Just a reminder: AT&T are liars, clowns, and untrustworthy (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I got a letter at home about this.

Gave me the option to opt out of the ads (which I did online), but
only to the point where the ads would not be personalized to my
buying habits. The letter still said I would keep receiving the ads.

 

[DaveF]

Anonymised data? That is what people should be up in arms about these days? LOL. Given every major company offering free services over the internet (email, social networking, etc) is doing far worse, not to mention what our government is doing, getting up in arms about this is beyond silly.[/size]

The first thing that writer should have done is attempted to contact AT&T and get information about how they anonymize their data. He probably would not have gotten very far but at least he would have then appeared to actually care about important issues rather than just being another alarmist blogger fishing for clicks.[/size]

-Keith[/size]

ATT is not a free service. I pay them quite a bit of money each month. If they'd like to offer me free iPhone service in exchange for selling my anonymized usage data -- as with Google -- that might be worthwhile.

Also of concern, AT&T has *every* bit of data from my iPhone cell use. Every character I type, every search. Every game update, email, everything I do over 3G they get. And they've got all my location data, along with all y voice calls. They've got a lot of data. Probably far more than google has from search and ads.

I've wondered for a while why ISPs haven't capitalized on this. In the quest for personalized data, the ISPs have vast amounts of data flowing through their system.

 

[Sam Posten]

You guys HAVE seen the fallout from the Google anonymized data debacle right? As Dave note multiply that times everything you do on your phone.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am surprised Sam is not all over this

 

[Sam Posten]

I don't really have opinions on pre-paid versus post paid or subsidized versus unsubsidized. There may very well be people for whom that is a good choice Ron, I simply haven't researched it well enough to know where I stand. On the face of it I'd trust Verge's reporting but it's not something that I've checked out in depth.

 

[Sam Posten]

Heh...
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/18/4535068/verizons-edge-phone-upgrade-plan-same-bad-ripoff-as-att-next

 

[Sam Posten]

Catfight:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/22/4545746/verizon-att-reliability-war

 

[Sam Posten]

Add to the list: Classless jackasses.https://twitter.com/ATT/status/377827655967850496

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Sorry, that page doesn't exist...

 

[Mike Frezon]

And with such a buildup...

 

[TonyD]

Sorry, that page doesn't exist...

It's why I practically beg Sam for more then justs links.

 

[mattCR]

I gave up with putting things on contract years ago. I buy too frequently, and I've found the 'contract' is a rip off mathematically. Just buy the device outright through Amazon unlocked and I'm good with it.

 

[David Weicker]

I gave up with putting things on contract years ago. I buy too frequently, and I've found the 'contract' is a rip off mathematically. Just buy the device outright through Amazon unlocked and I'm good with it.

I'm confused. How is the contract a 'mathematical rip off'. Where is your monetary savings coming from?I understand the convenience/allowed to upgrade. But you have to pay for service either way, don't you?

 

[Sam Posten]

Sorry, that page doesn't exist...

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/att-apologizes-tweeting-9-11-ad-8C11131490It made national news. I couldn't say much more than classless jackasses because it's a visual gag and the replies to it said it better than I could have summed up.http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/att-apologizes-911-image-showing-phone-framing-tribute-light-152363

...this year's headline, "Never forget," is incompatible with any hint of a sales message, even one as simple as the image of a phone.In the end, 9/11 may not be totally off limits to brands—American Express and many others posted well-received tweets today. But you'd better be careful, especially if you want to throw a product in there, too.

The apology doesn't strike me as genuine either:

Twitter users were not impressed by the apology, calling it disingenuous.“ [This] is what we call a ‘fauxpology,’” one user told the firm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/atandt-removes-apologizes-for-911-tribute-tweet/2013/09/11/6d8f8806-1b06-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

 

[mattCR]

I'm confused. How is the contract a 'mathematical rip off'. Where is your monetary savings coming from?I understand the convenience/allowed to upgrade. But you have to pay for service either way, don't you?

I buy a phone outright for $649, unlocked.
On contract, you pay $199 plus an average device fee as part of your bill for (in my case, with a 5 before I switched) of $31 that came off my bill.
$31 * 24 months = $744. Add in the $199 at the start, so basically $943 for the cost of a phone. That's some crazy interest right there.

Yes, you have to pay for the phone. But it doesn't mean you have to overpay. AT&T's next is even worse.. you pay the device carry fee PLUS a next monthly payment, which means you're paying about $60 a month, as the article pointed out.. or: $60*24=$1440 for your new smartphone (of any flavor). That's a gigantic waste of $ for convenience .. almost like the ATT payday loan method of owning a phone

 

[DaveF]

How do you remove the device fee? I thought att and Verizon charged the same monthly service contract regardless of whether to phone is on contract or unlocked?

 

[Sam Posten]

Justin Williams disagrees with your camera review:http://carpeaqua.com/2013/09/12/apple-will-never-lose-at-photography/Maybe the Moto X just sucks?

 

[mattCR]

Justin Williams disagrees with your camera review:http://carpeaqua.com/2013/09/12/apple-will-never-lose-at-photography/Maybe the Moto X just sucks?

The motoX does suck. It's not even listed as one of those using the better lens technology etc. So, that's interesting, but it's not at all comparing to any sort of market leader.

 

[mattCR]

How do you remove the device fee? I thought att and Verizon charged the same monthly service contract regardless of whether to phone is on contract or unlocked?

Nope, they do charge a device fee. I don't know if there is a way to get away from it on a personal plan, because they build it in. But on a corporate plan, they cut you a discount for device ownership, so they already have it labeled in as part of your expanded billing..

 

[DaveF]

Bummer thought I was getting the key to unlocking the great pricing mystery If I could buy full price phones and then pay less monthly, I would consider it. But I've not heard of a way for a family plan to save the hidden subsidy cost.