iPhone 4G?

[Jobydrone]

Reading is fundamental

"A Verizon spokesman on Tuesday said the company will announce all service charges for iPhone later but did not give a date. However, another Verizon spokeswoman said Wednesday that hotspots currently cost $20 monthly for 2GB, adding, "and to my knowledge that won't change."

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Oh that, thought you were talking about something else.  

Yeah, hotspots on Smartphones have always costed more $$.  Droid, RIM iPhone, nothing new

King

[Rico]

I didnt realize this would be an additional charge.  That makes it a no-go for me then.

Yeah, that what I was getting at yesterday I think when you mentioned all these added features on the plan.  Added stuff always costs more!  Again, these things are all just to darn costly if you ask me.  I don't know what kind of jobs people have out there, but $120+ month for a phone??  I'd rather have three or four nice meals out.

[Bryancd]

And this is one of the reasons I have always been so bullish on Apple. Observational evidence only, but I have seen people who have jobs where I would imagine paying the rent would be a monthly challenge and yet they are walking around with an expensive smartphone with a pricey data plan! I said in a old thread once, people will go into foreclosure before they give up their gadgets.

[Jobydrone]

What's insidious about it is how these "services" are generally cheap enough ($20 a month for example doesn't seem like a whole lot on its own) that people think that it's a manageable expense.  But when you add up the annual cost of all these incidentals it winds up being thousands of dollars a year. 

[Bryancd]

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it insidious, that sort of puts some kind of morality spin on it. Cavaet emptor and a little personal financial responsibility go's a long way! :) People should actually READ the contracts they sign...kind of like the whole mortgage thing but that's a different conversation. As it is, people are buying these data plans at these price points and until they have incentive to lower them, that's what the market will bear.

[billybob476]

Dunno, I'm paying 60/month for 500 megs of data and unlimited talk/text. You CAN make it expensive, but with a bit of restraint it can be quite manageable.

[Bryancd]

Wow, people seem very interested in getting a phone that supposedly drops calls, breaks when you look at it wrong, and is about to be taken out by the competition... ;)

[X]

Wow, people seem very interested in getting a phone that supposedly drops calls, breaks when you look at it wrong, and is about to be taken out by the competition... ;)

LOL! People often make poor judgment calls. Look at the housing market and worldwide money troubles. It's sad when the guy down the street has more money than Greece.

[Rico]

I'll give you a very side type of example of what you guys are talking about.  Down the street from work here (not the best area to start with) there is an area people refer to as "the projects."  Very cheap, small housing for low incomes, etc.  Now up and down the street each day people walk down to the bus stop, push strollers of kids, etc.  Many of them have their cell phones out talking and just yesterday I saw three boys (maybe late teens or so) walking down the road and one had a nice looking laptop holding it open (looked like he was scanning for free WiFi).  Everyone of course can spend their money in the manner they choose.  I certainly spend money on things many would call frivolous.  But, I also make sure our money goes first to our home, education for the boys, reliable cars, food, etc. before other things.  I'll just say some people seem to have the order of priorities messed up.

[Bryancd]

I'll give you a very side type of example of what you guys are talking about.  Down the street from work here (not the best area to start with) there is an area people refer to as "the projects."  Very cheap, small housing for low incomes, etc.  Now up and down the street each day people walk down to the bus stop, push strollers of kids, etc.  Many of them have their cell phones out talking and just yesterday I saw three boys (maybe late teens or so) walking down the road and one had a nice looking laptop holding it open (looked like he was scanning for free WiFi).  Everyone of course can spend their money in the manner they choose.  I certainly spend money on things many would call frivolous.  But, I also make sure our money goes first to our home, education for the boys, reliable cars, food, etc. before other things.  I'll just say some people seem to have the order of priorities messed up.

AMEN.

[Jobydrone]

Well, we also live in a society where, from before our children are old enough to even talk, they are constantly bombarded with advertising and media that does it's damndest to convince them that they need to have the lastest, or greatest, or most expensive doodad that they're hawking in order to be happy, beautiful, well liked, etc etc.  It's very difficult to avoid and it obviously works or advertising wouldn't be a billion dollar industry.  If you think about it for a while it is kind of insidious. 

[X]

Well, we also live in a society where, from before our children are old enough to even talk, they are constantly bombarded with advertising and media that does it's damndest to convince them that they need to have the lastest, or greatest, or most expensive doodad that they're hawking in order to be happy, beautiful, well liked, etc etc.  It's very difficult to avoid and it obviously works or advertising wouldn't be a billion dollar industry.  If you think about it for a while it is kind of insidious. 

I disagree with that just a little. While there are tons of commercials, if you give your child a good foundation, then it really doesn't matter. My daughter is 6 now and has never eaten nor wanted to eat at McDonalds. She sees a lot of commercials through the course of a week, but she doesn't bombard us at all with things that she wants. She does have some things that she wants but it's more than controllable.

I think that a strong value system and a sense of what a buck is worth can easily counter any and all advertising.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Well, we also live in a society where, from before our children are old enough to even talk, they are constantly bombarded with advertising and media that does it's damndest to convince them that they need to have the lastest, or greatest, or most expensive doodad that they're hawking in order to be happy, beautiful, well liked, etc etc.  It's very difficult to avoid and it obviously works or advertising wouldn't be a billion dollar industry.  If you think about it for a while it is kind of insidious. 

I disagree with that just a little. While there are tons of commercials, if you give your child a good foundation, then it really doesn't matter. My daughter is 6 now and has never eaten nor wanted to eat at McDonalds. She sees a lot of commercials through the course of a week, but she doesn't bombard us at all with things that she wants. She does have some things that she wants but it's more than controllable.

I think that a strong value system and a sense of what a buck is worth can easily counter any and all advertising.

Problem is, is having parents who teach that. 

Getting smaller by the generation me thinks...

King

[RickPeete]

How much you wanna bet that AT&T will charge for the Hotspot service AND not allow those of us with unlimited data plans to use the feature?

It is what they did with their Internet Tethering feature.  It is only available if you select their 2GB plan.  For those of us on the unlimited plan (grandfathered in), the Internet Tethering option is not available.

So unfair....