AT&T Forcing More Users To $30/Month Data Plan
In other words, any Palm, Windows Mobile or Symbian S60-based phone that is purchased from AT&T will have to be paired with a $30/month data plan. And yes, that includes the incredible small Nokia Surge, which is absolutely no a smartphone by anyone's definition other than AT&T's. Of course, if you go out and buy your own unlocked device, there's still a chance that the $15/month MEdia Net plan could be applied to your account, but said plan (which allows for unlimited data, but was conceived for use on dumbphones that barely use any data at all) is becoming increasingly difficult to apply.
Speaking of MEdia Net, AT&T has stated that it will be "changing the policies" surrounding it in order to "give subscribers a more consistent billing experience," which probably means jacking up the unlimited rates and doing away or limiting the "per MB" rate that currently sits at $2/MB for domestic data use. When talking about the addition of the $30/month data plan to all "smartphones," AT&T had this to say:
"Smartphone users tend to consume a higher amount of data services, like advanced e-mail, mobile Web, applications, and more. Being able to take full advantage of these features without having to worry about a fluctuating or unusually high bill generally leads to greater customer satisfaction, so effective Sept. 6, smartphone customers will need to subscribe to a data plan, as the vast majority of customers already do."
Don't be confused--that statement really says nothing at all of value. It's a poor attempt to dodge the fact that the company is trying to charge more for data plans that won't be used as much as those on iPhones and BlackBerry handsets, so make darn sure the next smartphone you buy from AT&T is really intelligent. Otherwise, you may need to take your business elsewhere.
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Via: InformationWeek | News Archive
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Comments
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I use a Moto SLVR from AT&T. I have been really unhappy with them for a while now. My bill has gone up $30 a month over the 3 or so years I have had the phone and when you talk to them about it they talk so much random crap that I end up changing nothing because I don't really understand what they are talking about and I don't wanna end up paying more. One thing I did do was lower my minutes to the lowest plan 450 minutes or something like that. They argued with me for 10 minutes about how I would lose the 10,000 roll over minutes I had. Why the hell do you think I have that many minutes? Maybe because I don't use them? Maybe? Just a guess.
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