RIM Shows Off 'PlayBook' BlackBerry Tablet

As long as there is an option for unlimited data, then I'm all for it. Not everyone watches Netflix all the time 🙄

h_aguilar84 said:
As long as there is an option for unlimited data, then I'm all for it. Not everyone watches Netflix all the time 🙄

You can't have it both ways. There are only two viable options:

1) force everyone onto unlimited plans, where the 2% of data abusers get subsidized by forcing higher rates onto reasonable users.

2) Charge each customer relatively proportional to the amount of data they use individually, (tiered pricing where unlimited is not an option).

I prefer the second option.

At least you understand the concept of tiered data, which that ideal is lost on the OP. To suggest that this or ANY tablet won't sell because of limited data is ludicrous.

To me its more like, why build out when we can leave our system the same, drop $5.00 of the price of data, then cap it where the customer in many (not all) get screwed. You have to be an idiot to give up unlimited data for $30 to save 5 bux for a cap of 2GB.

As far as abusers, go after that 2%, not the other 98%, offer more choices, want a lessor plan, sure have it. Toss in a $10 250mb, $20 2GB plan, but leave well enough alone.

With smartphones, no matter the flavor becoming more and more data intensive these caps will be exceeded by the masses, and more money for less is going to goto the carriers.

I'm glad you and I agree on one point, but I think you may have missed my post immediately above that shows you CAN'T have it both ways.

Versed said:
As far as abusers, go after that 2%, not the other 98%, offer more choices, want a lessor plan, sure have it.

Well, that's EXACTLY what tiered pricing does! It goes after the high-end users and makes no noticeable changes to people who aren't high end users.

I'm not fond of arguing whether 2GB or 5GB or 10GB should be considered a sufficient tier, and I don't particularly care for AT&T's $12.50/GB for the first 2GB and then $10/GB beyond that.

But in the end, [base price] + [cost per GB] is the RIGHT pricing model for wireless data consumption.

The only...
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To be honest, I don't go over 2gb, but on unlimited, my daughter does like 2.5, she doesn't tether, she doesn't jailbreak, she does nothing what even a carrier would be considered a break in a terms of service. But she does, watch a lot of youtube, she does stream music from Pandora, she does use Skype. All of which are sanctioned. Both of us are grandfathered unlimited. My youngest who took my 3gs after I got an ip4 (she rather have that then an upgrade) is on the tiered 2gb plan.

I know this whole conversation is a tangent off the topic. But to bring it back to earth, if one wants unlimited data, get a VM Mifi, $40 per month unlimited.

Or check out Clear if they are in your area. $40 will get you unlimited 4G.

Another good option, that is IF you have wimax, and IF you never leave a wimax area and have to back roam to Sprints EVDO network, of which it won't work.

What is interesting if one travels to Japan, for a buck or so a day you can roam onto their Wimax network.

You are, of course, right. And I know this. I just felt like being contrary for a moment. 😈

So horrible in fact that at&t has seen a record increase in new smartphone activations since they were introduced

See, this is where being techno junkie can hurt more than it helps because you can't understand how 'normal' people view things.

Most people don't think of cheaper data plans as a burden, they think of them as a blessing.

The #1 complaint people have about smartphones is the required data plan, they way they look at it, to NOT have to pay $30 every month is great, now smartphones become affordable, you no longer have to agree to get anal raped every month to have a smartphone, and consumers are loving it, which is why at&t has seen a record number of new activations of smartphones since the introduction of the new data...
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Good for those who don't --use-- their smartphones!

soooo by your logic, 98% of smartphone users DON'T in fact "use" them???
I had unlimited data on my BB and iPhone. COMBINED I use 1.5 GB a month, and I'm constantly streaming music on my 45 min commute to work.
My wife had a Blackberry for the PIM stuff, and it was driving me $^&#ing nuts! Why should I pay $30 a month for her to use 20 MB of data per month? Heavy users are penalizing me!
So moral of the story is, guess who is saving $25 a month on their bill ($300 a year!!!). That's right me... with tiered data. Don't argue - thanks for playing.

I use my iphone a ton, even at work through the day and I have yet to clear 2gb. That includes use of netflix (watched three seasons of Avatar in one cycle and still not over 2GB.)

Jayshmay said:
Good for those who don't --use-- their smartphones!

EXACTOMENTO.

And wait, when more data intensive media is tossed out, see the smile turn to a frown when what would have been $30 will be $50 and up.

Not everyone was running or using torrents. Just a few, go after them. I hate when they market these phones, on what it can do, and how you can do this and that, then bitch when you have to watch what you do, so some greedy corporation can stick it to you for more, or doesn't have to build out infrastructure to support it.

Well, here's the thing. $30 unlimited data made sense in the days of EDGE and 1x. Those dinosaurs didn't gobble up bandwidth like 3G/4G phones do. The network infrastructure needs built out and capacity added.
In 2005, I was paying $30 a month for data for my BlackBerry 7280. i also remember not that long ago paying 99 cents per gallon of gas - now close to $3, and $2 per pack of cigarettes - now nearly $10 in NY!
The cost to deliver services is always on the rise, and despite your expectations that corporations should act as nerd charities, the cost of delivering wireless services is on the rise as well. If you're spending $55 on data for your phone, you're using up to 5GB of data on a smartphone. Don't even TRY to justify that as "norm...
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How about adding this to the mix Jeff, I remember when a plasma screen tv cost several thousand dollars and weighed over 100lbs. Now there are like $600 for a better one. Technology moves on and gets cheaper. Resources like oil move the other way.

I appreciate and hoped for that response. In the days of the bag phone, we sold 40 minutes for $40. Today, your dollar goes further for your wireless service. It's the product of competition and demand. In that regard, my friend i agree 100%.
Part of the problem lies in that now, demand is swelling almost faster than the wireless companies can keep up. The cost of running newer, higher capacity backhauls to the sites alone is enormous. Meanwhile, operating in the restraints of the network capacity today, you have a select population of your customer base monopolizing the bandwidth which makes everyone's wireless experience that much less, and serving to discourage the high-revenue push into smartphones. It's like going into a grocery store...
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I will !!continue!! to have 😁 unlimited 😁 until -at least- March of 2012, cause that's how long my current contract with Verizon is good for.

I found an nifty trick to getting unlimited data with AT&T still, but it requires an iphone 2g. Since the only data plan for the 2G is the $20.00 unlimited, if you activate that and then add a data plan, you can request that it grandfather you into the $30.00 unlimited plan from the $20. It's worked for me when I activated my new iphone, just took my dad's old 2G, activated it, then added my iphone 4 and voila!

Very good, very good!!!