I have a great idea for AT&T. Get rid of the dumb texting plans and other absurdities, and just charge for metered data. Of course data should be metered and it unlimited. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone saying “I should pay a flat fee for my electricity”. Instead of the insanely marketing driven price plans, just charge by the MB. A penny per MB, which is you $10/GB. People can realistically watch their usage and know what to expect based on what they use.

Here’s another nifty idea. Have two types of data. One price for regular data access, and another for streaming data access, that should obviously cost a user more because it costs more to provide. BTW, I’m not a marketing major, just someone with a bit of common sense. Feel free to fire your marketing department and you can use my consultative services for a much lower cost….

It’s always refreshing to hear the head of a major corporation cop to past mistakes — particularly in front of a large crowd of on-lookers. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson admitted some misgivings about the way the carrier handled iPhone data, telling a crowd at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, “My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat.” Stephenson drove the point home by adding, “Every additional megabyte you use in this network, I have to invest capital.”

And, for the record, that certainly wasn’t the only thing about the iPhone that kept the exec up at night. Stephenson again,

You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model,” he said. “Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right?