BTW those MDN's listed there with 7 digits and 2 lines is enough to figure out which employee was accessing that account. Good going Engadget.
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Verizon Moving Closer to Shared Data Plans?
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The cheapest plans currently are:
If AT&T counters, I suspect it will require $30 (3 GB) data plan (no net savings for 2 lines, but you get more bandwidth).
Sprint doesn't need to do a thing since it already offers data for $10 per line.
- AT&T individual: $40 (450 minutes) + $20 (300 MB) + $0 ($0.20/SMS, $0.30/MMS) = $60 before taxes and fees
- AT&T family: $60 (550 minutes for 2 lines) + $40 (two 300 MB) + $0 ($0.20/SMS, $0.30/MMS) = $100 ($20 less than two individual)
- Sprint individual: $70 (450 minutes and unlimited SMS/MMS) + $10 (unlimited data) = $80
- Sprint family: $130 (1500 minutes and unlimited SMS and MMS) + $20 (two unlimited data) = $150 ($10 less than two individual)
- Verizon individual: $40 (450 minutes) + $30 (2 GB) + $0 ($0.20/SMS, $0.25/MMS) = $70
- Verizon family: $70 (700 minutes for 2 lines) + $60 (two 2 GB) + $0 ($0.20/SMS, $0.25/MMS) = $130 ($10 less than two individual)
If AT&T counters, I suspect it will require $30 (3 GB) data plan (no net savings for 2 lines, but you get more bandwidth).
Sprint doesn't need to do a thing since it already offers data for $10 per line.
So how will this work for people on unlimited data. Wil I be able to share my wife's unlimited plan or will they not offer that because if they don't then right there they are gonna piss off a dam lot of people.
Um, I'm an accountant, so maybe I'm special to know the following:
30>9.99
Would love to add my wife to data for only $10. She keeps going back and forth smart vs dumb phone. At this point I'm just about ready to pay $30 to stop this mess.
This is why I'm holding off on signing a new contract until either the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 is released with LTE on Verizon. If the shared rates priced within reason I'm all over this.
Ever stop to think that maybe the obsession with bigger profits every year is sucking the consumer dry of money and thats why we are in this terrible financial situation. Every company trying to get more and more adds up. Combine that with the outsourcing of jobs and the record spending levels in congress, and its not hard to see why we are in this situation. These companies will only be able to bite the hand that feeds them for so long. Short term profits do not always make long term success.
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just give us unlimited data for 30$ no throttling back
or i would be gladly pay 60$ a month for only data..unlimited that is..i use data for everything..msg/email/voip/facetime..ect...i dont even really use my mins anymore..its all about DATA now..its the future and its now..LTE my area is faster then my home internet
i tweeted AT&T about this like 2 years ago and they said they will consider my thoughts about roll over data..
face it all network carriers are using data as $$$ in there pockets.. yeah 4G is starting to be more wide places sure its fast but also eats up data fast then next thing you know you hit the cap/throttled..thats when you pay more for data..carriers need to be more flex with price and data size plans..phones are getting faster and require more data to use..
lets see what happens...my contract ends this year waiting on iphone 5/Gax S3
or i would be gladly pay 60$ a month for only data..unlimited that is..i use data for everything..msg/email/voip/facetime..ect...i dont even really use my mins anymore..its all about DATA now..its the future and its now..LTE my area is faster then my home internet
i tweeted AT&T about this like 2 years ago and they said they will consider my thoughts about roll over data..
face it all network carriers are using data as $$$ in there pockets.. yeah 4G is starting to be more wide places sure its fast but also eats up data fast then next thing you know you hit the cap/throttled..thats when you pay more for data..carriers need to be more flex with price and data size plans..phones are getting faster and require more data to use..
lets see what happens...my contract ends this year waiting on iphone 5/Gax S3
These companies post record profits every single year. Why not lower the data rates????
Apple posts record profits every year. Why don't they lower their prices?
Exxon too.
Only if you make the country smaller, or have the signal go 4 times farther. Or only cover the cities.
This screenshot really doesn't imply anything about potential account-level data pricing. Account level pricing was added to the production billing systems back in Aug 2011 and customers on familyshare plans began migrating over shortly thereafter (should be finished by now). Both of these lines are still on line-level pricing, so the data plans displayed in this screenshot are still the standard $9.99 feature phone rates (Motorola does make phones other than the droid, and it may be the dummy device on the lines as well, though I believe that shows as MOT/TESTDEVICE).
Either way, nothing interesting here, these phones are still on line-level pricing (as it looks like they're still on single-line rate plans, judging by the rate codes).
EDIT: I stand corrected after looking at that, it looks like they've since updated the billing and CS systems since I left the company. The screenshot does show some account-level data settings, but these devices are still both on line-level plans and features.
Either way, nothing interesting here, these phones are still on line-level pricing (as it looks like they're still on single-line rate plans, judging by the rate codes).
EDIT: I stand corrected after looking at that, it looks like they've since updated the billing and CS systems since I left the company. The screenshot does show some account-level data settings, but these devices are still both on line-level plans and features.
I agree. I was just answering the question that was asked which was why dont they lower their data plans. Because companies are in it for profits. There's no point in complaining if you continue to buy the devices and sign up for the plans...
The problem is for my business I pretty much need a smartphone. There are a lot of jobs that you absolutely need one. The craziest thing is how much they charge for text messaging which costs them nothing but makes them tens of billions in profits a year. And the fact that I have to pay extra for texting when I have a data plan.
Yeah it sucks, but its capitalism. You either use it or you don't. Businesses aren't there to do consumers favors. If people are buying things at a certain pricepoint, they have no reason to lower the price. While the pricing sucks, the only thing you can do is vote with your wallet. Problem is, there's not enough people out there who care or think its a problem for it to make a difference.
People who don't own a business think it's unfair, people who do own businesses think its silly that consumers ask for favors when they have no problem selling their product.
Good point, I think you're right, and I will hold on to my unlimited data plan as long as I can
It's not like they are doing us favors and are going to save us money...
I don't know how a family can even afford 3-4 smart phones. Just my wife and I with two iPhones is about $190/month.
At least they offer more each year, faster cpus, etc. VZW and ATT mostly reduce features right now.
Several carriers in Europe simply issue you another SIM card when you get the iPad or whatever and the data is yours to use as you see fit. It is really pretty simple.
It also has the effect of encouraging many customer to move from base data plans to greater capacity ones which benefits the carrier because the customers were not going to buy a separate data account from them to begin with.
"Studying" is not needed. "Doing" is all that is required.
It also has the effect of encouraging many customer to move from base data plans to greater capacity ones which benefits the carrier because the customers were not going to buy a separate data account from them to begin with.
"Studying" is not needed. "Doing" is all that is required.
It does and doesnt.
I am on wifi most of the time, my sister uses < 500MB and my dad can fit within 500 MB as well. All three of us use probably around 1.5GB per month combined. Putting data aside, it would also be useful for my mom to get a smartphone without having to pay $15 (or $20 with the new plans) for data when in reality she will likely use less than 100MB.
See i was thinking the same thing for my family. Does anyone know if you can cap data usage per device?
No you cannot, at least not with AT&T. My dad is on the 200MB plan and AT&T has absolutely no accurate way of measuring data usage because their so called usage is delayed by up to 48 hours. When I asked if they can cap it, I was told to look under settings in the iphone and stop using it when it reached a certain level.
That sounds like an App somebody needs to write. Have it check the actual usage and read it out in plain English with warnings before running into a hard cap when it would stop data use.
That sounds like an App somebody needs to write. Have it check the actual usage and read it out in plain English with warnings before running into a hard cap when it would stop data use.
There is no real viable solution for this.
If someone were to write an app, it wouldnt run in the background on a nonjailbroken phone.
At&t could make it so that you could opt out of data after you reach your limit, so data was no longer available to you, but that would be hard to implement because their servers dont calculate data usage "live". If someone had the 200 MB plan they could simply download gigabites of data before AT&T's servers caught up.
You have the advantage of me in that I do not know enough about iOS to say "yes, it can", but I can not see why this should not be possible for an app on the device to keep track of data usage on it unless Apple and/or ATT have intentionally blocked such a capability. If it is not possible, it certainly should be.
Cheers
AT&T getting their shared data plans ready as well according to:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/12/att-shared-data/&category=classic&icid=eng_latest_art
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/12/att-shared-data/&category=classic&icid=eng_latest_art