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AT&T to Officially Mandate Data Plans for All Smartphones

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Here's the real deal.

geminices

Aug 23, 2009, 12:00 AM
😲 #1. Att is not the first major wireless carrier to make that switch. they were the LAST.

Sprint's required it for a while, Verizon for about a year or so, and T-Mobile started a couple months back.

😲 #2. What in the hell would you want a damn data phone for, unless to go on the internet. If you're one of the stupid sheep out there, that buys a phone for it's sole fact of "everyone else has one I want one too" you should be required to shoot a .12 gauge with your foot, through your brain.

😲 #3. Data Phones, are VERY VERY expensive at retail costs. EVERY consumer wants data phones CHEAP. do you think the wireless carriers really pay NOTHING for the blackberry you got for free yesterday? NO. how do they recouperate costs for t...
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Kryger

Aug 23, 2009, 3:57 PM
i agree
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Pocket_Girl

Aug 23, 2009, 4:48 PM
answer me this then Mr #s. you go to HEB to buy some milk. before you leave the store they tell you that you have to buy a bag of oranges. but you dont want any. you dont like oranges. you just wanted milk.

but they tell you, "well you came in our store to shop so everyone that comes in here has to buy a bag even though they dont need it or want it"
you say "well... why?"

" well sir, because you are coming in here and we have to pay money for electricity and water and buy new equipment. you buying only milk is making us loose money. so now we are forcing everyone to buy a bag of oranges with their purchase so we can make more money."

you would be ok with that? so now you have to go to Globe or wal Mart or AppleTree so you dont h...
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h_aguilar84

Aug 23, 2009, 4:57 PM
But the world doesn't work that way. People want everything and expect to pay nothing.
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Pocket_Girl

Aug 23, 2009, 5:24 PM
wanting to pay for a plan for calling and texting only because thats what you only use is "wanting everything and expect to pay nothing" ????

some people dont want data service and dont expect to pay for it because they DONT want it
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h_aguilar84

Aug 23, 2009, 5:54 PM
No, you WANT a smartphone and EXPECT not to pay the price for the ENTIRE service.

Whether or not you WANT the internet is irrelevant. Expect to pay the price for what you buy.
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Menno

Aug 23, 2009, 7:16 PM
If you only want to call and text, then you get a dumphone with a qwerty keyboard. No one is preventing you from doing this.
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Kryger

Aug 23, 2009, 7:34 PM
y get a smartphone and not want data?

ur logic doesnt make sense. thats like saying i want a chocolate chip cookie but dont want the chips...

its called common sense. u dont want data DONT GET A DATA PHONE!

easy
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dxniel

Aug 24, 2009, 5:13 PM
dont get a data phone simple as that......moron

why u gonna have a pda or blackberry and not get data with it? if you wanna do that get a razr v3, thats like somebody gettin an iphone just to use as a phone, its retarded!
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Menno

Aug 23, 2009, 7:25 PM
If you don't want to pay the data feature, you CHOOSE A DIFFERENT PHONE. Att offers dozens of phones (some with very smartphone like features) that do not require a data plan. No one is forcing you to buy a smartphone, or charging data on all plans (or even forcing old subscribers to sign up for data)

That is why your argument fails. If you don't intend on using the phone for internet browsing/email, then get a dumbphone. If you intend to use net/email, get a smartphone.

Your analogy would actually be more accurate with the following:

Customer: Hi, I notices outside that you were offering free milk with the purchase of oranges.

Employee: Why yes we are, the total comes to ____

Customer: No, I don't want the oranges, I ...
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Kryger

Aug 23, 2009, 7:29 PM
lol damn milk vendors and their racist oranges!!!
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dxniel

Aug 24, 2009, 5:15 PM
hilarious nice response to the whole milk thing 😁
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cwc24

Aug 24, 2009, 11:25 PM
What the hell is wrong with you? He wasn't saying he wants the milk for free. Man. Read. Some people want the advanced calendars and syncing capabilities. Are you that daft to reject the idea that some people don't need to get online whenever they want? Oh, don't forget that many people are willing and do pay the higher price for the phone, no rebate or even no subsidy. Some people like to have their PDA and phone in the same device but DON'T GET ON THE INTERNET OR CHECK EMAIL 24/7. Wow. Do you remember that there were PDA phones that could not get on the internet back in the day and people still bought them? Maybe you're too young. Thank you so much AT&T for once again joining the "Screw the customer" bandwagon. Greed is ruining ...
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Menno

Aug 25, 2009, 10:05 AM
1: I carry a PDA and a phone around with me (for me, it is because I can't get a smartphone yet, but you can do it to avoid smartphone costs). Yes, it is annoying, but it is a solution. If people want convienence of one device there will be a cost.
2: I am in total support of people getting smartphones without data providing they pay the higher cost of the phone. What I am against is people wanting the phone for the price with data but refusing to pay the data.
3: The person I am replying to is one of those people who thinks she "deserves" a phone for 199, even if she refuses to pay for the data that allows the company to offer it for that price.

In my example, the MILK was the smartphone, the oranges were the data package. If yo...
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Phoner

Aug 24, 2009, 9:29 AM
geminices said:
😲 #2. What in the hell would you want a damn data phone for, unless to go on the internet.


I't a tool, not a toy. It's got as many uses as I want, from reading e-books to running the software that I write for it. The only times I might use data features, I'm within wifi range.

If you're one of the stupid sheep out there, that buys a phone for it's sole fact of "everyone else has one I want one too" you should be required to shoot a .12 gauge with your foot, through your brain.

Ditto for those who think a smartphone is only useful for the Internet. Rocks, glass houses.

EVERY consumer wants data phones CHEAP.

You say that...
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ExploderBlade

Aug 27, 2009, 4:44 PM
Are you serious?

Blah, blah. AT&T wants to raise prices, and chose to leech off smartphone users like myself, instead of doing it accross the board. Probably because smartphones are on the news as the "big cash cow of the recession".

That was your best defense...blah,blah,blah?

You know the retail cost of a LG Neon (a consumer device)? $249.99. And it's a relatively new device. You know the retail of a Blackberry Bold? 649.99, And it's knocking on the door of almost a year old now. How much is an LG Neon after rebates a t a coporate store? FREE. That's a 249.99 cost the company recoups from charging for a plan. How about that Bold? $149.99. That's $500 that company has two years to recoup that cost, and how do they do it? They charg...
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ElTriste

Aug 24, 2009, 5:21 PM
Sprint doesn't require a data plan for smart phones. Only feature phones (palm pre, and samsung instinct.) So don't get it twisted. Most of those smart phones have wi-fi so there really is no need for a data plan. All this is gonna do is ruin my sales.
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dxniel

Aug 24, 2009, 5:37 PM
ur not good at selling data phones?
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ElTriste

Aug 24, 2009, 7:23 PM
I'm great at selling data phones. The problem is there are alot of people who don't wanna spend 99 dollars a month for 900 minutes and JUST data. I have alot of friends with blackberries, black jacks, etc...who use them solely for txting, and don't some janky pos phone like the propel or the pantech matrix. The bottom line is CHOICE. When you tell someone they HAVE to have data, they're less likely to want it. you WILL see a drop in sales after this, I guarantee it.
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Menno

Aug 25, 2009, 10:11 AM
Yes they will, but unless that drop in sales is coupled with a loss of customers, they'll actually see an increase in profits.

In a way it is sort of ATT's Fault. They waited a long time before they started offering feature phones with full keyboards that weren't Blackberry/Winmo.

Don't be surprised if Sprint follows suit with ATT on this though. I doubt they like losing money on giving away smartphones without any data attached. Hopefully they'll do it like Verizon instead, and grandfather in the devices instead of just current plans though.
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