Ron wrote:

> AT&T currently charges $20/month for the data part of your iPhone
> connection. When 3G iPhones are available, seems logical
> they'd charge $40 a month for data on those models, as they do for all
> current 3G PDA phones.

It's not just AT&T's 3G network that would crumble if suddenly 3G use
went up exponentially, none of the carriers could handle it.

It's like most local bus systems. They cry that no one uses transit, but
if something actually caused a mass migration from cars to transit
they'd be unable to handle the load until they added more capacity,
which isn't instantaneous. We've seen this happen when there's some sort
of disruption in the road system, or when one transit agency goes on strike.

In any case, with the cost of the plans for the iPhone, as well as the
cost of the iPhone itself, the 3G model isn't going to overwhelm AT&T's
3G network which is very under-utilized.

It's also probable that 3G service for the 3G iPhone is going to cost
more than the current 2G service. They'll likely give users a choice of
which to buy.

T-Mobile may be the carrier that disrupts the 3G pricing of the other
three carriers. They didn't rush in spending wildly to create a 3G
network that few users are willing to pay for.