iPhone Data Prices - This is insane!

It's been a while since the last time I posted. I've been busy, but I'm taking time out of my busy schedule to talk about something so insane it's simply unbelievable.

As per AT&T's website, they will now be charging $30/month for data on the iPhone 2.0. That alone upsets me because they lured people in to buy the iPhone by charging only $20 for data and now it's being upped by $10. But I can live with that. The truth is that iPhone users use the most data on AT&T's network than just about anyone else, simply because iPhone's browser is so good, and there's built-in YouTube video watching. Also the Google Maps can do quite a number on the data usage used every month.

But here's the kicker. AT&T will now charge you an additional $15 a month to use your iPhone with an Exchange Server! Are you kidding me? An exchange server uses a maximum of a few MB's per month of overhead over the regular e-mail size. And for that they're charging and extra $15? So I can have my e-mails forwaded to a GMail account and get that on my iPhone for $30 a month, but if I choose not to forward them and use my exchange server I will now be paying $45 per month. Even knowing the fact that with an exchange server it syncs contacts and calendar entries also, I can still guarantee you that the non-exchange server users will be using more data than the business users who have an exchange server.

It's about time someone opened a new cell service providor that charges fair rates. I say, bring down the price of unlimited everything and you'll have a lot more users. People want to know that they don't have to worry about going over. If there's an unlimited EVERYTHING plan (minutes, data, text, videos etc.) for $80 a month, thousands of people would immediately switch to that plan. Stop nickle-and-diming people already. Enough is enough.

AT&T and Verizon Announce Unlimited Calling for $99.99

Verizon and AT&T (formerly Cingular) both announced this week the release of a new, $99.99 Unlimited Calling plan. Before this change, the $99.99 plan from both carriers gave you approximately 2,000 minutes, and if you wanted more minutes there were even higher plans up to $199.99/month. For those of us who talk a lot on our cell phones, this is a very good deal which was previously only available as a promotion through 3rd party resellers such as Boost Mobile.

A few differences I've noticed between the 2 carriers:

If you'd like to add unlimited text and internet to your plan, with Verizon it is a total of $149.99, and with AT&T it's $15 cheaper at $134.99. UPDATE: After further reviewing the matter, I've confirmed that Verizon's price is $139.99 for unlimited everything (even data) on a regular phone, and $149.99 for unlimited everything for a blackberry or PDA/smartphone. AT&T's price is $134.99 for unlimited everything (even data) on a regular phone, and $149.99 for unlimited everything for a blackberry or PDA/smartphone. See comments for more details.

Both carriers allow you to switch to this plan with no contract extension, however with AT&T the deal is even sweeter. Their press release states as follows:

Existing customers can choose unlimited calling without extending their contract. New customers have the option of a month-to-month, 12 or 24 month contract.

The sentence above in bold clearly states that new customers can walk into a store or go online, sign up for this plan (presumably there will be a standard $36 activation fee), and walk away without signing a contract. If you try getting it and they refuse, just point them to their own press release. They couldn't have written it any clearer.

As far as Sprint and T-Mobile are concerned, Gizmodo is reporting that T-Mobile is also offering the $99.99 unlimited voice and messaging plan, however I don't see that on their website. Gizmodo is also reporting that Sprint may be undercutting the competition and coming out with a $60 or $80 unlimited plan. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
UPDATE: Sprint announced a $99.99 unlimited EVERYTHING plan. That's correct, unlimited talk, txt, picture, push-to-talk, TV, and web. As they put it - "The other guys just give you talk, we give you the whole shebang". Check it out at http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/everything/getdetails.html