Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

really starting to reconsider based on AT&T's plans

aforty

aforty

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 27, 2007
1,496
781
Brooklyn, NY
So AT&T's iPhone plans will include zero SMS messages and then $30 for data. What outrageous world do we live in when a company can charge $30 for "unlimited data" and then turn around and charge an additional $0.10 for 140 bytes on top of that?

I'm really starting to reconsider getting an iPhone. I'm a heavy texter, my bill is looking to be $80+. I'm not sure... what do you guys think?
 
move to the UK we have a great plan

£35 UNLIMITED DATA and WiFi
600 mins anywhere in the UK or Mobiles
500 text

bargain
 
well you're the only one that can decide that. personally, I don't use text messaging that much, but even still, I find it outrageous that 200 texts is $5

people keep saying this is more in line with AT&T's other smartphone plans and even some other carrier plans. I don't have firsthand experience to be able to say one way or the other, but we're in the 21st century... these people need to get with the times.
 
BklynKid said:
So AT&T's iPhone plans will include zero SMS messages and then $30 for data. What outrageous world do we live in when a company can charge $30 for "unlimited data" and then turn around and charge an additional $0.10 for 140 bytes on top of that?

I'm really starting to reconsider getting an iPhone. I'm a heavy texter, my bill is looking to be $80+. I'm not sure... what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

maybe you should get a better paying job :rolleyes:

its not just iPhone with this price. Its all the smart phones for at&t.
 
An iPhone would be attractive to me if it weren't for the AT&T fees. As it is, I'll keep my current, fairly basic phone, and go for an iPod Touch. Would have been nice to have everything in one unit... but not at those fees. $2000 over the course of 2 years! :eek:
 
I was surprised that some text messaging wasn't included in the unlimited data plan. I'm not much of a texter either but I will probably add the minimum plan for $5.00 and see how that works.

When you sign up for the 2 year contract, are you committed to the minimum text plan or can you change that during that time?
 
BklynKid said:
What outrageous world do we live in when a company can charge $30 for "unlimited data" and then turn around and charge an additional $0.10 for 140 bytes on top of that?
Click to expand...

it's the same world the rest of the smartphone users have been living in. everyone needs to calm down and realize that these aren't new rate plans, these are just the normal rate plans att has been offering customers. the first gen iPhone had a special rate plan, now it is gone and everyone will be on the same plan

and we have ourselves to blame, we as the consumers agreed to pay, so the carriers charged, and they maximized profits. i still remember when no one had text messaging and then cingular offered it free to get people hooked, then they started to charge, and the prices went up and up, all the way to where they are now.
 
I'd be fine without texting if the email would pop up on my screen instantly with a sound. Otherwise, I might hold off on the $5. Just because the concept irks me.
 
FarSeide said:
maybe you should get a better paying job :rolleyes:

its not just iPhone with this price. Its all the smart phones for at&t.
Click to expand...

That's your best response? I have a job that pays fine, should I therefore bend over and pay 10 cents for 140 bytes of data? (really think about those two numbers)
 
tritonj said:
it's the same world the rest of the smartphone users have been living in. everyone needs to calm down and realize that these aren't new rate plans, these are just the normal rate plans att has been offering customers. the first gen iPhone had a special rate plan, now it is gone and everyone will be on the same plan
Click to expand...

I agree. You can see that the pricing is exactly the same as the Blackberry and other smart phones.

What is unfortunate is that Steve didn't have AT&T come up and talk about this during the keynote. I think alot of the anger is coming from the way the new price of the iPhone is being presented.

I expected to pay more for 3G data, and then with the lower cost, I thought - wow, it will be great - lower cost.

They reality set in with the new (standard) prices.
 
StingerT125 said:
I was surprised that some text messaging wasn't included in the unlimited data plan. I'm not much of a texter either but I will probably add the minimum plan for $5.00 and see how that works.

When you sign up for the 2 year contract, are you committed to the minimum text plan or can you change that during that time?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you can change it around at any time without extending the contract.
 
Some people need to wise up! I had a Blackjack on AT&T 3G speeds, etc....same prices as the iPhone data plans for the new 3G. It is no different at all then other smartphones. People like to complain, yada yada yada.....no one has a gun to anyones head, no one is forcing you to get an iphone or the plan.

I have a touch, to the user above, and an iPhone. The touch is a useless device when not near wifi, yeah it is cool and all, but the iPhone is the boobs. Plus your paying for your mobile phone too..

Anyway, these 'new' plans are the same old plans, just new to those who thought they would get something dirt cheap.

Too many people want something for nothing.....
 
touchyphone said:
Some people need to wise up! I had a Blackjack on AT&T 3G speeds, etc....same prices as the iPhone data plans for the new 3G. It is no different at all then other smartphones. People like to complain, yada yada yada.....no one has a gun to anyones head, no one is forcing you to get an iphone or the plan.

I have a touch, to the user above, and an iPhone. The touch is a useless device when not near wifi, yeah it is cool and all, but the iPhone is the boobs. Plus your paying for your mobile phone too..

Anyway, these 'new' plans are the same old plans, just new to those who thought they would get something dirt cheap.

Too many people want something for nothing.....
Click to expand...

So you think it's completely reasonable to charge 10 cents for 140 bytes of data transmitted? Would you like to buy a bridge as well?
 
BklynKid said:
So you think it's completely reasonable to charge 10 cents for 140 bytes of data transmitted? Would you like to buy a bridge as well?
Click to expand...

Where did it say they were charging 'extra' on an unlimited data plan, i've had two unlimited plans, never go tcharged 'extra' as you say......

And come on, we're debating no need to do the stupid bridge argument thing, besides its 2008, cant we get something better than ' i gotta a bridge' BS....

Seriosuly though, I dont see anywhere stating unlimited data means you get 10 cents extra if you go over unlimited data....point it out to me because unlimited on every plan i ever had with AT&T was always unlimited.....

Maybe you should get a Blackberry! ;) Well, maybe you shouldnt, they have the same data pricing, oh well....
 
camarobh said:
Help me understand what part of the rate plan says 10 cents for 140 bytes of data transmitted?
Click to expand...

he's saying that txt messages arent included. and that those are probably 140kb of data or less. if your paying for unlimited data. why would that not be included?

personally i can afford the rates easy enouch. but it seems silly to pay that much just so i can check my email all day every day.
 
touchyphone said:
Where did it say they were charging 'extra' on an unlimited data plan, i've had two unlimited plans, never go tcharged 'extra' as you say......


Seriosuly though, I dont see anywhere stating unlimited data means you get 10 cents extra if you go over unlimited data....point it out to me because unlimited on every plan i ever had with AT&T was always unlimited.....
Click to expand...


While I understand that you like to defend AT&T and that you're trying to sound cool with your response.. your problem is you don't understand what he is talking about...

He is saying that text messages cost 10 cents each. ( i thought this was increased to 15/20 cents a pop ) and each text which is 160 characters long is about 140 bytes .

its well known that telecom companies make an assload off of sms messages.

My solution is to use push email to simulate sms.

if you talk to your friends you can email them at 5555555555@messaging.sprintpcs.com or whatever their cell provider is and they can respond and it will go back and forth to your email.. I didn this with my last iPhone because 200 texts is enough for like 3 days not a month...

I'm sure some company will hopefully use push to come up with an easy sms solution that is 5 bucks a month for unlimited or something like that... that would be huge..
 
touchyphone said:
Where did it say they were charging 'extra' on an unlimited data plan, i've had two unlimited plans, never go tcharged 'extra' as you say......

And come on, we're debating no need to do the stupid bridge argument thing, besides its 2008, cant we get something better than ' i gotta a bridge' BS....

Seriosuly though, I dont see anywhere stating unlimited data means you get 10 cents extra if you go over unlimited data....point it out to me because unlimited on every plan i ever had with AT&T was always unlimited.....

Maybe you should get a Blackberry! ;) Well, maybe you shouldnt, they have the same data pricing, oh well....
Click to expand...

You're right, my bad on the stupid bridge thing.

My point is, SMS's are nothing but simple data transfers, so, SMS = data. We pay for unlimited data so how is it OK to charge for "additional" data.

None of AT&T's plans come with texting, $5 gets you 200, $10 gets you 1500 and $15 gets you unlimited.

Lets put this in perspective. One SMS is 140 bytes and let's be generous and say 10 bytes overhead.

200 SMS = 0.03 MB
1500 SMS = 0.21 MB
10000 SMS = 1.43 MB

So we're paying for "unlimited data" but then $5, $10 or $15 for these miniscule amounts of data usage. Any SMS sent without one of those plans (or on top of them if you go over) cost an additional 10 cents.


This isn't a knock on AT&T, it's every single cell provider in the country! Seriously, nobody else is outraged over this? Someone ought to sue them!
 
stevin said:
While I understand that you like to defend AT&T and that you're trying to sound cool with your response.. your problem is you don't understand what he is talking about...

He is saying that text messages cost 10 cents each. ( i thought this was increased to 15/20 cents a pop ) and each text which is 160 characters long is about 140 bytes .

its well known that telecom companies make an assload off of sms messages.

My solution is to use push email to simulate sms.

if you talk to your friends you can email them at 5555555555@messaging.sprintpcs.com or whatever their cell provider is and they can respond and it will go back and forth to your email.. I didn this with my last iPhone because 200 texts is enough for like 3 days not a month...

I'm sure some company will hopefully use push to come up with an easy sms solution that is 5 bucks a month for unlimited or something like that... that would be huge..
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feedback stevin, I've always been looking for you to correct me...now back down to your moms basement, since I never even talked to you....

And he says extra DATA....not SMS. And I am not standing up for AT&T I am simply stating as in my first post, the pricing practice plan wise is not different then any other smartphone they have, even inferior smartphones....

I still say, if you cant pay, then don't play....I make a good enough living where i can have a voice, data and messaging plan, that I have had on every other smartphone i have owned...


Dont reply back either, I'm over this thread, again, if you cant pay, dont play, use a Nokia...
 
BklynKid said:
You're right, my bad on the stupid bridge thing.

My point is, SMS's are nothing but simple data transfers, so, SMS = data. We pay for unlimited data so how is it OK to charge for "additional" data.

None of AT&T's plans come with texting, $5 gets you 200, $10 gets you 1500 and $15 gets you unlimited.

Lets put this in perspective. One SMS is 140 bytes and let's be generous and say 10 bytes overhead.

200 SMS = 0.03 MB
1500 SMS = 0.21 MB
10000 SMS = 1.43 MB

So we're paying for "unlimited data" but then $5, $10 or $15 for these miniscule amounts of data usage. Any SMS sent without one of those plans (or on top of them if you go over) cost an additional 10 cents.


This isn't a knock on AT&T, it's every single cell provider in the country! Seriously, nobody else is outraged over this? Someone ought to sue them!
Click to expand...

while technically you are right in that sms = data, the problem is sms is not part of the data paradigm in the cell phone world. it is considered a separate service and always has been. how the service is transmitted made no difference. keep in mind sms was around before smartphones, before people browsed internet on phones, before data plans. so this is simply a continuation of that pricing scheme.

like someone said earlier, all it would take is for 1 carrier start only offerring 2 types of service, data and voice and then others will follow suit. this carrier would almost certainly have to be a start up, as the established players aren't going to buck the trend when they don't have to. much like how there use to be daytime and nightime minutes, and there weren't very many of either, then t-mobile opened up in the US and offered 1000 anytime minutes for $39.99 which was cheaper than everyone else by a lot, and switched the pricing around, to combat Cingular did the roll over minutes (which were a joke because it was only rolloing over nighttime and weekend minutes which people have in spades anyways)

just look at rate plans, they almost all follow the same pricing now, no one is offering any significant discounted rates over another carrier, the rates are almost all the same
 
Exactly as a few have already mentioned, first generation iPhone (AT&T) users may have had to pay a little more for the phone itself, but we were getting a really good deal in terms of the voice/data/SMS plan.

The new AT&T rates for the iPhone are basically applying the normal SmartPhone rates all across the board now. You just don't hear as much complaining from Blackberry users because about 90% of Blackberry users get it from work.

I was pretty upset at first just like the majority of you, but it's not like we're getting ripped off. We're just being expected to pay what everyone else pays for the same service. It's a big difference.

Think of it this way. iPhone users got to experience a great 1 year sale price for their data plans, but now the sale is over. It was nice while it lasted.

The legitimate claim that we have to be upset about (in my opinion) is the fact that Jobs came out and made it sound like the new iPhone was going to be so much more affordable to the masses. That is a flat out lie. It's the old bait-and-switch.
 
Good God. I never thought I'd see so many people complaining about high prices on an APPLE forum. The same people who have no problem paying a $500 "Apple Tax" on their computers can't afford to pay an $80 cell phone bill? Come on.

To quote another much wiser poster a few weeks ago:
"I think I much prefer the current system, in which poor people go without iPhones."
 
BklynKid said:
My point is, SMS's are nothing but simple data transfers, so, SMS = data. We pay for unlimited data so how is it OK to charge for "additional" data.
Click to expand...

SMS isn't a data connection. Data goes over packet switched connections, which are charged by data amount. Email, web browsing, that's all packet switched.

SMS is pager (incoming call) data, and is a real push to the phone, just as a ring is. Just as with a phone call, the target phone must be found anywhere it is in the world, and a paging call sent to it with the text embedded.

So sending an SMS requires setting up a circuit switched call, which is traditionally charged by time.

In other words, you should argue that SMS should use your voice and long distance minutes, not any data plan amount.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back