I just got off the phone with an AT&T rep confirming information about the launch next week. He explained a few things to me about AT&T’s  iphone plans that I didn’t know, and also stated that he expects the plans to be their standard data plans starting at $34.95 and climbing all the way up to $99.99 a month.

AT&T offers what they call a “smart phone plan” for internet useage…but it doesn’t actually work with most of what we would consider “smart phones”. For example, you can’t use it with a Palm Treo or a Blackjack. The “smart phone” plan is $19.95 a month, and only works with phones that have limited access to the Internet. PDA-like phones have to go the Data Plan route.

The iPhone Data Plans include:

PDA Personal 20 Mb for $34.95 a month

Personal Max w/ 1500 Messages for $44.95 a month

PDA Personal Max with 1500 Messages w/UNLIMITED M2M Messaging for $49.95 a month

Data Connect (Unlimited) for $79.95 a month

Data Connect (Unlimited) w/ Wi-Fi for $99.95 a month

You can read about the Date Plans on AT&Ts official site.

Now AT&T Reps have already gone on the record as saying the plans for the iPhone will be “nothing exotic”, so I think the dreams of heavily discounted data plans for iPhone customers are just that…dreams.

Regardless of how well the device works, or how revolutionary it may or may not be (and I tend to fall on the “may” side of that argument), the rates that AT&T charge, and whether or not the phone will have Wi-Fi access without a data plan are two factors that are going to make or break this phone.

From everything we’ve seen of the iPhone so far, the device looks like a home run, but AT&T’s role in this, cost wise, has yet to really be revealed. If the information I got today is correct, and these standard rates are going to apply…do you still want an iPhone?

If the Wi-Fi is inactive without an AT&T Data plan (which has been rumored, but not confirmed) do you still want an iPhone?

Posted on June 25th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Plan, AT&T iPhone