http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30854

At&t is touting this as a way to make data plans more affordable to the public... but they’ve removed the unlimited plan completely.

AT&T’s data plan change is a step back, not a step forward. It’s like monitoring your dial-up internet usage. Even if you got to keep the higher speeds, would you be ok if your internet company (ISP) suddenly told you there was no longer an unlimited option?

As someone else pointed out, it changes your behavior if you have to worry about it. Heck, I bought the unlimited texting plan because I don’t want to have to worry about it even though I don’t use it that much. I do use it in ways I didn’t plan on using it since it’s unlimited though.

If the change doesn’t affect 95% of AT&T’s users as they claim then why change it?

I’m guessing it has to do with tethering (cough cough – making money and price gouging.)

It looks like they want you to pay an additional $20/mo. just to use that 2gig allotment for tethering. It looks like you wouldn’t get an extra 2 gig for that $20, just be able to officially use your phone like a modem and consume even more bandwidth on your data plan. People would definitely rack up more that way. I’m not alone in this thought.

Thinking about switching cell phone companies makes me sick to my stomach.

• Verizon: I had bad experiences with Verizon long ago (customer service and signal … but that was way back and signal has probably improved). I don’t even remember the exact details. I just remember being lied to.
• Sprint: I had VERY bad experiences (plural) with Sprint. Always with customer service, never with the signal… They actually made me cry in the store once. And if you know me, I don’t cry, especially not in public. I was lied to on many an occasions and it wasn’t my imagination. I started trying to gathering paperwork and in at least one instance I probably should have sued them. I need to be more litigious.
• AT&T: I’ve only been with AT&T a little over a year and though I haven’t had anything horrific happen like with the other two, I think they’ve become greedy and complacent because of the iphone contract. I’m not particularly happy in that respect. They’re making  money hand over fist (unless I’m somehow reading that wrong.) Upgrade your tech already, add some more towers (it’s not as bad as Verizon wants you to think but they could always improve), and what about faster speeds (4g?) or expanding 3g coverage where there’s still only edge?

It’s like choosing the lesser of the all the evils.

Eventually they’ll overstep their bounds and/or people will give up on them and figure out some alternative.

And don’t think there won’t be an alternative to cell phones if the companies get bad enough.

• I got rid of my landline almost 10 years ago because I got fed up with the telephone company. More and more people are going with cell phone only these days (though maybe to save money, not because they are mad at their land line provider.)
• I got rid of cable tv because they didn’t know how to fix their own dvrs and it had started glitching so bad it was pointless (and I was tempted to open it up and run spinrite on the hard drive but resisted that because I wasn’t sure how much they would charge me for the device if they found I had voided their warranty.) So I started watching hulu when it was still beta.
• I won’t get another credit card and haven’t had one for over 7 years because of the crazy contracts. They “can change anything they want at any given time” does that not sound like the cell phone contracts too? I think recent legislation changed that some but I’m still not getting another card. I’ll used my debit card processed as a credit card thank-you-very-much.
• Haven’t bought a cd in who knows how long but I have bought mp3s from amazon and itunes.

There is a next step with all forms of communication and media … I might sound a bit crazy here, but I’m hoping there’s something good on the horizon for replacing the cell phone companies. I don’t mean voip. Skype is my cellphone fallback. Google Voice is my Skype fallback fallback. Free wifi just isn’t quite prevalent enough yet. I can’t answer a skype or google voice call in my car without the cell phone network to connect to.

I understand the need to make money but I’m tired of the attitude these companies have.

As for my data usage on the iphone? I’m not sure. My phone logged 923mb of data in the last 2 days. AT&T’s site says I’ve never used more than 170mb (How to check your usage on justanotheriphoneblog.com.) But it also says I used 0mb last October which I know is not correct. Someone said that “if they’re using the numbers on the site to charge me, then I’m golden” but I pointed out “if it’s not the actual amount used and then suddenly they correct that problem? Like the gas company misreading your meter, they aren’t likely to pay for that mistake, you are.”

So I’m going to reset the data usage tracking on the phone and keep a close eye on it this month. I may be grandfathered in to the unlimited data but I feel like the way the contracts are worded they could change that at any point in time without repercussion.

Sure, some people are looking forward to the option of a slightly cheaper data plan. I’m not, are you?

This doesn’t work as well if the software is incredibly new or if the software name is also an object like “Orange.”

So no, I did not get to watch the game. I gave up trying to find a live feed 20 minutes after the game started and I wasn’t motivated enough to drive somewhere else to watch it.

So today I watched the ads on hulu.com. Hulu has got a lot of good things going for them … if only they could have gotten the live feed of the game too. Or even on a 2 hour delay or something. If you haven’t watched the ads yet you can check them out below and you won’t even have to eave my site to do so.

I wasn’t especially amazed by any single ad however. Here are the ads that made me take action and why:

Flo.tv: I do want TV on my iphone and full episodes not snippets and previews. It looks like Flo TV can do this but they didn’t do anything other than get me to their website since they don’t offer their services for the iphone. It looks like they’re using a special chip to deliver service so there is a hardware limitation. Looks like they might add it to future iphones or the mophie juicepack? So no Flo TV for me.

HomeAway.com: I wasn’t really swayed by the Griswold mini-movie but it wasn’t bad. Basically I just wanted to bookmark the site for future reference since it is right, sometimes renting a house would be the better option.

Dockers: So I’m not a guy, but who doesn’t want a chance at free pants? And they made it easy for me to try. I didn’t win, oh darn. As far as I’m concerned however they could have skipped the first 3/4 of the ad. What was with the pantless people in ads this year? CareerBuilder did that too.

Runners up – I didn’t take action immediately:

TruTV: I think I liked this ad the most because it was unexpectedly funny. But I didn’t immediately go to the website. Not sure if I’m interested in the content of the site however. It looks like it could be the start of something good but I don’t think I’m the target audience.

Vizio:The internet and TV are merging. Looks like they’re going to be appealing to the existing TV market with Vizio internet apps. Internet for the TV instead of TV for the internet. WebTV tried and failed but maybe Vizio will get this right.

Snickers: Betty White … need I say more? She just has a way. Has she been like 80 years old for the last 20 years?

KGB: The business name was probably more intriguing than the ad. I didn’t know where they were going to go so I paid attention. The lack of info about price (or maybe it was in the fine print) was where I was turned off. So many things where a text message is involved are overpriced and going to the website I was right – looks like it’s $1 per answer. I just downloaded Siri for my iphone and I think I’ll stick with that and some other apps and sites that answer most of my questions. Oh and translation apps… those are always good… Have I mentioned I have an iphone? Seems to be affecting my opinion of things here.

Denny’s: Free breakfast, need I say more. The chickens screaming over and over were annoying. Mostly their scream was annoying, I liked the chickens.

Shortly after I received marketing e-mail that was a “Grab your double bonus miles before the 60 days are up” and “This offer is valid for only 60 days after the receipt of this email, so register today.” In case that clarifies what e-mail I’m talking about, the bottom of the e-mail says “Please refer Delta customer service representative to 970641.”

When I went to register (using the correct e-mail address and skymiles number) I got the following error message:
“We are sorry, the SkyMiles number you entered is not eligible for this offer.”

If I wasn’t eligible for this offer then why did you send me an e-mail regarding the offer?
If I was eligible then why did I get this error message?

I hit “reply” to the e-mail marketing with this question and got back:
“Thank you for your e-mail. Your feedback is important to us. To ensure that your message reaches the appropriate contact in a timely manner, simply contact us online. Sincerely, Delta”

I sent this inquiry using the above mentioned contact form and got the following response:
“Dear Ms. Baumann,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Delta’s SkyMiles program.

Our 24-hour Online Customer Support Desk is available to help you with any questions you may have regarding delta.com. Please feel free to contact us at 888-750-3284 so that we may assist you with your navigational or web-related needs.

Your selection of Delta is appreciated, and we will always do our best to merit your confidence and support.

Sincerely,

Steeve Spike
Online Customer Support Desk
http://www.delta.com”

I e-mailed, I used the form, and NOW you want me to call? It was a simple question, CLEARLY you are just wasting my time.

I now expect if I call I would spend half of the day being redirected through some phone tree so I’m not going to even try. I don’t care enough about the offer to waste more of my time. Delta, please answer people’s questions from time to time or take action to fix the problem instead of just sending auto-responses to everything and giving people a run around until they give up.

This experience will probably be the first thing that comes to mind next time I have to deal with Delta again…