AT&T has released a statement to combat the current antitrust investigation into the Apple-AT&T alliance, which in the US forces customers onto AT&T if they want an iPhone. The concern from an antitrust perspective is that the iPhone is so desirable that it forces consumers to go with AT&T, eliminating consumer choice. Jim Cicconi, an AT&T exec, wrote that “U.S. wireless prices are much lower than in any other major industrialized country,” in an attempt to dissuade investigators like Christine Varney, who is currently looking into AT&T’s deal with Apple.
But Mr. Cicconi must have known that we’d never just take his word on how AT&T gives us great deals. I looked into it, and sure enough, iPhone users on AT&T get very little for a whole lot of price. On AT&T, one potential (and certainly very popular) monthly plan for the iPhone is as follows: 450 minutes of talk time, 1500 texts, and unlimited data, all for $85. Note that this is with a two-year service agreement. Let’s compare that with what our friends over in the UK get. O2, which is the exclusive iPhone partner in Britain, makes AT&T eat their words. 600 minutes, 500 texts, and unlimited data will run you £34.26 a month, which is about $55. That’s how much I paid before I had any sort of smartphone, and that was the total (after all those fees and taxes that get stacked onto your monthly bill).
Another way in which AT&T screws us? Those 1500 texts in the $85 plan are both incoming and outgoing, which means that it costs you just as much to send a message over SMS as it does to receive it. And like clockwork, O2 one-ups AT&T again: incoming in the UK is free. I still remember quite fondly Wil Haris of ChannelFlip freaking out when he learned that we pay for our incoming wireless plans in the US. Those 500 texts from O2 amount to 1000 from AT&T.
I’m sure O2 users probably have their share of grievances against their provider, but that doesn’t change the fact that any American telecom claiming to be cheap is lying. AT&T won’t even give you an iPhone with a 24-month contract, whereas O2 lets you go down to 18 months. Sure, that still ropes you in, but not for anywhere near as long.
