RSS RSS Twitter Twitter
macnn/electronista

02/19/2008, 3:10pm, EST

Tuesday, February 19th

AT&T offers unlimited plan, includes iPhone

(Update 2 with iPhone and BlackBerry/Windows Mobile rates) Quickly following a similar move by Verizon, cellular carrier AT&T today said it would introduce an unlimited plan of its own. The $100 monthly agreement allows subscribers to call anywhere within the US without the long distance or roaming charges that normally come with service, regardless of the length of the call. Data and MMS/SMS messaging services are not included but can be added to the plan at either $15 for data or $20 for texting.

The plan should be available as of Friday the 22nd and will not require a contract extension for current subscribers. However, the plan is currently targeted at AT&T's mainstream lineup and does not directly apply to devices that need special calling or data plans, such as BlackBerries and Windows Mobile handsets. These devices can receive unlimited voice and data for $130 per month for users with personal mail or $145 per month for corporate mail.

The iPhone is now known to be included in the offerings but will cost a minimum of $120 per month, as it requires the same $20 monthly unlimited data plan as for standard iPhone plans. Text messaging options reflect those of the standard three tiers and include 200 SMS texts with the default plan, while an additional $10 or $20 will boost the allotted messages to 900 and an unlimited amount.

AT&T's pricing scheme places the company's offerings roughly in line with those of Verizon's own $100 plan, including extra rates for messaging, Internet access, and video features.


Filed under: iPhone, industry
Other story tags: AT&T, Verizon

, , 11comments, del.icio.us, slashdot, digg, buzz , Twitter
11 comments
Reader Reactions (Please use <i></i> for italic text)

subscribe to comments
for this article




Expand All   Global Settings
great! cell phone wars
0
02/19, 2:33pm, EST
About 5 years ago, a company actually had an unlimited plan for $100, but was discontinued once that company was bought by another company.

Finally, back to the days when cell phone companies actually compete for your business!!!

Thank you! iPhone leads the way to put pressure on the cell phone market!!!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2006
User is offline
Family Plans?
0
02/19, 4:29pm, EST
I wonder how this will be extended to those of us with multiple handsets on Family Talk Plans?
Those prices seem...
0
02/19, 5:13pm, EST
outrageous. $130 a month for handset usage is absurd. There needs to be a revamping of the entire phone industry. 4G/WiMax had better get here soon. Anyone know how this cost compares to places like Korea or Japan where people live on their cellphones.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Aug 2007
User is offline
Japan
0
02/19, 5:56pm, EST
ahem....yes....compared with Japan you should really stop complaining...japan is actually darn expensive- most of my school kids are on the phone all the time because they're sending free e-mails, listening to music or playing games. Calling is a rip-off. I pay 5000Y (I suppose about $50) for 62 minutes of calling. There are more expensive plans but they really don't up the number of minutes hugely. $130 a month could be great if you don't need a home phone and just go mobile!
Junior Member
Joined Apr 2000
User is offline
cowards
0
02/20, 5:04am, EST
After living in teh States for 7 years, it never stops surprising me what big cowards Americans are in the relation to companies. The cell phone plans are outrageous compared to Europe and extra services like sms, mms, and data traffic are especially expensive. On top of this, Americans gladly accept paying even for incoming minutes (unheard of in Europe), they accept the phone bills to be overloaded with surcharges and taxes. On top of it all, the services are so incredibly bad that you think you are in a 3rd world country. Where is the protest and anger? My only explanation is that the people simply haven't traveled and seen how it could be. Kinda like living in North Korea and believing the regime's propaganda or something.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2006
User is offline
Re: cowards
0
02/20, 8:12am, EST
Where is the protest and anger?

Protest and anger. Right, I can see it now. A bunch of 20 year olds storming the Verizon headquarters, chanting "We want better service!".

The problem is (a) demanding better service means nothing if no one offer them (you can't switch to voice your disapproval), (b) the only way to really get better plans is to have people cancel. But everyone is so in love with their cell phones that they won't be caught dead without it. So they're stuck.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Aug 2001
User is offline
uhm...
0
02/20, 10:21am, EST
So does the post above mean the japanese are even bigger "cowards"? It's called market forces.

Your post was stupid. That is all.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jul 2002
User is offline
WIFI/WiMAXX
0
02/20, 10:35am, EST
Once these get off the ground and I can make cheap VOIP calls these phone companies will be hurt. I just cut my landline LD in favour of Gizmo and my cell phone. If I had reliable i-net access anywhere, I'd kill the cell phone as well and use my Nokia iTablet and Gizmo as my only communication device. Of course if that 700 Mhz band gets opened up....
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Oct 2000
User is offline
Unl. Service
0
02/20, 12:12pm, EST
AT&T used to have a $100 all-you-can-eat plan several years ago but bought Cingular and it went bye-bye. IIRK, most of the AT&T network was still TDMA at the time.

People are going more and more towards the Metro PCS and myFaves types of services b/c 98% of their calling is from their own home areas. Verizon needs to drop its prices, as does every other carrier. In fact, I just read that Sprint is supposedly going to have a plan at $60/mo.

I pay $40 right now for a myFaves 300 min plan--I call/talk to any 5 ppl I want unlimited and I have 300 minutes for anyone else. I've had it for about a year and I haven't gone over the 300min mark. On my last bill, I ranked up just over 2500min, so unlimited plans are my favorite.

I like the iPhone but I'm not impressed w/ AT&T; it would have to be $60 w/ at least 1000 min + N/W for me to even consider it. 400 lousy minutes for $60 a month is ludicrous! Yes, it has unlimited internet which costs an addl $20/mo, but I can pay that same amount of money and get the 5 faves plus unlimited internet on the same EDGE-type network.

Mark my words....if this goes through, you're going to hear a lot more "hello? can you hear me?" b/c the cell networks are going to get saturated.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2008
User is offline
NETWORK Competition BAD
0
04/14, 12:01pm, EDT
Carrier competition good.

The US, unlike the rest of the world, is a dual network cellular system - both CDMA (Verizon, Sprint - Japan and S. Korea) and GSM (AT&T and T-Mobile, along with the rest of the world). This dual investment in redundant, incompatible infrastructure is what drains the money of the carriers, so that they don't have the money OR time resources to get all the new stuff running.

If we could get Verizon and Sprint to join the rest of the world, then the carriers could compete on features and capabilities. As it is, their primary competitive pitch is coverage - a sorry state of affairs, such as it is.

CDMA may be a more technically capable network, but this is the old beta-VHS debate. GSM may be slightly technically inferior, but the convenience of users swapping SIMs out from phone to phone, and not having to go to the store to re-provision another phone is sweet.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2005
User is offline
Your Comments

In order to post comments: If you are a registered member, please login with your MacNN Forums username and password otherwise please uncheck the checkbox below.


Registered Member?
macnn forums login:

macnn forums password:

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

www.cashforiphones.com - Sell your iPhone or iPod today! Get an instant online quote. Top cash, FREE shipping.

Internet Marketing School - 100% Online: Master SEO, SEM, E Commerce, Media & More with a U of San Francisco Certificate.

Buy from The Apple Store, iTunes.com, Amazon.com, TechDepot, OfficeDepot, Computers4Sure, or donate.