe against the iPhone, someone has to think you're jealous of them.

Anyway, I much prefer my MBP 13" + Blackberry Tether setup than trying to focus my eyes on a 3.5" web-browser .

 

[ranguvar]

I'm kinda surprised, because I myself use about ~2GB of network traffic each day (OK, on broadband, not an iPhone, but still).

 

[elppa]

If that average is correct, then 250MB per month data plan for iPad looks about the right level.

 

[Journojulz]

I find irritating when you make a jokey jibe against the iPhone, someone has to think you're jealous of them.

if you are going to make jokey jibes it's good to have 2-way sense of humour.

 

[Journojulz]

If that average is correct, then 250MB per month data plan for iPad looks about the right level.

in the UK 02 offer "unlimited" data free with a monthly £15 pay and go top up, but limit it to 500mb

If you go over that - their standard tariff applies - £3/mb

Yes, that means it costs £4 to visit their home page.

 

[elppa]

a) The device is a rip-off money wise (especially when you look at it SIM-Free).

In the UK not so much, all prices for Pay as you go:
Curve 8900 (256MB model) - £349.95
iPhone 3G (8GB model) + 12 Months WiFi + Internet included - £349.99
Bold 9000 (1024MB model) - £399.95
iPhone 3GS (16GB model) + 12 Months WiFi + Internet included - £449.99

The iPhone isn't available "SIM free" as such, some Blackberry models are: but cost around £100 more than the pay and go versions, which you can put your own SIM in.

I fail to see how the iPhone is anything but competitively priced. Not to mention all the advantages, full Exchange support, full IMAP support (although these are sort of coming to Blackberry soon**), far better web browser, better multimedia functions, included data (HSDPA + WiFi) plans for a year etc.


**Engadget
"For a platform billing itself as the business user's best friend, BlackBerry's list of unsupported protocols that have achieved ubiquity is actually astonishing: you can't do two-way read status sync with an IMAP email account, for example, and amazingly, you can't natively connect to an Exchange ActiveSync service without being routed through RIM's back-end software. Of course, RIM could just add IMAP support directly to its phones so that this whiz-bang tech would work with any third-party email service and wouldn't have to go through BIS in the process, but that would be crazy talk, right?"

My dumb phone (Sony C510) can do two-way read status sync with an IMAP account.

 

[OllyW]

The iPhone isn't available "SIM free" as such, some Blackberry models are: but cost around £100 more than the pay and go versions, which you can put your own SIM in.

There is now a relatively easy way to buy the iPhone 'SIM free' in the UK. You can buy it on O2 PAYG, pay a £15 unlocking fee and in a few days time you can use it on any network.

 

[kernkraft]

lol, wtf, kbafthp, rip, ms, pad

BS.

What is BS?

All right, I've got it. Bulls' hit. So you don't agree.

 

[kurosov]

I fail to see how the iPhone is anything but competitively priced.

People see the name "Apple" and decide it costs more than other products on the market without actually doing any research.

 

[pmz]

If AT&T saw it as a bad thing, wouldn't they have turned down the iPad instead of agreeing to be its exclusive provider? Clearly it's going to have even higher data rates than the iPhone. I'd think they'd say no to that if you were right.

Uh, this was a business decision, and whether they could support it or not, they were going to say Yes! (Exactly what the invasive FCC thinks).

AT&T has previously and recently issued suggestive documentation that indicates they feel users should change their habits away from anything bandwidth intensive and find alternatives or workarounds. This was in direct response to inquiries regarding their plans to expand their network.

In other words, AT&T does not encourage using the data you pay for. But yes of course, they want you as a paying customer.

 

[pmz]

I had the choice to jump to the iPhone and denied it totally. Not regretting adopting the blackberry one single bit.

a) The device is a rip-off money wise (especially when you look at it SIM-Free)
b) I don't have time/money to waste on the apps
c) Already have an iPod that isn't very old
d) Blackberry does what it needs to do (make calls and send messages reliably)

I'm not saying the iPhone isn't a good device, I just didn't need one in my circumstances. I find irritating when you make a jokey jibe against the iPhone, someone has to think you're jealous of them.

Anyway, I much prefer my MBP 13" + Blackberry Tether setup than trying to focus my eyes on a 3.5" web-browser .

It's really not that hard, and it's very useful.

People that own Blackberries, and describe their usage as above, are the ones being "ripped off". You're paying for a smartphone, so you can make calls and send messages. I hate to break it to you, but all phones can. A $20 prepaid phone can do this just as reliably. Fact.

So you're paying for a smartphone, and use almost no features (you tether, great). That sounds like a rip off, compared to someone who can use their iPhone for just about everything..

 

[chrono1081]

I'm honestly not surprised at this at all. I find blackberries horrible and unusable for internet. 8 minuets to load a text version only of google? On a blackberry bold? No thanks.

My friend works at Verizon and constantly tries to switch me back and always tries to woo me with his latest blackberry. I don't find any of them usable for anything.

The iPhone on the other hand is completely useable on the internet, and its REAL internet not cell phone internet. You just can't compare the two its like two completely different devices.

I don't mean to start flames but honestly you can't sit an iPhone beside a Blackberry and tell me the Blackberry is faster and more usable. My Verizon rep friend already tried.

 

[Sarcasmo]

I typically use 500-600mb. Sometimes higher if I'm on a trip. That's why I wish the iPad's $15 plan was 500mb instead.

That's precisely why it's not. Have 200 texts for $15 or unlimited texts for $25. I'm sure there's a business term for it. But I'm not a business guy.

If I get it, I won't get 3g.

 

[cameronjpu]

The information you seek on the magic is in this document under Content Optimization and Delivery.

The BIS does more than compress web text and crunch images. It also transcodes document and web formats, and even pre-compiles Javascript source to their own byte code representation. (Think how much that would save alone.)

Some size savings examples can be found on the last page of this white paper comparing email attachments which are treated in a similar manner:

For example, a 500K WORD doc might only be 60K sent to a Blackberry.

A 150K JPEG image might require only 11K to a Blackbery because it was first resized and depthed for best presentation on a small screen.

.

Heh... anything that's NOT paid for by BB?

"Under sponsorship from Research In Motion (RIM), Rysavy Research, working in conjunction with Quality in Motion, Inc., has conducted a series of tests to quantify"

Further... am I supposed to be impressed that BB reduces the size and quality of a picture just because the BB has a tiny screen? This is exactly why no one bothers web browsing on a BB - it looks like CRAP!

 

[pmz]

Blackberry = Superior communication device
iPhone = Not so good communication device

I'd also had to the fact the iPhone users download loads of crap apps they don't use at all.

The blackberry's web browser is adequate enough to check footy scores, quickly gain some info from mobile websites. Why do you need to do more? Can't wait to see Blackberry's webkit browser though.

This all just shows how much time iPhone users waste web browsing from a tiny screen 5 times more .

This may be an opinion, but it's still a complete joke.

 

[goodcow]

I've got to love how people are saying that they "paid" for their unlimited data. You paid for about 5-6GB of cellular data with your 30 bucks but AT&T is not enforcing a cap whereas Verizon, which people on here seem to think are better, has a 5GB cap on data for new generation smartphones like the Droid.

Droid doesn't have a 5GB data cap.

 

[fkntotalkaos]

WOOHOO! I use at least double that of the average iPhone user!

So do I, crap, too much tethering

 

[rtdunham]

I wonder if people even get reception at Macworld...

yeah, we've got reception. it's spotty though: there's huge demand on the wi-fi because of so many users. and the 3G doesn't always work or work quickly: is that because there are so many connections? or might the moscone be damping (what's the right technical term?) service in the meeting rooms to prevent outbound video streaming? dunno.