Apple and AT&T Announce iPhone Service Plans 538
daveschroeder writes "Apple and AT&T today announced service plans for iPhone, 4 days before its release in the US at 6pm local time on Friday, June 29. The plans are $59.99/mo for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes, and $99.99 for 1350 minutes, and all include unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, rollover minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Any other standard AT&T service plan may also be used. A two year service plan is required, with a $175 cancellation fee if terminated early. In addition, activations are done via iTunes, so only the hardware is purchased in the store. Interestingly, activation of a contract via iTunes is required to enable the iPod/syncing functionality of the phone as well. (It will remain to be seen whether there are workarounds for this for those who only want the iPod functionality of iPhone, and whether the iPhone is easily unlockable for those who wish to try it on alternate carriers, and so on.)"
Unlimited data, eh? (Score:1, Interesting)
Alternate carriers (Score:5, Interesting)
Apparently, Apple had to make AT&T make changes to the voicemail system to accommodate some nifty features, so if you switched carriers, you might lose voicemail.
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:4, Interesting)
According to the article, you buy the phone from apple or AT&T unactivated...You then use iTunes to activate the phone and your plan. It seems Apple wanted total control over the unboxing and activation experience...they didn't want oily prepubescent AT&T sales reps get their greasy fingerprints all over someone's brand new iPhone
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is who's carrying it:
- Apple retail stores [apple.com]
- Apple online store [apple.com]
- AT&T corporate stores [att.com] (not corporate kiosks or resellers initially, but those may come in the future)
As to the other points:
Yes, it's always been generally said that iPhone would require a two year contract, but what was said at the keynote was that the agreement between Apple and AT&T was a "multi year exclusive", which has subsequently been revealed to be five years. Until today, it appeared that AT&T would be selling the phones with mandatory activation, whereas you could just walk out with a phone from the Apple store. So, a lot of people were hoping that the phone was hackable or easily unlockable, so as to use it with other carriers. If the iTunes activation thing is easily worked around AND the phone is unlockable in some way, then you might be able to move it to another carrier. The worst case scenario - assuming the phone is unlockable - is that you sign on with AT&T, have them unlock the phone after 90 days (assuming it's unlockable in this way), cancel the contract, and move to another carrier. Obviously, a lot of people are hoping they can just buy the hardware, unlock it somehow, and use it on the carrier of their choice. That may still be possible, but we really won't know until people start playing with these things.
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, they make it super easy to transfer an existing number. Bravo Apple!!
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:5, Interesting)
Lines should move fairly quickly.
Re IPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
Rate plan not so bad.... (Score:4, Interesting)
With that in mind this isn't too bad of a deal. It's the same as what I'm paying though 200 text messages instead of 1500. I assume there will be iChat for the iPhone which will use the data plan, so that won't be so bad.
Re:SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? WTF? (Score:5, Interesting)
Who came up with these prices? (Score:2, Interesting)
And Apple/AT&T want the general public to pay HOW much for WHAT again?
I can't wait to laugh at my friend's iPhone when he gets it.
74GB capacity? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://bayimg.com/LAcLFaabd [bayimg.com]
It shows an iPhone with 75GB of storage. Earlier in the video they show the storage as 8GB.
Any speculation as to a hard drive version becoming available sometime soon?
No free nights & weekends? (Score:2, Interesting)
Free nights & weekends seem to be a staple among wireless plans...but I don't see any mention of it in the iPhone plans.
I have free nights & weekends with AT&T now (which start at 7pm, which usually costs $10/mo. extra, but they threw me a bone to apologize for some chronically lousy service a while back...normally they start at 9pm, I believe)...but since I rarely exceed 300 minutes/month, not having them isn't much of a deal-breaker for me.
However, I don't understand why they wouldn't include that feature in the iPhone plans...they're already including unlimited data use, why not just throw in some unlimited voice use during off hours, like they do with all their "normal" plans? Would that break the bank, or are they afraid all their anticipated new customers will overwhelm their systems?
Like I said, this doesn't affect me too much, but it does strike me as a big odd.
You will let us know when ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, I am interested. This news indicates a minor step towards making the iPhone viable for me.
You will let us know when the iPhone is finally made available unlocked so that we can use it with any carrier of choice, and when plans are available with no time periods for those who buy the whole phone up front, and when Apple finally releases the codes to allow us to develop and deploy our own applications, right? Be sure to let your buddy Steve know that we are waiting.
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ah ha! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:1, Interesting)
I'll stick with Songbird [songbirdnest.com], thank you very much.
Re:SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? WTF? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Who came up with these prices? (Score:4, Interesting)
I assume you get no text messages since you didn't mention that but with Sprint those are 300 for $5 or unlimited for $10. Oh, and of course the phone which (subsidized) is still $400.
Can you help us out on how to get your deal?
Re:Who came up with these prices? (Score:4, Interesting)
Contrary to popular belief, insurance rates are determined by the frequency/cost of medical claims far more than the cost of auto body repair work... because medical claims are, by comparison, astronomical.
Case in point: I paid slightly less insurance on a Mercedes Benz than I am paying on my VW... the Benz performs better in 40mph frontal offset crash tests with little or no intrusion into the cabin. The Benzes are tanks... I've seen footage of two 100mph crashes on the Autobahn where the occupants of the vehicle got up and walked away.
I don't know the case with the Bentley specfically, but it is very possible that the insurance rates could be less given the number of safety features typical of luxury vehicles.
iPhone + Laptop? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:A few other notes (Score:3, Interesting)
If you consider that for the somewhat similar HTC devices, they want $40/month for PDA data, and Blackberry plans are similarly expensive, the AT&T plan is excellent, actually a bit cheaper than I had dared to hope. I'd hoped for a realistic base price of $65 with unlimited data and similar numbers of voice minutes, and I was really expecting $75. As it happens, they undercut my most optimistic thoughts by $6. Not bad, not bad at all.
D
Re:+ unlimited data + SMS (Score:3, Interesting)
That's a problem because in the US the service plans include a premium to recover the carrier's cost of subsidizing the handsets. (Which is also the ostensible reason there's an early termination fee.)
Only there's no subsidy on the iPhone. So our monthly plan rates should be lower, right?
Fortunately for AT&T no one seems to have noticed...
unlimited = limited read the fine print! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Treo 650, etc. (Score:1, Interesting)
Several people have said practically this exact same thing to me when I ask about the iPhone. How many times are you driving around looking for a restuarant out of the blue, and upon finding one on your phone (while you're driving?) you need to call them? Uhm, 0 or 1 is the correct answer to this question. Ever. You almost always know where you're going to go eat before you're driving around. If you need directions somewhere, presumably you knew the name of the place before getting in the car. If you're calling for reservations, you're probably not on the way there. This all just seems a little like every other feature; it sounds "so cool" until you realize you'll never need it, or even want it.
Re: Treo 650, etc. (Score:1, Interesting)
Of course your normal suburbanite need not worry about things like this, but then they are generally a lesser type of person anyway so it is fine by me.
Re:SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? WTF? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Unlimited data, eh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Unlimited data, eh? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Ah ha! (Score:4, Interesting)
Depends. If you listen only to /. you'd think everyone in the world depends almost soley on SMS txt messaging. I guess it depends on your 'world', but, pretty much in my circle...it is very rarely used. I have friends that refuse to pay extra for it, and I myself really only 'discovered' it and the T9 functionality during the aftermath of Katrina, when voice was impossible to any phone in the 504 area code, but, text messaging would go through. I learned to use it then.
With the iPhone, I'd probably be doing the same thing...mostly either voice, or maybe email through my own servers....or picture mail which I do now (since with sprint vision, pic mail is 'free', so I send a pic and type text on it).
Re:Alternate Carriers (Score:4, Interesting)
The Treo was cool five years ago because it pioneered the idea of having a Palm PDA with a phone. It hasn't kept up, and Palm OS is creaky and needs a bullet in the head. Even Palm abandoned its own product to deliver a Windows Mobile version, which is actually less functional and more problematic.
I hope the iPhone results in Palm closing down. It really deserves the failure it earned by dumping trash on its own customers.
The Egregious Incompetence of Palm [roughlydrafted.com]
Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Linux, and Symbian currently power the world's smartphones. How does each stack up against Apple's OS X in the iPhone? This article presents an overview of Palm. Palm's early products actually followed a trajectory strikingly similar to Apple's original Macintosh. Differences in the choices made at Palm provide an interesting glimpse into "what if" scenarios of a parallel universe.
Re:Ah ha! (Score:3, Interesting)
Exchange Support Rumor (Score:3, Interesting)