WileEC
mindtaker, macky cat, etc.
join:2002-02-07
Yonkers, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Face Reality
"Why did Apple, the standard for innovative techno-cool, partner with a telecom curmudgeon that has a penchant for not caring about their customers?"
What would make anyone think Apple cares about any of their customers beyond how much money they can soak them for either?
Please.
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Experience one of the most beautiful women on earth at PetraCentral! |
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Chris 313
Come get some
Premium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA
clubs: |  600+ dollars for this!?
Who needs it! I got a ton of better things to spend 6 bills on . |
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texans20
Weapons of Masturbation
Premium
join:2002-09-28
Texas!
clubs:
1 edit | OpenMoko
I've never heard of the OpenMoko until now. Anyone have first hand experience of it? It looks very, promising. Far more promising than that stupid iPhone.
Edit: Nevermind, not out yet. |
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BK
join:2001-09-10
Wheaton, IL | Isn't all that pretty standard?
I'm not an apple fanboy by any means but I'm just getting tired of people ripping on the iphone.
Seems to me like people are actually reading the things that have been in the contract for every phone -- for every provider -- forever! |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| why is there an ETF?
i understand the termination fees when you get that semi free phone(always figured the ETF was to cover the cost of the phone) but i imagine that iPhone buyers are paying the full retail value.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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tenorsaw1
join:2003-07-10
Brooklyn, NY | reply to BK
Re: Isn't all that pretty standard?
I agree. This has been the standard for the longest time. That person needs to get a life. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to BK
Would tend to agree. In fact Verizon's EULA is technically worse and they were Apple's first choice before getting turned down.
Aren't Verizon's "unlimited" caps worse than AT&T's? |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | don't mess with the deathstar...
this is horrible AND hilarious! AT&T is breaking ground on new fees! |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Wrong
quote:
Putting a new state-of-the-art piece of technology over the AT&T network
Bruce really thinks that the iPhone is "a new state-of-the-art piece of technology?" 
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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Joseph327
join:2006-02-03
Jacksonville, FL
| Apple Products = $$$$.$$
and AT&T as the sole ISP provider.
I don't see why anyone would want one.
Big waste of money. Wonder how many they
sold to the US Government 
(No longer do business with AT&T) |
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weedahoe
join:2003-09-14
Duluth, GA
| reply to BK
Re: Isn't all that pretty standard?
Agreed, most of it is standard by all companies now-a-days.
Double billing. You and the caller both get charged for the same call
This one is wierd because almost everyone has the standard (or is optional) for mobile to mobile
All uses of the network are always rounded up to the nearest kilobyte or minute
Who DOESNT do this?
Customers can be billed for "network errors" and "network overhead"
Sprint and VZW I know do this. They arent going to just give you credit because they think they made a mistake and it might be thier fault. You HAVE to CALL and ASK for the credit
Customers can be billed even though the call doesn't go through, even if it is the networks' fault. Customers also get charged for unsolicited messages
everything I have every read says that your usage time starts when you hit the TALK button and ends when you hit the END button. This is nothing new. Everyone gets charged for unsolicited and solicited messages unless you are like me and have unlimited TXT and FLIX mail (Im with VZW)
Bogus fees are added to the bill including the Regulatory
Cost Recovery Charge
Again, everyone does this, Even LANDLINE companies. When I has BS DSL we only wanted the DSL line but to get it we HAD to have the landline. We use our cells for everything and didnt need the landline so we just got the basic line with NOTHING extra. That line was about 13-14 bux. BUT!! After taxes and fees and surcharges it was about 40bux. We paid more in taxes, fees and other chrages than we did for the line itself. That is rediculous.
$175.00 "Termination" fee is now standard
Hate to hurt your feeling but VZW does this also. I think Sprint used to be 150 but may have went up by now.
International messages are charged additional fees as are files over 300Kb
I know my unlimited TXT and FLIX DOESNT cover international so I obviously could exspect it to cost a bit more. DUH!!
Over your quota: get gouged: 40¢ per minute and 69¢ per minute roaming offnet.
Again, VZW does 40¢ and I cant say about thier roaming because I have free roaming, but their again, I had free roaming with Sprint also
Prohibited uses include VOIP, like Skype or Vonage.
The current mobile email service doesn't support attachments.
Well, on the VOIP and various providers, what did you really exspect? No one wants you to use thier product for OTHER than what THEY intended it to be used for. Just look at M$ and thier XBox consoles. Look at all the nice extra things you can really do with them with 3rd party software and simple mods. But granted, a 5/600 dollar phone should be able to at least send pics in its mail. Shame on them for not looking a LITTLE ahead and seeing this.
If the customer uses the service too much, or does offnet calls, they can be terminated.
Well this one truely is stupid in my opinion and I think it will bite them in the rear later on.
The piece also points out that like Verizon, streaming video is against the service TOS.
streaming video on every phone I ever had (all PDAs/PPCs) was never supported due to the mods and 3rd party software as well as unsupported reg edits.
So like was said before, all of this is pretty standard. But I certainly would NOT be one of those 'people' o go out and buy a 5/600 dollar phone, get locked into a 2 yr contract, locked into a data plan and believe all the hype of what they see on TV w/o doing my own research and really seeing what I was geting into. My PPC can so so much more than this iPhone can. Oh and guess what? It costs have the price. |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to Kearnstd
Re: why is there an ETF?
said by Kearnstd  :i understand the termination fees when you get that semi free phone(always figured the ETF was to cover the cost of the phone) but i imagine that iPhone buyers are paying the full retail value. Well it *is* cingular(ATTs) network 
theres money in them thar' ETFs!
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth |
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Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| Time out ?..
The iPhone is out, it's major disappointment to all except the i_____ Koolaid folks. Can we move on ?.. It's their latest toy, let them enjoy it. Heaven knows they paid enough for it. 
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If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well. |
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manfmmd
Premium
join:2003-01-14
Earth
clubs:
| reply to Kearnstd
Re: why is there an ETF?
said by Kearnstd :i understand the termination fees when you get that semi free phone(always figured the ETF was to cover the cost of the phone) but i imagine that iPhone buyers are paying the full retail value. The ETF covers part of the lost revenue from the broken CONTRACT between AT&T and the customer. The main difference in most cases is the length of the contract and the price of the phone...Cheap(er) or free phone, 2 year contract vs. pay full price for the phone and no contract.
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No entrada ilegal en los Estados Unidos de América. |
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Telepointless
@comcast.net
| You can cut and paste those complaints with ALL US carriers
Verizon may have more 3G coverage than AT&T, but they are far worse. Apple wanted to pair with Verizon initially, but backed out because Verizon wanted far more control over the iPhone than AT&T got. Verizon cripples bluetooth, (although apparently thats crippled on the iPhone anyway) they have 1GB caps, and oh yeah, they overwrite every GUI on all their phones with the shitty Verizon standard GUI.
If Apple wanted the best data network for the iPhone they should've gone with Sprint, who will also kick you for any reason they please (including calling support too often) and has just as many bogus fees as AT&T does.
You can also get phones now that have no DRM, allow you to install third-party apps, and aren't locked to any provider. They are called unlocked phones. HTC and Nokia have a bunch of em. |
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pike
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-01
Cleveland, OH
clubs: | Apple made the phone
Apple could have used HSDPA instead of EDGE. You can't blame AT&T for that.
-Mike |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| How different is this from...
Anything else that's out there ?
# Double billing -- you and the caller both get charged for the same call.
Please explain this one... Calls are technically included in plans? This shouldn't be different than any other wireless.
# All uses of the network are always rounded up to the nearest kilobyte or minute.
Again... shouldn't be different than any other wireless, and why wouldn't people use 'unlimited' packages on a data device 
# Customers can be billed for "network errors" and "network overhead."
Please explain ? Unlimited is what ?
# Customers can be billed even though the call doesn't go through, even if it is the network's fault. Customers also get charged for unsolicited messages.
Name a carrier that doesn't. I though iPhone doesn't do mms/sms.
# Bogus fees are added to the bill, including the Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge.
Name a telco that doesn't
# $175.00 "Termination" fee is now standard.
Name a wireless provider that doesn't
# International messages are charged additional fees, as are files over 300Kb.
Use webmail... they'll never know. Also, sms/mms always have had extra charges for International.
# Over your quota? Get gouged: 40¢ per minute and 69¢ per minute roaming offnet.
Which one... roaming or over quota? Over quota will cost you
# The services are not secure and can't block your phone number.
AT&T can block names... not sure about numbers
# Prohibited uses include VOIP, like Skype or Vonage.
Standard TOS - similar to other cellular providers
# The current mobile email service doesn't support attachments.
That bites. Time to download a better app... oh wait - that's an issue with the device. Use Webmail
# If the customer uses the service too much, or makes "offnet" calls, they can be terminated.
Yup... kinda sucks. I suspect its more of the 'offnet' than using the service too much. AT&T unfortunately blocks alpha tags so you don't know if you're roaming.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| reply to Kearnstd
Re: why is there an ETF?
ahh so really not much different then when banks have early closure fees on a big loan to recover lost money that would have been gained in interest if the loan was allowed to run in full.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA | What is it with these 'tards
Don't want it...don't buy it.
It's not that hard of a concept to grasp. |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
| Apple cares less.
What kind of company releases a phone for 6 hundred dollars that lacks all modern features of cell phones knowing their fan boys will buy them? Definitely not one that cares about it's fan. They are going to trickle out iphone features over the next few years with 20 different models, and 600 a piece for each one. The last model will include features that easily could have been in the phone today. All while the fan boys will buy every model and just be getting screwed the whole time. Apple knows how to make people pay 20 grand for a phone. |
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