[sounddust]

So we should force iPhone users to pay for unlimited bandwidth so that we can try to force them to "do more awesome things" with their phone?

What this argument is not taking into consideration is that some people don't use their device as much as others, and they do so by choice. Plenty of people will take a $10 discount to cut their phone usage a bit, and be happy that someone offered them the choice. Personally, I'm a data-crazed maniac who uses my iPhone constantly (and uses around 900MB/month) but that doesn't mean everyone is (or wants to be).

I'd also argue that there are only a few applications that consume large amounts of bandwidth, such as streaming/downloading audio and video. You can still take full advantage of your phone (with the exception of those two things) and not use much bandwidth.

[elblanco]

Offered tiered pricing. $5/mo for 100MB, $10/mo for 250MB, $20/mo for 1GB, $30/mo for unlimited.

[sounddust]

That's what they're doing, although not with the exact tiers you mentioned.

As for the $30/mo unlimited, I believe part of the reason why AT&T removed the unlimited option in the first place is because a disproportional amount of bandwidth is spent by people who jailbroke their iPhone and use 100+GB/month using it as a 3G modem.

[pacemkr]

As if anyone can actually get a good enough signal to pull 100GB off the AT&T network. You have to be masochistic to use a AT&T 3G exclusively.

Also, you don't need to jailbreak to tether. I forget the details, but basically you go to a web address and install a new carrier profile and thats it.

If AT&T want to be the big boys on the block they have to invest in their network, end of story. The reason they got rid of the unlimited option is because they want to make all the money and not do a thing to improve their network.