ATT is Unfairly Treating Loyal iPhone Customers

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ATT is being unfair to loyal customers

An Obvious But Important Observation

By Arseny Lebedev BS PhD

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Question

ATT does not allow unlimited data plan users to access Facetime over Cellular.

Why?

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Facts

• Apple announced Facetime over Cellular at a recent press event (September 2012)

• Some ATT-wireless customers have unlimited cellular data plans that include LTE service

• ATT offers “Mobile Share” plans with multiple cellular data tiers

Sources: Apple News, ATT.com 2012

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Facts

Unlimited Data + Talk Plans

• Limited Talk• Limited Text

– Replaced by iMessage

• Unlimited LTE bandwidth– Possibly throttled for

SuperSizers

• Average price: $100/month

Mobile Share Plans

• Unlimited Talk• Unlimited Text

– Replaced by iMessage

• Limited LTE Bandwidth• Average price:

$100/month

Calculation: Based on basic services from each plan type. ~4 – 6 Gigs LTE

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What does LTE mean for iPhone Users?

Edge 3G 4G LTE

Calculation: 3 litre RC Cola = Awesome

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Answers from ATT Customer Service

Paraphrasing: – “You can only use wifi for Facetime if you do

not have Mobile Share”– “You can use Wifi or Mobile Share if you have

Mobile Share.”– “Cellular Facetime is an added-benefit of

Mobile Share plans”• “Cellular Facetime is a promotion for Mobile Share”

(Nevermind, comment redacted)

Small Footnote: Mobile Share and Unlimited Data are both LTE data services.

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Let’s look at some numbers

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Data Pricing and Features

Unlimited 1Gb 4Gb 6Gb 10Gb 15Gb 20Gb$0.00

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

Calculation: Unlimited users will have to have a limited talk/text plan which is roughly $45 difference from the shared plans. Shared plan users also get unlimited talk/text. Prices have been roughly adjusted based on the common talk and text usage.

Mobile Share

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Facetime Time Capacity (Hours)

Unlimited

1Gb

4Gb

6Gb

10Gb

15Gb

20Gb

3

11

17

28

43

57

Unlimited

Calculation: 6MB/minute LTE facetime session, Source: WSJ.com

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Unscientific Answer

ATT Servers will overheat with unlimited Facetime Usage.

See complicated diagram above.

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Scientific Answer

ATT will suffer severely high network utilization and high operating costs if a large percentage of customers Facetime non-stop.

– This is a semi-likely scenario since only nerds have unlimited data at this point

• Given how many hoops I had to jump through when ordering iPhone5

– Despite waking up at 3am EST to do it.

Randall L Stephenson, ATT CEO and Chairman and President

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Scientific Solutions

• Why not limit cellular data usage for Facetime for your paying customers to roughly that of 1 or 4gig Mobile Share plans– Apple won’t allow it?

• Your unlimited data users are your most loyal customers, be honest with them.

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Consumer Guide: How to Seek Revenge

• Jailbreak iPhone5 (when available).– turn iPhone5 into an LTE router

• Watch StarTrek: The Next Generation on Netflix indefinitely.

• Pandora and Spotify your life.• Fring a reality show.

Dathon, a Tamarian captain

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Thank You

Arseny.lebedev@gmail.com