Starting September 6, new AT&T customers who purchase a smartphone or BlackBerry, as well as existing AT&T customers that upgrade to one of those devices will be required to purchase a $30 data plan with their phone. This requirement puts AT&T in line with the other major carriers, all of whom have had this requirement for a while (although pricing varies by carrier). Until now, AT&T had only required a data plan for the iPhone, one that is built into a separate series of plans available for that device.
MyRatePlan Analysis: The impact is likely to be fairly small, as most people who purchase a high end device would likely purchase data service to take full advantage of the features. However, future customers (and those upgrading) who are mainly interested in having one of these phones for texting via the QWERTY keyboard may choose to instead purchase one of the many “quick messaging” phones offered by AT&T. These will not require a data plan. On the business side of things, BlackBerry may see a slight reduction in market share of AT&T’s business if customers forgo those devices to avoid the data plan.
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I think it is ridiculous that you are forced to pay for data plan just because you want a smart phone. If they want to do that they should come up with a reasonable family data plan like they have for text messaging.
I have been an ATT customer for over 10 years. I have four phones. Recently I signed up on ATT’s MiFi. Its a good service, with the typical ATT data limits, but it works for us. What Is not fair is that when you pay for ATT’s internet service via MiFI, you also have to pay for another internet service if you want a smart phone. So you pay twice, or in our case, four times more for the service that you already paid for if you want a smart phone.
They also steer you to the smart phones buy such limited selections in other phones that have very limited features. Come on ATT,, stop double dippin!
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