Since the story is about the 500Gb customers, wouldn't it have been informative to explain what their price point was before migrating to the 1Tb level?
"A 500-gigabyte plan has been eliminated, although the cost of the 1 terabyte tier is down $10 to $9.99. Anyone using 500 gigabytes is being migrated to 1 terabyte automatically, despite the extra cost. Subscribers willing to sacrifice can downgrade to 200 gigabytes."
It doesn't affect me, but it would have been interesting to see the change in price point.
I've seen dozens of articles on the Internet since last Wednesday explaining the old plans and the changes in storage size / prices for the U.S. market, including at least 1 or 2 here on Apple Insider. The wording of that first sentence could have been made more clear, such as "The 500 gigabyte plan has been replaced by the 1 terabyte plan, which has been lowered to the $9.99 price of the former 500 GB plan."
The point about "extra cost" only applies in markets where Apple is adjusting for currency fluctuations, such as in Canada. Due to the growing strength of the U.S. dollar, Apple has been adjusting prices in the iTunes and App Stores and on the retail side this year. They probably decided to wait until now to change iCloud pricing, knowing that they'd be adjusting the storage sizes.
I've had lots of problems with iCloud sync. Recently it's been more reliable, though. For mission-critical stuff.... I am not sure.
I've been using Carbon Copy Cloner's automatic, scheduled back up feature to transfer data to iCloud rather than using Apple's built in sync feature. This has worked flawlessly and avoids the necessity to involve the user boot volume so data backed up from external drives don't impact my small internal on my Mac Pro's SSD. You have the option to delete anything not on the original or archive with CCC. It's all working with developer 10.11 too.
Now they just need to add shared folders, and allow to download files via a web link, and it will be an interesting alternative to Dropbox.
F'ing seriously!!!! I don't want to use Dropbox anymore...I just want to pay $10 for 1 TB of iCloud and be happy. But instead I also have $10 for 1 TB of Dropbox for this simple reason...I need to be able to share files with links.
Just checked mine for the first time this morning and it's updated to 50 GB. I checked several times yesterday. Just give it some time, I'm sure the system is having to go through every account (millions of them) to make the change. Oh, and my renewal date isn't until October 8, so there was no waiting for my renewal date.
Yeah, I have over 40Gb free now so they did finally upgrade my space. It's just odd that the settings said 50Gb and the storage was not updated at the same time.
I apologize in advance if this question is dumb: but does Apple have any restrictions anymore on the types of files (e.g., MS Office) that can be stored on iCloud?
I've been using Carbon Copy Cloner's automatic, scheduled back up feature to transfer data to iCloud rather than using Apple's built in sync feature. This has worked flawlessly and avoids the necessity to involve the user boot volume so data backed up from external drives don't impact my small internal on my Mac Pro's SSD. You have the option to delete anything not on the original or archive with CCC. It's all working with developer 10.11 too.
Hmmm.... I like this idea. Can you elaborate on the boot volume issue?
I apologize in advance if this question is dumb: but does Apple have any restrictions anymore on the types of files (e.g., MS Office) that can be stored on iCloud?
No restrictions as far as I know. I store everything there.
My one big gripe which doesn't seem to have been fixed with IOS 9 is that I still cant see more than one folder deep when using Numbers or Pages. I can see the full folder hierarchy when using the new iCloud app, which is fantastic, but if I try to open a file it only creates an un-editable pdf.
Since the story is about the 500Gb customers, wouldn't it have been informative to explain what their price point was before migrating to the 1Tb level?
"A 500-gigabyte plan has been eliminated, although the cost of the 1 terabyte tier is down $10 to $9.99. Anyone using 500 gigabytes is being migrated to 1 terabyte automatically, despite the extra cost. Subscribers willing to sacrifice can downgrade to 200 gigabytes."
It doesn't affect me, but it would have been interesting to see the change in price point.
Same price for double the storage. 500 GB had been $9.99 per month.
ETA: And they sent me an email notifying me of the capoacity jump, though it was already evident last night in the storage settings.
Mine has been switch I was paying $9.99 a month for the 500 gig and just got a letter today stating that I have been switch to 1 Terabyte at no extra charge.
The upload speed of all of my photos is rubbish though. It is going to take weeks at this rate. Does anyone else have this problem?
My upload speed for other applications is pretty good usually.
:embarrass
I uploaded my music to Google Music and it took about a week. If you have hundreds of MBs of files (or more), uploads are typically not fast.
Yes, if you have a PokeyAss DSL connection like I do the Photos app is not only slow to upload but it's very aggressive with network bandwidth consumption. Expect it to take many days or longer if you have lots of photos, e.g., > 10k. I got so annoyed by its impact to my network performance that I'd manually turn off the sync process during the day and turn it back on at bedtime. Rinse and repeat for days on end and then have a little celebration when it finally hits 100%. Once the big upload is done the incremental additions and edits seem reasonably quick.
I'd also like to bump up the request counter for those desiring to make the iCloud storage family based. I have a 200 GB plan with about 100 GB free but my spouse's iPhone and iPad runs out of space trying to back up to the default 5 GB iCloud account. Not nice.
While Apple's customer experience is stellar overall there are a few places where they continue to punish a small set of customers who fall into areas they absolutely refuse to fix. The iCloud family sharing is one of these as is their refusal to merge the iCloud and iTunes accounts of former MobileMe customers is another. There must be a logical business or technical reason why they steadfastly refuse to fix these problems but from a customer perspective it is a turn-off and detractor from an otherwise shining example of great customer experience.
Comments
Quote:
Since the story is about the 500Gb customers, wouldn't it have been informative to explain what their price point was before migrating to the 1Tb level?
"A 500-gigabyte plan has been eliminated, although the cost of the 1 terabyte tier is down $10 to $9.99. Anyone using 500 gigabytes is being migrated to 1 terabyte automatically, despite the extra cost. Subscribers willing to sacrifice can downgrade to 200 gigabytes."
It doesn't affect me, but it would have been interesting to see the change in price point.
I've seen dozens of articles on the Internet since last Wednesday explaining the old plans and the changes in storage size / prices for the U.S. market, including at least 1 or 2 here on Apple Insider. The wording of that first sentence could have been made more clear, such as "The 500 gigabyte plan has been replaced by the 1 terabyte plan, which has been lowered to the $9.99 price of the former 500 GB plan."
The point about "extra cost" only applies in markets where Apple is adjusting for currency fluctuations, such as in Canada. Due to the growing strength of the U.S. dollar, Apple has been adjusting prices in the iTunes and App Stores and on the retail side this year. They probably decided to wait until now to change iCloud pricing, knowing that they'd be adjusting the storage sizes.
Wish family iTunes accounts shared storage
My thoughts exactly. Would be nice. Maybe they will offer down the road as family sharing expands.
I've been using Carbon Copy Cloner's automatic, scheduled back up feature to transfer data to iCloud rather than using Apple's built in sync feature. This has worked flawlessly and avoids the necessity to involve the user boot volume so data backed up from external drives don't impact my small internal on my Mac Pro's SSD. You have the option to delete anything not on the original or archive with CCC. It's all working with developer 10.11 too.
Now they just need to add shared folders, and allow to download files via a web link, and it will be an interesting alternative to Dropbox.
F'ing seriously!!!! I don't want to use Dropbox anymore...I just want to pay $10 for 1 TB of iCloud and be happy. But instead I also have $10 for 1 TB of Dropbox for this simple reason...I need to be able to share files with links.
Just checked mine for the first time this morning and it's updated to 50 GB. I checked several times yesterday. Just give it some time, I'm sure the system is having to go through every account (millions of them) to make the change. Oh, and my renewal date isn't until October 8, so there was no waiting for my renewal date.
Yeah, I have over 40Gb free now so they did finally upgrade my space. It's just odd that the settings said 50Gb and the storage was not updated at the same time.
One day after I got charged $3.99 for 200GB!
It's a Conspiracy against me, I tells ya!
Oh, well. Enjoy that dollar, Mr. Cook.
I apologize in advance if this question is dumb: but does Apple have any restrictions anymore on the types of files (e.g., MS Office) that can be stored on iCloud?
No restrictions as far as I know. I store everything there.
My one big gripe which doesn't seem to have been fixed with IOS 9 is that I still cant see more than one folder deep when using Numbers or Pages. I can see the full folder hierarchy when using the new iCloud app, which is fantastic, but if I try to open a file it only creates an un-editable pdf.
One day after I got charged $3.99 for 200GB!
It's a Conspiracy against me, I tells ya!
Oh, well. Enjoy that dollar, Mr. Cook.
I hear ya! Same here...
ETA: And they sent me an email notifying me of the capoacity jump, though it was already evident last night in the storage settings.
Australian pricing 50GB $A1.49, 200GB $A4.49, 1 TB $A14.99.
I save 50c a month on 200GB plan.
Most of the change has been eaten up by fall in our dollar.
My photo's are still uploading, 152GB, thanks to our lame Internet.
Fibre to the premises was cancelled by a vindictive government replacing it with a pathetic fibre to the node model.
I wonder if iCloud Drive will be coming to OS X...
Whoops... Just answered my own question (since I'm not on El Cap, this was not obvious).
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201104
Mine has been switch I was paying $9.99 a month for the 500 gig and just got a letter today stating that I have been switch to 1 Terabyte at no extra charge.
The new pricing seems to be in place in NZ.
I just got the new lower price for the 50gig plan.
I received the email about the upgrade too, I was with the 20GB...
So it's the same price or? Sorry I am so new with this iCloud plan and I feel worry that they mess up the payment method or amount.
Thank you.
One day after I got charged $3.99 for 200GB!
It's a Conspiracy against me, I tells ya!
Oh, well. Enjoy that dollar, Mr. Cook.
Indeed, aye...
Why they forced us to upgrade the plan and spend more???
Feel disappointed with Apple and it's not about the dollar, it's the attitude...
The upload speed of all of my photos is rubbish though. It is going to take weeks at this rate. Does anyone else have this problem?
My upload speed for other applications is pretty good usually.
I uploaded my music to Google Music and it took about a week. If you have hundreds of MBs of files (or more), uploads are typically not fast.
I'd also like to bump up the request counter for those desiring to make the iCloud storage family based. I have a 200 GB plan with about 100 GB free but my spouse's iPhone and iPad runs out of space trying to back up to the default 5 GB iCloud account. Not nice.
While Apple's customer experience is stellar overall there are a few places where they continue to punish a small set of customers who fall into areas they absolutely refuse to fix. The iCloud family sharing is one of these as is their refusal to merge the iCloud and iTunes accounts of former MobileMe customers is another. There must be a logical business or technical reason why they steadfastly refuse to fix these problems but from a customer perspective it is a turn-off and detractor from an otherwise shining example of great customer experience.