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AT&T Just Pushed This Long Time Apple To His Breaking Point!
- Thread starter Maven1975
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Now I know why Android users are so happy with regard to choice of devices and carriers.
Feeling like a big bait & switch was just pulled by a company with bigger market value than Microsoft. Feeling like a chump for supporting Apple for all these years.
Will consider very carefully other options before upgrading my iPhone to whatever comes out next (even though I'm eligible for a full subsidized upgrade; its been 2 years).
Feeling like a big bait & switch was just pulled by a company with bigger market value than Microsoft. Feeling like a chump for supporting Apple for all these years.
Will consider very carefully other options before upgrading my iPhone to whatever comes out next (even though I'm eligible for a full subsidized upgrade; its been 2 years).
Ya know Apple has got to be pissed over this. Do we have a nice photo of jobs standing by a screen with $30 a month unlimited?
Be sure and post that on the ATT Facebook page. That place is pretty heated right now.
Don't blame home Internet the same way you do cell networks.
They are suffering because of their incompetence and business model of over subscription and lack of infrastructure.
I'll be darned if I can't. Put that $1 a day in your preferred investment account.
There are just as many complaints about every other carrier out there. If the iPhone was on Verizon, even more people would be squealing because their network would collapse in a heartbeat.
There's always a minority of people who make a lot of noise when they have problems. I know many people who have the iPhone on AT&T and they are all happy. Sure AT&T has issues in certain parts of the country, but so does every other carrier. Do a search for "verizon sucks" and you will find plenty of people complaining. In fact, do a search for any carrier followed by "sucks" and you find the same thing.
I too am sorely disappointed that the unlimited plan won't be offered. The ability to start, then stop, then start 3g service was a selling point to me as well.
I average about 2GB on my HTC Hero on Sprint barely doing any streaming (audio/video)--only surfing, emails, and my RSS feeds. I surf and RSS quite a bit with the device...to the point where I go through 2 batteries by the end of the day. On the other hand I'm pretty sure my usage on the phone would go way down if owning an iPad.
I could imagine iPad data usage would be WAY above the 2GB i already use. I mean think about it: The iPad was made to consume media. How large is a graphic intensive website? I can imagine I'd be surfing on the iPad a whole lot more than on my phone, and I'd being more inclined to watch streaming video on it. If I'm actually visiting and experiencing the web in FULL glory, 2GB is nothing.
Strangely perhaps this may be a reason for Apple not to include Flash on their mobile products. AT&T might have thought it would be too demanding on their bandwith; imagine all those flash ads on websites, along with all the pr0n people would be watching.
With all the $$ they're getting, I still can't figure out why in the world they can't just upgrade their crap. Infrastructure is all laid out, all they need to do is upgrade equipment. If that were to occur it'd be easier for them to justify the price they're charging... and like Verizon consumers would be willing to pay for the coverage/reliability/speed.
Any of you data hogs ever hear of WiFi?
I don't think their network would collapse. It might have if it were Verizon and not AT&T that got the iPhone in the beginning but the volume simply wouldn't be the same now. Unless the number of folks switching from AT&T plus the number of new customers worked out to be roughly the same as AT&T's current iPhone customer count, the strain on their network wouldn't be comparable.
I've been doing this for a couple weeks now. 3G all the time, I pay for it I'm going to use it.
Piss off ok. Your free $100 has nothing to do with the discussion. Not even sure what your point is.
Good for you you got a 100 bucks. Go sleep with it.
Deep down, we're all slightly elitist. We've already got iPhones and notebooks. Do any of us have a real need for an iPad? No. But we own them anyway.
Food for thought.
BJ
I understand the philosophical issue, but it's $1 a day to receive unlimited data and push email on your iPad. I challenge you to provide a single service known to mankind of such need, value, and convenience for a buck a day.
BJ
The short answer is that AT&T is just saying NO to streaming video. Wake up and smell the refried beans folks!
JohnG
Not sure I completely agree with that. What May/June has given me is:
-I've replaced my desktop with my Macbook - hooked up to a 30 inch cinema of course
-Now my iPad is my "take my content mobile and work on it in most places" device
-My laptop is "take my content if I'm going somewhere for a long time" device
I'm liking this trend. I have to lug around less. The devices I have a more enjoyable (ie: iPad in short term excursions, taking my entire "home" system with me when I travel for a while). And I like Mac OS/iPhone OS.
It's really exciting times. It's all a matter of how you take advantage.
Of course if all you're doing is couch surfing - maybe you'd like to do more with the device. Guess it doesn't matter as long as you're happy with it.
FYI, I'm a writer, so my OS "needs" are lighter - wordprocessor, dictionary, thesaurus.
I find it astonishing people advocate MiFi over AT&T. You guys must all be billionaires, because I can't bring myself to spend $60 a month on MiFi when I can get the AT&T iPad plan for $30.
Let's see -
One reason I sold my iPhone is because I can no longer afford the data plan now that I am back in college. I am currently typing this from a Lenovo netbook because I cannot justify spending $950 on a laptop that doesn't have a SD card reader, and is only available in "gonna' look like grungy **** in a heartbeat" white. Sorry, I'd rather buy textbooks. I was going to try to scrape up the $630 for a 3G iPad when school starts in the fall.
There are times when the 3G would have been really handy - like the 3 weeks a year I spend in Virginia (family issues). Now I won't be able to afford it, so the #1 thing drawing me to the iPad has been removed.
In the last month my school has been flooded with iPad toting students, and in the past few weeks I've been noticing them with the black plastic at the top. Do you think they can afford the change in the data plan structure?
This is just another situation of AT&T acting like a bunch of used car salesman, and people saying "If you read the fine print, you will see that they have every right to do it." Well sure, but just because AT&T has the right, that doesn't make it right. There is a huge difference between what is legal and what is ethical.
Mad props for a college student trying to save money. Good job.
You're grandfathered in, so the $30 unlimited plan will suit your needs. Same goes for the other at your school you're noticing with the distinctive black 3G strip. We early adopters are being rewarded for our, well, early adoption.
As myself and others have stated, the real issue here are the heavy streamers, watching Hulu instead of paying a cable bill and turning on a TV. It is those customers that AT&T will happily risk losing to another carrier as they eat up too much bandwidth and cripple the network for everyone else. If you're simply using the iPad for non-streaming related activities, I'd suggest you save the $5 a month and step down to the 2GB plan as it's around 3x what you'd ever need anyway.
BJ
You might check which sites you frequent first. I've performed two tests, one mentioned in this thread and another checking the cellular data use itself before and after going to the home pages of 8 sites (worked out to be 9 megs). Depending on what sites you typically view, you could very easily go over 2 GB without using your data connection for anything else. Again, your milage may vary depending on what sites you typically frequent.
Maven you should patent the term iPad 3greedy! That's how I feel as well. I bought the 3G version because I didn't know exactly how I would use the device, but was willing to pay the premium in order to have the choice (and if I sell it in a year when the new model comes out or whatever I can sell it for a little more, presumably). Now I'm debating signing up for the service just to get grandfathered in. What a joke. I know I will never use the 3G service every freakin month, that was what was so great about the supposed non contract based service at the launch. To AT&T: If you losers ever lose iPhone/iPad exclusivity, good luck keeping your company afloat. Unbelievable...
Somebody posted In a thread earlier that they had downloaded 100gb.
I don't know if that is possible, but if it is, that kind of abuse of the 3G service is what is driving ATT to make this change. A handful of users focused on destroying the advantages offered by wireless Internet.
Sure, it is sold as unlimited service, but that doesn't mean you get to act like a pig in the trough. How about understanding your position in the larger community of users, and having some thoughts about how your greedy behavior is affecting every one around you.
It is sort of like going to an all-you-can eat buffet, and heaping you tray (not just your plate) two feet high. Then eating like 3 bites, and leaving a stack of uneaten food strewn around on the floor when you leave. And filling your pockets on the way out the door.
Steve "the Liar" Jobs
That's kind of obscene and the very reason ATT is doing what they are doing. Have to say mate your usage is over the top. Not sure what your doing, what your downloading and receiving but its the very reason this is happening.
While I initially was sympathetic to your points when I saw this I was astonished and can clearly see why you would be upset. Course you do have unlimited for the life of your present iPad, making your argument somewhat curious. I'm not sure I would believe that there would be a month that you would actually discontinue or go to another price plan if this is an average of what the future will bring with your receiving data. So, I think your the one of the very reasons this new policy has come to be, and you don't even see that.
While I sympathize on some your other points, especially
Steve "The Liar" Jobs coming out several months ago with this great new partnership with ATT for these wonderful plans that one can switch back and forth from, which less than a month into this new miraculous product has now been shown to be nothing but a sales pitch, ,A LIE, to get early adopters to sign on. Clearly this was planned, clearly he knew about it and clearly he is nothing but a money grubbing corporate jerk, just like the other ATT suits whose maintenance of corporate profit goes way before anything that defines customer service.
I will probably not be be getting a 4g anytime soon, not only do I not trust the lying CEO of Apple, a company I once had a great deal of respect for, but I hate ATT even more and refuse to upgrade my hardware on an inferior network, that lies probably even more than Steve, "The Liar" Jobs.
That's kind of obscene and the very reason ATT is doing what they are doing. Have to say mate your usage is over the top. Not sure what your doing, what your downloading and receiving but its the very reason this is happening.
While I initially was sympathetic to your points when I saw this I was astonished and can clearly see why you would be upset. Course you do have unlimited for the life of your present iPad, making your argument somewhat curious. I'm not sure I would believe that there would be a month that you would actually discontinue or go to another price plan if this is an average of what the future will bring with your receiving data. So, I think your the one of the very reasons this new policy has come to be, and you don't even see that.
While I sympathize on some your other points, especially
Steve "The Liar" Jobs coming out several months ago with this great new partnership with ATT for these wonderful plans that one can switch back and forth from, which less than a month into this new miraculous product has now been shown to be nothing but a sales pitch, ,A LIE, to get early adopters to sign on. Clearly this was planned, clearly he knew about it and clearly he is nothing but a money grubbing corporate jerk, just like the other ATT suits whose maintenance of corporate profit goes way before anything that defines customer service.
I will probably not be be getting a 4g anytime soon, not only do I not trust the lying CEO of Apple, a company I once had a great deal of respect for, but I hate ATT even more and refuse to upgrade my hardware on an inferior network, that lies probably even more than Steve, "The Liar" Jobs.
In the case of ATT data problems, I wouldn't use the world "minority"...I also wouldn't use "majority" either. But the reality is that it is enough to have caused a massive PR problem and a massive backlash in the marketplace. Face facts: if it really wasn't the problem you're saying it is, then Jobs wouldn't have had to defend ATT at the D8, nor would he have used the phrase "lots of places will get better by the end of the summer". Apparently, this forum has a handful of people who vehemently defend the "there are no problems" argument while many many other sources consistently point out what the problem is. When the CEO of the device maker has to defend his wireless partner and say "things should get better", then things obviously aren't "good".
In the case of the change of data rates, if ATT wasn't so far in the crapper at this point with public perception, this might have gone over slightly better. But again, there is enough of a problem with ATT already for users of iPhones and iPads that THIS was just one more kick to the crotch of those customers. The very day that the iPad and/or iPhone hit another carrier, I guarantee you the bleeding will start profusely at ATT.
Wow, Please think before posting
1) Price collusion with lying included will get you sued (at the very least) or thrown in jail.
2) The pricing change that AT+T made will hurt iPad and iPhone sales more than anything else could. Apple does not want these changes. What do you think this pricing will do to the 4th gen iPhone that they are announcing this week ?
3) AT+T could not change the pricing unless the exclusivity agreement (contract) has ended. The contract might have expired normally or AT+T might have exercised an opt out clause.
Note: The only way we will know for sure that exclusivity has ended is when we see the iPad/iPhone on another provider. Apple / AT+T will never announce the end to exclusivity since it will cannibalize current sales.
The one thing Apple can be accused of is not being 100% ethical since the AT+T announcement. They were not lying since they were advertising correctly the AT+T pricing but likewise, they were not going out of their way to let customers know about the upcoming pricing change (website, etc).
That's assuming you've got good T-Mo service in your area. Or you can live without 3G.
I'm with this guy. AT&T kinda screwed me.