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"In January 2007, Cingular Wireless announced plans to change its name to AT&amp;T Mobility, bringing back into prominence a name that had been around since 1885. That same month, Apple announced the planned release of the first iPhone. When the handset arrived that June, AT&amp;T became the exclusive carrier for the device in the United States, a distinction that continued for nearly four years.\nDuring the interim, as Apple reinvented the smartphone market, AT&amp;T raked in the dollars.\u00A0Then something strange happened: The carrier began biting the hand that fed it.\nAT&amp;T versus Apple\nAfter being on friendly terms with Apple, AT&amp;T\u2019s focus seemed to switch.\nFirst, AT&amp;T initially said no to Apple\u2019s new hotspot feature, which came with iOS 4.\u00A0When the company finally did allow it, AT&amp;T began charging customers an extra fee. Plus, by adding hotspot, customers were told they would have to give up their unlimited data plans, which were eliminated for new customers in 2010.\nTo date, AT&amp;T still doesn\u2019t support hotspots on an iPad. Verizon Wireless, the nation\u2019s largest cellular provider, however, does offer this feature and always has.\nNext, the Dallas company decided to stop offering limited (and less expensive) SMS text packages. Instead, AT&amp;T began offering only SMS as an unlimited plan for a flat fee of $20.\nThe reason?\nApple introduced iMessage with iOS 5, which gave Apple customers free texting between iOS and Mac devices. AT&amp;T made sure it continued to make money despite Cupertino\u2019s new product. The company did this by raising prices and hurting iPhone customers.\nThe last strange move arose when AT&amp;T announced plans to charge for FaceTime over cellular, a service which is set to arrive next week with iOS 6.\nTo get this new feature, AT&amp;T customers must subscribe to one of the company\u2019s newly created shared data plans, which are more expensive for some customers. As an added whack to customers, this means those with the previously mentioned unlimited data plans will have to switch to gain the FaceTime feature.\nThe reason that AT&amp;T has decided to charge extra for FaceTime is that the company is convinced that the feature is an add-on. Because of this, it's decided it has the right to restrict use.\nMeanwhile, Verizon (and Sprint) has announced they will offer the video-calling program on any data plan, and not for an added fee.\nVerizon: Apple\u2019s New Favorite?\nVerizon has always had a far superior voice network compared to AT&amp;T. In fact, Verizon\u2019s 4G network covers 75 percent of the company\u2019s 375 markets, which is slightly more than what AT&amp;T has to offer.\nCouple this with AT&amp;T\u2019s strange moves in recent years, and we may finally see Verizon become the preferred carrier for iPhone buyers. And if this happens, it would be the first time Verizon came out on top since it first received the iPhone 4 in February 2011.\nAs a long-time AT&amp;T customer, I\u2019ve become increasingly annoyed at the company I once respected. Not only do I believe the company\u2019s latest moves are anti-consumer, but strangely, AT&amp;T seems anti-Apple. And on this, I\u2019m scratching my head. After all, if it hadn\u2019t been for Apple, AT&amp;T almost certainly wouldn\u2019t have been as profitable as it's been in recent years.\nThe best thing for AT&amp;T might be for customers to abandon it in droves, especially as the iPhone 5 begins hitting stores next week. By doing so, the company may finally realize just how stupid it has become and shift accordingly."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/09/15/att-iphone/?WT.mc_id=en_at-t>