Taking a pass on the iPhone

It looks like AT&T’s announced pricing plans for the iPhone 3G is causing me to take a pass on the iPhone.

It’s nowhere near as simple for existing AT&T non-iPhone customers as adding a data plan, at least according to the information on the AT&T site. I would have to abandon my current family plan with 3 lines for only $82 and change after taxes and go with a far more expensive plan. The lowest listed is $129.99 per month for only 2-lines without text messaging. Add taxes and that’s about $140 for only 2-lines. You figure I add the 3rd line and text messaging (which for family plans, is $30 flat-rate), I’m pushing $170. That means I’m more than doubling my monthly bill just to get an iPhone 3G. That’s not counting the $18 upgrade fee plus the fact that I have to pay for the iPhone itself.

This is no fault on Apple. Blame it on AT&T to make things way too complex for the consumer.

Looks like I’ll be sticking with a standard phone for the time being. I’m actually pondering the idea of switching to T-Mobile from AT&T/Cingular and getting a smartphone like a BlackBerry through them. I did a quick look on the T-Mobile website and without any apparent promos, the monthly for 3-lines and data and text messaging is only $110 (before taxes) which is pretty fair. We’ll see.

I may just end up spending the money I would have spent on an iPhone on a new Shilen barrel for my Savage 10FP.