Rumor: Using exchange to check work email may get your plan changed in future

[jgibo1]

The company I work for was told by our AT&T rep that people who have been using the exchange to sync work email might be charge the business plan now that they have the infrastructure to detect it.

Has anyone else heard of this from anyone knowledgeable in this subject?
I bet I get less work email on my iphone than a lot of people get on a regular account.

If they was to decide to do something this stupid then are they going to do the same thing for Windows Mobile users who use active sync to check work email? If not then Windows Mobile just got a leg up on the competition and didn't have to do anything. They could send a gift basket to both Apple and AT&T:laugh2:

I don't even want to thing what they are going to charge for tethering.

[termleech]

Doesn't MobileMe technically use Exchange for it's push? So unless they plan on doing some filtering to determine if it's exchange and then NOT destined for MobileMe I doubt they will. I think it's just a scare tactic they employed to hope that some people will switch because they said it.

How about they stop worrying about that and get something simple like MMS working, huh AT&T, how about that.

[patrickj]

I'm pretty sure AT&T has charged extra in the past for Windows Mobile devices using Exchange as well. Seem to recall their were business rates for internet, POP email, 'basic' data usage, and then higher rates for 'unlimited data' that included Exchange.

Could be wrong, but that's what I remember when dealing with 8525s and Treos and such for clients ...

[Quake97]

AT&T has said this for years now. They don't have any way of being able to tell if you're using Exchange, of if they do, they've never used it. I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably just your company's sales rep trying to get more money out of your company to increase his/her commission.

Joe

[patrickj]

It's easy for AT&T to monitor traffic and see where there is Exchange usage. I don't think the fact that they have so far not chosen to hit up companies with extra data overage charges is any great comfort in terms of knowing that they won't do it somewhere down the road.

Especially when dealing with this subject for a company, where the potential extra charges can be huge, I'd much prefer to err on the side of caution and use data packages that are those authorized by the carrier. I'd hate to be the dude who told everyone it was cool to use Exchange and then had the boss waving a big overage bill in my face.

[Quake97]

I hear you, but why throw money away. As long as Exchange and data plans have been around you haven't needed the Enterprise plan for Exchange. I swear, it's just a way to force business accounts to pay more money, that's all. As far as AT&T knowing, if memory serves, Exchange Activesync runs over SSL, port 443, which is a common port and unless AT&T was somehow inpecting the insides of the packets, they're not going to know anything.

Joe

[Silent Assassin]

I paid $45 for that dumb azz Enterprise Data package, because it was assumed that when I got the phone with my FAN account, that I would be using it for work emails..

WRONG!

Luckily I paid attention after oh 6 months, and realized that I was overpaying by $15, for nothing...

*spit*

Dam AT&T!

and I say Dam AT&T because they just AUTOMATICALLY put it on there... instead of the regular $30 Unlimited Plan.. charged me the $45, and told me that I pretty much HAD TO get it... muthaz!

I'll get my $90 from them one way or the other... via tethering, or cheating the system...