AT&T data changes seen as benefit for BlackBerry over iPhone

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 95
    On general principles I am annoyed with at&t. For that reason I will not first adopt the new IPhone. I will wait to see if Verizon will be offering. I will then compare plans to see which is the better deal. I can live with my 3G for a few more months.



    It is one thing to be smug because you invented or refined the technology. It another thing to be smug because your double your termination fee. Only BP has made worse decisions this year than at&t.
  • Reply 62 of 95
    shobizshobiz Posts: 207member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    Every iPhone users, even the LOWEST usage iPhone user; uses over 200MB every billing cycle.

    This means AT&T is going to double bill/charge per MB every single iPhone user.



    Also the data cap doesn't apply TO ANY EXISTING customers, only new accounts opened when everyone rushes out to buy the new video iPhone.







    That simply is not true at all.



    And hoops, let's not continue to go on about termination fees and comparing AT&T to BP.

    So, AT&T gives you an iPhone for $200 with the condition that you have a 2 year contract. You break that contract, AT&T wants their money back for the difference on the iPhone they basically just GAVE you. And you complain??? Also, the termination fee is LESS than Verizon. But I suppose it's more fun to complain right? Why is such as basic concept so difficult to understand? Instead it's the evil AT&T is screwing me. I am essentially walking with an iPhone, but AT&T is screwing me?! Sounds more like ya'll are ticked because you cannot screw AT&T any longer.
  • Reply 63 of 95
    hudson1hudson1 Posts: 800member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RationalTroll View Post


    The President of the United States runs the country with a Blackberry.



    Got an app for that?



    Actually, he has the teleprompter tethered to the BlackBerry.
  • Reply 64 of 95
    hudson1hudson1 Posts: 800member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kotatsu View Post


    Wow, AT&T really screws you guys in the US. Here in the UK I pay O2 £10/month ($14.60) for unlimited data. (apparently it actually is unlimited, but I've never downloaded more than about 500-600mb in a month) Plus for my £10 they throw in 12,000 SMS messages too.



    Come back when you figure out what O2's limit is. Perhaps it's less than 2GB/month???
  • Reply 65 of 95
    rnb2rnb2 Posts: 61member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xian Zhu Xuande View Post


    Interesting. It isn't that BlackBerry phones use less data?they use the same amount of data doing the same things?but rather that those things are less enjoyable (or simply not possible) on the BlackBerry. So this analyst's theory is that people will, uh, use the BlackBerry because?hell, I don't know. He's talking out his ass.



    That said, I'm usually just under 200 MBs/month. With Pandora running in the background, I'll float in over 200 MBs/month. Saving $5/month won't be a terrible thing. AT&T can screw off for charging a tethering fee without offering extra tethering bandwidth, though.



    Exactly what I thought when I read this piece - "Blackberrys have tiny screens and a sucky browser, so users don't use them for anything but mail". This is a WIN for RIM how?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    Every iPhone users, even the LOWEST usage iPhone user; uses over 200MB every billing cycle.



    This means AT&T is going to double bill/charge per MB every single iPhone user.



    Also the data cap doesn't apply TO ANY EXISTING customers, only new accounts opened when everyone rushes out to buy the new video iPhone.



    Newsflash - I checked my data usage yesterday, and I haven't gone over 100MB in the last six months. If you're racking up gigabytes of 3G usage, you're probably ignoring a LOT of free WiFi hotspots - the capped plans will probably cure you of this.



    I'll be switching to the $15 plan next week.
  • Reply 66 of 95
    macchadmacchad Posts: 13member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macologist View Post


    Rollover Minutes - I paid for them, it's up to me when I want to use them. Very sensible of ATT to allow me that freedom!



    On this note, I would like to be able to share my data plan among all of my devices under my plan (where's the family plan for data?)...If i have two iPhones and an iPad (or two or three) and am an average data user on all of them, I should be able to share one 2Gb data limit among all devices (after all, it's my data, right?).



    Listen up AT&T...double-charging for data that doesn't get used is tantamount to highway robbery (forgive the hyperbole).



    This is related to tethering - if I can tether other devices in order to share a connection with my iPhone, then it makes logical sense to be able to "share" that same bandwidth with other devices that are technologically capable of tapping directly into the 3g network without a proxy device intermediary (tethered iPhone)...
  • Reply 67 of 95
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    They have been fixing their network and part of their solution is to make it cheaper, faster and more reliable for most of their users.



    Do you get paid to BS like this? They have been fixing their network, and CAN'T.



    #1 Their statistics are flat out lies. Plain and simple. Only 2% use over 2 gb per month? Not a snowball's chance in hell. More like 5-10%. At least 5% of US iPhone users use unauthorized tethering regularly, not to mention the savy iPhone users who transfer files between their iPhone and servers all day long, stream movies from home, etc.. ever hear of Air Video? How's that App doing?



    #2 There is now a price per gb. Whether you thought $30 a month was high or low for Unlimited Data, you can't assign a dollar value to gbs when it's unlimited. Now, its limited. And, poorly. 1 gb = $12.50, unless you go over 2 gb, then you get an extra 1 gb for $10. Imagine if you paid something similar at home for internet. (no they are not the same thing and should be priced the same) Absolutely outrageous.



    #3 $15 for 200 mb, while supposedly convenient, is the ultimate rip off in terms of value. It's insulting that they would even charge for 200 mb of data. They should give all iPhone users the option of having a data plan at all, and automatically give each user 100 mb free every month. If you are such a light user, you'd be able to have an iPhone and not overpay for the extra services you don't use. I can think of huge demographics that would love the iPhone, but aren't going to pay more than $50-60 a month for a phone bill, period. (namely everyone over 50)
  • Reply 68 of 95
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RationalTroll View Post


    The President of the United States runs the country



    That's an oxymoron if i've ever seen one.
  • Reply 69 of 95
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    Every iPhone users, even the LOWEST usage iPhone user; uses over 200MB every billing cycle.



    This means AT&T is going to double bill/charge per MB every single iPhone user.



    Also the data cap doesn't apply TO ANY EXISTING customers, only new accounts opened when everyone rushes out to buy the new video iPhone.



    The iPhone has been out for 3 years. No one is rushing to buy the new iPhone HD except existing iPhone customers of one generation or another...but, not rushing at all really, since no existing customers can get one before June 21st, unless you currently qualify for an upgrade and are waiting for the model.



    This is why Apple can make their move on the 7th and release it for sale. There will be some who rush out to get it, but most of the power users out there (us) will have to wait until the 21st to qualify for an upgrade. It will be a slow month of oogling at it in the store.
  • Reply 70 of 95
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post




    #1 Their statistics are flat out lies. Plain and simple. Only 2% use over 2 gb per month? Not a snowball's chance in hell. More like 5-10%. At least 5% of US iPhone users use unauthorized tethering regularly, not to mention the savy iPhone users who transfer files between their iPhone and servers all day long, stream movies from home, etc.. ever hear of Air Video? How's that App doing?



    Only 0.5% actually use more than 2GB per month. (Disprove that.)



    PS: How stupid do you think the people in this forum are?
  • Reply 71 of 95
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Only 0.5% actually use more than 2GB per month. (Disprove that.)



    PS: How stupid do you think the people in this forum are?



    I don't know exactly, how stupid are they? If you believe AT&T's statistics that they use for the sole purpose of marketing their new and offensive data plans, then I would say very naive, and mostly stupid.
  • Reply 72 of 95
    bartfatbartfat Posts: 434member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post


    I don't know exactly, how stupid are they? If you believe AT&T's statistics that they use for the sole purpose of marketing their new and offensive data plans, then I would say very naive, and mostly stupid.



    Who's to say they're wrong though? You're not in a position to spout statistics that are actually valid.
  • Reply 73 of 95
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Here is a nice Q&A about the plans that resolves many of the concerns I've read today...



    That linked Q&A says this:

    "What happens if I exceed 200MB on my postpaid plan? According to AT&T's Seth Bloom, you will be able to call in or hop online and change that month to the 2GB plan so long as you do so before the end of that billing cycle. So if you have a bad month (or a really good month -- it really depends on how you look at data flexibility), AT&T will offer more overage flexibility. If you do not do this, you will be charged $15 for each 200MB you use -- and that can quickly add up to a lot of ouch. As Bloom added, "You can keep going back and forth between the two tiers." So if you opt into the 2GB plan for a month, you can opt right back out the next month without penalty."



    If this is really true, then I'd sign up for the 200MB, and if I then needed to do something data intensive, or if I received the text message warning, I'd switch to the 2GB plan before the end of the billing cycle. Thus I'd only pay $10 for the next 1.8GB of data. I hope this switching ability is built into the next update of the AT&T myWireless app - that would make it much simpler than going to att.com via Safari.



    In looking at my history, during the 3 months in which I traveled, I hit 214, 362, and 355MB. Otherwise, I was under 200MB. (So I just proved webmail's assertion was wrong. NasserAE above also proved it was wrong.) However, I foresee more usage under iPhone OS 4, and definitely more usage if I get a new iChat-capable iPhone.
  • Reply 74 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    Every iPhone users, even the LOWEST usage iPhone user; uses over 200MB every billing cycle.



    You are pretty out of touch with reality in regard to this matter. Among the tech geeks ranting about the iPhone on these websites there are plenty of people who don't use that much data, or use around that amount of data. I've got excellent 3G service where I am (for what it's worth I've spent plenty of time with my iPhone in NY, SF, LV, etc.) and I still don't often coast over 200 MBs. And we are the minority. The majority of iPhone users won't use anywhere near this much, and more to the point, they don't have any interest at all in whining about these issues on the internet.



    A handful manage bandwidth usage in GBs through video/audio streaming services and GPS. I'm sure a number of the whiners are doing it through tethering on Jailbroken phones. In any case, the small handful taxing the network can stick with their existing plans or pay more money. They may not like that, but they should at least acknowledge that their dislike is because this is bad news for them and not because they care one bit about the platform as a whole. And this is actually great news for people who use a small amount of data (think parents, family—those people who don't spend all day consuming data on their iDevice).



    Still ticked with AT&T for their crappy tethering solution.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post


    The iPhone has been out for 3 years. No one is rushing to buy the new iPhone HD except existing iPhone customers of one generation or another...but, not rushing at all really, since no existing customers can get one before June 21st, unless you currently qualify for an upgrade and are waiting for the model.



    You should consider reviewing polls and history on this matter.

    You are wrong. Or rather, will be wrong.
  • Reply 75 of 95
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post




    PS: How stupid do you think the people in this forum are?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post


    ..... then I would say very naive, and mostly stupid.



    It was a rhetorical (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rhetorical) question.
  • Reply 76 of 95
    eacummeacumm Posts: 93member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alandail View Post


    what are people doing with their phones that 2G wouldn't be enough data? I use my iPhone all of the time and my history shows I've never gone over 400 megs, and typically am under 200 megs.



    Well let's see, the iPhone 4G is said to have a forward facing video camera for video chat, and for someone like me that works offshore 3 to 4 months at a time would like to be able to video chat with my spouse without having to worry about how many MB or GB have been consumed.

    Because of this move AT&T will most likely lose this customer.
  • Reply 77 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eacumm View Post


    Well let's see, the iPhone 4G is said to have a forward facing video camera for video chat, and for someone like me that works offshore 3 to 4 months at a time would like to be able to video chat with my spouse without having to worry about how many MB or GB have been consumed.

    Because of this move AT&T will most likely lose this customer.



    Are you already an iPhone owner? Just keep your data plan.

    In any case, this is the right way to vote. With your feet.



    I wouldn't expect a competitor's embrace to be very warm, though. AT&T whispers sweet nothings in your ear while secretly pulling out the K-Y. Verizon smacks you around wile pulling out the K-Y. Sprint and T-Mobile act sweet enough, but they're just no good in bed.
  • Reply 78 of 95
    markbmarkb Posts: 153member
    Quote:

    Quote:

    The President of the United States runs the country with a Blackberry.



    Got an app for that?



    While i wish he was using an iPhone, a BB is a step up from the prior guy's system...Fisher Price Chatter Phone, anybody?
  • Reply 79 of 95
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eacumm View Post


    Well let's see, the iPhone 4G is said to have a forward facing video camera for video chat, and for someone like me that works offshore 3 to 4 months at a time would like to be able to video chat with my spouse without having to worry about how many MB or GB have been consumed.

    Because of this move AT&T will most likely lose this customer.



    I sympathize, but how many iPhone customers do you reckon are in your situation? Moreover, do you think it's fair that <2GB users should subsidize your work-life predicament?
  • Reply 80 of 95
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eacumm View Post


    Well let's see, the iPhone 4G is said to have a forward facing video camera for video chat, and for someone like me that works offshore 3 to 4 months at a time would like to be able to video chat with my spouse without having to worry about how many MB or GB have been consumed.

    Because of this move AT&T will most likely lose this customer.



    I'm trying to imagine your situation. You have cell service so you can't be very far off shore, yet you stay there 4 months straight? Is it an oil rig? If so don't they offer wifi?
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