I love the heated reactions to this. If they're targeting some members of that very small audience?40% of bandwidth being used by 3% of smart phone users?they're targeting some extremely heavy users. I imagine this would include people who use gobs of data through unofficial tethering and other various heavy-duty activities. If they're only targeting people who use a truly inordinate amount of data that's fine; if they're targeting people who simply like to use Pandora daily, that's not. We'll have to see.
I think that is fair, if you want all you can eat data then you can pay the full price premium.
I already pay full price for unlimited, all I can eat data. That's the deal offered to me by ATT.
If they want to change the deal, they need me to agree to the change. If I don't accept their proposed chage, the deal should be continued on the existing terms, or they should buy me out of my contract.
I think that is fair. Indeed, that's been pretty standard stuff in Common Law jurisdictions for hundreds of years, so its pretty likely that most folks also think that "a deal is a deal" is fair.
"Fair share"? By whose definition? ATT initiated their relationship knowing full well that their infrastructure was inadequate. The price has been paid by all the residents of "Dropped Call City" since the first gen iPhone and now ATT has the chutzpa to put the blame on it customers.
Run, don't walk over to Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile.
Typical fanboy attitude that it's a crime that they might lose their unlimited data because they hog all of it. Forget about all the users that their IPhone is ruining service for. As long as they have their unlimited data, forget about everyone else. Typical if you ask me. Get Windows Mobile phones, they don't hog up bandwidth like an IPhone, they have hundreds of thosands more apps than an IPhone, no restrictions on what you can develop and what you can run, and they don't ruin peoples networks. I'll continue to enjoy my Omnia which is far superior to IPhones, and I will enjoy my unlimited data from Verizon that is always nice and fast and has 3G coverage wherever I go, from CA to LA
AT&T is comedy. With customer satisfaction at an all-time low, and with Apple on the verge of making the iPhone available to other carriers, AT&T threatens their customers with a punishment fee?
Let's see how this goes with generating customer loyalty.
Why should anyone pay more for heavy use? It doesn't cost AT&T any more money to service someone who downloads 20GB of data in a month than someone who only downloads 1GB. The highway still has to be there no matter the amount of usage by a few people. Charging more for usage is just gouging and make the majority fear using their device.
Ah, another moron who is clueless about the real world. You must indeed be high.
Bandwidth hogs cost AT&T dearly for their extravagant over use of the network which denies others normal service in the form of slows, dropped calls, etc.
This will be the usual case of a few greedy people ruining the deal for the rest of us.
You can tell them because they always complain that they can't get realtime video streaming 24 hours a day and the next iPhone doesn't have 128GB of storage at the same price.
I wonder what ATT's idea of "data hog" is. I frequently use 800+MB on 3g. And I don't consider my usage out of the ordinary. With a growing number of services, that figure will only rise.
No one knew it would work out this way. No carrier would have been able to handle this type of data load.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John.B
Hopefully this is a wake up call for Jobs that AT&T doesn't consider themselves to be up to the task of being the sole wireless provider for the iPhone.
As for how it is structured now, ATT should revise their contracts (and hey, if they REALLY wanted to be nice, allow people to opt out of the new contract by breaking it with no fee) to state a certain download limit a month and remove any sort of "unlimited" verbiage.
Cool! I'd like to revise the contract too!
I'd like to change the price I pay. Indeed, I'd like to state a certain fee limit per month, and remove all the existing verbiage about fees. I REALLY want to be nice, so I'll allow ATT to opt out of the new contract by breaking it with no fee!
Does that sound fair to you? If not, why can the other party to the contract (ATT) change the terms that they have agreed to previously?
Well the iPhone is a data hog, but on other networks like Verizon their data plan is a 5GB cap before they start to investigate you and throttle your speeds.
AT&T should just have different levels of data for the iPhone.
$15 - 2.5 GB
$30 - 5GB
$50 - True Unlimited
(emails not included in data usage)
I think that is fair, if you want all you can eat data then you can pay the full price premium.
I do want 'all you can eat data' and that is what I am paying $30/mth for as is advertised by at&t. To change the terms in the middle of my contract would be anything but fair....
At this point, I think at&t is only trying to find the quickest solution to its poor network performance....but they are stiffing customers...
PS - there is no way for them to exclude emails from data usage...just as mms is counted to both txt message and data usage...
I already pay full price for unlimited, all I can eat data. That's the deal offered to me by ATT.
If they want to change the deal, they need me to agree to the change. If I don't accept their proposed chage, the deal should be continued on the existing terms, or they should buy me out of my contract.
I think that is fair. Indeed, that's been pretty standard stuff in Common Law jurisdictions for hundreds of years, so its pretty likely that most folks also think that "a deal is a deal" is fair.
They could easily eat the remainder ETF from your contract (you havent paid far in advance so you cant expect to get 1-2 grand)and say, your data plan will no longer be supported, so either deal with our new contract or gtfo...that would be their most likely solution. IF you dont agree to contract changes, you can leave just like that but i bet for most of the people on here they wont because they love their iphone so much.
30 Dollars, 5GB is reasonable. Hell maybe even 10 GB cause the iphone burns thru it so fast. But its iphone users who illegally tether their phone, and are using the phone none stop have made the service turn to absolute shit. IF you were on Verizon, you'd hit that 5GB cap as well.
Some people need to read their contracts. The bandwidth cap is 5GB and has been set at that even before the iPhone arrived. It's unlimited data with an *.
If not, why can the other party to the contract (ATT) change the terms that they have agreed to previously?
Hello? Read the article! They are not saying they are going to change existing contracts -- they are saying they will give bandwidth-hogging users incentives to "reduce or modify their usage."
I don't know what "incentives" means in this context, but it certainly doesn't mean they intend to break any contracts except by mutual consent between the parties.
Some people need to read their contracts. The bandwidth cap is 5GB and has been set at that even before the iPhone arrived. It's unlimited data with an *.
It ios unlimited with an * but nowhere does it say I will be charged more for going over 5GB, nor does it say my service will be disconnected if I reach 5GB within the mth.
They could easily eat the remainder ETF from your contract (you havent paid far in advance so you cant expect to get 1-2 grand)and say, your data plan will no longer be supported, so either deal with our new contract or gtfo...that would be their most likely solution. IF you dont agree to contract changes, you can leave just like that but i bet for most of the people on here they wont because they love their iphone so much.
How is it reasonable for ATT to breach the contract they signed, and insist on new terms, with no payment of damages to the non-breaching party?
I love the heated reactions to this. If they're targeting some members of that very small audience?40% of bandwidth being used by 3% of smart phone users?they're targeting some extremely heavy users. I imagine this would include people who use gobs of data through unofficial tethering and other various heavy-duty activities. If they're only targeting people who use a truly inordinate amount of data that's fine; if they're targeting people who simply like to use Pandora daily, that's not. We'll have to see.
I can almost guarantee that those 3% are almost all jail-broken phones that are tethering.
This is why AT&T hasn't offered tethering to the masses.
If these guys want to tether and slow down our access then they should pay for it.
Comments
Gimme a break. It's a wakeup call to the data hogs. They should be paying extra for extra heavy usage.
But that is not the deal. The deal is $30/unlimited data.
If ATT cannot deliver on the deal they made, they should allow the non-breaching party (me) to terminate the contract.
That is Contract Law 101. I'm not suggesting anything other than the way things have been since the earliest days of British Common Law.
I think that is fair, if you want all you can eat data then you can pay the full price premium.
I already pay full price for unlimited, all I can eat data. That's the deal offered to me by ATT.
If they want to change the deal, they need me to agree to the change. If I don't accept their proposed chage, the deal should be continued on the existing terms, or they should buy me out of my contract.
I think that is fair. Indeed, that's been pretty standard stuff in Common Law jurisdictions for hundreds of years, so its pretty likely that most folks also think that "a deal is a deal" is fair.
Run, don't walk over to Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile.
Let's see how this goes with generating customer loyalty.
Why should anyone pay more for heavy use? It doesn't cost AT&T any more money to service someone who downloads 20GB of data in a month than someone who only downloads 1GB. The highway still has to be there no matter the amount of usage by a few people. Charging more for usage is just gouging and make the majority fear using their device.
Ah, another moron who is clueless about the real world. You must indeed be high.
Bandwidth hogs cost AT&T dearly for their extravagant over use of the network which denies others normal service in the form of slows, dropped calls, etc.
You can tell them because they always complain that they can't get realtime video streaming 24 hours a day and the next iPhone doesn't have 128GB of storage at the same price.
Hopefully this is a wake up call for Jobs that AT&T doesn't consider themselves to be up to the task of being the sole wireless provider for the iPhone.
Here's My Take:
As for how it is structured now, ATT should revise their contracts (and hey, if they REALLY wanted to be nice, allow people to opt out of the new contract by breaking it with no fee) to state a certain download limit a month and remove any sort of "unlimited" verbiage.
Cool! I'd like to revise the contract too!
I'd like to change the price I pay. Indeed, I'd like to state a certain fee limit per month, and remove all the existing verbiage about fees. I REALLY want to be nice, so I'll allow ATT to opt out of the new contract by breaking it with no fee!
Does that sound fair to you? If not, why can the other party to the contract (ATT) change the terms that they have agreed to previously?
Well the iPhone is a data hog, but on other networks like Verizon their data plan is a 5GB cap before they start to investigate you and throttle your speeds.
AT&T should just have different levels of data for the iPhone.
$15 - 2.5 GB
$30 - 5GB
$50 - True Unlimited
(emails not included in data usage)
I think that is fair, if you want all you can eat data then you can pay the full price premium.
I do want 'all you can eat data' and that is what I am paying $30/mth for as is advertised by at&t. To change the terms in the middle of my contract would be anything but fair....
At this point, I think at&t is only trying to find the quickest solution to its poor network performance....but they are stiffing customers...
PS - there is no way for them to exclude emails from data usage...just as mms is counted to both txt message and data usage...
I already pay full price for unlimited, all I can eat data. That's the deal offered to me by ATT.
If they want to change the deal, they need me to agree to the change. If I don't accept their proposed chage, the deal should be continued on the existing terms, or they should buy me out of my contract.
I think that is fair. Indeed, that's been pretty standard stuff in Common Law jurisdictions for hundreds of years, so its pretty likely that most folks also think that "a deal is a deal" is fair.
They could easily eat the remainder ETF from your contract (you havent paid far in advance so you cant expect to get 1-2 grand)and say, your data plan will no longer be supported, so either deal with our new contract or gtfo...that would be their most likely solution. IF you dont agree to contract changes, you can leave just like that but i bet for most of the people on here they wont because they love their iphone so much.
30 Dollars, 5GB is reasonable. Hell maybe even 10 GB cause the iphone burns thru it so fast. But its iphone users who illegally tether their phone, and are using the phone none stop have made the service turn to absolute shit. IF you were on Verizon, you'd hit that 5GB cap as well.
You expect them to magically snap their fingers and the bandwidth is there for all you spoiled brats? No.
I expect them to honor the contract they signed. If they cannot, I expect rescission and damages.
Edit:
5GB/Month
If not, why can the other party to the contract (ATT) change the terms that they have agreed to previously?
Hello? Read the article! They are not saying they are going to change existing contracts -- they are saying they will give bandwidth-hogging users incentives to "reduce or modify their usage."
I don't know what "incentives" means in this context, but it certainly doesn't mean they intend to break any contracts except by mutual consent between the parties.
Some people need to read their contracts. The bandwidth cap is 5GB and has been set at that even before the iPhone arrived. It's unlimited data with an *.
It ios unlimited with an * but nowhere does it say I will be charged more for going over 5GB, nor does it say my service will be disconnected if I reach 5GB within the mth.
They could easily eat the remainder ETF from your contract (you havent paid far in advance so you cant expect to get 1-2 grand)and say, your data plan will no longer be supported, so either deal with our new contract or gtfo...that would be their most likely solution. IF you dont agree to contract changes, you can leave just like that but i bet for most of the people on here they wont because they love their iphone so much.
How is it reasonable for ATT to breach the contract they signed, and insist on new terms, with no payment of damages to the non-breaching party?
I love the heated reactions to this. If they're targeting some members of that very small audience?40% of bandwidth being used by 3% of smart phone users?they're targeting some extremely heavy users. I imagine this would include people who use gobs of data through unofficial tethering and other various heavy-duty activities. If they're only targeting people who use a truly inordinate amount of data that's fine; if they're targeting people who simply like to use Pandora daily, that's not. We'll have to see.
I can almost guarantee that those 3% are almost all jail-broken phones that are tethering.
This is why AT&T hasn't offered tethering to the masses.
If these guys want to tether and slow down our access then they should pay for it.