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AT&T won't change iPhone data plan rates
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AT&T Mobility has no plans to change the pricing on its data plans for Apple's iPhone, the company said. There had been speculation that AT&T would modify its rate plans to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 3G S.
"We've been very happy with our pricing," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told Dow Jones Newswires. Siegel said the company's current data rates would remain in effect when the iPhone 3G S goes on sale June 19. According to AT&T, the average monthly bill for an iPhone user is in the mid-$90 range.
The company said that revenue generated from iPhone subscribers is 1.6 times higher than that of its other wireless customers. However, that revenue comes with a price tag all its own: AT&T has to continually manage and upgrade its network to handle all of the data traffic that iPhone customers generate, and spends millions of dollars subsidizing the device.
AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de le Vega said last month at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York that the carrier might consider offering limited data plans for lower fees, and rumors circulated that the carrier would cut the price of the iPhone's minimum monthly plan from $70 to $60. However, de le Vega dismissed the idea that the carrier would offer an iPhone without a data plan, which he said would be bad business. "Our business is to sell services," he said.
For more:
- see this Down Jones Newswires article (sub.req.)
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Comments
Posted by Anonymous | June 12, 2009 - 10:35am
Well thank goodness Sprint and the Palm Pre provides value. For $69.99 I get 450 min with unlimited N&W at 7pm plus unlimited data, navigation, text/picture mail, etc on a pretty kick ass data network.
Posted by Mike Demler | June 12, 2009 - 11:19am
I don't understand why the media consistently refer to the iPhone's minimum monthly data plan as $70. It's not!
• The iPhone data plan is $30 per month.
• The minimum voice plan is 450 minutes @$39.99.
• Together that's $69.99, and the data plan obviously is required, but what's so hard about getting the details right?
-Mike Demler
Posted by Mike Dano | June 12, 2009 - 11:21am
To Mike Demler: Good point, thanks! The article has been updated --Mike Dano, managing editor
Posted by amking | June 12, 2009 - 1:01pm
Why would they change the data plan pricing?
I honestly don't understand the media & blogosphere's rage on this one. An unlimited personal/consumer domestic data plan with either of the two top national carriers (AT&T or Verizon) for ANY smartphone is $30. Doesnt matter if it is a Blackberry, a Windows Mobile PDA, or an iPhone. Same with the domestic and international enterprise (business) plans for corporate email... beyond a couple of device specific/custom plans, BB/iPhone/WM PDA are all the same price before the business discount ($45).
Maybe its because they all were exposed to the original iPhone data plan pricing, which was lower due to the lack of subsidy and AT&T/Apple's desire to gain marketshare quickly. Obviously with the 3G models the huge subsidy comes into play, as well as the fact that AT&T has to make up for the huge increase in data traffic.
Posted by Anonymous | June 12, 2009 - 1:13pm
Where is everyone getting their numbers from?
When I visit AT&T online, they show $35/month for smartphone/pda data plan.
And I don't see anything about $30/month data plan on AT&T's website. Post a link if you have it.
Posted by Anonymous | June 12, 2009 - 3:13pm
But that $69.99 doesn't get you Text Messaging or GPS Navigation. You get both with Sprint's plan.
Posted by Anonymous | June 12, 2009 - 11:17pm
I used to be a Sprint customer and switched to AT&T because they have a much better network than Sprint. I'd rather have AT&T's plan and their reliable network than Sprint's haphazzard network that keeps dropping calls and has spotty coverage.
Posted by Anonymous | June 13, 2009 - 4:54pm
location, location, location I was At&t customer that switched to Sprint because of too many dropped calls.........now I have the lowest rate plan on a much better network.
Posted by amking | June 15, 2009 - 12:38pm
(form blocks posting of links)
The $35 data plan is 'stand-alone' for users that do not have a voice plan. If you also have voice service (the typical setup), the plan drops to $30 'bolt-on'. Most of the carriers have this sort of pricing.
As for the business plans I mentioned, I dont believe those are posted online.
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