So you want an iPhone? You go down to your local Apple Store and purchase one. Then the Apple employee runs you through a step-by-step activation process. Sounds harmless, but when you get to the question, “Will you be using your phone to access Corporate eMail?” what do you say? If your answer is YES then your bill will be $45.00 a month. But what does that get you?
I asked Apple, and their answer is “Well it’s so you can access your Exchange Server.” AT&T says the same thing. But here is the thing, I have an iPhone 3G[S], before I had a iPhone 3G and before that I had the original iPhone with 2.x on it and I have never been on the $45.00 Enterprise Data Plan. I also connect to my Corporate Exchange. So I ask AT&T and Apple, Are you scamming people out of their money?!?! Do you really need to say you are connecting to a Corporate Exchange server when you can answer with a simple “no” to that question and then still select in the “Mail.app” on the iPhone to connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server.
Just because I could I had a 25 min discussion with a AT&T representative over the phone and I asked him, What am I getting if I go with the Enterprise plan for $45.00? His answer was, “You get the ability to connect to your Corporate Exchange account…“, then I said, well I already can do that and I have the Regular Data Plan for iPhone. He said “…oh, well you get other tools on your phone.” so I asked what tools do I get? He said “…well you get Exchange on your iPhone.” of course I challenged his answer again, I already can get my Exchange email on my iPhone, and I am on the regular iPhone Data Plan for $30.00. He basically said he really didn’t know and I would have to switch if I kept doing that. Of course I have been doing this for the last two and a half years.
Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone
Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone is for using iPhone to access corporate email (via Microsoft Exchange), company intranet sites, and/or other business solutions/applications. Includes Unlimited data (web and email) and Visual Voicemail – for use in the U.S.
Data Plan for the iPhone
Data Plan for iPhone includes unlimited data in the U.S. Access rich HTML email and desktop-level web browsing, as well as Visual Voicemail to listen to voicemail messages in any order you choose.Please note: AT&T is Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the United States. An eligible data plan for iPhone is required. This data plan covers data usage in the United States and does not cover international data usage and charges. If AT&T determines that you are using an iPhone on your account without an eligible data plan, AT&T reserves the right to add an eligible data plan to your account and bill you the appropriate monthly fee
