Should we feel bad for AT&T though?

Personally, I've always wondered exactly what it "costs" to transmit data. Think AT&T will ever open their books and let us know exactly how much it costs vs. how much their charging?

In other words, how the hell did they come up with $60.00 a month unlimited data? Couldn't they just as easily have done it for, say, $12/month?

This is why people are so obsessed with freeing the iPhone, I think. Not so much because it's a fun past time for hackers -- but because of something deeper.

We all know that how the "price" is determined is not based in reality -- and we're just sick of getting ripped off by companies like AT&T.

And what's with this whole "nights and weekend minutes" crap?

How was it determine that we'd get 37 "anytime" minutes and 5000 "nights and weekends" minutes if we want to use the phone between the hours of 1am and 3am?

It's that kind of random crap that has not only emboldened the hackers to free the iPhone -- but to cause the rest of us to cheer them on.

Hackers are kind of like free market anti-bodies.

When a tumor appears and begins destroying us (like AT&T and their overpriced/greedy plans) the free market forms hack anti-bodies to destroy that tumor and restore balance to the system.

Go hackers!

Other carriers have expensive plans as well, in fact, for 1000 minutes a month an unlimited data for my treo I pay something like $100 a month, and that's with a corporate discount.

Certainly the increased choice is good. Assuming, that is, that you can still get updates to your phone without screwing things up. I've said before it wouldn't be hard for AT&T and Apple to tie updates and upgrades with a check to see if the phone is 'unlocked' or not, and given this is a 1.0 device, not being able to update would be a huge problem.

Finally, can we rename this column the 'Apple Update' since roughly %50 of all posts are about Apple products?

...it appears that you can only perform this miracle on a PC. True? Not true? Anybody?

I predict we'll begin to see a lot more of this -- I've written a bit about "ownership" in the communications industry and where it really starts and stops in the post-digital age.

How far down the chain does a record company, or even an artist, "own" the songs you legally purchase from them? What about iTunes? Where's the line there? Is it all spelled out in a user agreement?

You're seeing the same questions about ownership with net neutrality -- the carriers did invest in those networks after all, but does that mean they "own" the content that flows over it? If so, do they magic-tastically stop owning it when it's not on their network anymore? How does *that* happen?

Open access over 700 MHz? Yet another "ownership" issue -- does renting spectrum from the American people mean you get the rights of a tenant over his apartment (visitors and even the landlord, can only come and go at his discretion)? Or are we treating wireless spectrum like infrastructure, a public good simply managed by its "owner?"

I suspect this question will pop up again and again in the coming months.

So, instead buying any of the dozens of unlocked phones already available, you haaaddd to have a first gen Iphone. So now, instead of paying AT&T $100 a month to use their network, you can hack it and be free to pay any other GSM provider $100 a month. Long Live the Revloution! Welcome to 21st century America, where "freedom" means being able to use your shiny new Iphone of any GSM network.

Information is power -- and as consumers (paying monthly "data" plans) we have no info.

How much does AT&T charge?

What I challenge the hackers to do is hack into AT&T and look at their financials! Give me a sense (as a consumer) as to exactly how much it costs to send an email, make a phone call, etc.

If it became public knowledge that, for example, it really only costs a company like AT&T .00012 cents to transmit 100 emails at 20kb each --- then (I think) it would give consumers a big stick with which to say to AT&T: C'mon! Lower yer fraking rates! We know you're screwing us. It costs way less than a penny to actually transmit a 100 emails so how'd ya come up with $60 or $100 a month?

I don't know. It may be hopelessly naive, but that's my idea.