AT&T considering cheaper iPhone plans?
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 18th 2009 12:44PM
posted May 18th 2009 12:44PM
[Via AppleInsider]
posted May 18th 2009 12:44PM
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YES! I may actually buy one now!
Unlimited Text/mms needs to be included in in the iphone plan with the ridiculous-ass iphone charge. I mean really an extra 20 dollars on top of the "iphone" plan is just fucking out of control
No, what they REALLY need to change is the voice minutes. I like the unlimited data but I'm not on the phone 24/7 so if I were to get an iphone, paying for all those minutes would be a complete waste of money.
I agree with nzo....
Especially when you end up with 4000 roll-over minutes..... but you lose them if you change your plan
Ha, yeah, I have 7000+ rollover minutes, but my company pays for my phone so I haven't bothered to switch to the 450 minute plan from the 900 that I used to need when I took more conference calls.
The persistent rumors are of a "low-end" iPhone and a new high-end one coming out at WWDC or sometime this summer. Many of the "low-end" rumors have centered around it being an EDGE-only phone. I'm still rocking my old first-gen which, as you recall, is EDGE-only, AND the data plan is $20/mo instead of $30/mo. So it seems like it would make perfect sense to have a smaller/more limited iPhone for cheaper, running on EDGE, at a price point AT&T already offers. They wouldn't have to cap your data, they'll just assume people who use EDGE won't be using a whole lot of data on the cell network.. just as it's always been (I remember tethering my GPRS Ericsson T39 to my laptop.. sllooow!)
I still can't afford it, that's why the only iPhone I use is on the internet. Which sucks since I have to have a laptop and a internet connection to use
@iPod Touch
that site is absolutely horrible at replicating what an iphone would see. it doesn't even send the correct user agent.
gah'd damnit this is ridiculous. i hate how att is so willing to bend over backwards to support iphone users. i mean jesus christ, there are plenty of us out here w/ other smartphones which are getting ripped of by the overpriced data costs. my contract is almost up, and i keep eyeing sprint n' verizon and even t mobles (even though their 3g coverage stinks compared to the other 3). att please hear me...if you wont drop my data costs, @ least give me a cheaper voice package since i only use around 100 minutes a month.
If $10 a month has been deterring an iPhone purchase for you, I suggest you still not get one cause you cannot afford it anyways.
In order for Apple to sell phones and compete with the smartphone industry, they had to price their 3G phones competitively and make up for the difference on the back end, hence the extra $15 difference between 2G and 3G. I am at least hoping that whatever options there are for new data plans, they are offered to us 3G owners. Don't be surprised though if Apple tries to make it up with another fee for MMS since 3.0 is right around the corner.
They should include unlimited text or say 1500 texts for all Smartphone devices not just the iPhone. I wish you people would stop acting like the iPhone is the only damn phone with a $30 Data plan.
Twice as fast. Half the price. *
*Dude looks like he just got raped by the $2400 contract associated with his iPhone. Wait, that's the look I had..
I agree with nzo too....
Personally, I would love to have a plan with unlimited data, and minute to minute(paygo) voice.
Not until it is on the Verizon network. AT&T's service is terrible in Atlanta. If Apple needs to move more units to keep up its sales targets, they need to bail out of the exclusivity agreement with AT&T. The floodgates will open wide if Verizon gets it.
Problem is Verizon (and Sprint) are CDMA carriers, which while kinda of big in the US, is pretty much non-existent in the rest of the world. I'd like to see the cost to Apple of manufacturing a second version of the iPhone, plus I believe you need to pay CDMA royalties to Broadcomm, versus the profit they'd make of sales.
It must sick to be u,.
Stuck with vzw till 2012.
Having to settle for inferior phones storm,dare etc.
3 more years of depriving yourself, of heari g n reading how sick iPhone is.
did you compose this wonderfully articulate comment on your iPhone?
I would be happy with with the option of just having a data plan for the current price.
Hope they will finally allowed iphone without the require data plan, because not everyone would need to use 3G since this phone has wifi.
It's the only way they can subsidies the phones. But yea half the time your paying for data that isn't there* so... would be a plus. Just have to pay a lot more for it (which, I'm sure you're fine with along with many others).
*depending on geographical location
The problem with that is you'll be raped by paying the per kilobit data charge when you aren't on wifi. And to make this phone functional you need to have data turned on.
Forgive me, but what is the point of buying a smartphone like the iPhone if you don't get a data plan? You might as well just get an iPod touch since it has wifi and you can make calls with it over WiFi.
@Technophile, I would presume he is poor, and lives with his parents.
Can't wait to get my Palm Pre in a month, I'm currently stuck with the ipod touch approach and it's not really that great being tethered to wifi.
I've got an iPhone, first gen, that I purchased 3rd party. A little jailbreak and unlock later, and I have an iPhone on AT&T for $10/month. It's an extra line, (one I was already using, this replaced my Sony Ericsson w810i) on my family plan. No data plan! With a jailbroken phone, you can turn off the edge/3g, so you'll avoid racking up data charges.
I'm at home 95% of the time, and when I go out I can always find a wifi spot if I really need it. I get a great phone, with wifi browsing and email, plus a mp3 player, without paying the crazy fees for data. That's all I need, and I don't have to carry two devices to get it.
I've never understood this "wifi" concern...
If you're around Wifi...aren't you normally around a REAL internet device??
I mean...why sit in your house using an iPhone
When you have your laptop right in front of you =/
@iDavey, if you're on any college campus the walls are made of lead so kind of need the wifi. My accounting professor got his class where it is since he doesn't have to tell students to turn off their cell phones, they just don't work.
I had Iphone 2G and a family plan with total of 4 lines. Price of plan is around 70 with tax and fee still cheaper than Iphone 3G plan after tax. At home and work both has fast wifi, only time i think i really wish i had 3g is when i doing shopping.
templarian
That is hilarious. I bet he's an older professor too.
Aren't all the iPhone restricitons already "limited access" enough?
I completely agree.
iPhone? No thanks. Cheaper data plan for my existing smartphone? Count me in!
I here ya. It costs me $15-20 more for unlimited data for my ATT Tilt than my friend's iphone unlimited data plan.
It's the same data and network.
Indeed, drop the data plan across the board. At least I can still tether without having to shell out 59.99 a month to AT&T on a Tilt.
"Limited Access" means youll run out of bandwidth right at the end of the month from normal usage, and then rack up extraordinary charges in the last few days so that the original plan looks like a bargain.
HOW ABOUT A FLIP IPHONE
Too confusing.
Seriously?
Is your Caps Lock button stuck?
It's like I'm being yelled at... I don't like being yelled at. :'(
I've got an idea AT$T... Get off your ass and get with the program and upgrade you data network to handle high volume like oh Europe or Japan. Hmm... Lets do that instead of screwing us.
Just sayin'
Yeah because Europe and Japan are tiny and easy to upgrade the towers.
I'd like to see you plan and finance tower improvements for a country the size of the US. It is *not* easy.
Japan = 150K sq. miles
Western Europe* = 700K sq. miles
USA = 3700K sq. miles
Yeh, it'll be REAALLY easy to upgrade our towers... not. This isn't to say I wouldn't mind more reliable coverage, but realistically our infrastructure is a generation behind and more expensive to upgrade because the backbone networks in foreign markets were built out years after our's.
*and lets face it, eastern europe's infrastructure isn't altogether to begin with, so there is no point grouping them together with the western half.
I'm getting tired of the AT&T apologists comparing sq mileage of Europe to the U.S. NOBODY is saying they have to cover every frickin square mile of land in Tumbleweed, KS or Nowhere, MT. Just the densest populated areas like NYC or San Fran for god's sake. I bet if you compared based on populated area than the Europe to U.S analogy breaks down.
@BayCreekIT
You make the very silly assumption that companies are going to blanket the entire US with coverage, especially in places where no one lives. Now, true, one tower in Japan may cover more people, but they still have to put up more towers per square mile because a tower can only make so many connections at once. It would be better to compare the square mileage of major cities rather than the country as a whole.
Not to mention that there are more than twice as many potential customers in Europe than in the US. Considering how spread thin the US (80/mi^2 vs 180/mi^2 in Europe) we've got it pretty good.
@BayCreekIT
Why are you going to need a tower in the desert in AZ or TX where no one lives? Most geographical areas of the US hardly have any form of habitat that would need a mobile phone let alone the need for data.
Comparing cities in the US to cities in Europe, Japan, Korea etc, we here in the so called bigger cities in America still have horrible and pretty old infrastructure and the result- piss poor data rates and high fees. This is what needs to be improved as pointed out. Go all out LTE or WiMax. Lay more high capacity fiber optic cables. The phone companies don't fleece you for nothing.
Technophile:
If Telstra, 3, Optus and Vodaphone can provide 3G support to 97% of AUSTRALIA, I'm sure AT&T can get decent connection to people in Major Cities.
Unless it's doing away with the "required" data plan I dont care!
Same goes for the G1 and all other smartphones.
So let me get this straight you want to buy a smart phone that eats through "Data" at insane rates even if only to push email and not have a data plan. Your bill would be huge every month. If you just want to watch movies you woudl eb better off with a PMP.
I carry two phones. I dont really like the plain jane-ness of non smartphones.
I would like to just purchase one for an everyday use...
I meant everyday use a data less phone. And I use my other phone for data purposes.
@redspear
I would drop the cell carrier's data plan, and only use wifi. (given the phone's software supports this)
why they dont have more pay as you go plans? voice plan in general is more expensive in USA, comparing to some other countries.