How Not to Announce New iPhone Data Plans

[pocketdrummer]

[citation][nom]dochood[/nom]I just downgraded myself and my son from the "unlimited" plan to the 200 MB per month plan. I have used 800 MB on my phone over the last year and a half, with my peak month being at 85 MB. I use WiFi much more than 3G, which seems awfully slow, anyway. I don't see the need to pay $360 per year for service we aren't using.[/citation]

That's YOUR peak. It's nice that you can downgrade and that you don't take advantage of the mobility your phone provides as much as others, but MANY PEOPLE DO!

I tend to use 300mb-500mb per month. That number will likely increase as most applications I use go online or if someone at Apple grows a brain and just supports flash (or if the internet finally moves over to HTML5).

That said, 200mb is less than half of what I need. 2GB might be enough, however it defeats the point. $5 more and I don't ever have to worry about a $1/mb overage. That issue alone is frightening. If I had the 200mb limit and used 400, that's another $200 on my bill. That is absolutely outrageous. This also comes after the inevitable defeat of net neutrality in which AT&T had a hand in bringing to an end.

Don't be stupid. Protect yourself and those who aren't exactly like you.

 

[pocketdrummer]

On another note, why the hell are we paying so much for our phones anyway? THEY CHARGE FOR TEXT MESSAGES! Why am I the only one who sees how absolutely ridiculous it is to pay for something that COSTS NOTHING! Why do you think they are limited to only 160 characters?

Aside from that, you have the phone plan and the data plan. If you want all 3, you'll probably end up spending over $100 a month on your phone.... it's ridiculous

 

[lo_vaquero]

[citation][nom]TheGreatGrapeApe[/nom]
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? [...] leid=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.[/citation]

+1. Well said. Too bad everyone votes it down

 

[lo_vaquero]

I find it interesting how so many here - including the author - are complaining about AT&T doing what occurs in a capitalist economy...

Is it the right thing to do? Probably not. Will the extra cash go into the network? Probably not. Is it illegal? Nope.

Should people put up with it? Nope.

Stop complaining and start voting with your head and your wallet. Only support those companies you agree with. WARNING! You may actually have to sacrifice and not get that shiny new Apple 4G toy...

It continually amazs me how people complain about (1) the price of phones, even when highly subsidized and (2) the price of the plans and contracts. We did this to ourselves by demanding cheap [fill-in-the-blank] phones. Carriers compensate for this with the "plans" they "offer".

AT&T (and the others) have no obligation to make your mobile lifestyle cheap. If your bill it too high, cut back on what causes the high bills. No one forces anyone to do everything that nickle & dimes a phone bill. Realize that phone companies:

1 - Are out to make money. Lots of money
2 - Don't care about your phone usage
3 - WILL take advantage of your addition to mobility
4 - repeat #1-#3

Learn a bit of self control and realize that moderation is not a bad thing...

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If you pick up a newspaper once and a while, read any tech journals / web sites or frequent any phone forums, I can't understand how this could be a surprise. I first read about it in the local paper, saw another article in a local weekly and numerous articles on the web all over the place well before the change. I called on Friday to make sure all of my current data plans, at least the ones I was concerned about, qualified as being "grandfathered" for the "unlimited plan". One did, one had to have its suspended plan reactivated to qualify for grandfathering (did that), a third I activated Monday (after the deadline expired) . The other two phones (wife and youngest son) have no need for it. Much ado about nothing.

 

[falconqc]

I'm not going to defend ATT here, but why are you guys so pissed off. I have a 1GB plan and rarely use 100MB of it every month, and I am a power user. 99% of the time, I am in an area where wifi is available. At home or at the office, I have wifi. Only when I am outside do I actually use the 3G network, or if I am at a client's to fix his network and I need tethering to download drivers or lookup fixes.

Nobody is forcing you to get the 200MB or 2GB plan, and their presentation is less than perfect, but I am sure there are plenty of people out there who will opt for a service that is 50% cheaper because they know they never do that much data transfers.

Sure, it may seem like a cash grab to you guys, but then again I would submit that most of Tom's Hardware readers are not your regular users. Their new plans have probably been tailored to the majority of their users, not the 5-10% minority who use over 2GB a month.

Frankly, I have a hard time believing anyone can do so much data transfer off a 3G network when wifi is so readily accessible almost anywhere. Maybe I should turn off wifi and see how much I actually do every month.

 

[mosz]

First it only applies to new customers, so why are people crying. If you do not have a smartphone with ATT already, tough thats your problem. second its not so bad. I am in that 2% that goes over but maybe everyother month. Ive been with ATT since 1997 when it was called Cingular. It has always been fair and I have never had any problems with them.

 

[sparsons6183]

I only use 550 MB max on my plan with two iPhones going. I know my gf and I use the internet regularly, so I am happy to see that my usage is so low. Thanks AT&T. Maybe everyone should check their usage before posting negative comments? The only issue I see with this policy is that it is NOT future proof..and lord knows we will most likely be getting hosed on our data plans in the year 2020.

 

[Guest]

I am currently with AT&T and did not like this new data plan news. If AT&T keeps trying to pull fast ones, I will just have to jump onto the Verizon bandwagon!

 

[Guest]

good looks!