To fix issues the iphone has had since the 3.1 version of shutting down your iphone.

Get bent…

In my area, TWC offered RR Lite, RR Standard and RR Turbo. RR Lite can be had for $20-30 depending on promotion.

When you bundle it in with your cable, it is RR Standard service that is offered. I don[t know if you can go down in RR service with a bundled package, but I do know that you can increase to RR Turbo for $10 a month.

However, I strongly agree with Philip that part of the problem with the iPhone is the exclusive AT&T contract. Of course, breaking that exclusivity will mean little in the USA since only AT&T and T-Mobile have a GSM network, and T-Mobile’s 3G coverage is even worse than AT&T. I don’t see Apple releasing a CDMA iPhone anytime soon. Competition will improve when LTE arrives, but that’s still years away.

Furthermore, any increases in the pricing structure should NOT apply to any consumer who has already committed to the onerous contract. In other words, if AT&T decides that they need to increase the cost of the phone service, then they should NOT be allowed to increase it for someone who already has a contract.

In other words, if AT&T wants to offer tiered data plans for the iPhone, it’s OK with me so long as it does not apply to anyone who already has a contract with AT&T. AT&T (nor any other broadband provider) should not be allowed to change the terms of the contract in the middle. And no matter what the pricing plan is, there should be no hard caps, period. Even for 3G laptop devices. Which is why I have a Virgin Mobile 3G laptop service.

Put another way: I think every citizen should have the right to unlimited broadband. I think all data should be treated equally across broadband networks. I think there should be real competition in broadband. But I don’t think that every citizen should have the right to unlimited broadband at a fixed price. If the providers want to offer that, great. But the force of government should not impose unlimited broadband at a fixed price. Today, I know many older folks who complain about the high price of their data connections, and they are using maybe 1-2GB a month. This may be subsidizing younger households like mine that use 40-50GB a month. That’s not fair, either. I’m sure they would be very happy to get a tiered pricing structure that costs them much less per month. But that doesn’t exist due to the lack of competition. And instead, we get broadband operators that impose a hard cap for everyone, or that discriminate based on types of traffic (streaming HD, peer-to-peer sharing). That needs to stop.

Sorry for the long rant.

As for the IPhone, I wanted to get one when I was with AT&T but they made you get the data plan which was too much for my blood. If they are so worried about their network, they shouldn’t have forced a data plan on all of their customers who wanted a IPhone. I know I would of been content with the WiFi on the phone serving as my connection to the Internet.