AT&T Denies Tiered Data Pricing for iPhone Users
AT&T has denied reports that it plans to introduce tiered pricing for smartphone users.
A couple of weeks back, AT&T's Ralph de la Vega said the company was working on ways to reduce the strain on their network which is apparently caused by smartphone users eating up too much data. The president of Mobility said the company was considering offering customers "incentives" to reduce or modify their data usage. De la Vega also said some form of usage-based pricing for data is inevitable.
Now Ralph says the company has no plans to introduce a tiered data plans for smartphone users. In a BusinessWeek interview, de la Vega said he thought he had been clear in his comments about data usage.
"There were no follow-up questions, so I figured everyone understood what I was saying," he said, adding, "I guess I should have been more clear."
Addressing the rumors of tiered pricing he said, "There are things people say I said that I didn't say. We have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing," He said, repeating the last part for emphasis.
So, what did he mean when he said AT&T was looking to offer customers incentives to reduce their data usage? Right now, de la Vega seems to think that WiFi hotspots could be their best shot. The company is eager to offer incentives that will encourage customers to switch to WiFi whenever they find themselves near a hotspot.
"Two years ago, all the carriers thought Wi-Fi was a threat" to their cellular networks, says Marc Lowenstein, a consultant who used to run marketing for Verizon Wireless. "Now it's a lifeline."
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Can at&t play Crysis?
Then he should switch to Verizon.
de la Vega... when you leave your words open for speculation don't be surprised when people come up with their own conclusions. I presumed like most, that this 'incentive' was NOT receiving a baseball bat to the knees... >_>
Either way, Vega said usage based pricing was inevitable, but then goes on to say no tiered pricing...
AT&T and their lies.
AT&T prediction: Failure is imminent.
Prepare for the exodus of Iphone 3G users whose 2 yr contract expires in summer 2010. I for one will never pay AT&T another dime for their shitty 3G experience and arrogance...
Not that I want to give them ideas or make them think this is a good one, but... They don't need tiers - just cap usage and bill for overages.
what the hell? If they dont us using their "3g" network then why the hell do they force users to pay that 30 dollar a month plan. If it were up to me i rather opt out of the 30 dollar scheme and use wifi when ever i could
Or they could take all the cash they are spending suing Verizon and use it to upgrade their infrastructure?
Its not like verizon is better. You have to pay them 20bucks+ just for them to turn the wifi on on the droid.
Please change my billing...
Cuz that will void my contract...
Bye A T & T...
why does he have to be so sketchy when he hints at stuff?
makes me thing he's going to send the mob to your house to break your legs if you don't cut down on your data usage...
if you don't have clear cut things to say, don't say anything at all!
At&T and Iphone haters commence to bash away, you guys live for these stories just so you can comment on how much they suck. What a joke all of you are, tired of your jelous uneducated responses about something you know nothing about. Stick with your crap flip phones and crawl back under your rocks. Verizon is for chicks and homos and overcharges and tmobile has garbage phones playing catch up.
@ soldier37
I said nothing of AT&T or the iPhone. I merely have a burning desire to punch de la Vega in the jejunum, because of his idiocy.
Lets see, upgrade the phone network so there is more data thruput and more incentive to charge phone customers for heavy data usage... Scrap that, lets spend the money on WiFi hot spots where customers dont have to pay for it and it costs heaps in maintenance.
Brilliant decision. Good luck with the fold.
charge a monthly connection fee, this is what you pay for the privilege of being able to access the internet when ever you want, then charge by the GB.
I fail to see how this is that hard?
have offpeak times at cheaper prices to balance the load.
you know, all the stuff they have done for ELECTRICITY for AGES!! the internet IS just another utility.
or you could scrap the monthly connection fee and just charge more per GB for "once in a while users", (because other wise these people would be paying less for the privilege to be able to access the net when ever they wanted).
the cost per GB could be based on speed as well, users could select a max speed and they are charged at a rate relative to what ever speed they are actually getting at the time.
this seems fair and directly relates to the load put on the infrastructure.
I understand that you all think this is shit, but prices on this system should be reasonable ( cents per GB, sub $10 a month connection fees) because its more fair. the days of the power users leeching off of the unknowing mainstream lite users who are getting ripped off are over.
Can at&t play Crysis?
Their network can handle Crysis a lot better than Verizon's can.
At&T and Iphone haters commence to bash away, you guys live for these stories just so you can comment on how much they suck. What a joke all of you are, tired of your jelous uneducated responses about something you know nothing about. Stick with your crap flip phones and crawl back under your rocks. Verizon is for chicks and homos and overcharges and tmobile has garbage phones playing catch up.
/b/ down again today?
@ TheKurrgan Thank you for bring some info to the table. I also work with some of the larger teleco companies and I have to say that they don't put their profits back into the company. I understand rewarding employees but come on. I'm dealing with some poor infrastructure right now and it just comes down to greed at the top. We are such a "connected" society that we will pay for crap connections just so we can check my facebook. One other point is that in the corporate world, the VPs dont want to walk on the edge because a failed multi billion dollar job gets you fired(I mean do you want them to live without their Porsches)so its just safer for them to not upset the apple cart and screw over the customer.
I'm staying with my prepay Tmobile.
At&T and Iphone haters commence to bash away, you guys live for these stories just so you can comment on how much they suck. What a joke all of you are, tired of your jelous uneducated responses about something you know nothing about. Stick with your crap flip phones and crawl back under your rocks. Verizon is for chicks and homos and overcharges and tmobile has garbage phones playing catch up.
Written, expressed, and misspelled in the true form of a 14 year old, lol.
I would think that a tiered "pay for what you use" system would work pretty good.
Had iphone 3g for almost 2 yrs. Fail network is fail unless they upgrade their network.
AT&T is crap. I had them several years ago and got sick of their crappy service. I switched to Southwestern Bell only for them to get bought out my AT&T. There is a reason AT&T is rated at the bottom for customer service, they suck. I can guarantee you that they will find a way to stick it to you for their 3g service. Instead of improving their network, they will go to a tiered service. I have to pay 20 for unlimited texting and another 30 for iphone 3g service. That's 50 a month just so I can text and check my email. I don't give a shit about surfing the Internet on my POS phone, yet I have to pay 30 a month to crawl around the Internet like I'm on dialup.
Written, expressed, and misspelled in the true form of a 14 year old, lol.
Granted, soldier37 rambles like a moron and expresses himself as haphazardly as... well, as you do... but for my own edification, to what misspellings do you refer?
jelous uneducated
lol Go back to school and learn to spell
http://brokintongue.com/2009/12/ti [...] %9D-phone/
to be honest Im thinking of just changing my API, saying i lost my iphone and switching to a regular package with no data. The 30$ a month is WAY too much for what i actually use.
A tiered plan could be a god send for most of us.... unless corporate greed has its way, then i will be paying 30$ a month to check email and anything more ill have to sell a kidney.
ATT network does really stink honestly. I get more dropped calls with my iphone than any phone before it. i personally dont like verizon and cant get service at my home with tmobile (who i had previously, i live in the bermuda triangle of tmob service).
having data was fun but if i could knock it down to only 5$ a month to check email and get directions, adresses and phone numbers (which is the important stuff) i would honestly. there are enough wifi spots to connect to if i need to goof off.