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Should you be expected to pay for something if you are unable to use it? That’s one of the questions currently causing no small amount of frustration over at deafmac, as they remonstrate with AT&T with regards the lack of a data-only plan for the iPhone. Chad Taylor contacted AT&T when he noticed they were offering a voice-only version of the Apple contract, to point out that it smacked of discrimination for deaf users to whom inclusive minutes are useless. The carrier responded first by pointing him in the direction of another handset that can be bought with a deaf-friendly plan, and then withdrew the voice-only option leaving the cheapest iPhone contract at $59.99 a month.
Meanwhile, an AT&T store in Colorado attempted to sell the iPhone to deaf users with a discount - bringing it down to $27.99 - but AT&T’s customer services were inundated with calls from “hearing” people complaining about the “special treatment” deaf people were receiving. As a result, the marketing team stopped the special deal.
Confusingly, Apple has now dropped themselves into frustrated waters with both deaf and non-deaf users, each who may have wanted data- or voice-only packages and have been potential customers if the options were there.
[via TUAW]
November 29th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
You know, sometimes life isn’t fair. I’m sorry that you can’t hear but tough shit. Why does the rest of the world have to bend to accommodate your deficiencies?
This is what happens when you let children grow up thinking life is supposed to be fair and nobody has to lose. It’s bull! YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL! If you don’t like it, DON’T BUY IT!
November 30th, 2007 at 7:40 am
That is one of the most ignorant things I’ve heard today.
Thank you for the laugh.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:57 am
seriously, it’s not about not being able to hear. it’s about paying for something we never use. if you were blind, you wouldn’t even want to pay for something you cannot see at all. right? if we wanted it, it should be able to accommodate BOTH. Tmobile has data only plans, even some hearing people don’t want to have minutes because they have a seperate phone for minutes. so don’t give me that “you are not special”. maybe you actually prefer us to pay the same price as you are because YOU dont feel it is fair…
November 30th, 2007 at 10:54 am
There are 10,000 reasons why people may want a data only plan and being deaf is only one of them. But maybe AT&T doesn’t want to offer a data only plan because it’s a loss leader. Maybe the reason they were trying to charge $60 for the data only plan is because that’s what it takes to make it profitable, or at least not lose money.
You want special treatment because you can’t hear. Without understanding their business model, you want to dictate how AT&T should charge you. Just because you won’t use the service doesn’t mean they didn’t design their pricing according to the other 99.999% of their customers. Just because you can’t hear, doesn’t mean you can’t use the rest of your head does it?
It’s just like the blind people complaining when the iPhone was first released. WTF?!
And if T-Mobile is so great, why don’t you use them?
November 30th, 2007 at 11:54 am
@Dumb
You are an ass. Your username describes you perfectly.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
That’s my point exactly. If they have data-only plan available, fine. People would pay them for whatever price it is, if that’s what they want to pay. If there’s no data-only plan, they won’t pay for it if that’s what they want. You’re right, there 10,000 reasons why people only want the data-only plan. I’m not saying we should be receiving special plan/rate. I’m saying it should still be offered. If it is 60 bucks, so be it. Let the market determine who is willing to pay 60 bucks, 30 bucks, 15 bucks, whatever.
[quote comment="13838"]There are 10,000 reasons why people may want a data only plan and being deaf is only one of them. But maybe AT&T doesn’t want to offer a data only plan because it’s a loss leader. Maybe the reason they were trying to charge $60 for the data only plan is because that’s what it takes to make it profitable, or at least not lose money.
You want special treatment because you can’t hear. Without understanding their business model, you want to dictate how AT&T should charge you. Just because you won’t use the service doesn’t mean they didn’t design their pricing according to the other 99.999% of their customers. Just because you can’t hear, doesn’t mean you can’t use the rest of your head does it?
It’s just like the blind people complaining when the iPhone was first released. WTF?!
And if T-Mobile is so great, why don’t you use them?[/quote]
November 30th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Ignorance is bliss.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I totally agreed that you have to find whatever provider allow “Data Only Plans ” before you purchase a phone. It’s for everybody not only deaf. I know iPhone is quite neat tech to get. It’s not suppose to be called “Special Treatment”. It’s wrong that AT&T or Apple to do that, they should allow that Data Only Plans for anybody then everybody win.