AT&T Free Msg: Unlimited MEdia Net Packages will no longer be available as of 11/12. 1 MB and 5 MB MEdia Net packages still available. Call 611 for details

Hey, at least the message was free. The 1Mb and 5MB options will be little consolation to iPhone users, who can easily pass the 5MB barrier during a day of casual browsing and will then incur a hilarious $480 per gigabyte rate for data transfer. Is this punishment for not heeding AT&T's spooky warnings last month? Reader Cyber Llama relates his situation, in which he's got lots of company:

Like many other iPhone users, I'm far, far too cheap to actually pay for the iPhone Plan. At the 25 cents a minute rate, I only manage to do about 10 dollars worth of talking per month (most of my calls are probably a minute long on average) so with unlimited MEdia Net I get by at ~$30 a month. I'm quite sure I'm not a alone — lots of people don't want to pay for thousands of unused talk minutes and unlimited text messages that they will never use.

With that in mind, it's easy to see why AT&T's decision fills me with more rage than a sack full of hungry badgers. To make matters worse, I called 611 and the customer service representative had the balls to say that the reason AT&T was doing away with the unlimited package was because "no one used it" and it "didn't make sense to have it".

I'm sure we'll hear more about this, as people tend to respond kind of seriously when you effectively brick their expensive new iPhone (or Palm, or Blackberry), even if the plan wasn't necessarily meant for their device. Strangely enough the AT&T website doesn't yet reflect this change, but Ars corroborates. UPDATE: A point of clarification: this change will only affect customers who are using a pay as you go plan not originally intended for the iPhone. Customers who purchase the (slightly more expensive) iPhone Pick Your Plan options will not be affected. -Thanks, Cyber Llama

With the national dominance of a few wireless carriers, there's little threat of this technology taking off, but the concept is exciting to consider. For example, open network bidding would make price comparisons between carriers a constant concern, rather than a one-off choice, at least in the pay as you go space. Conversely, it might also negate the need for smaller network to lease coverage from larger ones when their users roam, leaving that task up to the individuals.

That said, this might be one big paygo pie in the sky. Google has basically said as much, telling New Scientist "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't." [Patent via New Scientist]

Would this work for international trips with other Pay As You Go cards? That's the only scenario that seems logical to me, because at this point, you can't buy an iPhone 3G without a contract with AT&T. Being able to use a Pay As You Go card defeats the purpose, as far as I can see. Since you have to pay the monthly rate anyway, why use Pay As You Go?

In any case, if you can think into any useful thing to do with this, Erica at TUAW details how to attach an unlimited 5GB plan to a SIM:

• Call 611
• Select "Buy Features"
• Select "Media Net"
• Select "Unlimited"
• Select "Buy It"

[TUAW]