[Captivate General] Miami_Son:
I never said anything about what should or shouldn't be discussed in here. A comment was made about why AT$T takes so long to release updates and I merely pointed out that they probably need to make sure a new release won't facilitate abuse of their network. As for what we do to our phones with the knowledge we gain in here, there's a huge difference between making the phone more user friendly from an app or theme viewpoint and making the phone do things the carriers never intended, like circumventing charges for tethering. Whether you agree or disagree with paying for a tethering plan, if you are using the phone this way without one you are violating the terms of your agreement. AT$T has every right to control how the phone uses thier network, but I don't give them the same pass as far as how my phone works for me. Prohibiting me from installing an app that has nothing to do with the network or stopping me from customizing the look of my phone is beyond what they should be able to do. That would be like Sony selling a CD player that only plays Sony artists.

And as far as my ethics on keeping an improperly sold plan, I actually did speak to a service agent about it and when she reviewed my usage she told me that I should just leave it as is because it would be updated when I renewed my contract in about 7 months, which it was. I could have bought a Captivate off-contract and kept my unlimited data plan, but I didn't. At the time I spoke to her I could have switched to the $10 200mb plan and paid less, but I didn't want to risk any overages so I kept the $15 unlimited plan. For 2 of those months my data usage went over 200mb, but AT$T still made more money off me than if it had forced me to change plans.

You guys want to beat up on me because I called it like it is: basically, there are people in here (and elsewhere) that think sticking it to their provider is OK and to hell with the rest of us who play by the rules. That's fine, I'm a big boy. If those users were an insignificant small minority I doubt AT$T would be wasting so much effort to try and control them, especially when it impacts all AT$T customers negatively. You think they enjoy wasting resources trying to re-engineer their software to prevent abuse, or having to eliminate their unlimited data packages that brought so many customers their way? They do it for the benefit of the majority of their users because that minority has a huge impact.

I have little sympathy for AT$T as I've seen the best and worst in my 12 years with them and a lot of it is their own damn fault. that said, I just get sick of seeing the entitlement attitude so many have that they think it is their right to circumvent and abuse a company just because they don't like the way they do business. If you're so unhappy with AT$T, go find another carrier that lets you do what you want instead of abusing the service and impacting everyone else with your selfishness. Now, this isn't directed at anyone in particular as I don't know anyone in here personally. I just know that I've see lots of users who take delight in what they think is screwing over AT$T to get even. Your getting even is costing the rest of us.