The dying goodwill toward AT&T

And don't forget to talk about the absolute atrocity that AT&T pulled during SXSW. Biggest geek conference of the year and nobody could use their phones. Nobody could use their data plans. Nobody could send SMS.

People HATE AT&T, and are just *waiting* for an opportunity to leave. I'll follow the iPhone, just give me a reason to leave.

Respect!

respect!

AT&T Said I Will have to fork over 5 Beans + Tax for 32GB iPhone 3G S
I just switched over to the 3G when it came out last year...

I'm 5 Months away from being able to upgrade - B*LLS!!!

Having left Verizon for Cingular about three years ago, I'm pretty sure the grass is not greener on the other side. Their customer service was horrible. I've been pretty happy with AT&T customer service. Although, when I signed up, I received a discount through my employer for my personal cell phone account; I usually talk to a business customer rep instead of consumer rep, so maybe they're nicer. Discount rules, and makes my iPhone family plan affordable and cheaper than a comparable plan on any other carrier. I had to temporarily remove the discount to buy the iPhone 3G at Apple last year, and it magically reappeared shortly thereafter, no hassle at all. I love my iPhone, though I have had a crazy number of failed calls. But that's gotten better, and the phone is the least used feature on my iPhone.

But this is not a love-fest. I am annoyed by the text message plans. Yes, what about the folks that use more than 200 but nowhere near 1500? Sure, take another $10 a month, I didn't need it! The need to offer a 500 message plan for what they charge for 200 (or just include messages), and they better not up the charges for MMS, if anything, they should up the number of messages we get for what we pay, or include them in the data plan, to bring messaging pricing more in line with the rest of the world.

I can wait a little while for MMS, at least it's coming, whatever. But tethering had better come soon, too, and without a crazy extra charge. No more than $10 extra per month for tethering, if that. I would be an occasional user, and wouldn't want to pay a significant chunk of change but would still want the option when needed. They need to include it free, or at several different levels for different users.

Finally, some bitching at Apple: why can't they include video capability in the software update for the iPhone 3G? Seriously? If an unlocked phone can do it, there is NO good reason why Apple can't do it, except to try to make people buy the newer version which is ridiculous. I don't care if quality, battery life, whatever is not great with video recording on the 3G, the device is capable of doing it hardware-wise, so DO IT APPLE!!!! and bring tethering, AT&T!! or I'm seriously unlocking my phone, terms of use be damned.

I have the 3G and I can upgrade to the 16 for 199 or 32 for 299.

That's miss information you have there.

I just got off the phone with ATT. If they are being honest, you can go to an ATT store, tell them that you need an 'exception upgrade' and get the phone you want for the new customer rate plus $75. Please note, you have to be on your current plan for at least six months. They even called my local store to be sure it was the case. If I can't get the phone, I'll come back and update this. Fingers crossed!

I am wondering if I purchase a 3GS for my other phone on my family plan and then switch the sim cards between the new phone and my 3G if it would work?
Any ideas?

This article fails with the title - when did we ever have goodwill towards AT&T? Even Apple has been faking it to make it, all you need to do is look at their words and behaviors in other countries. It's clear to all AT&T sucks, but they WERE the perfect candidate to launch the iPhone at the time.

In retrospect, launching on Sprint, then coming out GSM in other countries would've been the perfect 1-2 punch - and had Sprint over a barrel to perform well to maintain their exclusivity. Going the OTHER way, AT&T could probably care less about a CDMA iPhone at this point, since they'll still win EVERY international travel customer, and the money they bring in.

Honestly, I think Apple is stuck with AT&T, at least until the carrier tech is unified/4Gified - the mixed-mode chips still aren't quite there, and the internet hasn't fully transformed/destroyed the carrier landline business (but when it does, then I think the carriers WILL adopt a more IP-centric/telecom 2.0 mindset, and make it "all about the apps" in a way that everyone can stomach.

This may be tilting at windmills, but I created a facebook group for those of us who want to see a non-AT&T iphone. Please join!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86765693485