<p>^^ AT&T segregates the texting plan and the data plan. An iPhone with an unlimited data plan includes 0 texts - you have to get a separate texting plan for the texts.</p>
<p>It’s all about money extraction.</p>
<p>Note - You can send emails as part of the data plan. If I want to send someone a picture I send it as part of an email as opposed to a text.</p>
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I don’t understand that one - wouldn’t the $30 family unlimited texting apply for all the phones you have on your family plan? I don’t understand the part where you’re referring to “for one person”.</p>
<p>Because I assumed that everyone with data plans was covered for texting by their data plans, which will now be four of us. So what you’re saying is that the unlimited doesn’t cover texts, but the other data plans do? Only one phone (mine) has unlimited.</p>
<p>^^ I only said the AT&T iPhone unlimited data plan does not include the texting. I don’t think ANY of their iPhone data plans include texting but this last should be checked with them. I don’t know if they do the same for other smart phones but I assume they do.</p>
<p>What it comes down to is they want to charge 2 surcharges rather than 1 for the data and texting that they figure most people will buy.</p>
<p>Since the data and texting plans are separate, if all of your phones are on a family plan then it seems that you’d only need a single family unlimited texting plan (doesn’t include data) which would cover all of your phones. If I remember correctly they came up with this idea to not include texting as data when they first came out with the iPhone.</p>
<p>I just checked the AT&T forums. I will need to keep the unlimited texting plan. None of the data plans we have cover texting. I believe the unlimited covers 200/mo, but it doesn’t make a difference so I’m not digging any further.</p>
<p>Oh well, in theory it worked really, really well! ;)</p>
<p>You could use a program such as Pinger to reduce or eliminate paid text messages. Or, argue with AT&T to lower the costs of your text package. I pay less than 20 dollars for the multi-text package. It was a matter of asking for a better price.</p>
<p>xiggi - BTDT, already get a discount, gotten comped for a few upgrade hookups, for having 5 on the plan and giving the local store my consistent business as opposed to buying directly from apple. I don’t know how much lower they’d go. Good idea though.</p>
<p>Krliles - Thanks, I’ll check it out. With 5 of us we are paying about $200 for three smart phones, one unlimited data plan, two have 3G data each, 700min shared which is more then enough (unlimited m2m), unlimited text, and two other phones. That includes a company discount as well. We are on contract with AT&T for another year and I remember not wanting to loose my unlimited data to switch to verizon, but it’s worth looking again.</p>
<p>I would prefer an unlocked version, but the prices are so exorbitant for these (approximately 600+ for top-tier phones such as the iPhone). It’s ironic how an iPad is cheaper than an unlocked iPhone.</p>
<p>I might set the alarm clock for this. I have no idea as to how the order is done though. How do you set up your phone number and carrier? Do you order it and get it in the mail and bring it into the store to set up for you?</p>
<p>No, you’ll select your carrier, enter your phone number, SS number…so they could identify you, then they would determine what type of discount you would be eligible for, then you place your order. You’ll get your phone delivered. If you are a new customer then you could decide which carrier you want. </p>
<p>I think I am going to order mine through Apple rather than ATT.</p>
<p>I went to the Apple site and had a look at the plans and was a bit shocked. The Verizon plans run from $80 to $190 per month and that probably doesn’t include taxes and fees. In general, my understanding is that Verizon has the best voice coverage, especially in Northern NH (in case I feel like going on idad-style hikes).</p>
<p>I like the AT&T a la carte plans basically minimum minutes, no text messages and 3 GB for $69/month. Especially if I can change things at any time. I have a Verizon MiFi ($50/month) that’s quite nice but I was considering replacing it with the AT&T plan as they allow Wireless Hotspot mode if you go with a 5 GB plan which is also $50/month. The thing is - do I lose anything going with AT&T compared to Verizon?</p>
<p>So for those of you that have Verizon and AT&T, which is the better overall carrier for voice coverage?</p>
<p>Also, my workplace has a 30% (I think) discount with Verizon and I have to see if that applies or if I can apply it after signing up. I should try to figure out how that works. The Verizon $80/month plan only gives you 300 MB which is generally enough though maybe not when traveling.</p>
<p>Now I understand why so many people talk on their phones while they are driving - Verizon’s plans are unlimited talk.</p>
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<p>Do you have any details on how they do this? At the Apple Store, I just show my employee badge and they give me the hardware discount (about 10%).</p>
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<p>I found the page for our corporate discount and went through the ordering process for the iPhone 4S (still for sale and not discounted) and it looks like AT&T definitely wins on price for my usage model - not a lot of calls, not a lot of text messages, moderate data. So it looks like I will stick with AT&T.</p>
<p>Now the question is how hard will it be to migrate my existing phone number over, do I want to do this and what do I do with my prepaid minutes? Actually they expire in two weeks so I guess that’s not really a problem.</p>
<p>The new phones have a different SIM card though, if they program it and mail it to me, does my phone die in the meantime? Maybe I should just get another phone number.</p>
<p>I have two college kids trying to get one at 0301 tonight. One on eastern time who I’m guessing will just set an alarm and one on mountain time who I’m sure will just stay up until 1. I’m going to take my chances and wait and order mine later and if I have to wait until Christmas, well, it’ll make a nice gift!</p>
<p>I think I’m going to go with Apple. The rep said that I’d be able to ship one to other than my home/billing address, i.e., to my daughter in college as her graduation present. The rep said the phone will arrive on the 21st, and not ship on the 21st. The AT&T rep couldn’t answer these questions. </p>
<p>I asked the Apple rep if there’s any reason buy from Apple v. AT&T, and she said, “Well, it is our phone.”</p>
<p>Incidentally, if you’re a Comcast voice subscriber, they you can text through their mobile app. It uses your home phone though as an address, so everyone using it in your family would see everyone’s texts. </p>
<p>I like the Model T / iphone analogy. Just about a century apart, the Model T defined the concept in a field where there were a mess of disparate offerings. And maybe like the iPhone it confined itself to one offering–“Any color as long as it’s black.” and it lost its lead to GM (Android?) which offered a wide variety of choices.</p>
<p>I like Dunkin Donuts coffee better than Starbucks but Starbucks has free WiFi so I often go there. The interesting thing is that Starbucks black coffee is usually cheaper than the equivalent at Dunkin.</p>
<p>No need for a different phone number. Trust me, Apple and the phone carriers have this all figured out – they handle thousands of these a day.</p>
<p>I don’t remember the exact process, I did this a year ago, but you just follow the directions on your phone when you turn it on. There are places to go online that describe all the steps (Macworld often does this), but when I got my phone last year I didn’t even need the directions I’d printed out. </p>
<p>Your old phone with the old sim card and existing phone number works until you activate the iPhone – by activate, I mean physically have it in your hand and turn it on and start the process. Now, how you transfer your data is a whole different story. For that you may have to go to a Verizon/AT&T store and have them do it. My husband had to reenter all his phone contacts, but that was several years ago, and I don’t think his old phone had a sim card.</p>
<p>No crystal ball here. Maybe Apple will have its act together and have enough of these already sitting in warehouses so there won’t be a wait. It hasn’t happened yet, though.</p>
<p>If you go to a website called MacRumors.com, and find their forums, you may get some answers. There are whole threads devoted to people discussing the wait times for Apple products. You could probably search back a year ago and find threads for last year’s release to learn what the wait time was for people who didn’t order on the first day.</p>
<p>Last year I ordered on the first day, but I didn’t do it at 3:30 am. I went on in the morning – probably around 7 or 8 – and had no problems ordering a phone that was delivered on the promised first day delivery date. It was a much better process than what I went through two years earlier to buy the 3GS, when I didn’t preorder and every Apple and AT&T store were out of stock.</p>
<p>Also, if you don’t order immediately, I think Apple is trying to list its inventory at its retail outlets online. So you can go to the website for your local store, see if there are iPhones in stock, and reserve one to pick up that day. At least, they did that last year.</p>