AT&T Looking for new ways to screw iphone users

[Arnwulf]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com..._blg=1,1419669

AT&T may have to limit iPhone users
Customers use their iPhones too much and have caused network problems in markets where their popularity is huge.
Posted by Charley Blaine on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 7:58 PM

OK, you truly wild and crazy iPhone users. You know who you are: the ones who check out every application, play every game, call up every piece of news and check out every restaurant within 100 miles. You are causing AT&T (T) a big problem. You're swamping the system, and AT&T, which has an exclusive right to market the iPhone in the United States, wants you to get a life and dial back.

How AT&T plans to get you to cut back isn't quite clear, The Wall Street Journal said today. But they won't slap you around. They'll offer incentives. AT&T's problem is a problem for everyone in the wireless industry: how to cope with exponential growth in the use of data services such as video and Internet browsing, which require more bandwidth.

The dilemma, the Journal noted, has been particularly acute for AT&T because of the millions of customers using Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, the iconic smart phone. IPhone users so love their phones that they use them all the time. The problem is especially big in New York and San Francisco, two of the trendiest towns around. The rate of broken calls and data feeds has grown so fast that Verizon Communications (VZ) has launched an ad campaign to get AT&T customers to switch.

The average iPhone user consumes five to seven times more data on a monthly basis than an average subscriber who mainly uses a handset for phone calls, research firm Sanford C. Bernstein says. Even compared with the average smart-phone user on a high-speed network, iPhone owners use twice the amount of data. So, iPhone user, you're too good a customer. And you cause an additional problem.

AT&T may have to invest more in network investments -- switching gear, cell-phone towers and the like -- because you like your iPhone so much. That may eat into AT&T's bottom line. Result, Toni Sacconaghi, a Bernstein analyst, told the Journal: "The economics of the iPhone are not as rosy as they might first appear."

So, what incentives might AT&T offer? Sorry, they won't pay you not to use your phone. But the options include instituting usage fees that charge customers based on how much data flow through the device. Right now, you can get a calling plan from $40 to $100 a month for an iPhone -- plus $30 a month for unlimited data. The average iPhone users pays $95 a month for the service.

The telecom giant could also charge $5 to $20 a month for the right to send text messages. It could -- gasp! -- slow down the data flowing to your iPhone if your usage is hurting other customers.

AT&T has tried reasoning, the Journal said. They've showed some users just how much data they use. Ralph de la Vega, who runs AT&T's wireless and consumer businesses, told the paper that most had no idea and cut back on their own. The next question is whether AT&T will have to make an offer the iPhone user can't refuse.

I'm not an iphone user myself but seriously, AT&T has got to be the laziest company ever. Instead of upgrading their ancient infrastructure they're just going to alienate their subscribers....awesome.

[Headspace]

Droid does

[Conformity]

Actually they have some of the newer, more advanced back end technology in the phone industry. Talk to verizon with their 1980's towers.

[Tyche]

WiFi

[Seanr]

lol AT&T, as everyone has said over and over. they should have prepared for this shit when they signed the exclusivity deal.

[Oxyminus]

I love my iPhone...but if they really pulled some shit like that, I'd strongly consider leaving AT&T

[Tekki]

god i love my sprint service

[Korietsu]

Verizon > ATT. All there is to it.

[arus2001]

It's like internet companies instituting bandwidth caps. Scary people might actually want to use a service they pay for.

[Cephius]

god i love my sprint service

first time this phrase has ever been uttered in the history of man

seriously, google "god i love my sprint service" in quotes

[Tekki]

dont see why someone else feels the same way. Then again ive got some pretty sweet hookups through friends. i pay $45 for unlimited service, got the HTC TP cheap during a promo and as soon as its in, ill have a free upgrade to a TP2.

Even before the upgrade I was paying the full $75-85 for the service that i used and loved it.

My TP has completely replaced my laptop in terms of usages. I travel a ton, going from one coast to the other and all points in between in the past 3 years and this phone and the service has been outstanding. In one form or the other, via data, sat, towers i've never had an issue communicating, finding my way around, or simply entertaining myself. And now that they are upgrading to 4G I am becoming more and more exciting.

Do I think Sprint is better then Verizon? Nope, I love Verizon as well. Their service is just as good and their attention to detail is fantastic. My only problem with them is their locked down, waterdown or generally lesser impressive phones and products. (When I was HTC shopping Verizon wanted $800 for a older version of the TP with a more expensive billing plan. They also would not preapprove me for a plan. Sprint had a newer version of a TP that i got to order and cpost me $350 after the rebate and I walked into a sprint store and was instantly approved) VZs billing costs, including deposits and termination fees, are also considerably more.

So either way, Sprint = Verizon > huge margin > ATT > T-mobile. Its a matter of what you need, where you are at, and how much you want to spend. i would avoid ATT and T-mobile like the fucking plague and stick with S or V

[Olo401]

I had one of the original sprint pcs phones back in like 2000.. and I'll never touch anything of their again.

I even switched my pre-pay cell to T-Mobile when Sprint bought out Virgin. And yeah T-Mobile sucks balls.. their in-person customer service is pretty good tho.

[Cephius]

dont see why someone else feels the same way. Then again ive got some pretty sweet hookups through friends. i pay $45 for unlimited service, got the HTC TP cheap during a promo and as soon as its in, ill have a free upgrade to a TP2.

Even before the upgrade I was paying the full $75-85 for the service that i used and loved it.

My TP has completely replaced my laptop in terms of usages. I travel a ton, going from one coast to the other and all points in between in the past 3 years and this phone and the service has been outstanding. In one form or the other, via data, sat, towers i've never had an issue communicating, finding my way around, or simply entertaining myself. And now that they are upgrading to 4G I am becoming more and more exciting.

Do I think Sprint is better then Verizon? Nope, I love Verizon as well. Their service is just as good and their attention to detail is fantastic. My only problem with them is their locked down, waterdown or generally lesser impressive phones and products. (When I was HTC shopping Verizon wanted $800 for a older version of the TP with a more expensive billing plan. They also would not preapprove me for a plan. Sprint had a newer version of a TP that i got to order and cpost me $350 after the rebate and I walked into a sprint store and was instantly approved) VZs billing costs, including deposits and termination fees, are also considerably more.

So either way, Sprint = Verizon > huge margin > ATT > T-mobile. Its a matter of what you need, where you are at, and how much you want to spend. i would avoid ATT and T-mobile like the fucking plague and stick with S or V

I got Sprint when I was 17 and looking for a phone, the deal for the phone was decent and I got a good deal on the data plan, but the service ended up sucking ass just in my town and at my high school. It was fine everywhere else. Nonetheless it was no use to me if I couldn't use it in the one place I hung out the most, so I had to return it. They initially said they could only refund half the price of the phone and I my deposit would not be refunded even though I was still within their trial period. I spent the next 3 days arguing with their customer support who still refused to return me any money. Finally after bitching out the store manager in the store I bought it from, they gave me my money back.

The stories I've heard about Sprint's service and customer service lead me to believe my case wasn't isolated. Just sayin.

[Olo401]

Oh yeah.. almost forgot about the last straw with Sprint..

My phone was stolen, and before they shut it off over a grand in overage time and data use was charged to my account. Sprint refused to back out the charges, even after I went to the police, filed a report with them about the theft, and sent a notarized copy to them.

To this day, I have refused to pay that bill, and everytime a collection agency contacts me about it I tell them that Sprint can go fuck themselves.

[Brill Weave]

Verizon > ATT. All there is to it.

^ Here here.

[Stiker]

Put the amount of iPhone data usage on Verizon's network and I have a feeling they'd be seeing the same strain. Honestly, the real solution to this problem is to not make the iPhone carrier exclusive so the load can be balanced.

[Headspace]

Put the amount of iPhone data usage on Verizon's network and I have a feeling they'd be seeing the same strain. Honestly, the real solution to this problem is to not make the iPhone carrier exclusive so the load can be balanced.

It's just easier to charge people more for being hipsters.

[Stiker]

It's just easier to charge people more for being hipsters.

Solution: WiFi onry

[Cephius]

Put the amount of iPhone data usage on Verizon's network and I have a feeling they'd be seeing the same strain. Honestly, the real solution to this problem is to not make the iPhone carrier exclusive so the load can be balanced.

Verizon's network is increasingly fiber based, compared to AT&T who still mostly have a copper infrastructure. Verizon has a lot more bandwidth than AT&T does.

[Ishido]

I'm not some douche who uses my iphone constantly so I don't really give a shit. I would love to have an iphone on verizon though.