Technology

Exclusive US iPhone, iPad carrier AT&T dumps unlimited data plan

From: AP
Thu Jun 03 08:44:43 EST 2010 Thu Jun 03 08:44:43 EST 2010

AT&T, the exclusive carrier for Apple iPhone and iPad in the US, is phasing out its offering of unlimited wireless data for $US30 per month.

The relationship has caused plenty of headaches for US users, summed up by a question put to Apple head Steve Jobs by Wall St Journal reporter Walt Mossberg at yesterday's opening of the D8 conference.

"Steve, we love our iPhones... but our concern is that we can't make a phone call on it," Mossberg said.

"Is someone working on that?"

Jobs said Apple worked exclusively with AT&T because they had "been investing billions of dollars in the last couple of years to create a great network" and he wanted the iPhone to be a "world phone".

When Apple released the iPad in America, one of the decisions that surprised many onlookers was a deal cut with AT&T that allowing iPad owners to opt out of 12-month or two-year plans in favour of month-by-month prepaid plans.

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Comments on this story

Brendan of Hobart Posted at 9:07 AM June 03, 2010

"We wish", if only we had prices that good in Australia....

Comment 1 of 14
Jimmy of Las Vegas Posted at 9:13 AM June 03, 2010

POOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE AT&T; SERVICE, THOSE WHO WANT TO USE THE INTERNET MUCH ON THEIR SMART PHONES, NOW THEY will be limited to 2GB per month LOL. SO NOW YOU KNOW, IF YOU HAVE AN IPHONE DON'T USE IT TOO MUCH, EVEN TO MAKE A CALL 'CAUSE YOU'LL GET A DROPPED CALL HAHAHAHA

Comment 2 of 14
Peter of Canberra Posted at 9:23 AM June 03, 2010

I'm a pretty heavier user on my iphone and I struggle to get over 500MB in a month. The cheap "unlimited" plans know this and are happy to offer it as you can't use P2P services which often choose up a lot of bandwidth. Mind you if the rumours of a front camera on the iphone is true enabling video calling this may change things a little.

Comment 3 of 14
David of country NSW Posted at 9:45 AM June 03, 2010

Brendan, most of our local suppliers actually have plans better than the new AT&T; ones, and almost better than the old ones too.

Comment 4 of 14
Lukas Posted at 9:58 AM June 03, 2010

hahaha, the yanks are copying our crappy model for a change while we are trying to copy theirs

Comment 5 of 14
Andrew R of Brisbane Posted at 10:10 AM June 03, 2010

Still seems better than the current Telstra mobile plans here.

Comment 6 of 14
James of Sydney Posted at 10:59 AM June 03, 2010

They got away with this nonsense in Australia so they are trying it in the U.S. We really get shafted by the telecommunications companies in Australia.

Comment 7 of 14
Blake of Sydney Posted at 11:33 AM June 03, 2010

Ipad SIM card + SIM card adapter/converter + 3G Modem = $50 unlimited internet per month. Thank you sir.

Comment 8 of 14
Joey of Eastern USA Posted at 11:53 AM June 03, 2010

This story is inaccurate. The changes are to smartphone plans only!!! Not the iPad plans.

Comment 9 of 14
iTampon of Oztralia Posted at 12:00 PM June 03, 2010

Bait 'n' switch by the telcos. Never heard of it before this! How shocking! This will kill off the iTampon faster than anything else - the world needs an 'always on' device, and Apple is (now) not it.

Comment 10 of 14
Tony Posted at 12:45 PM June 03, 2010

All this network congestion because of data use is great i reckon, it stops the telemarketers from calling my mobile with the network busy all the time :p

Comment 11 of 14
Brad of Gilead Posted at 1:33 PM June 03, 2010

Damn, I was fortunate to have the unlimited plan while in the US last month... Mind you, even buying apps, music and movies I still didnt go over 3GB in a month... So why do we need more???

Comment 12 of 14
Richard of Sydney Posted at 2:16 PM June 03, 2010

15 $ per month for 1 gig of data from Voda...

Comment 13 of 14
johnstich Posted at 2:22 PM June 03, 2010

These schemes (and scams) are used by companies that don't want to spend any money on infrastructure but instead "manage" their network by punishing their customers for using the network at all; in ALL cases it leads to inferior networks because the telco has focused only on milking a poor quality network and keeping it poor quality, not by making it a decent network that can handle unlimited data plans. This has been clearly shown in Europe, limited networks always suffer substantial quality problems as the company is focused only on short term cash grabs.

Comment 14 of 14