AT&T Chief Regrets Offering Unlimited Data For iPhone

New York Times:

When Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive, spoke about the state of the wireless industry at a conference this week, he shared some surprisingly frank comments about the iPhone. In particular, he said that he wished the company had never offered an unlimited data plan for the device and that he loses sleep over free texting services like Apple's iMessage.

Read the whole story at New York Times

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Comments

[bradkevans]

08:13 PM on 05/07/2012

I regret ever giving AT

[mmike1969]

07:03 PM on 05/07/2012

In short: AT&T was short-sighted and didn't have the vision to figure out what he had and what he needed to do to provide service to his customers.

Sorry but I was on AT&T before the iphone and it was garbage service then!

[Stephie Mark]

11:35 AM on 05/07/2012

The cost of data has become outrageous! $50 for 2.5 gigs???? Seriously??? I go through that in a couple days, and that's just from browsing - not downloading. These companies are forcing us to jailbreak phones and override them. Remember when we were getting charged up to quarter for incoming and outgoing text messages and it finally became public knowledge that it cost the telecomms nearly nothing to process? This reminds me of that. Just yet another way for the 1% to nickel and dime us into slavery. Like, why do I have to pay the electric company a $3.50 fee to pay my bill online ,but it's free to mail a check??? Processing my payment online is all automatic, no people involved. But if I'm willing to waste paper, and stamps and gas and time and go mail a check that an actual person will have to be paid to process that is free?? It makes no sense. They just jumped on the band wagon when they saw an opportunity to make a quick buck before they thought it through. These outrageous fees are the same thing. So what if AT&T makes a couple million less in profit? It's not like they pay any taxes.. I long for the days when this country was run by people and not corporations.

[chiGrkBoy]

08:00 AM on 05/07/2012

I still look forward to dropping AT&T in October, and I don't feel sorry for any of the telecoms.

[Malcontent21]

07:36 AM on 05/07/2012

Yes, for once it's the people getting one over on the corporation rather than the usual shortchanging of the people by corporations so take that predatory capitalist.

[brklynivn]

05:36 AM on 05/07/2012

And many of us regret choosing AT&T as a provider. Sprint has got to be better than this.

[Post31]

01:17 AM on 05/07/2012

Wow!!! How greedy can one guy be?

[Winski]

12:04 AM on 05/07/2012

That's ok bubba. We'll just put you out of business. See ya.

[Mr-Larry]

04:24 PM on 05/06/2012

Boo Hoo. And how much money do you make for getting to make these decisions?

[pitlover51]

04:05 PM on 05/06/2012

AT&T discontinued unlimited data in 2010, and it has since moved to limited, tiered data plans. The switch is working out well for AT&T. In the last quarter, the company reported $6.1 billion in revenue from mobile data alone. Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said 70 percent of the people on tiered data plans were paying for the more expensive options.

thats why at&t is crapping its pants over the possible 5 mill they might owe the fake muslim woman--------after 6.1billion revenue from mobile data alone

[Ginzu Mawa]

02:01 PM on 05/06/2012

"AT&T's Text Messages Cost $1,310 per Megabyte"
http://techcrunch.com/2008/07/01/atts-text-messages-cost-1310-per-megabyte/

if Stephenson think price should be applied to all their services he must make like $27,341,628.00 dollars a year and be completely out of touch with the reality.

http://people.forbes.com/profile/randall-l-stephenson/8130

[supapimp]

12:52 PM on 05/06/2012

I was happy to give up my unlimited plan. ATT been raping me $30 since '08 when i had to get it for my blackberry. WiFi is the way to go. Never go over 100MB on my 4S.

[Chuck Dick]

12:05 PM on 05/06/2012

So easy of a statement to make now, isn't it?

[LesKern]

11:46 AM on 05/06/2012

I used over a GB last month. At current AT&T prices that would be, um, lemme see, carry the one... about 1.5 billion dollars. I am grandfathered in, but that's the only thing keeping me on AT&T. The only thing. Looking for better coverage for my area on a competitor.

[jflorish]

10:04 AM on 05/06/2012

I give at&t credit for at least offering a 200 meg plan on the iphone for only $15. For those that just use apps or email that is not video related, this is a good and cheaper option on the plan.

[Hardy Blacklord]

10:53 AM on 05/06/2012

200 MB for $15??
That's quite expensive.
300MB is 3€ here, for 10€ (about $13) I get 2GB here.

God Bless the free telecommunication market here in Europe.

[whitcombc]

12:01 PM on 05/06/2012

America is so convinced it is the land of the free that it doesn't even know that most autos sold in Europe get 30% or better mileage than the same model in the US. We Americans are now free to get screwed - and they make the cars here and ship them to the UK and Europe. Our Prius gets 51 HIGHWAY and the UK one gets 72 Combined.

[pitlover51]

04:06 PM on 05/06/2012

if its free, why do you mention prices? btw good luck france, with your version of barack obama

[freedom4allau]

05:39 PM on 05/06/2012

I use 11 meg a month - too expensive to pay for something I don't use. T-mobile's coverage may be a bit spotty, but no worse than AT&T and much better rate plan for my unlocked iPhone 3G.