6 ms·

AT&T Eliminating $10 Text Messaging Plan for New Customers

37 points by hamedh 15y ago

pkamb 15y ago
From the title I thought it would be a goodwill gesture. "Text messages are so ubiquitous now, they should be a standard part of every phone plan." Nope. Now the only option is $20 for unlimited texting.
huntero 15y ago
I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.
- nirvana 15y ago
  ... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. It seems that the right strategy for AT&T to pursue would be to follow the natural decline in the cost of these services by offering a better plan-- say $5 for 2,000 messages a month. As they lower the cost of an individual SMS, the usage should go up dramatically, and since SMS has network effects, this might slow the shift away from SMS as the messaging service of choice.
  - onemoreact 15y ago
    Or you can do what I do and still send a few text messages just not enough that a 10$-20$ per month plan is cheaper.
  - ben1040 15y ago
    ... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. Assuming your conversation partners can keep tabs on what system to use. Your Android pals can't iMessage you, and using Google Talk or another IM service on an iPhone has always felt a little kludgy. Sounds to me it's designed to drive you to one of two choices: either pay $20/month for a service you don't need, or cut it out altogether and pay 20c every time you get an SMS from someone who can't use iMessage/Twitter/Facebook messaging. At 20c/message it doesn't take long before you end up paying as much or more than you would've been paying under an SMS plan.
    - erikcw 15y ago
      When iOS 5 is released, I plan on keeping my current SMS plan for a month to measure how many text I send to non-iPhone users. I'll then downgrade my plan accordingly. My guess is that I'll end up cutting my plan entirely and just paying per text. The vase majority of the people I text with frequently are iPhone users. It would be a great move by Apple to open the iMessage protocol so Android and other smart phone OS' could participate in the exchange. Unfortunately, my guess is that this won't happen as "free texts" represent a great benefit for switching to an iPhone and opening that network to other vendors would undercut their advantage. Predication: ATT/Verizon drastically increases the cost of bandwidth on iPhone plans to make up for the cut. We'll see...
- monochromatic 15y ago
  This is the first I've heard of iMessage. Pretty much everyone I know has an iphone, so I think I'm going to be dropping down to the pay-as-you-go text plan once iOS 5 drops.
MattLaroche 15y ago
This seems shortsighted to me. I'm already seeing non-tech friends using messaging apps that don't go over SMS - with the mass adoption of smart phones, this hopefully is the nail in the coffin for SMS.
- madh 15y ago
  Devil's advocate: Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents? SMS at current prices is going to go. It can't compete with internet-based solutions like iMessage and BBM, especially in regions with many small countries like Europe or Asia where international fees can be quite restrictive. (This is why Skype became so popular in Europe.)
  - MattLaroche 15y ago
    Perhaps, but I don't believe that $20 a month will be easily swallowed during a time of low consumer confidence.
  - runjake 15y ago
    Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents? iMessage still uses SMS whenever you send a message to somebody with a non-iOS 5 device. I don't know about you, but I communicate with tons of people who don't have iPhones or even data plans. This move is ridiculous gouging whatever way you look at it.
    - jonknee 15y ago
      If Google and Apple weren't in a cold war perhaps they could work together and make an interoperable standard. Get RIM in on the mix and you have the big three bypassing SMS.
      - runjake 15y ago
        They could call it "XMPP"!
martingordon 15y ago
Like I mentioned on Twitter, if you don't like the new plans, you can always switch to T-Mobile. Oh, wait...
- MattLaroche 15y ago
  Even better - this is for new contracts. People can always just not sign up for AT&T in the first place!
- timdorr 15y ago
  For now, provided the merger doesn't go through. And provided you're not under contract with AT&T.
- runjake 15y ago
  I am literally doing so during lunch today. I've been debating this for the past month and made my final decision last night. Luckily, I'm out of contract on AT&T, so I don't have an ETF to pay. My only issue is deciding which phone to go for. I'm trying to decide between the Defy, $299 off-contract and durable, Sensation, and G2x. I'll probably through Cyanogenmod on whatever I buy ASAP, can anyone comment on the above phones? I'm particularly wondering if a Cyanogenmodded Defy will meet my responsiveness/battery life needs. I don't play games, I just hate laggy UIs, which unfortunately seem to plague Android.
whichdan 15y ago
That's disappointing since $10/1000 messages is a good price point IMO. The "cheapest" iPhone plan right now is $40/mo base, $10 for messages, and $15 for a pathetic 200mb of data. Going from $65/mo to $75/mo for essentially no benefit is really underwhelming.. maybe if they atleast bumped it up to 500mb of data, it wouldn't be so bad.
- goatforce5 15y ago
  Or, it seems, 20c per message if you chose to pay for what you use. 20c per message would be a better deal than $20/month for me.
  - TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago
    E, no it doesnt. It may "only" be 20c per message, but that is coming AND going. If you expect a reply for each message sent, it takes 50 back and forths to be equal with the unlimited plan. At&t doesnt ask for you to just bend over, but also says "prepare for it deep". And the government wont do a damned thing because they grease palms on both sides of the aisle.
bugsy 15y ago
Texting pricing is such a gigantic and well known scam that it's hard to have sympathy for its victims at this point in time. It's like a guy who keeps buying lemons from the same dishonest car salesmen and then asking why the guy is still in business. Um, he stays in business and gets away with this stuff because these people keep giving them money, that's how.
kragen 15y ago
Here in Argentina, I pay about US$10 for about 180 text messages per month. I say "about" because I'm on a prepaid plan; additional messages are about US$0.04 each. Until recently, I could pay about US$4 plus the US$0.04, but they switched the SMS credit to expire after a month instead of after six months, so I have to buy a new SMS card every month. (This also includes a limited amount of voice calling.) It seems to me that a competitive market in a country like the US, where very few people have text-only plans, ought to make this service considerably cheaper than in Argentina. The marginal cost of delivering a text message is something like a thousand times lower.
- joelhaus 15y ago
  > in a competitive market in a country like the US With At&t and Verizon controlling 80% of the U.S. mobile market, I'm not so sure it's competitive. Is there only a single provider in Argentina or is it structured differently? Buenos Aires is definitely one of the most affordable cities I've been to (c. 2003), but I do recall being astonished at the prices for electronics.
  - kragen 15y ago
    Buenos Aires has four major providers: Claro, Personal, Movistar, and Nextel. I think the economics here might be a little different (aside from possible collusion between the operators) because such a large fraction of the population uses only SMS. If the providers have to put up new cell towers to provide SMS to an area, the economics are a little different. Argentina in 2003 had just collapsed. Things cost three times as much here now, or more. On the plus side, that means the taxi drivers can afford electronics and other imports.
    - hollerith 15y ago
      >a large fraction of the population uses only SMS Interesting. These people who use only SMS, do they never use their phones to make voice calls -- or do you mean only SMS and voice?
hdlnd 15y ago
Easy enough to avoid, just use Google Voice and voila text messages are free, and unlimited (assuming you have a smartphone).
pacemkr 15y ago
The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon. I am: * Porting my number to Google Voice. * Getting a voip "landline." * Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil? * Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am. Frankly, I'm sick of paying $120/mo and getting fucked around every corner. I dont NEED this you know; the non-phone part of this phone is a convenience, not a necessity. I'll let the market/regulators figure this out. In the meantime, I'll be fine not checking my email every five minutes and staring at yet another screen when I'm not in the house/office. If anybody has recommendations re: my plan of action, I'm all ears.
- bokonist 15y ago
  $120 a month??? I pay $25 a month from Virgin Mobile for unlimited text, unlimited data, and 300 minutes of call time, with a pretty good android smartphone. (It would be $32 a month if you amortize the price of the smart phone, which I had to buy up front). I use easytether to hook up my laptop, no problem.
  - pacemkr 15y ago
    300 minutes wouldn't be enough for me, but: $60 for 900 min $30 for unl. data (lucky me) $10 for 500 texts $17 in taxes (NYC) Verizon. Pretty much the same plan was slightly more expensive on AT&T. Tether might still work, for now: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/verizon-blocking-tethering-customers-may-violate-fcc-rules.ars http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/verizon-blocking...
    - bokonist 15y ago
      Yeah, for 1200 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited texts, Virgin Mobile is now $45 http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-...
    - georgemcbay 15y ago
dwiel 15y ago
I have a virign mobile plan here in the US: $25/month no contract 300 minutes unlimited texts 5GB/month of data(it gets slower but not stopped or overcharge after that) I use my phone mostly to coordinate hanging out, any long conversations happen at home where I have wifi and calls can be routed through gchat or skype on a laptop. I'm not sure why its not more popular. Oh and I can tether. NOTE: just checked and it looks like the plan is advertised as $35/mo now
- pacemkr 15y ago
  Coverage seems to be the biggest problem/non-problem with Virgin. I had to dump AT&T after two iPhones, because the service turned to shit. I am on Verizon right now and coverage has been great. Prices, not so much (still less than AT&T!) Do you know which underlying network Virgin use? Surely they don't put up their own towers.
  - bokonist 15y ago
    They use Sprint's network, the coverage has been pretty good for me, I haven't been anywhere where I expected service and haven't got it.
  - cooperadymas 15y ago
    They use Sprint's towers. You don't get roaming with Virgin. I find the coverage is great in my area and the few areas I travel to throughout the year. If you are on the road a lot, you might run into problems.
  - dwiel 15y ago
    yeah they use sprint without roaming. When I first signed up I considered also getting a prepaid verizon phone for the times when I am far out of town or otherwise in poor/no coverage areas, but its never been a problem so I've never gotten around to it.
gigawatt 15y ago
Does iMessage automatically determine if the receiver is on an iOS device and then send your SMS without using your phone plan? Or do you have to know beforehand and then use a different app/route for your message?
- jonknee 15y ago
  Automatically. It also lets you know what method is used so you can monitor your SMS usage somewhat.
- sigjuice 15y ago
  iMessage is built into the Messages app. http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#imessage http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#imessage
smackfu 15y ago
How much are messages when you don't have a plan? How many do you get for the $20 the unlimited plan would cost you?
- erikcw 15y ago
  $0.20 per SMS with my ATT/iPhone contract.
RexRollman 15y ago
It really pisses me off that I can't opt out of receiving text messages. AT&T charges me for text messages I didn't want from people I don't even know. The system should be changed so that only the people sending text messages pay.
- saurik 15y ago
  It is my belief that this is even already how it works in Europe: people sending messages are charged, but receiving is free.
dsr_ 15y ago
How much will they charge you if you never want to receive or send a text message at all? On Verizon, this was a $10 one-time charge.

37 points by hamedh 15y ago

pkamb 15y ago

From the title I thought it would be a goodwill gesture. "Text messages are so ubiquitous now, they should be a standard part of every phone plan." Nope. Now the only option is $20 for unlimited texting.

huntero 15y ago

I wonder if the impending release of iMessage has something to do with this. With so much iPhone to iPhone messaging no longer counting towards text messaging, a lot of users would probably drop from the unlimited plan to the $10 plan - if it was still available.

nirvana 15y ago
... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. It seems that the right strategy for AT&T to pursue would be to follow the natural decline in the cost of these services by offering a better plan-- say $5 for 2,000 messages a month. As they lower the cost of an individual SMS, the usage should go up dramatically, and since SMS has network effects, this might slow the shift away from SMS as the messaging service of choice.
- onemoreact 15y ago
  Or you can do what I do and still send a few text messages just not enough that a 10$-20$ per month plan is cheaper.
- ben1040 15y ago
  ... which would seem to provide a $240/year incentive to just use iMessage, or twitter, or any IM system. Assuming your conversation partners can keep tabs on what system to use. Your Android pals can't iMessage you, and using Google Talk or another IM service on an iPhone has always felt a little kludgy. Sounds to me it's designed to drive you to one of two choices: either pay $20/month for a service you don't need, or cut it out altogether and pay 20c every time you get an SMS from someone who can't use iMessage/Twitter/Facebook messaging. At 20c/message it doesn't take long before you end up paying as much or more than you would've been paying under an SMS plan.
  - erikcw 15y ago
    When iOS 5 is released, I plan on keeping my current SMS plan for a month to measure how many text I send to non-iPhone users. I'll then downgrade my plan accordingly. My guess is that I'll end up cutting my plan entirely and just paying per text. The vase majority of the people I text with frequently are iPhone users. It would be a great move by Apple to open the iMessage protocol so Android and other smart phone OS' could participate in the exchange. Unfortunately, my guess is that this won't happen as "free texts" represent a great benefit for switching to an iPhone and opening that network to other vendors would undercut their advantage. Predication: ATT/Verizon drastically increases the cost of bandwidth on iPhone plans to make up for the cut. We'll see...
monochromatic 15y ago
This is the first I've heard of iMessage. Pretty much everyone I know has an iphone, so I think I'm going to be dropping down to the pay-as-you-go text plan once iOS 5 drops.

MattLaroche 15y ago

This seems shortsighted to me. I'm already seeing non-tech friends using messaging apps that don't go over SMS - with the mass adoption of smart phones, this hopefully is the nail in the coffin for SMS.

madh 15y ago
Devil's advocate: Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents? SMS at current prices is going to go. It can't compete with internet-based solutions like iMessage and BBM, especially in regions with many small countries like Europe or Asia where international fees can be quite restrictive. (This is why Skype became so popular in Europe.)
- MattLaroche 15y ago
  Perhaps, but I don't believe that $20 a month will be easily swallowed during a time of low consumer confidence.
- runjake 15y ago
  Perhaps promoting unlimited SMS can mitigate the move to iMessage and equivalents? iMessage still uses SMS whenever you send a message to somebody with a non-iOS 5 device. I don't know about you, but I communicate with tons of people who don't have iPhones or even data plans. This move is ridiculous gouging whatever way you look at it.
  - jonknee 15y ago
    If Google and Apple weren't in a cold war perhaps they could work together and make an interoperable standard. Get RIM in on the mix and you have the big three bypassing SMS.
    - runjake 15y ago
      They could call it "XMPP"!

martingordon 15y ago

Like I mentioned on Twitter, if you don't like the new plans, you can always switch to T-Mobile. Oh, wait...

MattLaroche 15y ago
Even better - this is for new contracts. People can always just not sign up for AT&T in the first place!
timdorr 15y ago
For now, provided the merger doesn't go through. And provided you're not under contract with AT&T.
runjake 15y ago
I am literally doing so during lunch today. I've been debating this for the past month and made my final decision last night. Luckily, I'm out of contract on AT&T, so I don't have an ETF to pay. My only issue is deciding which phone to go for. I'm trying to decide between the Defy, $299 off-contract and durable, Sensation, and G2x. I'll probably through Cyanogenmod on whatever I buy ASAP, can anyone comment on the above phones? I'm particularly wondering if a Cyanogenmodded Defy will meet my responsiveness/battery life needs. I don't play games, I just hate laggy UIs, which unfortunately seem to plague Android.

whichdan 15y ago

That's disappointing since $10/1000 messages is a good price point IMO. The "cheapest" iPhone plan right now is $40/mo base, $10 for messages, and $15 for a pathetic 200mb of data. Going from $65/mo to $75/mo for essentially no benefit is really underwhelming.. maybe if they atleast bumped it up to 500mb of data, it wouldn't be so bad.

goatforce5 15y ago
Or, it seems, 20c per message if you chose to pay for what you use. 20c per message would be a better deal than $20/month for me.
- TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago
  E, no it doesnt. It may "only" be 20c per message, but that is coming AND going. If you expect a reply for each message sent, it takes 50 back and forths to be equal with the unlimited plan. At&t doesnt ask for you to just bend over, but also says "prepare for it deep". And the government wont do a damned thing because they grease palms on both sides of the aisle.

bugsy 15y ago

Texting pricing is such a gigantic and well known scam that it's hard to have sympathy for its victims at this point in time. It's like a guy who keeps buying lemons from the same dishonest car salesmen and then asking why the guy is still in business. Um, he stays in business and gets away with this stuff because these people keep giving them money, that's how.

kragen 15y ago

Here in Argentina, I pay about US$10 for about 180 text messages per month. I say "about" because I'm on a prepaid plan; additional messages are about US$0.04 each. Until recently, I could pay about US$4 plus the US$0.04, but they switched the SMS credit to expire after a month instead of after six months, so I have to buy a new SMS card every month. (This also includes a limited amount of voice calling.) It seems to me that a competitive market in a country like the US, where very few people have text-only plans, ought to make this service considerably cheaper than in Argentina. The marginal cost of delivering a text message is something like a thousand times lower.

joelhaus 15y ago
> in a competitive market in a country like the US With At&t and Verizon controlling 80% of the U.S. mobile market, I'm not so sure it's competitive. Is there only a single provider in Argentina or is it structured differently? Buenos Aires is definitely one of the most affordable cities I've been to (c. 2003), but I do recall being astonished at the prices for electronics.
- kragen 15y ago
  Buenos Aires has four major providers: Claro, Personal, Movistar, and Nextel. I think the economics here might be a little different (aside from possible collusion between the operators) because such a large fraction of the population uses only SMS. If the providers have to put up new cell towers to provide SMS to an area, the economics are a little different. Argentina in 2003 had just collapsed. Things cost three times as much here now, or more. On the plus side, that means the taxi drivers can afford electronics and other imports.
  - hollerith 15y ago
    >a large fraction of the population uses only SMS Interesting. These people who use only SMS, do they never use their phones to make voice calls -- or do you mean only SMS and voice?

hdlnd 15y ago

Easy enough to avoid, just use Google Voice and voila text messages are free, and unlimited (assuming you have a smartphone).

pacemkr 15y ago

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon. I am: * Porting my number to Google Voice. * Getting a voip "landline." * Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil? * Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am. Frankly, I'm sick of paying $120/mo and getting fucked around every corner. I dont NEED this you know; the non-phone part of this phone is a convenience, not a necessity. I'll let the market/regulators figure this out. In the meantime, I'll be fine not checking my email every five minutes and staring at yet another screen when I'm not in the house/office. If anybody has recommendations re: my plan of action, I'm all ears.

bokonist 15y ago
$120 a month??? I pay $25 a month from Virgin Mobile for unlimited text, unlimited data, and 300 minutes of call time, with a pretty good android smartphone. (It would be $32 a month if you amortize the price of the smart phone, which I had to buy up front). I use easytether to hook up my laptop, no problem.
- pacemkr 15y ago
  300 minutes wouldn't be enough for me, but: $60 for 900 min $30 for unl. data (lucky me) $10 for 500 texts $17 in taxes (NYC) Verizon. Pretty much the same plan was slightly more expensive on AT&T. Tether might still work, for now: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/verizon-blocking-tethering-customers-may-violate-fcc-rules.ars http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/verizon-blocking...
  - bokonist 15y ago
    Yeah, for 1200 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited texts, Virgin Mobile is now $45 http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-...
  - georgemcbay 15y ago

dwiel 15y ago

I have a virign mobile plan here in the US: $25/month no contract 300 minutes unlimited texts 5GB/month of data(it gets slower but not stopped or overcharge after that) I use my phone mostly to coordinate hanging out, any long conversations happen at home where I have wifi and calls can be routed through gchat or skype on a laptop. I'm not sure why its not more popular. Oh and I can tether. NOTE: just checked and it looks like the plan is advertised as $35/mo now

pacemkr 15y ago
Coverage seems to be the biggest problem/non-problem with Virgin. I had to dump AT&T after two iPhones, because the service turned to shit. I am on Verizon right now and coverage has been great. Prices, not so much (still less than AT&T!) Do you know which underlying network Virgin use? Surely they don't put up their own towers.
- bokonist 15y ago
  They use Sprint's network, the coverage has been pretty good for me, I haven't been anywhere where I expected service and haven't got it.
- cooperadymas 15y ago
  They use Sprint's towers. You don't get roaming with Virgin. I find the coverage is great in my area and the few areas I travel to throughout the year. If you are on the road a lot, you might run into problems.
- dwiel 15y ago
  yeah they use sprint without roaming. When I first signed up I considered also getting a prepaid verizon phone for the times when I am far out of town or otherwise in poor/no coverage areas, but its never been a problem so I've never gotten around to it.

gigawatt 15y ago

Does iMessage automatically determine if the receiver is on an iOS device and then send your SMS without using your phone plan? Or do you have to know beforehand and then use a different app/route for your message?

jonknee 15y ago
Automatically. It also lets you know what method is used so you can monitor your SMS usage somewhat.
sigjuice 15y ago
iMessage is built into the Messages app. http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#imessage http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#imessage

smackfu 15y ago

How much are messages when you don't have a plan? How many do you get for the $20 the unlimited plan would cost you?

erikcw 15y ago
$0.20 per SMS with my ATT/iPhone contract.

RexRollman 15y ago

It really pisses me off that I can't opt out of receiving text messages. AT&T charges me for text messages I didn't want from people I don't even know. The system should be changed so that only the people sending text messages pay.

saurik 15y ago
It is my belief that this is even already how it works in Europe: people sending messages are charged, but receiving is free.

dsr_ 15y ago

How much will they charge you if you never want to receive or send a text message at all? On Verizon, this was a $10 one-time charge.