Apple's iPhone Is Telecom Bling -- Reporters Missed: What' s Hidden in AT&T's Wireless 'Fine Print'?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: July 9, 2007 5:53:33 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Apple's iPhone Is Telecom Bling -- Reporters  
Missed: What' s Hidden in AT&T's Wireless 'Fine Print'?

[Note:  This item comes from Bruce Kushnick of Teletruth.  DLH]

Teletruth News Analysis: July 9th 2007

Apple’s iPhone Is Telecom Bling -- Reporters Missed the Real Story ---
Control of the Wireless Networks, Cost of Service, Speed, and Service
Restrictions. What's Hidden in AT&T’s 'Fine Print'?

Full Story:
<http://www.newnetworks.com/AppleIphoneatt.htm>
PART II: What's Hidden In AT&T's Fine Print?
<http://www.newnetworks.com/attwirelessfineprint.htm>

Before you buy an Apple iPhone, you should read the ‘fine print’ in  
AT&T’s
wireless service contract. The first question every customer should  
ask is
---Why did Apple, the standard for innovative techno-cool, partner  
with a
telecom curmudgeon that has a penchant for not caring about their  
customers.
AT&T’s “Data Connect Unlimited” wireless network used for the iPhone is
slow, expensive and a downright restrictive network, not ‘unlimited”  
as the
name implies.

Most reporters have been praising Apple’s new phone. Yet it is clear  
that
while the phone is the new wunderkind of industrial design and customer
interface, the reporters missed the main issue --- This is a wireless  
phone
and broadband service, and an AT&T control issue -- not a techno-toy  
issue.
And the fine print and tricks of the wireless trade are downright  
offensive
and need to be addressed.

Here are just a few things you may not know from AT&T’s fine print.

AT&T's Wireless Contract: (see 'plan terms')
<http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/ 
iPhoneCenter.html?source=IC980100110q5400>

Cost of Service, Service Requirements, Billing Issues

•       Using the iPhone requires a 2-year contract with AT&T.
•	Expensive: Requires approximately $2,280, over $1,730 in wireless  
costs.
•       Double billing. You and the caller both get charged for the same call.
•	All uses of the network are always rounded up to the nearest  
kilobyte or minute.
•       Customers can be billed for “network errors” and “network overhead".
•	Customers can be billed even though the call doesn't go through,  
even if it is the networks' fault. Customers also get charged for  
unsolicited messages.
•	Bogus fees are added to the bill including the Regulatory Cost  
Recovery Charge.
•       $175.00 “Termination” fee is now standard.
•	International messages are charged additional fees as are files  
over 300Kbps.
•	Over your quota: get gouged: 40¢ per minute and 69¢ per minute  
roaming offnet.

Problems with AT&T’s Offering

•       “Unlimited” Service is mostly hype.
•	Top speed seems to be 200Kbps, standard-speed wireless in Asia is 15 
+ times that.
•       The services are not secure and can't block your phone number.
•       Prohibited uses include VOIP, like Skype or Vonage.
•	“Except for content formatted in accordance with AT&T's content  
standards, unlimited plans cannot be used for uploading, downloading or
         streaming of video content (e.g. Movies, tv), music or games…”
•       Service is not intended to provide full-time connections.
•       Wi-Fi service is limited.
•       The current mobile email service doesn't support attachments.
•	If the customer uses the service too much, or does ‘offnet’ calls,  
they can be terminated.

Why can't you simply use the phone on any network? Why are there all  
these
restrictions? Why was it rolled out on an inferior wireless network?  
How is
it that “unlimited” means restricted or pay more?

Wireless Issues:

Putting the iPhone as pretty-telephone-bauble aside, the real story  
is about
the control of the wireless networks and devices and how anti- 
customer most
of these services have become. And it is important to discuss these  
issues
now. The FCC is currently holding a new auction for wireless spectrum  
and it
is clear that the large phone companies have been able to take  
control of
previous auctions and the results have been closed, slow,  uncompetitive
wireless networks.

America is 15th in the world in broadband and Europe and Asia are  
laughing
at us. Our wireline and wireless services are years behind in terms  
of speed
and pricing.  Worse, the FCC has been lax in examining the actual  
cost of
service, the restrictions placed on use, or odious issues, from $175
termination fee, required 2-year contract, or using the term 'unlimited'
when the telcos really mean – “until we disconnect you for using your
service too much”. None of this could have happened had there been  
serious
wireline and wireless competition.

Putting a new state-of-the-art piece of technology over the AT&T  
network may
sound like a selling point, but it’s really pairing innovation with the
equivalent of an expensive pair of tin cans and string.

Before you buy this phone, you should ask yourself – Do I really want  
to be
burdened with AT&T’s service for 2 years when I’m buying a computer and
phone? Steve Jobs of Apple, in response to knock-off phones coming from
China, claims that AT&T has a history of protecting privacy and can be
trusted.

“The iPhone has special software that assures you will always use the
trusted AT&T cellular network. Lacking this software, the myPhone  
accepts
any SIM card from any random network. Users may find themselves  
connected to
a network that doesn't have the reputation for service, trust and  
protecting
the privacy of customers that AT&T has. In addition, users may be stuck
without 2 years of guaranteed AT&T service.”

Trust is in the eye of the beholder. AT&T is currently overcharging  
their
loyal long distance customers and local customers. For the last five  
years,
AT&T has been continuously raising rates of these customers --- many low
volume, low income and seniors --- forcing customers to either pay  
through
the nose or discontinue service. See our Harvard Nieman article:
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm? 
fuseaction=background.view&backgroun
did=00148

Protecting Privacy? AT&T is being sued in multiple cases because it
supposedly has a room set up to illegally monitor calls and emails  
for the
NSA. Here is Electronic Frontier Foundation’s FAQ:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/faq.php

“EFF filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T, accusing the telecom
giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by
collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive 	 
and
illegal domestic spying program to wiretap and data-mine        Americans'
communications.”

Quality of Service? AT&T wireless advertisements focus on the claim  
that the
company has the fewest dropped calls. This is being challenged in the  
courts
as many reputable research firms claim that AT&T does not have this
distinction.

“…independent studies by … J.D. Powers & Associates and Consumer
Reports, found (AT&T) Cingular to be the worst or one of the worst
carriers in dropped-call performance…”

An article about the case:
http://www.ucan.org/blog/telecommunications/wireless/ 
cingular_fewest_dropped
_calls_myth_debunked_in_new_lawsuit

And when it comes to wireless spectrum, AT&T and the other large phone
companies were able to get over $8 billion in savings by acquiring  
spectrum
that had been allocated for “very small businesses”. (We filed a  
complaint
about this.)
http://www.newnetworks.com/wirelesscomplaint.htm

FCC Commissioner Adelstein on April 25, 2006 wrote:

"We missed a real opportunity to shut down what almost everyone
recognizes has the potential for the largest abuse of our Designated
Entity program: giant wireless companies using false fronts to get
spectrum on the cheap."

Next Steps:

Columbia law professor Tim Wu suggests that to make the iPhone itself  
more
“revolutionary” Apple should open up the code for multiple carriers.

“If Apple wanted to be "revolutionary," it would sell an unlocked
version of the iPhone that, like a computer, you could bring to the
carrier of your choice. An even more radical device would be the "X
Phone"—a phone on permanent roam that chose whatever network was
providing the best service…Of course, getting that phone to market
would be difficult, and Apple hasn't tried.”

See http://www.slate.com/id/2169352/

Also, the upcoming 700 MHz wireless spectrum auctions are underway  
and too
complicated to detail here.  The bottom-line is America needs open  
wireless
networks, and it should be clear to anyone who is considering buying an
iPhone that the AT&T networks should not be the only network for this
innovative product.
Some information about wireless spectrum from the New America  
Foundation.
http://www.newamerica.net/issues/telecom_and_technology#

CONCLUSION: Examine the fine print of the AT&T contract, then you  
decide.
NOTE: When you go to the link you will realize that the contract and
specific information is hard to find Look for “plan terms” to attempt to
read an unreadable document.

AT&T's Wireless Contract:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/ 
iPhoneCenter.html?so
urce=IC980100110q5400

PART II: Read the Details: What's Hidden In AT&T's Fine Print?
http://www.newnetworks.com/attwirelessfineprint.htm

Bruce Kushnick, Teletruth
Tom Allibone, Teletruth
http://www.teletruth.org



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