AT&T to charge additional for Pandora?

[Kryptonite]

In fact, Sirius XM offers three packages below the $12.95 price that was erroneously reported, which is still far less than the data plans required for mobile online streaming. AT&T (NYSE:T) has now begun charging an extra $8.99 fee above the already pricey data access plan to stream Pandora on certain phones, a trend that will likely continue throughout the industry,

Well, this could suck.

Time To Get “Sirius” About Pandora - Satwaves

 

[xan_user]

Only a sign of things to come from most providers, I'm afraid. (and not just cellular)
Tons of new bandwidth heavy users, and virtually no increase in actual bandwidth capacity. If the usage keeps climbing faster than providers will build networks, and everyone starts streaming media on their phone, cutouts will soon be worse than SatRad.
Hell were going to be out of ip addresses soon. IPv4 Exhaustion Counter (English) | Intec NetCore, Inc.

I cant even get a regular phone only plan, without data, for a pda anymore. I just want to use wifi for data... :no: (VRZ)
Im going back to a pager, and sticking with free slacker on a $60 g1.:nana:

 

[DAB]

This does suck, but I am not surprised! I really never stream Pandora or Slacker while on AT&T's crappy network anyway. Now that Slacker will be releasing the caching on iPhone and iPod Touch AT&T can kiss my hairy ass! hehehe

This is more harmful to Pandora of course because they don't allow caching!

 

[Jon]

This does suck, but I am not surprised! I really never stream Pandora or Slacker while on AT&T's crappy network anyway. Now that Slacker will be releasing the caching on iPhone and iPod Touch AT&T can kiss my hairy ass! hehehe

This is more harmful to Pandora of course because they don't allow caching!

Maybe they'll start? Or maybe it won't matter after the mass exodus from AT&T begins, since their service sucks in most parts of the country. If the Verizon iPhone rumors are true, that would be something to look at when my contract with AT&T is up. Especially if it can do CDMA/3G-4G at once and be more of a world phone, not to mention do everything AT&T won't allow it to do (tethering) and more.

 

[xan_user]

Maybe they'll start? Or maybe it won't matter after the mass exodus from AT&T begins, since their service sucks in most parts of the country. If the Verizon iPhone rumors are true, that would be something to look at when my contract with AT&T is up. Especially if it can do CDMA/3G-4G at once and be more of a world phone.

then VRZ will be over burdened. and have to start charging extra for media streams.

 

[Jon]

then VRZ will be over burdened. and have to start charging extra for media streams.

I'm pretty sure the Droid is already doing that for them. But suppose AT&T gets some Droid phones (they're on the way) and Verizon gets the iPhone, and half the iPhone users stay with AT&T (about as likely as pigs flying but I digress), that would put less of a burden on both networks. The only thing that scares me about Verizon is their tendency to block things on their phones in favor of their V-Cast service.

The ultimate scenario would be like it is in Europe, where everything is open and you can pick and choose your provider no matter what phone you have.

 

[xan_user]

The ultimate scenario would be like it is in Europe, where everything is open and you can pick and choose your provider no matter what phone you have..

QFT-


(on so many other levels than just cellular too!)

Also for the most part, if there's a tower, you can make or get a call, no matter the carrier.

 

[mrpacs]

The ultimate scenario would be like it is in Europe, where everything is open and you can pick and choose your provider no matter what phone you have.

And then we can all pay $800+ for any phone of our choice.

 

[xan_user]

And then we can all pay $800+ for any phone of our choice.

Is that how much ~80 euros is in US dollars?!?!

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

This does suck, but I am not surprised! I really never stream Pandora or Slacker while on AT&T's crappy network anyway. Now that Slacker will be releasing the caching on iPhone and iPod Touch AT&T can kiss my hairy ass! hehehe

This is more harmful to Pandora of course because they don't allow caching!

I think we know the real reason for Slacker caching all of a sudden not being exclusive to BlackBerry. Without that, I suspect that AT&T may have added Slacker to that list.

 

[DAB]

Maybe they'll start? Or maybe it won't matter after the mass exodus from AT&T begins, since their service sucks in most parts of the country. If the Verizon iPhone rumors are true, that would be something to look at when my contract with AT&T is up. Especially if it can do CDMA/3G-4G at once and be more of a world phone, not to mention do everything AT&T won't allow it to do (tethering) and more.

I am actually fortunate because other than a couple of very short dead zones heading into rural areas the service with AT&T is pretty good. My hope is that there is a mass exodus to Verizon if they are lucky enough to get the iPhone. I think any iPhone that comes to Verizon won't me CDMA, it will likely be LTE.

then VRZ will be over burdened. and have to start charging extra for media streams.

VRZ talks a lot of shit on AT&T, but they have never in their company history experience what AT&T did with the iPhone. Jon says he things the Droid is already giving it to them, I don't believe that for a second. They won't experience it until they get all this folks switching over for better service and greener pastures. Then we'll really see VRZ start back peddling when some of their networks starts slowing down.

I'll be staying with AT&T myself and with all those folks gone to VRZ, it will be smooth sailing on AT&T for us. I personally hope VRZ gets exactly what they deserve.

 

[DAB]

I think we know the real reason for Slacker caching all of a sudden not being exclusive to BlackBerry. Without that, I suspect that AT&T may have added Slacker to that list.

Actually the exclusivity was a 1 year agreement and it has expired. It could be true that Slacker would have been included in that list. Slacker didn't have anything to lose doing a 1 year agreement with Blackberry, because at the time Apple was not letting apps write anything to the memory, they finally come off that and so doing the caching is really a no brainer.

I think this will move Slacker leaps ahead of Pandora over time too if Pandora doesn't add this ability, which we know right now they don't have the technology in place to do it.

Now that Slacker is going to be available in Canada are you considering trying it again? I know you did before, but really didn't get to spend much time with it at all. I think you could grow to appreciate it if given a fair shake.

 

[gilpdawg]

This ain't new. Pandora has always been $8.99 on my phone. It's only free on ATT with the iPhone. The generic phones have to pay. I'd get it anyway but I'm not in a 3G area.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Now that Slacker is going to be available in Canada are you considering trying it again? I know you did before, but really didn't get to spend much time with it at all. I think you could grow to appreciate it if given a fair shake.

It is? That is the first I have heard about it. When will it be available? slacker.ca or the same slacker.com?

I would like to continue my expirement I started last summer and see if I can get an 80s channel I like. Then I will go from there.

When I replace my cell phone (at the end of my current contract) I will likely replace my aging Palm at the same time and get a Palm Pre. I expect that would be my first time I would be able to fully use Slacker anyplace other than my PC. Hopefully by then I would be able to get a SiriusXM app for the Palm as well. I think my phone is up this Dec or next Dec.

ETA: Still no connectivity from slacker.com -- I get to the point I hit play and nothing happens.

 

[DAB]

It is? That is the first I have heard about it. When will it be available? slacker.ca or the same slacker.com?

I would like to continue my expirement I started last summer and see if I can get an 80s channel I like. Then I will go from there.

I am not really sure about your questions. I just found a couple of articles about it. Found it odd that this was not mentioned by Orbitcast.

Here is what is said in the aritcle;

Slacker brings local caching, webOS, Canada | Electronista

Updates should be available as soon as this week and should also include Slacker's first expansion beyond the US, venturing into Canada. Pricing should remain the same at $5 US ($5.12 CAD) month-to-month or $4 US per month ($4.10) if paying for a year's worth of service in advance.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I am not really sure about your questions. I just found a couple of articles about it. Found it odd that this was not mentioned by Orbitcast.

Here is what is said in the aritcle;

Slacker brings local caching, webOS, Canada | Electronista

Updates should be available as soon as this week and should also include Slacker's first expansion beyond the US, venturing into Canada. Pricing should remain the same at $5 US ($5.12 CAD) month-to-month or $4 US per month ($4.10) if paying for a year's worth of service in advance.

Is the free subscription available in Canada? I will see if I can find more info.

There is NOTHING on the Slacker website about this. I will wait and see.

 

[DAB]

Is the free subscription available in Canada? I will see if I can find more info.

Keep us posted! I am glad that our Canadian brethren can maybe at least get this service.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Keep us posted! I am glad that our Canadian brethren can maybe at least get this service.

I will. It looks to me like this might be a bit of false information. The Slacker website still has why they cannot go outside the US and no press releases aoout it. Also slacker.ca was not secured and is a blog by some Canadian slacker. So if they are going to offer it, it would need to be done via slacker.com.

I will try again either next month or if I hear something new.

 

[DAB]

Well I don't think Slacker still has any info about the various phones offering station caching ether as I was looking for more info about the possible release date. No announcements, not even of them expanding to Palm. I don't think they keep up their web site very well.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Well I don't think Slacker still has any info about the various phones offering station caching ether as I was looking for more info about the possible release date. No announcements, not even of them expanding to Palm. I don't think they keep up their web site very well.

Last press release was Feb 2009. I agree. Perhaps they have hired Sirius website designers (although new 80s DJ schedule already posted on Sirius -- maybe they just traded.)