How Not to Announce New iPhone Data Plans

[Pyroflea]

People won't even notice the changes. There will be the small amount that are outraged, but they'll all cave and just put up with it.

 

[Trueno07]

I have a Nokia Neuron (5230) with Tmoible, and i get unlimited Data (and i can tether) for 10$ a month...

AT&T customers are gettin screwed...

 

[sunnyparsa]

Just called at and t to change my data plan. GUESS WHAT? if you are an existing customer with an iPhone and u are already on the unlimited plan, then you are "grAndfathered" in - meaning as long as you stay with a iPhone and don't come off the unlimited plan, then u can stay on it as long as you want.

 

[pswenne]

seriously, I don't see what people are so pissed off about.
In Canada, with Telus the lowest voice/data plan is 50$ for 500mb, 200min of talk time and a choice between: unlimited texting, double talk time or favorite 5 numbers.

You get a 2gb plan for 25$ and you aren't happy? Geez people, if you can't get the data plan, don't buy a smartphone and get a "phone", you know the kind that you can use to talk to people to...

...sorry didn't mean to make this a rant but people expect to be given everything these days. It's not because something is popular that you need it. If you can't afford the plan that goes with it, find something else that fits your budget.

 

[ThisIsMe]

[citation][nom]bob dole[/nom]Using http://www.att.com/standalone/data [...] index.htmlYou can see how limited a 2 GB cap is. For example my use:I send and receive about 30 emails a day including CCs and suchAbout 10 emails a day with attachments.I currently stream music to my phone to and from work, about an hour a day.I'll view 20 webpages a day.10 App/games a month.100 social media pictures a monthand I watch about 20min of video steaming, movie trailers and YouTube.It says by data would be around 2.34 GB/month, so whats my Option? Nothing I'm screwed on AT&T. Plus thats just an estimate, my phone says I use 2-3GB/month, some moneys I've spiked like the month I downloaded a new browser that plays flash content I uses 5 GBs, it would take my 6 months to recoup that alone over a $30 unlimited plan...And with new phone I'll only be using more Data.[/citation]
Get a job!

 

[JDFan]

@sunnyparsa -- yes you are grandfathered in "as long as you do not make any changes to that plan" - ie if you ever change phones and try to activate the new phone you suddenly are no longer grandfathered in and are now on the limited data plan instead of the unlimited because you made a change and no longer qualify for the old plan !!

 

[kelemvor4]

[citation][nom]bob dole[/nom]I downloaded a new browser that plays flash content I uses 5 GBs, it would take my 6 months to recoup that alone over a $30 unlimited plan...And with new phone I'll only be using more Data.[/citation]
You must be mistaking Megabytes for Gigabytes. A browser that's 5 Gig? Unlikely (until ie9 anyway)

 

[kelemvor4]

[citation][nom]soldier37[/nom]I'll be grandfathered in with unlimited data plan, 2gb is plenty for everyone else.[/citation]

Lol. It's not good enough for you but it's ok for everyone else 'eh? Also, what happens when you upgrade to another phone. Bye bye unlimited plan.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Wolfgang, did something change since the original announcement of this plan change?

AT&T said specifically that existing customers would NOT be affected, even when upgrading their hardware, it was only for new customers to limit the unlimited plan to those who already have it.
Even then AT&T did the st00pid thing of telling everyone about this a week before they pulled the trigger, and thus allowed the smarter people out there to simply fire-up a SIM card prior to today and thus take advantage of the limited time offer.

READ CAREFULLY;

"Current smartphone customers are not required to switch to the new plans, but can choose to do so without a contract extension."

-and-

"Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2 GB of data."

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30854

Maybe the people are too st00pid to understand that it's not a good switch and thus you think someone needs to hold their hand and guide them away from the cliff of idiocy!

Seems alot of people are getting bent out of shape over nothing, especially when most of the ones getting bent out of shape are probably costing alot more than they are worth.

I think you're right in that AT&T didn't anticipate how many IDIOTS are out there, and how many of those IDIOTS own so-called SMARTphones, which may be the only thing SMART about them.

 

[Supertrek32]

The 200MB plan is completely worthless.

For reference, the following used 1.5MB of bandwidth:

Google
Toms
10 Tom's Articles
Facebook (News Feed)
Google
3 Google Searches

That's just standard surfing. No downloads, no apps, just loading a few pages to read.

 

[TheKurrgan]

AT&T has shot themselves pretty badly. So far the competition hasnt changed, an are still unlimited for the same price as before. However, at least people who have the unlimited data plan are not getting them taken away, ever, until they elect to remove the data plan all together, or close their account. But, its still bad PR, being as AT&T the conglomerate it is, has such a puny 3g footprint in the beginning, and what they do have cant handle the load. In short, FAIL.

 

[therabiddeer]

iPhone: Video conferencing and 720p videos!
ATT: Hah, too bad you will run out of bandwidth and have to pay an arm and a leg to use these services!

 

[kronos_cornelius]

what about listening to Pandora. Or getting Naviation direction?. All those apps use lots of bandwidth over time. I am not an ATT user or an iPhone user, but I would get extremely hesitant to use my smartphone (which is Android-based) if I had to count the number of bytes an app will use. I like it better the way it is now.

I like Sprint, more speed, unlimited access, tethering (although it costs $30). Sprint is the way of the future. ATT is just milking what the have left now, and they don't seem to be thinking about their future.

 

[tank]

[citation][nom]soulfringe[/nom]I used to have ATT for land line and dsl. And then one day, they decided that my 6m/608k dsl should be $80 instead of the $50 I had been forking out for the dsl alone for the past few years. They told me I had been receiving a promo price. I told them bullshit. They said "We can lower the price $10 a month" and I said "You can reduce my servers and price down to ZERO" and went with cable. Never looked back.[/citation]
Hate to break to you... AT&T home phone/internet is different then AT&T mobile phone company. Same name but different entities.

Anyways... We are the consumers it is up to us whether or not we will choose At&t. If you don't like this plan then take your business somewhere else. As for sprint yes they say it is 4g because they are on their fourth generation of cell phone tower tech. In terms of speed they are technically like a 3.5 generation. So not all the way to a 4g network. Its kind of a play on words. A little dishonest don't you say.

At&t has excellent customer service they reverse their mistakes. In fact i got the 3G iphone for new contract prices even though i really did not qualify because the rep told my i qualified. So At&t honored their decision.

 

[dEAne]

Yeah that's true avoid confusing your customers - If you do whatever you try to advertise they will never believe you.

 

[Simple11]

2 things:

1 if you have thr unlimited plan, AT&T will let you keep it with out changing anything.
2 if 95% use less than 2GB then why are they acting like their network is being bombarded??

 

[jezzarisky]

To be honest I wish Verizons reduced data plan had 200MB instead of the 25MB it has now, as much as I'm disappointed with AT&T I am rather partial to them. Better phone, better coverage(for my area), especially going up the local canyon, it's like night and day.

 

[liquidsnake718]

ugh 2gb for $5 more than unlimited... um why would one save 5dollars when they can download whole movies and apps? Obviously the unlimited plan is true future proofing planwise....

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Definitely stick with the old plan if you have one, and if you knew this was coming (we knew about it here north of the border a week before last) then you should've signed up before the deadline.

However just to be sure everyone is aware of this, unlike what some people are saying, the other carriers do have similar plans, and as someone already mentioned in the Mobility forum, Sprint has already added their new $10 4G fee, which met the new HTC EVO 4G buyers today.

http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1434543
"A $10 per month Premium Data add-on is required for all HTC EVO 4G users, enabling a richer data experience than ever before at both 3G and 4G speeds."

Unlimited Data was a strategic move on AT&T when the network was slower than the competition, especially as a marketing tool to try and compete with the other networks seen as better overall.
However if you missed out, I wouldn't ever expect it to come back from anyone else, just see the caps increase year over year (5GB becomes 10GB, becomes 25GB, etc) where they try to balance network congestion with profits and an acceptable level of dissatisfaction (where churn/loss is a little less than new subs or you churn out the high cost users).

 

[yao]

I hope verizon wireless would not follow ATT...

 

[back_by_demand]

AT&T press announcement on new price plans

We are going to hose you and you are going to like it

Bend over

 

[brendano257]

[citation][nom]AMW1011[/nom]Both Sprint and Verizon have been tested to have FAR better coverage and reliability, and both average faster 3G speeds than ATT. Sprint is also pulling out the 4G goodness.So why does anyone buy a smartphone from ATT?I'm not about to go gaming online with my $1500 gaming rig if I had 56k dial-up![/citation]

As far as I know AT&T actually has the better 3G speeds, the only problem is you hardly get it anywhere besides cities. I'm with Sprint because it's a lot cheaper, free roaming on Verizon, AND unlimited data, no strings attached, is 15$/mo.

 

[paulthepwner]

[citation][nom]pswenne[/nom]seriously, I don't see what people are so pissed off about.In Canada, with Telus the lowest voice/data plan is 50$ for 500mb, 200min of talk time and a choice between: unlimited texting, double talk time or favorite 5 numbers.You get a 2gb plan for 25$ and you aren't happy? Geez people, if you can't get the data plan, don't buy a smartphone and get a "phone", you know the kind that you can use to talk to people to......sorry didn't mean to make this a rant but people expect to be given everything these days. It's not because something is popular that you need it. If you can't afford the plan that goes with it, find something else that fits your budget.[/citation]

That's 25 just for data...I believe the cheapest voice plan ATT offers is 50 or 55 a month. The lowest we can get talk/data for is about 80 a month, PLUS text messages aren't free either.

 

[ajcroteau]

AT&Ts business model:

"Now that we've got our customers by the ballz with 2-year contracts... Let's hit them where it really hurts. "

 

[whiteodian]

I fall in the 2GB category, but really don't feel that I should be penalized for going over. When I signed my contract, I agreed to unlimited data for $30. Can I get out of my contract and go back to Verizon (they have a better/faster network)? Probably not. I'm sure there is something in the contract that allows them to adjust prices. I think the consumers lose in this one. ATT will be charging overage fees left and right. WOOHOO$! Boo ATT.