AT&T Downplays Talk of Tiered Pricing for iPhone Data Plans

[carlgo]

Apple is like Mrs. Soprano, enjoying the good life and not wanting to know how Tony gets his money. Apple needs to be criticized as well because they are pimping AT&T for lots of money.

The system now just plain sucks and doesn't "Just work".

There are only a few consumer-friendly alternatives:

Get away from cell tower technology altogether. WiFi from blimps, whatever. It doesn't seem that towers can possibly be the long-term answer.

A nice tiered system with realistic rates for lower-use customers.

Multiple iPhone carriers so the load can be spread out.

Some way to share towers, a regulatory issue.

The government stepping in and demanding that carriers either step up or lose their license. They are given all this virtual money-printing exclusivity and they should be required to serve the public.

 

[hugodrax]

Buy AT&T stock and use the dividend (and/or covered call) income to offset increases in fees.

 

[Gasu E.]

IF AND WHEN they do that, I'm G O N E !

Then the policy would be effective. You are obviously a data hog, since no one else would be bothered by this policy, and removing the greatest data hogs would solve the problem at the least cost.

 

[spillproof]

why do you pay for unlimited texts if you do not consume them? if it is too expensive choose a cheaper plan which matches your usage better?!

I use up about 2200 messages a month, and unfortunately the next lowest plan is 1500 messages.

 

[torbjoern]

The so-called incentives for going easy on the data usage, does not necessarily entail additional charges in $$$. How about capping a user's bandwidth after a certain monthly quota has been reached?

Example
Tier 1: 0-800 MB per month at 3G speed
Tier 2: 801-2000 MB per month at EDGE speed
Tier 3: 2000 -> infinite MB per month at GPRS speed

 

[sanford]

Irrelevant if you're in a contract. And as AT&T's current policy is to extend contract terms presiding at end of your contract indefinitely w/o a contract so long as you don't change your plan -- not add-ons like text-messaging bundles, but changing the base plan, like from Family 1500 to Solo 800, or whatever -- this actually would only affect new iPhone customers. So why would anyone who IS an iPhone customer say, This happens and I'm gone. You should have no reason to leave. Only reason to leave is if you have to change your plan, or enter a new contract to get a new plan, then you make that decision.

One great way to reduce traffic is give the 3G Microcells away for free to people in AT&T contracts, of if you'll sign a contract. Offer use of your wireless minutes for free under same terms you actually use your minutes now -- rollover/free nights and weekends/free mob2mob all apply -- or pay $US20 a month for unlimited Microcell minutes with same free calling range as your cell plan. That's essentially a cell and a home phone -- or on a family rate, many cells and many home phones -- for the price of cell plus $US20. That beats any other VOIP provider's deal.

If the Microcell is completely free and AT&T heavily pushes it, that will take a lot of office and almost all home cell traffic off the network. Should make a big difference if they make a real effort at getting lots of those boxes out there.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Apple is like Mrs. Soprano, enjoying the good life and not wanting to know how Tony gets his money. Apple needs to be criticized as well because they are pimping AT&T for lots of money.

The system now just plain sucks and doesn't "Just work".

There are only a few consumer-friendly alternatives:

Get away from cell tower technology altogether. WiFi from blimps, whatever. It doesn't seem that towers can possibly be the long-term answer.

A nice tiered system with realistic rates for lower-use customers.

Multiple iPhone carriers so the load can be spread out.

Some way to share towers, a regulatory issue.

The government stepping in and demanding that carriers either step up or lose their license. They are given all this virtual money-printing exclusivity and they should be required to serve the public.

How about just getting a fresh legally unlocked iPhone fresh from the down under.

 

[XxEjGxX]

good job i live in the UK, o2 aren't especially annoying with us

 

[happydude]

I rarely come across any of their hot spots, and I'm in a pretty high-populated area. I'd rather they spend their time improving the network in order to support that kind of demand, but that's just me.

no, but don't you see, it's all us, the users fault, their network is so crappy.

common, verizon. get the iphone and give us a choice in carriers!! my bet is though, that when the exodus to verizon happens from at&t, suddenly at&t, due to less network usage will suddenly start claiming how fast their network is.

 

[ArrowSmith]

Apple can do no wrong, Steve Jobs is a prophet and there is nothing wrong with AT&T's network. HATERS!!!!

 

[MacBOS]

Apple can do no wrong, Steve Jobs is a prophet and there is nothing wrong with AT&T's network. HATERS!!!!

what city do you live in?