Actually, I believe that is false. There have been many sites that don't even know if it will be AT&T exclusive for 2 years, let alone 5.
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Possible iPhone Data Plan Pricing?
- Thread starter daveschroeder
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Yes, I'm oh so sad that I can't leave my awesome, reasonably priced carrier to spend twice as much to use an overpriced phone that lacks simple features like MMS, IM and a removable battery. I've barely come to grips with it
If ATT really is going to charge nearly 50 bucks for data, that's not rape, that's flat out extortion.
I'm super happy for you!
I'll be even super happier for you once I can read your posts on my new iPhone this Friday.
And my point is the you are correct as is anyone with an opinion on the ATT rates. It is all realtive to the purchaser.
The absolute here is that only ATT will be supporting the iPhone so one is either going to say yes or no to the rate plans.
Yes. You get to use an iphone.
No. Stick with what you got.
I am using the Media Max 200 bundle for $19.99 on my Treo. Unlimited data and 200 txt a month. Apparently "smartphones" are not suppose to have this plan but it works and I am not paying $40 a month for a data connect plan on slow EDGE.
I hope I can use this on the iPhone or the plan is similar.
I hope I can use this on the iPhone or the plan is similar.
well, I think its safe to assume most ppl use about same amount of minutes every month. except those who have 2 month vacation. lol
anyway, I think a study about the practical usefulness of rollover is needed.
iPhone DOA
Wow there are a lot of strong opinions here.
I would just like to say that the iPhone is DOA at these prices.
The people that would buy the iPhone aren't going to pay those prices.
Wow there are a lot of strong opinions here.
I would just like to say that the iPhone is DOA at these prices.
The people that would buy the iPhone aren't going to pay those prices.
We know it is at least 2 years since Steve etc.. have said multi-year exculsive...
and i _think_ (99% sure) i read where an ATT exec himself said 5 years... but I do not have the link to back that up.
Yeah buddy...it ain't always about the Benjamins...
I was an ATT Wireless customer (which is not the same as the "new" ATT Mobility, btw) but SBC/Cingular were doing the "we're buying ATT Wireless" thing...
So Anyway, I go on a trip to San Francisco from the East Coast. I was involved in a new product release and as I was in the air on a cross-con flight, my fone was getting *hammered* from calls being forwarded to me from the home base.
I land in SF...I turn on my fone and look at my wife with that WTF?! look. Just insane amount of missed calls.
I need another fone now....i can't use this number anymore for personal calls...what in HELL am I gonna do?
Well, when we get to the hotel, I call the Cingular store on Market downtown and explain my problem. But, sigh, there is a problem. They don't have anymore "blue" SIMS! The put me on hold.
They found an indy vendor about 10 blocks from them that had one...I had no idea where it was...so they sent one of their guys to go and buy it, and give me directions to the store to meet him.
I just so happened to have a spare fone on me (i always do when i travel...you just never know)...so they took care of getting me a new number for my home state...i mentioned that I'm terrible with memorizing phone numbers so they snagged me a nice one...4 unique numbers...the last two the year i was born.
Fantastic.
Oh. And they didn't even charge me for the SIM
This one store went above and beyond for an out of towner that they as far as they knew would never see again.
Customer for life.
Contrast this with SprintPCS...a company who conspired to always charge me overages because (at the time) my "credit" wouldn't allow me to get the next higher up plan (it was $25 dollars more, btw) that would give me so many omre minutes I would NEVER go over...even tho I always paid the overages *immediately*...thus demonstrating i was obviously able to afford a higher base plan.
Sprint even *acknowledged this*...and still refused to remedy it. It was VERY apparent to me that this sort of thing was part of their business plan.
Ef'em.
This happened to me one time too many when I was away on business (and getting reamed with roaming charges)...so no longer would they have the opportunity to do this to me again. They may have changed. I'll never know.
I used to work for Verizon Wireless in System Engineering. I know better. I was there when the pieces were being put in place for the lockdown schemes they are famous for. As GSM was emerging, they did the old "no one will adopt that widely...it will be years before that becomes big enough to be a factor..and besides...we've got NYNEX Mobile + GTE + Airtouch as One Big Happy Family...we're invincible" thing...this lack of foresight is why the 1 and 2 spot bounces between them and ATT. GSM let them grow their network faster. I warned everyone I knew personally on Verizon to run away
Cingulatt can have my money. My phone works, and they work for me. And at the end of the day, thats worth a hell of a lot more than $20 or $30 a month for more coffees...to me
I was an ATT Wireless customer (which is not the same as the "new" ATT Mobility, btw) but SBC/Cingular were doing the "we're buying ATT Wireless" thing...
So Anyway, I go on a trip to San Francisco from the East Coast. I was involved in a new product release and as I was in the air on a cross-con flight, my fone was getting *hammered* from calls being forwarded to me from the home base.
I land in SF...I turn on my fone and look at my wife with that WTF?! look. Just insane amount of missed calls.
I need another fone now....i can't use this number anymore for personal calls...what in HELL am I gonna do?
Well, when we get to the hotel, I call the Cingular store on Market downtown and explain my problem. But, sigh, there is a problem. They don't have anymore "blue" SIMS! The put me on hold.
They found an indy vendor about 10 blocks from them that had one...I had no idea where it was...so they sent one of their guys to go and buy it, and give me directions to the store to meet him.
I just so happened to have a spare fone on me (i always do when i travel...you just never know)...so they took care of getting me a new number for my home state...i mentioned that I'm terrible with memorizing phone numbers so they snagged me a nice one...4 unique numbers...the last two the year i was born.
Fantastic.
Oh. And they didn't even charge me for the SIM
This one store went above and beyond for an out of towner that they as far as they knew would never see again.
Customer for life.
Contrast this with SprintPCS...a company who conspired to always charge me overages because (at the time) my "credit" wouldn't allow me to get the next higher up plan (it was $25 dollars more, btw) that would give me so many omre minutes I would NEVER go over...even tho I always paid the overages *immediately*...thus demonstrating i was obviously able to afford a higher base plan.
Sprint even *acknowledged this*...and still refused to remedy it. It was VERY apparent to me that this sort of thing was part of their business plan.
Ef'em.
This happened to me one time too many when I was away on business (and getting reamed with roaming charges)...so no longer would they have the opportunity to do this to me again. They may have changed. I'll never know.
I used to work for Verizon Wireless in System Engineering. I know better. I was there when the pieces were being put in place for the lockdown schemes they are famous for. As GSM was emerging, they did the old "no one will adopt that widely...it will be years before that becomes big enough to be a factor..and besides...we've got NYNEX Mobile + GTE + Airtouch as One Big Happy Family...we're invincible" thing...this lack of foresight is why the 1 and 2 spot bounces between them and ATT. GSM let them grow their network faster. I warned everyone I knew personally on Verizon to run away
Cingulatt can have my money. My phone works, and they work for me. And at the end of the day, thats worth a hell of a lot more than $20 or $30 a month for more coffees...to me
I just noticed something... I do not think I have read a story or even a rumor that apple went to Sprint at all.....
I wonder if they even bothered... I mean IF you are going to strangle your phones wth CDMA (forcing you to build 2 models instead of 1 to serve all the markets in the world.) might as well go to Verizon.
I mean I guess they probably maybe went to sprint but maybe apple just plain knew sprint could not handle it... to say nothing of not having the marketing dollars of an ATT or Verizon...
iPlan! Prices
I visited an ATT store after work today just to make sure I was "approved" to switch to ATT. While there, I spoke with a sales rep. about the iPhone data plan and she gave me a sheet that has all the normal rates and she told me to just add $40 to whatever plan that interest me. (no specific iPhone plan)
Example:
$39.99 for 450 min. + $40 unlimited data
She said that it was UNLIMITED data NOT including text messages. Texting is an add-on service which is $9.99 for 1000 txt and $19.99 for UNLIMITED texting. She did NOT specify whether or not the data plan was mandatory.
We'll see!!
I visited an ATT store after work today just to make sure I was "approved" to switch to ATT. While there, I spoke with a sales rep. about the iPhone data plan and she gave me a sheet that has all the normal rates and she told me to just add $40 to whatever plan that interest me. (no specific iPhone plan)
Example:
$39.99 for 450 min. + $40 unlimited data
She said that it was UNLIMITED data NOT including text messages. Texting is an add-on service which is $9.99 for 1000 txt and $19.99 for UNLIMITED texting. She did NOT specify whether or not the data plan was mandatory.
We'll see!!
Ask Cingulatt customers. They'll (we'll) tell you. Get the plan where you'll "never use all those minutes."
Within two months, its like an instant upgrade...you get a 600min plan when you'd "normally" only use 450...by month 3 you've got over 1000 mins...and it just keeps accumulating. I've got so many rollover minutes now i'm thinking of downgrading at this point, lol...I'm talking thousands of minutes.
And I don't have a landline. All of my relatives across the country (except my idiot "baby" brother and my grandfather) have ATT mobiles...so we talk to each other for free. Whenever we want. No long distance or minutes used.
Its a beautiful thing. And for those that aren't with the program, I have so many rollover minutes that its just not a consideration; I don't have to cut people off because of the minutes bomb. Without rollover this just wouldn't be possible; I can use my mobile as I would a landline.
Good times.
And I can get an iPhone without having to worry about leaving my provider. Even better
Watch you local and national news starting Thursday...
...Apple will sell every single phone they ship into the USA.
Paris Hilton, Steve Colbert and (insert rapper here) will flash one and the deal is sealed.
Wow there are a lot of strong opinions here.
I would just like to say that the iPhone is DOA at these prices.
The people that would buy the iPhone aren't going to pay those prices.
...Apple will sell every single phone they ship into the USA.
Paris Hilton, Steve Colbert and (insert rapper here) will flash one and the deal is sealed.
Doubt it, unless AT&T will hand out zerox copies of their rate plans on iDay. I don't think reading these forums, brainstorming at corporate, deciding on the "iPlan", have marketing design appropriate brochures and other iPhone literature, get them to the press, print it out and deliver for opening day all in four days. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
Rather, I believe this to be the scenario...
Corporate is reading the posts in this and similar forums and are saying, "My God, we f***-ed up"! (excuse the language)
guys, I want to call this post on BG whatever invalid. BGN also says that there will be no iPhones in apple store until Friday, the next post up debunks that.
EDIT:
iphone.macworld.com
"In the comments section of this very blog (and in a follow-up conversation with me), Mac radio host Shawn King reports that AT&T’s monthly unlimited data plan for the iPhone will be $20. AT&T’s current “SmartPhone Unlimited” plan is — you guessed it — $20.
Meanwhile, “Boy Genius Report” says that according to a “pretty high up source” the “iPlan” will “be around $34.99-$44.99.”
Put them both together and it sounds like we’re talking about $55-65 a month for your iPhone service. Not dirt cheap, but not at all out of line with what people are paying for existing data phone plans.
Thanks to Shawn King for weighing in repeatedly on this one — you can read more in the comments."
disagree with the conclusions, total monthly cost may be total voice+$20 for data
EDIT:
iphone.macworld.com
"In the comments section of this very blog (and in a follow-up conversation with me), Mac radio host Shawn King reports that AT&T’s monthly unlimited data plan for the iPhone will be $20. AT&T’s current “SmartPhone Unlimited” plan is — you guessed it — $20.
Meanwhile, “Boy Genius Report” says that according to a “pretty high up source” the “iPlan” will “be around $34.99-$44.99.”
Put them both together and it sounds like we’re talking about $55-65 a month for your iPhone service. Not dirt cheap, but not at all out of line with what people are paying for existing data phone plans.
Thanks to Shawn King for weighing in repeatedly on this one — you can read more in the comments."
disagree with the conclusions, total monthly cost may be total voice+$20 for data
I don't think it's safe to say that at all. My minutes spike any month where I go out of town since I'm calling friends and relatives all the time rather than actually seeing them. I don't want to upgrade my cell phone plan just to cover those few months when the rest of the year my minutes go wasted.
Again, that's just me. Like I said, you have to look at your own usage over the last year and see how variable you seem to be.
How about those people that just want it to have an integrated phone and ipod. Internet browsing over wi-fi is a bonus!
I think ATT and Apple know that, with the interface iPhone provides for browsing the internet, iPhone users will be downloading 10x, 100x, 1000x more bytes than they did with their previous phone.
This alone would justify the data price, they will need more bandwidth just to provide the service.
IMHO
This alone would justify the data price, they will need more bandwidth just to provide the service.
IMHO
Some people pony up 60 Grand plus for their Cadilac Escalade SUV and gripe when gas prices goes up to $3.00 when it was under $2 bucks a year earlier.
A lot of people will pony up the price for the iPhone of their choice because that's the product they want but in order for the iPhone to work correctly it needs it's "gas" or data/voice plans and that comes from one provider, AT&T, and it can appear like we're being hit with higher gas prices - again! and, well, let the gripes begin.
We can only hope with the democrats now in control of Congress, that the "data plan" gouging hearings will begin the following monday.
Wow there are a lot of strong opinions here.
I would just like to say that the iPhone is DOA at these prices.
The people that would buy the iPhone aren't going to pay those prices.
In ways, I agree with you, but in other ways, I disagree.
Agree: I think once people who don't know about the price of the plans see the prices they are about to pay, they will be running for the door.
Disagree: But then again, for people (like myself) who really really want an iPhone, I think people will pay it. While I think the amount of sales will drop, I still think they will make a pretty penny. And I don't think anyone doubts that.
hmm
So... one can expect to be shelling out a good $80-90 every month to AT&T. Currently, I have a $50 unlocked GSM SonyEricsson handset that I use on T-Mobile prepaid in the US for 10 cents a minute and no access/monthly charges (just pop the SIM card in and there you go).
Considering I use about 200 minutes a month, the total cost would be:
Handset - $600
Contract over 24 months - ~$1900
My current arrangement would cost me $480 over the same time period. So, my actual cost for upgrading to a first generation iPhone would be over $2000 (over 24 months)!
Worse still, when I travelled overseas the phone would be useless: no local number and huge roaming charges (paying for EDGE access would be really useful while staying in Europe) because the handset will be locked to AT&T. If you're paying $600 for a handset, it should be your phone not AT&T's.
<rant>
What happened to the free market/competition in the United States? The entire phone subscription model is absolutely outrageous. What's next? Car manufacturers force drivers to purchase monthly gasoline contracts from gas companies? "Sorry, sir, you can't buy gasoline here. Your Mercedes is locked to using gasoline from BP only".</rant>
So... one can expect to be shelling out a good $80-90 every month to AT&T. Currently, I have a $50 unlocked GSM SonyEricsson handset that I use on T-Mobile prepaid in the US for 10 cents a minute and no access/monthly charges (just pop the SIM card in and there you go).
Considering I use about 200 minutes a month, the total cost would be:
Handset - $600
Contract over 24 months - ~$1900
My current arrangement would cost me $480 over the same time period. So, my actual cost for upgrading to a first generation iPhone would be over $2000 (over 24 months)!
Worse still, when I travelled overseas the phone would be useless: no local number and huge roaming charges (paying for EDGE access would be really useful while staying in Europe
) because the handset will be locked to AT&T. If you're paying $600 for a handset, it should be your phone not AT&T's.<rant>
What happened to the free market/competition in the United States? The entire phone subscription model is absolutely outrageous. What's next? Car manufacturers force drivers to purchase monthly gasoline contracts from gas companies? "Sorry, sir, you can't buy gasoline here. Your Mercedes is locked to using gasoline from BP only".</rant>
well, I m with cingular, for about 3 years now.
i guess it all depends on how your cell habits are,
How does any of this...
...drivel above...even...ok how would this effect you at all since, mr. clever, you so smugly mentioned:
So, you have a solution. What in HELL was your POINT?!?!
BTW...iPhone...ATT Exclusive in USA...5 Years....No CDMA...you'll pay what they charge or you won't use it...
End of Line.
Worse still, when I travelled overseas the phone would be useless: no local number and huge roaming charges (paying for EDGE access would be really useful while staying in Europe
...drivel above...even...ok how would this effect you at all since, mr. clever, you so smugly mentioned:
So, you have a solution. What in HELL was your POINT?!?!
BTW...iPhone...ATT Exclusive in USA...5 Years....No CDMA...you'll pay what they charge or you won't use it...
End of Line.
The point is that if you spend $600 on a phone, you should be able to use it however damn well you please. I understand the point of SIM locking on subsidized phones. But the iPhone isn't subsidized. You're paying full price for it, the only reason for the lock is greed.