You don't get charged for incoming text messages do you? If that's the case we just need an app/way to send messages and can forgo the $5 charge. I do agree with others that data being unlimited, yet being nickel and dimmed over text messages is ridiculous.
Of course you are charged for incoming messages. You pay coming and going.
That's why I pay EVEN MORE to AT&T at the moment, to have my daughter's texting
limited. It's crazy to charge what they do for the messages, and then it's crazier to
charge us to limit them.
I despise them more and more every time I get a bill.
And I also despise them because our landlines are made of corroded, ancient
material that won't handle a digital signal. No DSL for us -- no highspeed
internet of any kind (unless we pay a fortune for satellite).
I won't go into the customer service deficiencies that we deal with every
time the lines get all static-laden, or our service cuts off for no reason.
Overall experiences with them: 0 on a scale of 1-5.
And Steve had me all excited about getting a new cheaper iPhone.
do you work for ATT? Now i know what/how ATT executives are thinking when they decide to change a plan... As long as all of their clients are suffering, it's fair...
I mean, did it occur to you that maybe the other plans are also overpriced and those are the ones that need to be adjusted?
As far as Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile goes, as long as there are people out there thinking like you and not willing to complain about it, they will never try to offer competitive and realistic pricing.
Its not weird reasoning this is how a free market works. Companies are free to charge what the market is willing to pay. The only way they know something is over priced if the market is not willing to pay. The market is willing to pay a premium smartphone rate.
The data plan for $30 is the same price that other smartphones get from AT&T. SMS is also not included in their regular smartphone data plans and go for the same price, $5 for 200, $15 for 1500. Basically, you are paying the same monthly amount if you went to their website and picked up a Blackberry and got the same services as the iPhone. While I am not happy with their price increases, it brings it inline with their other smartphones. One thing that really pisses me off is that they seem to require a business plan to get to use ActiveSync, which was a free service with my other smartphone, the T-Mobile Dash.
do you work for ATT? Now i know what/how ATT executives are thinking when they decide to change a plan... As long as all of their clients are suffering, it's fair...
I mean, did it occur to you that maybe the other plans are also overpriced and those are the ones that need to be adjusted?
As far as Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile goes, as long as there are people out there thinking like you and not willing to complain about it, they will never try to offer competitive and realistic pricing.
No, I'm a real estate developer but thanks for trying. Did you even read my post? I said within that the intention was not to argue on whether the service was overpriced or not, but to say that anybody acting surprised was somewhat of a shock to me. Beyond the fact that AT&T has had these same prices for all their PDA/Smartphones for years, they TOLD us everyone would have to add a $30 data add-on to any iPhone 3g the date of the announcement! They also said the pricing of the device was only open to upgrade eligibe customers...
Who says I'm not willing to complain? I just know better than when all the information is given to me beforehand, I'm not going to act shocked when it comes out and all the people who heard what they wanted to hear, cry foul. Competition is good, especially in the cell phone arena, but I was just stating that as far as Verizon goes, so goes AT&T. If you want lower data prices for the iPhone--then wait for Verizon to drop their prices and see AT&T react accordingly. It's business.
Everybody assesses value towards things differently. For someone who hardly ever uses the iPhone to access data the price might seem like a rip-off. For someone whom has to be constanty connected and relies on responding to clients concerns immediately, being able to look up supplier detail, and navigating my way to different sites--the price may be inconsequential. It's all relative.
I've currently got the ATT family plan, with unlimited text messaging. But... when I upgrade to the 3G, there's no way I'm gonna pay $30 for text messaging.
Is there any way to disable or turn off SMS on an iPhone? At 20 cents a pop, I don't want to get clobbered with texts from friends & associates.
(Thanks... didn't know there was an option to NOT get SMS).
I was looking forward to getting two 3G iPhones and getting the Family Plan but now that AT&T's pricing has been released I'm inclined to 'setting it out'. That AT&T now charges text messages is really ticking me off. I've been an Cingular/AT&T mobile telephone customer since 1999 and I've gotten my text messaging (200 per month) included in my base bill. Now AT&T wants to charge $30.00! Egads!!!
I guess I'll continue with my 'old-school' SonyEricsson W600i. I don't need a new phone that much.
According to the information released by AT&T today, the carrier is only offering family plan members two options for SMS with the iPhone 3G:
1) Pay 20 cents per message
or
2) Pay $30 for unlimited.
There is nothing in between.
As such, there really is no alternative for the comparison and I think it's more than fair to compare it the way we did.
Best,
K
Are those calculations just the AT&T phone plans only? That is, does it incorporate the 399.00 to 199.00 price reduction of the 8 GB phone itself in any of those calculations?
If not, shouldn't it be? What does the increase come out to be when you subtract the 200.00 iPhone savings or 200.00/24 month AT&T contract = 8.34/mo.
Not counting taxes, surcharges etc. If the unlimited data was raised from 20.00/mo to 30.00/mo should not the 8.34 iPhone savings be subtracted from that 30.00. So you would be looking at 30.00 - 8.34 = 21.66 for the data plan (plus the 5.00 for SMS). So wouldn't the data plan only be 21.66 plus 5.00 (SMS) = 26.66 or an increase of 6.66/mo for the plan at least for the first 24 month contract of 3G speed basic 450 min. data plan for the phone service, and then afterwards, the price increases 8.34 or whatever it may be from AT&T and then the griping should truly begin?
Am I wrong? Should not the iPhone price reduction be calculated in the first 24 months of the AT&T contract because first gen iPhone owners paid more for the phone and less for the AT&T plan and now original purhcasers (not iPhone owners wanting to upgrade) would pay less for the second gen iPhone and slightly more for the AT&T plan that upgrades data speeds to 3G which was not available to the first gen users due to lack of capability on the iPhones part? So should the initial iPhone savings be incorporated in the initial 24 AT&T contract plans? If not, what does one do with that extra 200.00 that they wouldn't have had originally but do now?
... AT&T will just continue to jack up their price and continue cutting service. I bet when you call for support you get some second rate agent 3000 miles away from home. Does Apple really want to associate with this?
Hear, hear. I break out into a cold sweat anytime I have to call their "customer service" line. That annoying voice automated menu almost induces headaches (seriously, that lady's voice who responds to the callers responces makes me wanna bang me head into the wall).
Sorry for my rant-but AT&T has really horrible customer service in my opinion.
I don't know if there is a way to turn it off....but you don't have to get an SMS plan. They aren't even included by default.
But do you get charged if someone sends you a SMS Text Message? Or can you tell AT&T at sign-up time that you do not want to accept text messages and AT&T should block and if they cannot block, they are responsible for paying since it is a service that is optional and if one does not add that option they should not be punished by being billed from a Text Message received from some outside source that is out of the iPhone owners control?
I know I would make that notation to any contract AT&T puts in front of me!
C'mon guys. This was to be expected. With a cash cow such as the iPhone AT&T can do whatever they like and the gadget addicted crowd will gladly pony up the cash to get one. Every one wants it and that was just much too obvious to the AT&T executives....
I agree with you but I do hope that people complain enough that AT&T reconsiders or offers more text messaging cost options/plans. As I've mentioned, I've been dying to buy the new iPhone but this new pricing plan is a splash of cold water that brings me down to earth.
I don't know abut the rest of you, but I get more "call failed" messages in a month than I ever got from VZW. Calls fail frequently. The only reason I left verizon was for the iPhone. I hate ATT, but love the device. Does anyone else experience this ?
It's easier to claim "fewest dropped calls" if you never connect the call in the first place! I paid the $150 to get out of my ATT contract for that very reason (somehow, utter failure to deliver promised services wasn't a good enough reason to be let out of my contract). Switched to Verizon and will NEVER return to ATT no matter how enticing the iPhone is. I'd rather carry around both a cell phone and an iPod touch. At least then I can leave the touch at home when all I want is a nice small phone to carry. And there are enough free wi-fi spots around that I'd still have OK internet access. Hm, maybe someone can hack the touch so I can tether my cell phone and use it's internet connection.
AT&T's table says that the $129 charge "includes two lines". But then you add 39.99 for an extra line (making 3). I don't think that's correct.
Family talk max's out at 5 lines, so again, the AT&T table says the "up to 3 additional lines", which again suggests that the first two are accounted for.
Some of you guys I'm sorry to say are a bunch of whiners. AT&T has had these same prices for every pda/smartphone for years now. I don't know why anybody expected anything different. AT&T hasn't raised the prices.
Sorry if there have already been responses, but I've got a family plan with 4 lines, 2 of them Blackberrys with full data access and unlimited text messages for all 4 lines. If I were to upgrade either of the Blackberrys, let alone both or all 4 lines, the cost increase would be significant over what I'm paying now. This contract is only a year old, so we probably wouldn't be upgrading anyhow, but
Of course you are charged for incoming messages. You pay coming and going.
Not necessarily true. I'm actually not sure about the text messages, but in the UK you don't pay for incoming phone calls. You only pay for the calls you make, similar to land-lines in the US. I assume that same applies to texts, but I'm not sure. (I took from you post that you are in the US. If if you know for certain that you pay for incoming texts in the UK, then I stand corrected.)
I was on a pay-as-you-go plan while there for work and found out that you even pay a different rate if you are calling a landline vs another cell phone. I assume the monthly package plans are a little less complicated, but it still makes comparing plans across the Atlantic a bit confusing.
It's easier to claim "fewest dropped calls" if you never connect the call in the first place! I paid the $150 to get out of my ATT contract for that very reason (somehow, utter failure to deliver promised services wasn't a good enough reason to be let out of my contract). Switched to Verizon and will NEVER return to ATT no matter how enticing the iPhone is. I'd rather carry around both a cell phone and an iPod touch. At least then I can leave the touch at home when all I want is a nice small phone to carry. And there are enough free wi-fi spots around that I'd still have OK internet access. Hm, maybe someone can hack the touch so I can tether my cell phone and use it's internet connection.
While I can't comment on those who have problems with connections, and not having an iPhone or AT&T service, I have seen since its initial release, three iPhones out in the wild. For my geographical area, all three had no complaints about dropped calls or failed to connect calls. They said it was comparable to any other local service providers. Grant it, it's only three, buy still...
While I can't comment on those who have problems with connections, and not having an iPhone or AT&T service, I have seen since its initial release, three iPhones out in the wild. For my geographical area, all three had no complaints about dropped calls or failed to connect calls. They said it was comparable to any other local service providers. Grant it, it's only three, buy still...
It's definitely geographical. Here in Chicago, folks who live out in the distant suburbs are generally much happier with their ATT service that those with ATT who live in the city. That combined with their complete customer service failure (which left me with a useless brick when I travelled overseas), flat-out lies and blame-shifting (telling me I had to contact Motorola in order to get my phone to work in the UK!!) was all I could take. The $150 was money well spent to be rid of them!
Comments
You don't get charged for incoming text messages do you? If that's the case we just need an app/way to send messages and can forgo the $5 charge. I do agree with others that data being unlimited, yet being nickel and dimmed over text messages is ridiculous.
Of course you are charged for incoming messages. You pay coming and going.
That's why I pay EVEN MORE to AT&T at the moment, to have my daughter's texting
limited. It's crazy to charge what they do for the messages, and then it's crazier to
charge us to limit them.
I despise them more and more every time I get a bill.
And I also despise them because our landlines are made of corroded, ancient
material that won't handle a digital signal. No DSL for us -- no highspeed
internet of any kind (unless we pay a fortune for satellite).
I won't go into the customer service deficiencies that we deal with every
time the lines get all static-laden, or our service cuts off for no reason.
Overall experiences with them: 0 on a scale of 1-5.
And Steve had me all excited about getting a new cheaper iPhone.
Really weird reasoning...
do you work for ATT? Now i know what/how ATT executives are thinking when they decide to change a plan... As long as all of their clients are suffering, it's fair...
I mean, did it occur to you that maybe the other plans are also overpriced and those are the ones that need to be adjusted?
As far as Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile goes, as long as there are people out there thinking like you and not willing to complain about it, they will never try to offer competitive and realistic pricing.
Its not weird reasoning this is how a free market works. Companies are free to charge what the market is willing to pay. The only way they know something is over priced if the market is not willing to pay. The market is willing to pay a premium smartphone rate.
Really weird reasoning...
do you work for ATT? Now i know what/how ATT executives are thinking when they decide to change a plan... As long as all of their clients are suffering, it's fair...
I mean, did it occur to you that maybe the other plans are also overpriced and those are the ones that need to be adjusted?
As far as Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile goes, as long as there are people out there thinking like you and not willing to complain about it, they will never try to offer competitive and realistic pricing.
No, I'm a real estate developer but thanks for trying. Did you even read my post? I said within that the intention was not to argue on whether the service was overpriced or not, but to say that anybody acting surprised was somewhat of a shock to me. Beyond the fact that AT&T has had these same prices for all their PDA/Smartphones for years, they TOLD us everyone would have to add a $30 data add-on to any iPhone 3g the date of the announcement! They also said the pricing of the device was only open to upgrade eligibe customers...
Who says I'm not willing to complain? I just know better than when all the information is given to me beforehand, I'm not going to act shocked when it comes out and all the people who heard what they wanted to hear, cry foul. Competition is good, especially in the cell phone arena, but I was just stating that as far as Verizon goes, so goes AT&T. If you want lower data prices for the iPhone--then wait for Verizon to drop their prices and see AT&T react accordingly. It's business.
Everybody assesses value towards things differently. For someone who hardly ever uses the iPhone to access data the price might seem like a rip-off. For someone whom has to be constanty connected and relies on responding to clients concerns immediately, being able to look up supplier detail, and navigating my way to different sites--the price may be inconsequential. It's all relative.
Is there any way to disable or turn off SMS on an iPhone? At 20 cents a pop, I don't want to get clobbered with texts from friends & associates.
(Thanks... didn't know there was an option to NOT get SMS).
I guess I'll continue with my 'old-school' SonyEricsson W600i.
According to the information released by AT&T today, the carrier is only offering family plan members two options for SMS with the iPhone 3G:
1) Pay 20 cents per message
or
2) Pay $30 for unlimited.
There is nothing in between.
As such, there really is no alternative for the comparison and I think it's more than fair to compare it the way we did.
Best,
K
Are those calculations just the AT&T phone plans only? That is, does it incorporate the 399.00 to 199.00 price reduction of the 8 GB phone itself in any of those calculations?
If not, shouldn't it be? What does the increase come out to be when you subtract the 200.00 iPhone savings or 200.00/24 month AT&T contract = 8.34/mo.
Not counting taxes, surcharges etc. If the unlimited data was raised from 20.00/mo to 30.00/mo should not the 8.34 iPhone savings be subtracted from that 30.00. So you would be looking at 30.00 - 8.34 = 21.66 for the data plan (plus the 5.00 for SMS). So wouldn't the data plan only be 21.66 plus 5.00 (SMS) = 26.66 or an increase of 6.66/mo for the plan at least for the first 24 month contract of 3G speed basic 450 min. data plan for the phone service, and then afterwards, the price increases 8.34 or whatever it may be from AT&T and then the griping should truly begin?
Am I wrong? Should not the iPhone price reduction be calculated in the first 24 months of the AT&T contract because first gen iPhone owners paid more for the phone and less for the AT&T plan and now original purhcasers (not iPhone owners wanting to upgrade) would pay less for the second gen iPhone and slightly more for the AT&T plan that upgrades data speeds to 3G which was not available to the first gen users due to lack of capability on the iPhones part? So should the initial iPhone savings be incorporated in the initial 24 AT&T contract plans? If not, what does one do with that extra 200.00 that they wouldn't have had originally but do now?
... AT&T will just continue to jack up their price and continue cutting service. I bet when you call for support you get some second rate agent 3000 miles away from home. Does Apple really want to associate with this?
Hear, hear. I break out into a cold sweat anytime I have to call their "customer service" line. That annoying voice automated menu almost induces headaches (seriously, that lady's voice who responds to the callers responces makes me wanna bang me head into the wall).
Sorry for my rant-but AT&T has really horrible customer service in my opinion.
I don't know if there is a way to turn it off....but you don't have to get an SMS plan. They aren't even included by default.
But do you get charged if someone sends you a SMS Text Message? Or can you tell AT&T at sign-up time that you do not want to accept text messages and AT&T should block and if they cannot block, they are responsible for paying since it is a service that is optional and if one does not add that option they should not be punished by being billed from a Text Message received from some outside source that is out of the iPhone owners control?
I know I would make that notation to any contract AT&T puts in front of me!
C'mon guys. This was to be expected. With a cash cow such as the iPhone AT&T can do whatever they like and the gadget addicted crowd will gladly pony up the cash to get one. Every one wants it and that was just much too obvious to the AT&T executives....
I agree with you but I do hope that people complain enough that AT&T reconsiders or offers more text messaging cost options/plans. As I've mentioned, I've been dying to buy the new iPhone but this new pricing plan is a splash of cold water that brings me down to earth.
I don't know abut the rest of you, but I get more "call failed" messages in a month than I ever got from VZW. Calls fail frequently. The only reason I left verizon was for the iPhone. I hate ATT, but love the device. Does anyone else experience this ?
It's easier to claim "fewest dropped calls" if you never connect the call in the first place! I paid the $150 to get out of my ATT contract for that very reason (somehow, utter failure to deliver promised services wasn't a good enough reason to be let out of my contract). Switched to Verizon and will NEVER return to ATT no matter how enticing the iPhone is. I'd rather carry around both a cell phone and an iPod touch. At least then I can leave the touch at home when all I want is a nice small phone to carry. And there are enough free wi-fi spots around that I'd still have OK internet access. Hm, maybe someone can hack the touch so I can tether my cell phone and use it's internet connection.
Family talk max's out at 5 lines, so again, the AT&T table says the "up to 3 additional lines", which again suggests that the first two are accounted for.
As long as all of their clients are suffering, it's fair...
Sounds like the "mantra" of one of the two major political parties here in the US!
Some of you guys I'm sorry to say are a bunch of whiners. AT&T has had these same prices for every pda/smartphone for years now. I don't know why anybody expected anything different. AT&T hasn't raised the prices.
Sorry if there have already been responses, but I've got a family plan with 4 lines, 2 of them Blackberrys with full data access and unlimited text messages for all 4 lines. If I were to upgrade either of the Blackberrys, let alone both or all 4 lines, the cost increase would be significant over what I'm paying now. This contract is only a year old, so we probably wouldn't be upgrading anyhow, but
...had these same prices ... for years now...
just isn't quite true, at least in my case.
Ankly
Of course you are charged for incoming messages. You pay coming and going.
Not necessarily true. I'm actually not sure about the text messages, but in the UK you don't pay for incoming phone calls. You only pay for the calls you make, similar to land-lines in the US. I assume that same applies to texts, but I'm not sure. (I took from you post that you are in the US. If if you know for certain that you pay for incoming texts in the UK, then I stand corrected.)
I was on a pay-as-you-go plan while there for work and found out that you even pay a different rate if you are calling a landline vs another cell phone. I assume the monthly package plans are a little less complicated, but it still makes comparing plans across the Atlantic a bit confusing.
It's easier to claim "fewest dropped calls" if you never connect the call in the first place! I paid the $150 to get out of my ATT contract for that very reason (somehow, utter failure to deliver promised services wasn't a good enough reason to be let out of my contract). Switched to Verizon and will NEVER return to ATT no matter how enticing the iPhone is. I'd rather carry around both a cell phone and an iPod touch. At least then I can leave the touch at home when all I want is a nice small phone to carry. And there are enough free wi-fi spots around that I'd still have OK internet access. Hm, maybe someone can hack the touch so I can tether my cell phone and use it's internet connection.
While I can't comment on those who have problems with connections, and not having an iPhone or AT&T service, I have seen since its initial release, three iPhones out in the wild. For my geographical area, all three had no complaints about dropped calls or failed to connect calls. They said it was comparable to any other local service providers. Grant it, it's only three, buy still...
While I can't comment on those who have problems with connections, and not having an iPhone or AT&T service, I have seen since its initial release, three iPhones out in the wild. For my geographical area, all three had no complaints about dropped calls or failed to connect calls. They said it was comparable to any other local service providers. Grant it, it's only three, buy still...
It's definitely geographical. Here in Chicago, folks who live out in the distant suburbs are generally much happier with their ATT service that those with ATT who live in the city. That combined with their complete customer service failure (which left me with a useless brick when I travelled overseas), flat-out lies and blame-shifting (telling me I had to contact Motorola in order to get my phone to work in the UK!!) was all I could take. The $150 was money well spent to be rid of them!