Again, you are talking about different tiers within the same service. There is a difference between a voice/phone service and data services.
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Mandatory fixed fee data plans we can do better
- Thread starter Data Fairness
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Again, you are talking about different tiers within the same service. There is a difference between a voice/phone service and data services.
Thats's not a right analogy. The point is phone talk time and data plan are 2 different things. That would be like saying: you want to buy a box of garbage bags but the store forces you to buy garbage can as well along with it which you may not need to buy every time. And whether the box has 5 or 10 bags is like signing up for 450 or 900 minutes per month.
The consumer should have an option to decide whether or not he wants to use data plan or not. If the wireless companies offered more flexible options then many people who have wifi access will not opt for data plans because they don't need it.
Companies will offer it only if the consumer asks for it, if right now no one seems to be complaining about data plans being forced so companies are happy collecting money.
I heard that wireless companies outside US offer more and better options to consumers but they don't subsidize the phone either.
The thing about prepaid concerning AT&T is that they make it as uncompetitive as possible. You either pay $25 for 250 minutes, or no minutes at all(Minus $50 unlimited plan, but that is useless for smartphones as you still need an extra data plan so it takes on even more).
You could argue that. But you could just as easily argue that it's all the same network.
I hear you. AT&T prepaid is not that great but other companies offer better deals on Prepaid. red pocket, straight talk, h2o etc..
I think that 200/300MB needs to be carried and is a fair minimum. Without any data plan thats on the phone, you will keep getting data overages every time that you get an iMessage over 3G.
That being said, I don't think that $15-20 is a fair price for these plans considering that they charge $30 for 3GB.
That being said, I don't think that $15-20 is a fair price for these plans considering that they charge $30 for 3GB.
Are not iMessages received/sent over 3G considered regular text messages (i.e. they are green bubbles)?
I've been using iPhone 4 on ATT many times without data but I've always been caught about once a month on average. Been caught a total of 5 times I believe (I was still on a 2 year contract).
Now my contract is over, I've been using an iPhone 4S without data for 5 months straight without getting caught. It could totally be dumb luck but if you're not on a contract, you should try using iPhone as a test. It could be they only scan the IMEI of those only under contracts.
Now my contract is over, I've been using an iPhone 4S without data for 5 months straight without getting caught. It could totally be dumb luck but if you're not on a contract, you should try using iPhone as a test. It could be they only scan the IMEI of those only under contracts.
iMessages are sent using data (blue bubbles) regardless of whether you are on 3G or wifi. It will only send as a text (green), if it fails to send it as an iMessage for whatever reason; usually poor signal in my experience.
Do you get charged for data by the byte or is data completely shut off? I want to give my dad my old iPhone but don't want to pay the data...
Do you get charged for data by the byte or is data completely shut off? I want to give my dad my old iPhone but don't want to pay the data...
You can shut the data off from the phone at the expense of not receiving MMS anymore. Other then that if you access the web without a data plan you will be charged by the kilobyte.