Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

macrumors.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 55 posts

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#21

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

goatforce5 wrote: post #16
whichdan wrote: post #13

That's disappointing since $10/1000 messages is a good price point IMO. The "cheapest" iPhone plan right now is $40/mo base, $10 for messages, and $15 for a pathetic 200mb of data. Going from $65/mo to $75/mo for essentially no benefit is really underwhelming.. maybe if they atleast bumped it up to 500mb of data, it wouldn't be so bad.

Or, it seems, 20c per message if you chose to pay for what you use. 20c per message would be a better deal than $20/month for me.

E, no it doesnt. It may "only" be 20c per message, but that is coming AND going. If you expect a reply for each message sent, it takes 50 back and forths to be equal with the unlimited plan.

At&t doesnt ask for you to just bend over, but also says "prepare for it deep". And the government wont do a damned thing because they grease palms on both sides of the aisle.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#22

Post by erikcw »

ben1040 wrote: post #9
nirvana wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... 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,…

When iOS 5 is released, I plan on keeping my current SMS plan for a month to measure how many text I send to non-iPhone users. I'll then downgrade my plan accordingly. My guess is that I'll end up cutting my plan entirely and just paying per text. The vase majority of the people I text with frequently are iPhone users.

It would be a great move by Apple to open the iMessage protocol so Android and other smart phone OS' could participate in the exchange. Unfortunately, my guess is that this won't happen as "free texts" represent a great benefit for switching to an iPhone and opening that network to other vendors would undercut their advantage.

Predication: ATT/Verizon drastically increases the cost of bandwidth on iPhone plans to make up for the cut. We'll see...

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#23

Post by joelhaus »

kragen wrote: post #19

Here in Argentina, I pay about US$10 for about 180 text messages per month. I say "about" because I'm on a prepaid plan; additional messages are about US$0.04 each. Until recently, I could pay about US$4 plus the US$0.04, but they switched the SMS credit to expire after a month instead of after six months, so I have to buy a new SMS card every month. (This also includes a limited amount of voice calling.) It seems to…

> in a competitive market in a country like the US

With At&t and Verizon controlling 80% of the U.S. mobile market, I'm not so sure it's competitive. Is there only a single provider in Argentina or is it structured differently?

Buenos Aires is definitely one of the most affordable cities I've been to (c. 2003), but I do recall being astonished at the prices for electronics.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#24

Post by pacemkr »

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon.

I am:

* Porting my number to Google Voice.

* Getting a voip "landline."

* Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil?

* Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am.

Frankly, I'm sick of paying $120/mo and getting fucked around every corner. I dont NEED this you know; the non-phone part of this phone is a convenience, not a necessity.

I'll let the market/regulators figure this out. In the meantime, I'll be fine not checking my email every five minutes and staring at yet another screen when I'm not in the house/office.

If anybody has recommendations re: my plan of action, I'm all ears.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#25

Post by dwiel »

I have a virign mobile plan here in the US: $25/month

  no contract
  300 minutes
  unlimited texts
  5GB/month of data(it gets slower but not stopped or overcharge after that)
I use my phone mostly to coordinate hanging out, any long conversations happen at home where I have wifi and calls can be routed through gchat or skype on a laptop.

I'm not sure why its not more popular. Oh and I can tether.

NOTE: just checked and it looks like the plan is advertised as $35/mo now

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#27

Post by pacemkr »

dwiel wrote: post #25

I have a virign mobile plan here in the US: $25/month no contract 300 minutes unlimited texts 5GB/month of data(it gets slower but not stopped or overcharge after that) I use my phone mostly to coordinate hanging out, any long conversations happen at home where I have wifi and calls can be routed through gchat or skype on a laptop. I'm not sure why its not more popular. Oh and I can tether. NOTE: just checked and it…

Coverage seems to be the biggest problem/non-problem with Virgin. I had to dump AT&T after two iPhones, because the service turned to shit. I am on Verizon right now and coverage has been great. Prices, not so much (still less than AT&T!) Do you know which underlying network Virgin use? Surely they don't put up their own towers.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#28

Post by bokonist »

pacemkr wrote: post #24

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon. I am: * Porting my number to Google Voice. * Getting a voip "landline." * Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil? * Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am. Frankly, I'm sick of paying…

$120 a month???

I pay $25 a month from Virgin Mobile for unlimited text, unlimited data, and 300 minutes of call time, with a pretty good android smartphone. (It would be $32 a month if you amortize the price of the smart phone, which I had to buy up front). I use easytether to hook up my laptop, no problem.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#29

Post by cooperadymas »

pacemkr wrote: post #24

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon. I am: * Porting my number to Google Voice. * Getting a voip "landline." * Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil? * Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am. Frankly, I'm sick of paying…

You'll find contract free plans are the way to go, especially if you're not interested in the latest smartphone. Virgin Mobile's plan is $35 for 300 minutes a month and unlimited text/data. (Looks like they just raised this from $25). You will be hard pressed to find a contract plan for that cheap, even without data. Virgin Mobile runs on Sprint's network, so you'll have the same coverage you would have with Sprint, with the exception of no roaming.

It's also becoming more and more difficult to find non-smartphones with the big contract companies.

Re: AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

#30

Post by runjake »

pacemkr wrote: post #24

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon. I am: * Porting my number to Google Voice. * Getting a voip "landline." * Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil? * Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am. Frankly, I'm sick of paying…

I don't have any recommendations for you, but here's my plan of action.

I have been monitoring my usage for the past year. I have an iPhone. I've slowly been weaning myself from my emotional attachment to it. Much exposure to WP7 and decent Android phones has helped tremendously. I use an average of 150 voice minutes a month, 20 texts, and ~170mb of data (although most of it is me diddling around, checking Google Reader, FB & Twitter, my device checking and downloading emails and notifications when I'm not near wifi). I'm always within wifi at work and home.

I'm going to start by getting a T-Mobile Pay As You Go SIM. If I can port my # to the SIM, great. If not, I'll port it to my Google Voice account. If I actually need data on the go, in a pinch, I can grab a Web Day Pass for $1.50. But for 11/12's of a day, I'm around wi-fi and so I'll get all my blessed Twitter/FB/G+/GTalk notifications.

I figure 2000 to 2500 prepaid minutes, costing me $200-$250 over the course of a year, should cover my voice and texting for a year. In actuality, I'm lazy at work and often don't use my desk phone, so I expect my wireless minutes usage to plummet. I should see savings of at least $650 a year from what I pay on AT&T.

If this all fails, I will probably look towards the $30 or $50 Monthly4G prepaid plans on T-Mobile (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans) and go from there. Even if I went the $50 route, I'd still save $300 yearly.

The straw that broke the camel's back happened before today's txt plan news, but it's just becoming harder and harder to participate as the victim in this swindle.

Post reply on HN