This rational only applies to a very small minority of people who used a lot of bandwidth. For the vast majority of people $30 for unlimited is unnecessary. It isn't like 3G is the only option for data on mobile devices. AT&T is working to increase the WiFi.
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data. They should not have removed the 5 gig plan.
now if you go over 2 gig you have to pay and extra $10 for each gig.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
Most users will be Grandfathered into the old [I]unlimited plan[I]and will not be affected. On the other hand don't expect the service to get better because the data is capped. New users will pay for the data they need, nobody is going to cut back on their IPHONE usage. It's like buying a T.V. and only watching one show a week.........that's ridiculous.
More DATA CONSUMTIVE features coming in the future. An example would be Video Chat, NETFLIX etc. AT&T's new plan will cost many people more money, not less down the road.
The irony though is this is exactly why they have changed the pricing structure.
My abuse of their network because they wouldn't offer a paid tethering plan that I would have been happy to pay for? I'm sure I wasn't NOT part of the issue.
If it was just an issue with going over 5GB then why not offer a 5GB plan. Why not allow you to tether now since your data usage is capped?
I think AT&T crunched the numbers and found that x% use just over 2GB while hardly any use more than 3GB. So while many will fall into the 2GB for $25/month more will fall into the >2GB plans charging and extra $10 or $5 more, resulting in more profit than before.
As NasserAE has pointed out, it's not longer in their contracts. The last time I can find mention of the 5GB soft cap was in 2008.
....in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
No it's not. If my plane crashes tomorrow <knocks on wood> while I travel to Seattle, I'm not guaranteed to increase my data usage. Nothing is guaranteed except death.
So... with this new plan I can pay $25 (instead of the current $30), and add $20 for tethering, and use the tethering to get 3G service on my iPad, thus allowing me to avoid paying $30 per month for the iPad 3G service? Or am I missing something?
Exactly how do you plan to Tether your iPad? Jobs said 'No Tethering' about a month ago.
Just wait till Verizon follows suit with their data cost increase.
This isn't about Verizon. As of today, Verizon hasn't changed their data plans. This is about what AT&T has done.
I can't believe the apologists in this thread.
You say you get to keep your plan but what happens when you're contract is up?
What happens when the next iPhone comes out with 2x the screen resolution? You'll be eating up data faster watching higher quality videos.
What about video uploads, video chat, streaming Pandora and iTunes in the cloud?
Why do customers have to pay $20/month just to enable a feature without upping the data cap?
It's funny how there are so many on this thread that only use 400mb of data yet criticize others. Why did you buy an iPhone? A feature-phone could fill, what seems to be, basic needs.
What happens when the next iPhone comes out with 2x the screen resolution? You'll be eating up data faster watching higher quality videos.
That makes no sense. The resolution of your display is not a factor of the data being sent servers. Along with 4x the pixels, the next iPhone will likely be able to stream 720p video from Hulu and other sites, but that has to do with the processing abilities, not the display. On a 3.5" display streaming in 480p will be sufficient.
Quote:
What about video uploads, video chat, streaming Pandora and iTunes in the cloud?
What about them?
Quote:
Why do customers have to pay $20/month just to enable a feature without upping the data cap.
That is a good question. They offer SW and support for this, but I don't think it would be at a cost even close to $20 a month. If they offered it with an increased cap that would be acceptable to me.
Quote:
It's funny how there are so many on this thread that only use 400mb of data yet criticize others. Why did you buy an iPhone? A feature-phone could fill, what seems to be, basic needs.
That also makes no sense. The amount of data used over a cellular network is not indicative of your WiFi usage, app usage, or other features not found in a feature phone. The iPod Touch uses zero data from AT&T and yet that sells well. By your argument that shouldn't sell at all over a feature phone as it has nothing to offer the user.
Exactly. These new plans won't work for heavy data users.
They also just gave their competition an excellent marketing advantage.
Can you think of a better dream com true for AT&T? Think about it...
1) The 3% heaviest users leave AT&T's network causing a 3% reduction in revenue and a 40% drop in data usage.
2) With the drop in data usage, congestion problems all but dissapear and the usage experience of the remaining customers jumps dramatically.
3) The heavy users all go to Verizon which sees their historically low data usage skyrocket by 400% or more for a mere 3% gain in revenue.
4) Verizon's out of date network is exposed as having the same congestion issues that AT&T had in 2008. Lots of whining on online forums and in the press destroys the Verizon network myth that their marketing department spent years fostering.
5) Verizon also caps their data plans. Through competition, the major carriers figure out at what price it is worth holding on to data hogs verses sending them to their competitors. Average users see their prices drop or stay flat because providers want to retain them, data hogs either reform their usage behavior or pay big penalties to stay with networks who don't really want them as customers.
You can bet Verizon will not be running adds to attract AT&T's data hogs. Sprint and T-Mobile might because they are desperate, but I doubt AT&T will be crying too many tears if they do.
A reasonable rate for the new plans would have been:
1. 100MB plan: $10 for the first 100MB, $5 for each additional 100MB
2. 1GB plan: $20 for the first 1GB, $5 for each additional GB
These plans would cost exactly the same as what is being offered by AT&T for 200MB and 2GB usage levels, but they would be much more practical (and attractive) for light and medium/heavy users of bandwidth. Yes, using 5GB would cost $40 instead of $30, but one could argue that it would have been a fair rate increase for bandwidth hoggers who would most likely use more WiFi and less 3G as a result...
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteo
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data. They should not have removed the 5 gig plan.
now if you go over 2 gig you have to pay and extra $10 for each gig.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
That's nice. OTOH, you could live in Europe and pay much more than the new AT&T rates. In case no one ever explained it to you, countries are different and your experience in Canada has no meaning for US customers.
Please don't reinforce the stereotype that Americans are completely ignorant of what goes on outside their borders. The Canadian and American cellular markets are very similar. Two out of the three largest cellular providers here were using CDMA until a year ago. Now Canada is more of a model of what will likely happen when Verizon phases out CDMA.
FYI: My rate plan was a limited time offer. Typically we pay a little more because we have a less densely populated landmass and even less competition (but that is changing), the best you can do right now is 500MB for $25, but tethering is still free.
I don't care what country you're in, you shouldn't pay someone for something they didn't do. AT&T isn't providing tethering, your phone is. They are only supplied data that you have already paid for.
It's a finite infrastructure, and bandwidth is a finite resource. With the increasing number of iPhones and iPads coming online, what is a fair strategy to assure reasonable service for all? Having light users subsidize heavy users? The tiered plan isn't perfect, but it's a reasonable step. The capacity of the infrastructure will improve due to carrier competition and data consumption will continue to increase due to device and application competition.
That being said, Apple would do well by their customers to make it easier to track and control consumption. Right now it's too cumbersome to continually drill down into preferences to turn WiFi on and off, for example. Plenty of times when I don't want WiFi on searching for networks and draining my battery. Same goes for 3G. But it's a pain in the butt to flip these settings so I do most of my data over 3G unless I'm at home. Same thing applies to screen brightness. The primary battery and data affecting settings should be directly accessible from the primary interface, or simple "flip the switch" one-click apps.
the outrage over this is sooo predictable, and so silly.
yes, a few true "unlimited" users who do not have access to convenient wifi for some unusual reason will pay more. many of them probably are doing job-realated stuff, and their employer pays for the phone anyway. but "free" public wifi hotspots continue to grow in number and capacity, and more workplaces are adding wifi too. if you haven't set one up at home it's your own fault. and you really can't wait to connect there to download all those movies? you don't go home at night or something?
and to "tether" you have to pay the higher rate plus the extra charge - but split in half between the two devices it's still pretty cheap. but i know, you really wanted to ditch your still-unlimited home ISP service all together and get one unlimited 3G service for everything you can tether to it when at home to save a few bucks. well, yes AT&T did close that potential loophole.
big picture, setting market incentives/penalties to maximize consumer use of wifi and minimize use of broadband cell data is a sane and necessary approach. the huge growth in mobile devices is going to expand even faster in the next few years. unlimited everything for everyone via cell is mass suicide. in 5-10 years maybe capacity will catch up and that will change. but not today. AT&T hit this wall first thanks to the iPhone, and Verizon and the rest are soon to follow. whereas wi-fi capacity is growing much faster now thanks to expansion of fiber optic networks in urban centers, with prices for trunk commercial ISP services dropping tremendously.
also big picture, the market competition among all the telcos and ISP's is what actually sets the price levels, not the pricing structure. as AT&T says, most of its customers will save a few bucks with this new rate plan. what the other telcos do now with mobile plans is one big question about where this is going. and what the ISP's do is the other. it is the CATV companies that have the big pipes into most homes, and they have been jacking up prices steadily for years for all their services and bundles because there is often no real competition (except AT&T's U-Verse!). that is what real consumer advocates really need to pay attention to.
It's true they did not continue with the same dollar amount per MB, but their isn't much of a need too as their is no intrinsic dollar value for a MB. It's whatever the market is willing to pay. For most people $15 for 200MB will be reasonable.
AT&T knows data use will increase and is the exact reason why they are placing these limitations. It's an economic insentive to do heavy media downloads over WiFi.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peteo
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
Exactly how do you plan to Tether your iPad? Jobs said 'No Tethering' about a month ago.
I haven't seen anything mentioned about ATT offering the ability to wifi tether. I seriously doubt they will offer this, it'll be cable only, imho.
On the same note, I bought the wifi iPad and use MyWi (jailbreak tether app) on the iPhone using wifi tethering. Works like magic. I rarely use it, but when I need it, it's well worth the $9.99 price.
Here is an extract from that website regarding auto-notices:
"It's easy to know how much data you've used.
AUTOMATIC NOTICES ? We'll send you a courtesy text and an email after you've reached 65%, 90%, and 100% of your data usage for the month.
CALL ? Dial *DATA#(*3282#) from your wireless phone. We'll send you a free text message with your usage info.
CLICKView your usage on your computer or phone. Visit att.com/mywireless and log in to your account, or access your info directly on your phone with the myWireless app."
So far it was not a concern but since I plan to downgrade my wife and add my two kids to iPhones this summer, I am wondering whether anyone of you have the same issue: While the iPhone sits idle while I am sleeping (around 1 am), a lot of data movements are happening, anywhere from around 1MB all the way to 20MB a night! Neither AT&T nor Apple could explain what applications would cause it (in browser history, there is no indication of internet access, i.e. it has to be app(s) running in the background). Anyone having the same issue?
Comments
Small print, yes, that is well known, but it was never enforced. Even when I was doing 40GB a month I was charged more, warned, capped or throttled.
This rational only applies to a very small minority of people who used a lot of bandwidth. For the vast majority of people $30 for unlimited is unnecessary. It isn't like 3G is the only option for data on mobile devices. AT&T is working to increase the WiFi.
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data. They should not have removed the 5 gig plan.
now if you go over 2 gig you have to pay and extra $10 for each gig.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
More DATA CONSUMTIVE features coming in the future. An example would be Video Chat, NETFLIX etc. AT&T's new plan will cost many people more money, not less down the road.
The irony though is this is exactly why they have changed the pricing structure.
My abuse of their network because they wouldn't offer a paid tethering plan that I would have been happy to pay for? I'm sure I wasn't NOT part of the issue.
If it was just an issue with going over 5GB then why not offer a 5GB plan. Why not allow you to tether now since your data usage is capped?
I think AT&T crunched the numbers and found that x% use just over 2GB while hardly any use more than 3GB. So while many will fall into the 2GB for $25/month more will fall into the >2GB plans charging and extra $10 or $5 more, resulting in more profit than before.
As NasserAE has pointed out, it's not longer in their contracts. The last time I can find mention of the 5GB soft cap was in 2008.
....in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
No it's not. If my plane crashes tomorrow <knocks on wood> while I travel to Seattle, I'm not guaranteed to increase my data usage. Nothing is guaranteed except death.
So... with this new plan I can pay $25 (instead of the current $30), and add $20 for tethering, and use the tethering to get 3G service on my iPad, thus allowing me to avoid paying $30 per month for the iPad 3G service? Or am I missing something?
Exactly how do you plan to Tether your iPad? Jobs said 'No Tethering' about a month ago.
Lot's of yelling going on in this thread...
Just wait till Verizon follows suit with their data cost increase.
This isn't about Verizon. As of today, Verizon hasn't changed their data plans. This is about what AT&T has done.
I can't believe the apologists in this thread.
You say you get to keep your plan but what happens when you're contract is up?
What happens when the next iPhone comes out with 2x the screen resolution? You'll be eating up data faster watching higher quality videos.
What about video uploads, video chat, streaming Pandora and iTunes in the cloud?
Why do customers have to pay $20/month just to enable a feature without upping the data cap?
It's funny how there are so many on this thread that only use 400mb of data yet criticize others. Why did you buy an iPhone? A feature-phone could fill, what seems to be, basic needs.
Is publicly-accessible wifi everywhere? Hardly. Closed networks don't provide you anything.
What happens when the next iPhone comes out with 2x the screen resolution? You'll be eating up data faster watching higher quality videos.
That makes no sense. The resolution of your display is not a factor of the data being sent servers. Along with 4x the pixels, the next iPhone will likely be able to stream 720p video from Hulu and other sites, but that has to do with the processing abilities, not the display. On a 3.5" display streaming in 480p will be sufficient.
What about video uploads, video chat, streaming Pandora and iTunes in the cloud?
What about them?
Why do customers have to pay $20/month just to enable a feature without upping the data cap.
That is a good question. They offer SW and support for this, but I don't think it would be at a cost even close to $20 a month. If they offered it with an increased cap that would be acceptable to me.
It's funny how there are so many on this thread that only use 400mb of data yet criticize others. Why did you buy an iPhone? A feature-phone could fill, what seems to be, basic needs.
That also makes no sense. The amount of data used over a cellular network is not indicative of your WiFi usage, app usage, or other features not found in a feature phone. The iPod Touch uses zero data from AT&T and yet that sells well. By your argument that shouldn't sell at all over a feature phone as it has nothing to offer the user.
Exactly. These new plans won't work for heavy data users.
They also just gave their competition an excellent marketing advantage.
Can you think of a better dream com true for AT&T? Think about it...
1) The 3% heaviest users leave AT&T's network causing a 3% reduction in revenue and a 40% drop in data usage.
2) With the drop in data usage, congestion problems all but dissapear and the usage experience of the remaining customers jumps dramatically.
3) The heavy users all go to Verizon which sees their historically low data usage skyrocket by 400% or more for a mere 3% gain in revenue.
4) Verizon's out of date network is exposed as having the same congestion issues that AT&T had in 2008. Lots of whining on online forums and in the press destroys the Verizon network myth that their marketing department spent years fostering.
5) Verizon also caps their data plans. Through competition, the major carriers figure out at what price it is worth holding on to data hogs verses sending them to their competitors. Average users see their prices drop or stay flat because providers want to retain them, data hogs either reform their usage behavior or pay big penalties to stay with networks who don't really want them as customers.
You can bet Verizon will not be running adds to attract AT&T's data hogs. Sprint and T-Mobile might because they are desperate, but I doubt AT&T will be crying too many tears if they do.
1. 100MB plan: $10 for the first 100MB, $5 for each additional 100MB
2. 1GB plan: $20 for the first 1GB, $5 for each additional GB
These plans would cost exactly the same as what is being offered by AT&T for 200MB and 2GB usage levels, but they would be much more practical (and attractive) for light and medium/heavy users of bandwidth. Yes, using 5GB would cost $40 instead of $30, but one could argue that it would have been a fair rate increase for bandwidth hoggers who would most likely use more WiFi and less 3G as a result...
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data. They should not have removed the 5 gig plan.
now if you go over 2 gig you have to pay and extra $10 for each gig.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
That's nice. OTOH, you could live in Europe and pay much more than the new AT&T rates. In case no one ever explained it to you, countries are different and your experience in Canada has no meaning for US customers.
Please don't reinforce the stereotype that Americans are completely ignorant of what goes on outside their borders. The Canadian and American cellular markets are very similar. Two out of the three largest cellular providers here were using CDMA until a year ago. Now Canada is more of a model of what will likely happen when Verizon phases out CDMA.
FYI: My rate plan was a limited time offer. Typically we pay a little more because we have a less densely populated landmass and even less competition (but that is changing), the best you can do right now is 500MB for $25, but tethering is still free.
I don't care what country you're in, you shouldn't pay someone for something they didn't do. AT&T isn't providing tethering, your phone is. They are only supplied data that you have already paid for.
That being said, Apple would do well by their customers to make it easier to track and control consumption. Right now it's too cumbersome to continually drill down into preferences to turn WiFi on and off, for example. Plenty of times when I don't want WiFi on searching for networks and draining my battery. Same goes for 3G. But it's a pain in the butt to flip these settings so I do most of my data over 3G unless I'm at home. Same thing applies to screen brightness. The primary battery and data affecting settings should be directly accessible from the primary interface, or simple "flip the switch" one-click apps.
yes, a few true "unlimited" users who do not have access to convenient wifi for some unusual reason will pay more. many of them probably are doing job-realated stuff, and their employer pays for the phone anyway. but "free" public wifi hotspots continue to grow in number and capacity, and more workplaces are adding wifi too. if you haven't set one up at home it's your own fault. and you really can't wait to connect there to download all those movies? you don't go home at night or something?
and to "tether" you have to pay the higher rate plus the extra charge - but split in half between the two devices it's still pretty cheap. but i know, you really wanted to ditch your still-unlimited home ISP service all together and get one unlimited 3G service for everything you can tether to it when at home to save a few bucks. well, yes AT&T did close that potential loophole.
big picture, setting market incentives/penalties to maximize consumer use of wifi and minimize use of broadband cell data is a sane and necessary approach. the huge growth in mobile devices is going to expand even faster in the next few years. unlimited everything for everyone via cell is mass suicide. in 5-10 years maybe capacity will catch up and that will change. but not today. AT&T hit this wall first thanks to the iPhone, and Verizon and the rest are soon to follow. whereas wi-fi capacity is growing much faster now thanks to expansion of fiber optic networks in urban centers, with prices for trunk commercial ISP services dropping tremendously.
also big picture, the market competition among all the telcos and ISP's is what actually sets the price levels, not the pricing structure. as AT&T says, most of its customers will save a few bucks with this new rate plan. what the other telcos do now with mobile plans is one big question about where this is going. and what the ISP's do is the other. it is the CATV companies that have the big pipes into most homes, and they have been jacking up prices steadily for years for all their services and bundles because there is often no real competition (except AT&T's U-Verse!). that is what real consumer advocates really need to pay attention to.
AT&T knows data use will increase and is the exact reason why they are placing these limitations. It's an economic insentive to do heavy media downloads over WiFi.
No It applies to EVERY ONE. You are getting less for your money.
The new plan should have been 1/2 of what they are going to charge since they are giving you less than half the to data.
Like I said before, its great that you do not using that much data now, but in the future your data usage is guaranteed to increase.
Exactly how do you plan to Tether your iPad? Jobs said 'No Tethering' about a month ago.
I haven't seen anything mentioned about ATT offering the ability to wifi tether. I seriously doubt they will offer this, it'll be cable only, imho.
On the same note, I bought the wifi iPad and use MyWi (jailbreak tether app) on the iPhone using wifi tethering. Works like magic. I rarely use it, but when I need it, it's well worth the $9.99 price.
If it was just an issue with going over 5GB then why not offer a 5GB plan. Why not allow you to tether now since your data usage is capped?
Here is an extract from that website regarding auto-notices:
"It's easy to know how much data you've used.
AUTOMATIC NOTICES ? We'll send you a courtesy text and an email after you've reached 65%, 90%, and 100% of your data usage for the month.
CALL ? Dial *DATA#(*3282#) from your wireless phone. We'll send you a free text message with your usage info.
CLICKView your usage on your computer or phone. Visit att.com/mywireless and log in to your account, or access your info directly on your phone with the myWireless app."
...AT&T isn't providing tethering, your phone is. They are only supplied data that you have already paid for.
I don't buy that tethering argument. You paid for what the phone could consume. Not your computer's consumption appetite.
Free mints in a restaurant: you put a couple in your pocket. You don't bring in a wheelbarrow and demand all the mints in the storeroom.