AT&T follows T-Mobile with new 'Rollover Data' offering

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2015
Mega-carrier AT&T is the latest U.S. wireless provider to turn to mobile data as a market differentiator, introducing a new "Rollover Data" program that allows subscribers to stockpile unused megabytes much like older plans that included rollover calling minutes.




AT&T will enable rollover data for all new and current Mobile Share Value customers beginning on Jan. 25. Each of those subscribers will be automatically enrolled, and the service will not come with an additional fee.

"Rollover Data is an added benefit of being an AT&T Mobile Share Value customer and it's just another way that we're saying thanks to our more than 50 million plus Mobile Share Value subscribers," AT&T Mobility chief Glenn Lurie said in a release. "We're providing even more value and flexibility, and the best part is it's simple, shareable and easy to track for our customers. All Mobile Share Value customers get this automatically."

Rollover data can be shared with any other subscriber in the same Mobile Share Value plan. It is worth noting that rollover data will not be allowed to accrue for multiple months --?any extra data not used in the following month will be lost.

AT&T's announcement comes less than one month after smaller rival T-Mobile unveiled its own "Data Stash" initiative, which comes with a few key differences. Notably, each Data Stash-eligible plan will come with 10 gigabytes of free data, and T-Mobile will allow customers to accrue an unlimited amount of data over a 12-month period.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    If Verizon did this (and they won't) it'd probably only apply to Edge plans, so I wouldnt get it anyway.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    Verizon BETTER do this. And for only 1 month AT&T? Fail!
  • Reply 3 of 27
    iaeeniaeen Posts: 588member
    It is worth noting that rollover data will not be allowed to accrue for multiple months --?any extra data not used in the following month will be lost.

    From the ATT website:
    Unused Additional data resulting from data overage is not included. Rollover Data is always consumed last, after your other data allowances.

    Lame but unsurprising.
  • Reply 4 of 27
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    applezilla wrote: »
    Verizon BETTER do this. And for only 1 month AT&T? Fail!
    I wouldn't say fail but justify. It's very rare that one can use up the carried over data from the previous month. But seriously, you can carry over only 1 month and after next month of using carried over data, you'll start over the process with your regular data only. This is really BS.
  • Reply 5 of 27
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    iaeen wrote: »
    From the ATT website:
    Lame but unsurprising.

    Wait, so you can only roll it over for one month and it gets used last so if you don't end up using it you lose it? What a joke. I'm sorry but I pay for this data. I should either get a refund for what I don't use or it should carry over and not for just one month.
  • Reply 6 of 27
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Wait, so you can only roll it over for one month and it gets used last so if you don't end up using it you lose it? What a joke. I'm sorry but I pay for this data. I should either get a refund for what I don't use or it should carry over and not for just one month.

    That's what I'm talking about...ATT is a joke. They try to fight back to T-Mo with the less attractive plan...lol. I'm still in the contract for another 10 months and will fckk them good bye to T-Mo. One thing I appreciated ATT that they gave me a free MicroCell when there's zero bar in my area...well after I threatened to cancel my 3 ATT lines which I had for over 5 years.

  • Reply 7 of 27
    johnnashjohnnash Posts: 129member
    It's like one big circle.. I had rollover minutes way back when minutes actually meant something to the carriers. Now they are doing rollover data, I wonder how long it'll take to go back to unlimited data...

    And yes, having rollover data expire after a month IS BS, but from my experience with rollover minutes (in a family of 4 at the time), we never dipped far into the pool. I have a 15GB plan between 5 right now and we barely go over 8 each month on average. I wouldn't mind having the additional padding of rolled over data in case i need it, but unless something substantial happens one month (like an ISP outage at home, extensive travel etc) then I would imagine that the rollover pool at some point would end up like the minutes pool I once had.

    While i don't really like Sprint, their unlimited voice and data plan is what everyone should offer. I'd be happy paying a couple extra bucks to not deal with the hassle of tracking data usage.
  • Reply 8 of 27
    gonevwgonevw Posts: 45member
    fallenjt wrote: »
    That's what I'm talking about...ATT is a joke. They try to fight back to T-Mo with the less attractive plan...lol. I'm still in the contract for another 10 months and will fckk them good bye to T-Mo. One thing I appreciated ATT that they gave me a free MicroCell when there's zero bar in my area...well after I threatened to cancel my 3 ATT lines which I had for over 5 years.
    You can throw the microcell away now there is voip calling
    johnnash wrote: »
    It's like one big circle.. I had rollover minutes way back when minutes actually meant something to the carriers. Now they are doing rollover data, I wonder how long it'll take to go back to unlimited data...

    And yes, having rollover data expire after a month IS BS, but from my experience with rollover minutes (in a family of 4 at the time), we never dipped far into the pool. I have a 15GB plan between 5 right now and we barely go over 8 each month on average. I wouldn't mind having the additional padding of rolled over data in case i need it, but unless something substantial happens one month (like an ISP outage at home, extensive travel etc) then I would imagine that the rollover pool at some point would end up like the minutes pool I once had.

    While i don't really like Sprint, their unlimited voice and data plan is what everyone should offer. I'd be happy paying a couple extra bucks to not deal with the hassle of tracking data usage.

    You should call att and lower your data after the 25th to save money
  • Reply 9 of 27
    ifij775ifij775 Posts: 470member
    Unlimited plans being ubiquitous seems inevitable, but that's still a few years away.
  • Reply 10 of 27
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    T-Mobile's offering is the real deal. AT&T's offering is a wax dummy.
  • Reply 11 of 27
    wurm5150wurm5150 Posts: 763member
    Thank you T-Mobile
  • Reply 13 of 27
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gonevw View Post





    You can throw the microcell away now there is voip calling

    You should call att and lower your data after the 25th to save money



    Only the newest phones offer the voice over wi-fi and I don't thing AT&T has enabled it yet. The micro-cell works beautifully in my weak-signal home.

  • Reply 14 of 27
    I don't think it's that bad. AT&T just increased my data from 10gb to 15gb per month on the family share plan. Now I can roll over some unused data.

    Once additional carriers allow roll-overs longer than 1 month AT&T will likely follow suit.

    Competition is good.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    I'd expect Verizon to introduce something similar this week to follow suit. The FCC will be ruling on Net Neutrality in February, so they have to "appear" to care about customers getting hit with overage data fees before the FCC declares Title II. Overage fees were one of the biggest complaints in the NN proceedings. Smoke and mirrors.
  • Reply 16 of 27
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    1) I really wish the free data wouldn't be left as some minor end note. All post-paid plans will be getting this additional 10GiB for free, which is something they didn't have to do on top of rolling over data.

    2) AT&T is following T-Mobile here. If Sprint gets absorb AT&T could be the weakest national MNO in the US in short order. My guess is that T-Mobile even beat Verizon with new activations this past quarter.

    pixel19 wrote: »

    That happens when you reach your data cap with capped plans. Would you rather have your internet turned off completely, or rather that they charge you an excessive per MiB charge for going over your cap? No reasonable person would like you're Montgomery Brewster, which makes T-Mobile's methods much more user friendly than any other national MNO in the US.
  • Reply 17 of 27
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member

    It appears AT&T's offering will help someone like me to possibly avoid an overage charge in the unlikely event I accidentally or intentionally exceed my allowance. I have a 3GB plan. I average 0.3GB each month. My peak was 0.7GB. Assuming 2.7GB rolls over, I'll have 5.7GB to use each month. It's not as "good" as T-Mobile's offering, but it's more than what I knowingly and willingly signed up for, which did not include any data rollover at the time. It's hard to complain about getting more than what you originally agreed to pay for.

     

    If this really bothered me, I'm free to switch to T-Mobile at any time. However, I'd be shooting myself in the foot since their coverage is terrible in my area where AT&T's is best. Surely, the ability to actually make calls and transfer data have some value! What good would rollover or unlimited everything do for me if I couldn't actually use it? Think about that.

  • Reply 18 of 27
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    Would you rather have your internet turned off completely, or rather that they charge you an excessive per MiB charge for going over your cap? No reasonable person would like you're Montgomery Brewster, which makes T-Mobile's methods much more user friendly than any other national MNO in the US.

    Back before the dinosaurs, and we had limited calling plans, I used to be able to temporarily upgrade my plan if I was going to go over my minutes, and avoid overages. I don't know if any of the carriers allow that for the limited data plans.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    zroger73 wrote: »
    I average 0.3GB each month. My peak was 0.7GB. Assuming 2.7GB rolls over, I'll have 5.7GB to use each month.

    AT&T's rollover data falls off after a month? :???:
  • Reply 20 of 27
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Back before the dinosaurs, and we had limited calling plans, I used to be able to temporarily upgrade my plan if I was going to go over my minutes, and avoid overages. I don't know if any of the carriers allow that for the limited data plans.

    I know Verizon allow you do to that. You can change your plan any time. They even let you choose to automatically switch the plan now or when your next cycle start. I usually do it from the app or website when going on vacations.
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