AT&T Isn't Going To Reduce iPhone Data Plans
For a while now, there have been rumors and speculation that AT&T was considering reducing its data plan by $10 per month in an attempt to be more competitive with other carriers. Today AT&T officially put the kibosh on that scuttlebutt, which is how I write once the cocktail hour kicks in on Friday. Says an AT&T spokesman, "We've been very happy with our pricing."
"AT&T Says Forget About Cheaper Data Rates For The iPhone 3G S" [mocoNews.net]
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well they just lost me. too bad I'd love an iPhone but $70 a month for like 500 anytime minutes? seriously?
just wait until next year when iPhone goes CDMA
Whelp, looks like no iPhone for me for a while.
It's hard to resist the allure of the pretty iPhone, but having AT&T as the sole carrier keeps me away.
@Corporate_guy: It would be a ridiculous move for the iPhone to go CDMA. There are more markets in the world than North America and the vast majority of those markets use exclusively GSM. Honestly, I don't think there will be an iPhone on Verizon until they fully adopt LTE.
true, then your warranty is void and you're SOL but true
how do I buy it without signing up for a contract?
@Corporate_guy: I have a friend on t-mo with an iphone, he loves it. No problems.
BTW I'm on t-mo with a blackberry. 1000 anytime min, unlimited text and unlimited internet = $65/mo.
Yay t-mobile.
the message is pretty clear, "we got the item you want because we have the exclusive right to sell it, you have to pay what we tell you to"
@dragonfire81: I'm perfectly happy with my contract - I'll be re-upping for a couple more years come Saturday (assuming there are some 3G S units in stock).
Says an AT&T spokesman, "We've been very happy with our pricing."
Well, duh. Of course AT&T is happy with it. The problem is too many other people aren't.
I have the iphone 2G and was excited thinking my plan wouldn't change next week with the 3Gs. I really HATE at&t, they are a hose job and as soon as apple pulls their head out and switches carriers i will have no problem paying the cancellation fee to get the hell out of their company. I'm so happy THEY have no problem with their pricing but all their customers do and i think a lot a people will be with me on the way out when iphone opens to other providers. bastards
This is what happens when carriers make anti-competitive "exclusivity" agreements for certain phones. I don't understand how such agreements aren't illegal under antitrust laws.
The US cellphone market as a whole is f#*$ed up...you should be able to go to a store, buy a phone at a reasonable price (a bit higher than the "subsidized" price but lower than the exorbitant non-contract price), and use the phone with whatever carriers that support the phone's standard (GSM/CDMA). Not to mention all of the issues that the iPhone/Touch has...no freedom to run software or use wireless providers that Apple doesn't want you to, and that Apple deliberately attempts to sabotage your phone if you use it otherwise.
It's almost like they don't WANT people to sign up with them. Like their sole business strategy is to use the brainwashing powers of Apples shiny gadgets instead of trying to appeal to consumers with quality service, and decent prices.
I'd love to switch my plan to an iPhone and give AT&T more money, but they put up so many financial hurdles that it just isn't practical.
Seems like every other person I see has a freaking iPhone. The price isn't too high if so many people are willing to pay it. And we, on here, can claim WE won't pay it, but clearly plenty of people will.
Bottoms up, Chris!
I just got a quote to get two Iphones for me and the husband last night. $400 for the phones and $200 a month for service. Currently I pay $100 a month for two Blackberry with data plans and 1400 minutes. Guess whose not moving?
@Zombie_Belvedere: I think their marketing ace-up-the-sleeve is the app store. Thousands of apps=a whole new life of super remote capabilities and toys, and music and communications - people want that life. Apple has branded that and made it work in a slick way few competitors, including Android have, and there you go.
And if anyone really thought AT&T was going to get any nicer, reasonable or care about humanity when they got the IPhone contract, think again, their brain process economically wasn't unlike a child molester / sex offender getting out of the penn and walking past the preschool on the way to the halfway house...
I can say that - they bent me over when they became Cingular - and wouldn't then let me use the $400 Motorola phone I just purchased and spent 5 hours programming the week before, and wouldn't refund my money either.
AT&T partnership is the WORST thing Apple has EVER done to it's fans.
@veronykah:
How'd you get that rate? I'm seeing $59 for 1000 anytime minutes and $35 for unlimited data+texting on T-Mobile's site.
They just lost me as a prospect. They screwed me over so many time, dragging DSL rollouts and gouging the masses for poor service upon even worse CSR support.
I'm headed to Verizon for my wireless, and if I had the option I'd be switching to another ILEC.
Even at $99 for an iPhone, I still will not be an AT&T customer...
@magic8ball:
AT&T's data pricing is competitive. The problem is that the iPhone appeals to people who have never had a smartphone before, so their idea of what's reasonable is uninformed.
@Rob Owen: I was going to say... They could drop it to $0 for the data plan and I'm still waiting for another provider. I'd love an iPhone, but I'm not into setting my head on fire with AT&T's service.
@takes_so_little:
Pretty much. It bothers people because they want one, but they can't justify the cost. I'm the same way - never been able to justify the cost of a data plan, especially when Verizon wanted $25 for 10 MB and $50 for unlimited - which was not too long ago.
A couple of guys and I were discussing how we'd change the wireless infrastructure space and I had a pretty simple idea: our roads are built and maintained by the government (local, state, federal depending) then why shouldn't our information infrastructure be also? There is no reason to have 3+ parallel wireless infrastructures in this country, its a needless waste of GDP.
Think this: quasi-public/private entity buys up the wireless spectrum and towers and creates an operating company and leases the use of it to what are todays carriers, removing the burden for them to maintain multiple, parallel systems. The single system is coast-to-coast and uses best-of-breed technologies by openly soliciting proposals for the various technologies. This operating company spends the capital to keep the system working and up to date. They have a mandate to operate revenue-neutral and keep the network state of the art with high availability.
Incumbent carriers in return for not running the system lease the use of it and compete by offering packages, devices, content and service. They simply become resellers. The ones who can adapt and thrive in this environment win, the ones who cannot lose. New entrants into this market are also no longer encumbered by high capital costs of entry. In the end all this ends up costing everyone on aggregate less and frees up capital for investment somewhere more innovative.
@FuzzysFriedChicken: The same reason they'd make the entry-level price $99. To further expand the customer base.
@youbastid: I daresay AT&T and Apple are more than happy with the countless people willing to shell out handfulls of money for a shiny iPhone and its associated plans. They couldn't expand the customer base further if they tried. Lowering prices seems like a rather brainless move in their situation.
@supercereal: They were making plenty of money when the iPhone cost $499 with a 2 year contract. It's not about handfuls of money anymore. That's guaranteed. Now it's about market share. They've been chipping away at the cost of the phone since day 1. There's a reason they're calling the $99 iPhone the one that "can fit in everyone's pocket." They will get a whole lot more people with that price point, but not people like me who look at the overall cost.
@Con Sumer Zealot: If your phone was a GSM phone, all you needed to do was pop in the SIM card. If your phone was CDMA/TDMA/iDen/something else, then the network was incompatible. It's like complaining that your gas stove won't work in a house without a gas line.
@Con Sumer Zealot: No, they send summary bills (or in my case, an email telling me that my PDF download is ready).
@realserendipity: And what company are you going through to get that price? I don't know of ANY current wireless companies with any contract pricing like that, so I'm curious if I possibly missed something.
Blackberry Data x 2 = $60 (and that's just Blackberry Personal, not Enterprise, which runs more) + $89.99 a month for 1400 minutes (which is the standard) and unlimited N&W = $149.99 a month. And that's with no text messaging.
Cricket is offering unlimited 3G computer access for $40/month, and has an unlimited text, voice and long distance for another $40 -- with $5 off when you get the data too. So, for $75/month, you can get 3G, unlimited text, data, voice, long distance. AT&T wants $150 for the same privilege. No deal.
Anybody have experience using an iPhone with Cricket Wireless? Assuming, of course, one can overlook not getting "visual voice mail" that will have to remain exclusive to AT&T.
@AppleAlex: Since they're over $300 on ebay, probably the cheapest way would be to buy the 8GB for $99 and then pay the $175 termination fee. You'd have a new one, you could buy a square trade warranty for it, and you'd be good. I think you have to stay w/AT&T for 30 days before you invoke the termination fee though.
@johnmc: Nope - they told me I couldn't do that, wouldn't matter, AT&T phone wouldn't work with the Cingular network no matter what - I talked to two reps and one supervisor at the time (4 years ago). It's not like today's phones now. Hence, I never spend more than $100 bucks on any phone now, I'm not getting burned again.
@johnmc: And no, it's really not like your analogy at all. It's more like buy gas stove and then ope - sorry, that stove is illegal now, you can't turn it on - ever, and no, no money back for you either.
@johnmc: well it may not be "going CDMA" but rumor has it will actually be going to LTE, as LTE chips also operate on GSM networks and can operate at 4G speeds. Verizon is to upgrade to LTE in 2010 (December, in select markets say the rumors). So if the iphone went LTE it would be "going CDMA"...kind of. Since Verizon is known to be CDMA.
@Cant_stop_the_rock: ATTs pricing is not competetive, it is very expensive compared to Tmobile and Sprint. It is on par with Verizon...but verizon has a far better network, and data ability since its more business oriented.
Considering the prior past experience with AT&T it looks like there's no iPhone in my future ... at least until Apple gets on the stick and makes one that works on Verizon.
@redkamel:
T-Mobile's website says their data plan is $25 (I checked the G1, their closest competitor to the iPhone)
heh... the data plan was $20/month when it launched. Guess they hooked more people for more money later.
If you think $30/month is a lot, dick around on youtube for a few hours on an iPhone without a data plan and check out that bill.
@magic8ball: I know that smug spokesperson.
I know what would wipe that smirk off AT&T's face...
Apple making the iphone available to everybody after the 5 year exclusivity plan sunsets.
Really. It's much cheaper if you make it at home using tin cans, string and a printout from a color laser printer.
@AppleAlex: On AT&T it's $40 for 450 minutes and $60 for 900 minutes. On an individual plan. Of course, once you add data and text it's more, but I think all carriers charge for data.
If the iPhone continues to sell well, why would they lower plan pricing? If sales/subscribers don't meet expectations then possibly a reduction.