Took over a year but AT&T caught me

[coachingguy]

First of all, I blame myself for spending the last 10 minutes reading this...

Second, If you don't like the plan, don't use a smartphone. Then ATT won't bug you about it.

Third, as has been mentioned, this was all agreed to when you agreed to the 2 year (or whatever length of time) commitment. If you think ATT hasn't had their lawyers get this right, there's a young lady who died in a car crash on the way home from leukemia treatments, who wants to date you... (Too soon?)

Fourth, The thread makes it sound like ATT is the only cellular provider with this provision... They're not.

Coachingguy

 

[CoMoMacUser]

the FCC was the entity that allowed for AT&T, VZ, Sprint to all have different tech for digital. We should have a single digital standard (GSM) and every time a new tech comes out, all of the providers should have to follow a set standard.

Yeah, then we could be like Europe, which has less LTE. Why do we have far more LTE coverage? And why, for years, did Americans have faster wireless speeds? Because the FCC let the industry choose its technologies.

As a result, we had EV-DO Rev. A for years even in rural areas while most Europeans in cities were poking away on EDGE or UMTS. And now we're ahead in LTE rollouts, too, because VZW and Sprint know that CDMA has dead-ended, so they have to be more aggressive than AWS, which can take its time rolling out LTE because it has HSPA+, which is good enough for most mobile services.

 

[XboxMySocks]

Switch to a provider that isn't ****.

 

[rbrian]

Yeah, then we could be like Europe, which has less LTE. Why do we have far more LTE coverage? And why, for years, did Americans have faster wireless speeds? Because the FCC let the industry choose its technologies.

As a result, we had EV-DO Rev. A for years even in rural areas while most Europeans in cities were poking away on EDGE or UMTS. And now we're ahead in LTE rollouts, too, because VZW and Sprint know that CDMA has dead-ended, so they have to be more aggressive than AWS, which can take its time rolling out LTE because it has HSPA+, which is good enough for most mobile services.

True, at present you do have faster data - but you sure are paying for it!

 

[CoMoMacUser]

True, at present you do have faster data - but you sure are paying for it!

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

 

[ftaok]

Yeah, then we could be like Europe, which has less LTE. Why do we have far more LTE coverage? And why, for years, did Americans have faster wireless speeds? Because the FCC let the industry choose its technologies.

As a result, we had EV-DO Rev. A for years even in rural areas while most Europeans in cities were poking away on EDGE or UMTS. And now we're ahead in LTE rollouts, too, because VZW and Sprint know that CDMA has dead-ended, so they have to be more aggressive than AWS, which can take its time rolling out LTE because it has HSPA+, which is good enough for most mobile services.

Sure. There are trade offs. But there currently is no real competition amongst the carriers. We don't have a system where the carriers are dumb pipes. Mobile is a big enough and important enough utility where it makes sense to have exact standards. These standards should be chosen wisely with input from the industry as well as international standards bodies.

I look at it like major standards like 120V/60hz electricity in the US. Or IEEE standards like wifi. I'd you have true standards, then monies can be focused on the hardware side. As tech advances, new standards come in.

Back to the FCC. By allowing multiple standards when we transitioned into digital, we have given the power to the carriers. Plans all became the same price. Phones couldn't be taken to another carrier. Consumers were stuck. It's getting better now as LTE has taken hold, albeit on varying bands, but it's a start.

Anyways my point is that the sooner the carriers are turned to dumb pipes, the better. This coming from a VZ shareholder. I jibw it'll never happen as the FCC is fully paid for by the telecom firms.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

We don't have a system where the carriers are dumb pipes. Mobile is a big enough and important enough utility where it makes sense to have exact standards. These standards should be chosen wisely with input from the industry as well as international standards bodies.

Anyways my point is that the sooner the carriers are turned to dumb pipes, the better. This coming from a VZ shareholder. I jibw it'll never happen as the FCC is fully paid for by the telecom firms.

If you're an VZW shareholder, then you should be tuned in enough to the industry to know that the No. 1 concern of carriers -- here and abroad -- is that they are dumb pipes and how they can reverse that situation. This is a recurring theme in every trade publication and at every show (e.g., CTIA, MWC), and it's why vendors (e.g., Tellabs) are lined up proffering solutions that are supposed to help them monetize OTT traffic. Some carriers are partnering with OTT players rather than fighting them. Two recent examples are Orange's and DT's deals with Spotify.

As for standards, they are chosen by international standards bodies. CDMA didn't materialize out of a couple of carriers or even the North American carrier community. It came from 3GPP2.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

I'll report back.

Update. I call BS. I just had a nice little argument with the dweeb over at ATT and they won't budge on the data charge and they won't disable Data. His words were "you have a smartphone, you get a data plan". Couldn't even get them to add on the reduced $15 data plan that I have. They must not be hurting for customers.

I said, looks like my only option is T-mobile, see ya.

sir I INSIST that my mother has an iPhone with NO DATA plan and no text plan...she did this because my younger brother kept going over his data limit...they both have gimped iPhones now...call BS all you want...but these are the facts