AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#2From the title I thought it would be a goodwill gesture. "Text messages are so ubiquitous now, they should be a standard part of every phone plan."
Nope. Now the only option is $20 for unlimited texting.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#3I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#4I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.
... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system.
It seems that the right strategy for AT&T to pursue would be to follow the natural decline in the cost of these services by offering a better plan-- say $5 for 2,000 messages a month. As they lower the cost of an individual SMS, the usage should go up dramatically, and since SMS has network effects, this might slow the shift away from SMS as the messaging service of choice.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#5This seems shortsighted to me. I'm already seeing non-tech friends using messaging apps that don't go over SMS - with the mass adoption of smart phones, this hopefully is the nail in the coffin for SMS.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#6I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.
... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. It seems that the right strategy for AT&T to pursue would be to follow the natural decline in the cost of these services by offering a better plan-- say $5 for 2,000 messages a month. As they lower the cost of an individual SMS, the usage should go up dramatically, and since SMS has network effects, this might sl…
Or you can do what I do and still send a few text messages just not enough that a 10$-20$ per month plan is cheaper.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#7This seems shortsighted to me. I'm already seeing non-tech friends using messaging apps that don't go over SMS - with the mass adoption of smart phones, this hopefully is the nail in the coffin for SMS.
Devil's advocate: Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents?
SMS at current prices is going to go. It can't compete with internet-based solutions like iMessage and BBM, especially in regions with many small countries like Europe or Asia where international fees can be quite restrictive. (This is why Skype became so popular in Europe.)
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#8Like I mentioned on Twitter, if you don't like the new plans, you can always switch to T-Mobile. Oh, wait...
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#9I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.
... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. It seems that the right strategy for AT&T to pursue would be to follow the natural decline in the cost of these services by offering a better plan-- say $5 for 2,000 messages a month. As they lower the cost of an individual SMS, the usage should go up dramatically, and since SMS has network effects, this might sl…
... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system.
Assuming your conversation partners can keep tabs on what system to use. Your Android pals can't iMessage you, and using Google Talk or another IM service on an iPhone has always felt a little kludgy.
Sounds to me it's designed to drive you to one of two choices: either pay $20/month for a service you don't need, or cut it out altogether and pay 20c every time you get an SMS from someone who can't use iMessage/Twitter/Facebook messaging.
At 20c/message it doesn't take long before you end up paying as much or more than you would've been paying under an SMS plan.
Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers
#10This seems shortsighted to me. I'm already seeing non-tech friends using messaging apps that don't go over SMS - with the mass adoption of smart phones, this hopefully is the nail in the coffin for SMS.
Devil's advocate: Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents? SMS at current prices is going to go. It can't compete with internet-based solutions like iMessage and BBM, especially in regions with many small countries like Europe or Asia where international fees can be quite restrictive. (This is why Skype became so popular in Europe.)
Perhaps, but I don't believe that $20 a month will be easily swallowed during a time of low consumer confidence.