To ditch AT&T or not ditch AT&T, that is the question....

[iamthewalrus_3]

@MacTech

I find it hard to believe that anyone who uses a data-heavy-use smartphone could think these tiered plans are “good”, AT&T is doing this solely so they can profit off the inevitable overages that smartphone users are going to run up…

As someone who doesn’t currently have an iPhone and would love to get one if they were cheaper, I disagree with you. I’m way more likely to buy an iPhone at $55/mo than $70/mo, and I (and AT&T) bet there are lots of others like me. I wish they’d done this six months ago, before I locked myself into another 2-year contract with another carrier.

I average about 250-300MB of data per month, my highest data use to date has been 475MB, back in March, during the big New England windstorm power outage, in theory, I could get by with the 2GB plan, but I’m not downgrading to save a mere $5 per month…

The section that preceded this, all the scary stuff about how so many things lead to so much data use is a lot less convincing when you point out that you average only about 1/6th of the $25 limit, and even at your max were less than 1/4 of the limit. And, of course, even if you did go over the limit every once in a while, it’d cost… $10 for another gig, which is only 2 months worth of savings. What exactly are you afraid of?

I’ve asked several friends who own iPhones and use them pretty regularly, and none of them regularly go over even the 200MB cap. It’s not that they don’t use lots of data; it’s that they’re usually doing so at work or at home, where there’s a wifi connection.

[DiosaBellissima]

I can’t believe so many people use so much data on their phones. I have a Blackberry that I use for everything (Google Maps GPS almost daily, BeeJive for chatting, Facebook, Twitter, websurfing, etc.) and I almost never go over 40 MB a month. The only time I’ve ever gone over that was when I went to Peru and it jumped to 110 MB (I think I forgot to turn off my GPS, truthfully). Even though it was my fault, ATT reversed all the overage charges I had while in Peru. Can’t complain much there.

[Lightnin]

Netflix for the iPhone was just announced- I can *easily *see going over the data cap with that.

[Velma]

I have been a long time AT&T customer, but I have not gotten an iphone because the only option was to pay an extra $30 a month. To get them for my husband and myself we are talking $60 on top of our regular cell phone bill, that’s not pocket change. We currently have ipod touches and regular AT&T plain phones, and we have wifi almost all the time, so I was waiting for a cheaper option like this just for the convenience of not having to carry around a phone and my ipod all the time. There are a few times when I do want to have data access now and I don’t have wifi, so I am happy with the new offerings. I am willing to bet most people will be just fine with their $25 plan (AT&T claims 98% of their users are under that) and if you do happen to go over one month, they charge reasonable overage fees, and they allow you to upgrade your monthly plan retroactively for the month. So if you get the $15 plan and see that you have gone over, you can just switch plans mid-month and they will just bill you as if you had been on the $25 plan all along. It doesn’t seem like most people are going to get stuck with additional fees on this.

I think it does make sense to charge by usage, I am sure they will pick up more new customers like me who didn’t want to pay so much extra for a little data usage for the ones that drop just because they can’t stay under 2GB.

I am guessing the Netflix and such apps are going to be more for people with wifi access. I am happy about it.

[pricciar]

Most reports indicate that Verizon is probably going to follow AT+T’s lead in the tiered pricing model. Sprint and T-Mobile almost certainly will not. Being in 3rd and 4th places makes it so that they have more bandwith to spare, and have more of a need to differentiate from the others. On top of that Verizon’s unlimited plan is reportedly capped at 5 gigs a month.

I checked my AT+T bill after they announced the new pricing model. I was outraged that they were taking away the $30.00 unlimited data plan. I was surprised looking at my past use to find that my heaviest months barely got over 150 megs. One of those months was last summer when MLB.AtBat had free streaming games. I am not sure why the other months got so high, perhaps I was just away from WiFi hotspots. I was sure I would be pushing on the 2 gig limit. My personal outrage went down a little bit. with that data I still think I am going to stick with the unlimited rate plan as long as I am able to. Sure, I might save 15 dollars a month to start. But, with netflix coming to the phone. And, the promise of upcoming trips my 3g bandwith is probably going to go up the more time I am away from WiFi. Better to be safe than sorry.

I like the iPhone. That is why I am sticking with AT+T. In my mind all of the companies suck in their own ways. The hardware and your area’s network coverage have to make the difference between which one you choose.

[Chimera]

There’s a couple of problems with a Verizon iPhone.

1> Their network uses a SLOWER 3G standard than AT&T. It’s not much better, throughput wise, than EDGE on the AT&T network.
2> Honestly, if Verizon had taken the iPhone from the start and was the only carrier for it, I think everyone would be complaining just as much about them, and getting just as shitty service as AT&T. The fact of the matter is that NO cellular network was prepared for the amount of data the iPhone generated, or currently generates.

Now it will be interesting when both companies start implementing their 4G networks next year. I expect it to take a solid two years before those networks get anywhere near ready to handle the current amount of data, let alone a couple of million users who want to stream NetFlix.

When the Apple/AT&T exclusivity arrangement ends in June 2012, I expect that we will see a Verizon iPhone, but by then we’ll be two more generations past the new phone announced today, given that a new model comes out every year. Especially now that there is so much competition in the smart phone market.

One of the best articles I’ve ever seen about choosing a phone was last week. It’s absolute top recommendation was: Choose the Network, then choose the Phone.

[MacTech]

Over the weekend, I played around with the HTC Evo and Incredible, even though they’re the same phone, more or less, the Incredible seemed a hair quicker, and a little smoother in scrolling through pages, the Incredible also had a much sharper, more vibrant screen, even better than the display in my iPhone 3GS

Still, the overall interface seemed a tad rough around the edges, I know i keep harping on the “scrolling through pages” animation as a sticking point, but i see it as an example of how much effort went into optimizing the user interface

When scrolling page-to-page on the iPhone, the animation is smooth and fluid, I can’t see the individual steps of the animation sliding left or right, on the EVO/Inc, scrolling up and down, the icon list moves in distinct, visible steps, it’s a “rougher/laggier” animation, overall, the interface of the iPhone just feels more polished, the more apps that are running in the background the more the performance of the UI lags, I’m used to the single-tasking nature of the iPhone in that when you hit the Home button to exit the app, the app quits, freeing up memory

I’ve called Verizon and Sprint to check coverage in my area, Verizon has me fully covered with a decent tower density, Sprint has “marginal” coverage, one notch below their strongest signal

One thing I didn’t like from the Verizon rep was her “snooty” air, she seemed to have the attitude of “why are you breathing my air”, she did give me the most info about the network, but it took being transferred to three different departments before I could find anyone to give me that info, all reps had that “snooty” attitude and tried to hard-sell their services, they all felt a tad jerkish over the phone, “why are you bothering me?”

The Sprint rep was quite pleasant, and refreshingly honest, she basically admitted that coverage in my area wasn’t the best, and that I may not be satisfied with it

overall, from a customer service standpoint, best to worst, I’d put Sprint and AT&T ahead of Verizon, Sprint and AT&T reps were pleasant, laid back, and easygoing, Verizon reps sounded annoyed with the fact that I had the nerve to waste their time by calling them, and that I had the nerve to actually gasp ask questions!

[hajario]

If you’re going to use your phone outside of the country, you need to have AT&T or TMobile. That plus the fact that I love my iPhone will keep me with AT&T for the foreseeable future. I can’t wait to preorder my iPhone 4.

Their data limits aren’t all that unreasonable. I thought for sure that I would need the 2 GB plan but it’s not even close. I looked and over the last six months I had four where I was under 200 MB and two where I was under 300 MB but over 200 MB. That means that I would have paid the same twice and saved $60 for the other four. It seems fair to me to pay the very top users for their extra usage.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@El_Nene

I cannot believe how many people cannot see when the wool is being pulled over their eyes. Do you really believe that AT&T, a souless corporation who’s only reason for existing is to separate your from your money, will voluntarily take less money from you?

They are doing this now so that you don’t notice that you’re being screwed.

Not necessarily. If enough new people come on board with getting smart phones because they have a less expensive data option, the company could make more money even if the individual smart phone owner pays less on average. I finally bit the bullet and got a smartphone with the $30 unlimited data plan, but I had hesitated for a long time. I wanted the full keyboard, touch screen, big screen, high quality camera, and other features, but didn’t want to pay that much when my old carrier was giving me Internet access for a lot less. I finally caved because I thought I could use the organizational features, not to mention the ability to play music I already own, instead of having to subscribe to their music plan. So I think there’s definitely the possibility of getting enough new people to actually increase their profits from this move. That’s not to say they’ll be entirely forthcoming. Often people don’t know they are signing up for large monthly downloads. For instance, you think your data allowance is more than generous enough for what you do, and then you learn that the spiffy turn-by-turn navigation you agreed to pay $9 monthly for also entails a large monthly data push which is clocked against your allowance. I got stung by that several times with my old carrier.

Can anyone put the data caps in any meaningful perspective? In one of the forums on their website someone posted that you’d pretty much have to watch streamed AV content all day through most of the month to hit the kind of limits they’re talking about. But what if you just stream audio-only content for several hours a day? Would that come up anywhere near the limits they’re talking about?

For me, at least, AT&T has worked out very well for reception in my area. I can actually go out and about in the neighborhood, and I have several bars in most places. With the old carrier, I often had one or none, and half the apartment was a dead spot. (Though FTR that was a different unit at the other end of the building where I live now.)