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AT&T's new data plans: $25/2GB cap, tethering +$20
- turtle4 16y agoSo, I have a question. I thought that during the iPad release, Jobs said that the iPad was going to be an unlocked device, so it could be used on any network where you could get a mini-sim for it. Why haven't we seen this happen? If the device is unlocked, no Apple/ATT contract can prevent another provider from stepping up right? So why haven't they?
- snsr 16y agoYou can chop a T-mobile sim in half and use it with the iPad, though you'll be limited to EDGE 2g speeds. edit- I believe T-mobile may also sell micro-sim cards. Shouldn't be necessary, though, as you can also get a micro-to-regular sized SIM adapter for your modified micro. This is a great reason to sign up for the unlimited iPad plan now, and hold on to it; the micro-sim works in any device with the help of an adapter.
- dhess 16y agoIncludes iPad ($30/unlimited option is no longer available to iPad customers after June 7). Current $30/unlimited customers are grandfathered in, for now, at least. Where to begin? Canceling the $30/unlimited option barely a month after the iPad 3G shipped is deceptive, at best. Adding a 2GB cap to the top-tier iPhone/iPad data plan while only dropping the price by $5 doesn't seem like a good deal to me. I accept the need for caps, but I'd rather pay the extra $5 and get 5GB a la Verizon. The $15/200MB plan is comparable to what I paid Telstra in Australia, which I thought was a horrible deal, but at least it was contract-free! If they'd accompanied these new data plans with similar price and usage reductions on the voice side, I'd be less upset, maybe even pleased. But given that the voice plans for the iPhone are still Cadillac- and Escalade-sized, when I only want a Vespa, AT&T is clearly out of step with my needs. FOAD.
- gte910h 16y agoHoly crap, that's bullshit, after the iPad was sold with this Unique data plan as a HUGE selling point.
- josefresco 16y agoHow do you think I feel? I ordered the 'small' iPad days ago expecting to pay the $30/month and utilize the cloud for data storing and now since it hasn't arrive yet I'll be screwed into paying slightly less for a lot less data and there goes my plan to store my media online. Awesome, fuck you AT&T.
- dhimes 16y agoCan you use Wifi?
- ensignavenger 16y agoDecline delivery.
- mortenjorck 16y agoBut given that the voice plans for the iPhone are still Cadillac- and Escalade-sized, when I only want a Vespa, AT&T is clearly out of step with my needs. On the bright side, a half-price data plan is a step in the right direction. The light email and Google Maps user finally has an appropriate plan as of today; perhaps the heavy data user and occasional caller will be the next addressed.
- rpledge 16y agoThis seems like an obvious sign to me that iPhone 4 will not be AT&T exclusive. The June 7th timing makes it pretty obvious that AT&T is trying to pull in as many subscribers as possible before the news breaks.
- icey 16y agoEither that or the next generation of the phone will come with functionality that will be very data intensive. I don't know that they're going to woo too many people with the threat of a rate increase.
- ekanes 16y ago> functionality that will be very data intensive I believe it's going to have a front-facing camera, which would open the path to 2-way video calls.
- jim_dot 16y agoNever thought I'd say it, but I'm gonna miss Rogers when I go to the states - $30 for 6 GB + free tethering.
- ekanes 16y agoI've found access to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and other US-only stuff more than makes up for it. It's a shame these offerings aren't available worldwide. Boo.
- mrtron 16y agoI am on Rogers, but right now I am on a Taiwan service that offers 30$/month for 3g and basic cell service. Free tethering and truly unlimited service. I am probably averaging a gig per day of usage and get about 100kb/sec. Skype works extremely smoothly.
- rmundo 16y agoYes, but Taiwan is an island only somewhat larger than the state of Maryland, so telecoms have less area to cover compared to telecoms in the US. And yes, tethering has been here since 3.0, and unlimited, but remember that the average Taiwanese salary is about 1/3 of what an American might make. Would you consider a 90$ unlimited and tethered AT&T monthly plan to be a good deal? Still, not properly handling the two major cities where the phones are used the most is ridiculous.
- steveklabnik 16y ago> Yes, but Taiwan is an island only somewhat larger than the state of Maryland, so telecoms have less area to cover compared to telecoms in the US. Yet, even in areas that are just as dense, we still can't get good cell coverage (SF) or fast Internet.
- rmundo 16y agoWell I agree, bad service in key markets like SF and NYC is just disgraceful.
- rscott 16y agoSo I'm grandfathered in. What happens when I upgrade to the next iPhone? 2GB is a damn joke. I hate that tethering is a hardware capability that I rent from them - not willing to do that.
- elechi 16y agoThey said you can go to a new smart phone and keep the old data plan. If you change the data plan to a newer data plan, you can't go back to unlimited.
- rdl 16y agoI'd like to see iPad 3G owners sue ATT and/or Apple as a class. I definitely would have gone wifi vs. 3G if these rate plans had been disclosed at time of sale. I wonder how much Google pays ATT to keep Android in the race, by crippling the iphone/ipad.
- AndrewHampton 16y agoNever attribute to Google's malice that which can be adequately explained by ATT's stupidity.
- orangecat 16y agoI wonder how much Google pays ATT to keep Android in the race, by crippling the iphone/ipad. AT&T screws over Google too: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15715/at_ts_backflip_android_phone_is_a_face_plant http://blogs.computerworld.com/15715/at_ts_backflip_android_... .
- jrockway 16y agoWhat do you expect from a company whose logo is the frickin' Death Star?
- jokermatt999 16y agoFirst part: Interesting, but do they have a legal standing to do this? Second part: tinfoil hat or joke?
- dogas 16y agoWell that's fucked. Talk about a bait and switch for iPad 3G users. 2Gb is a joke. What's also interesting is it's starting June 7, the same day as WWDC. I guess that means the next iphone is dropping that day. I can't see how the new iphone will be on multiple carriers, because I think any other carrier would win by offering an unlimited (or at least more attractive) data plan. ATT (for now) knows that their network sucks and they have the upper hand, which is why they are able to get away with offering such shitty plans.
- seehafer 16y agoI wonder how long it will take for the rates reflected on Apple's site (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad?mco=OTY2ODA0NQ http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad?...) to change.
- symesc 16y agoAnd I wonder how long it will be before AT&T gets their ass handed to them by Steve Jobs. Next week is the new iPhone. I think this unilateral pricing change indicates a new USmcarrier is coming on board. I am in Canada on Fido. The competition between carriers is a good thing up here. I pay $30 for 6GB data plan.
- risotto 16y agoI'm all for cheaper plans and paying for what I use. But I still can't make a damn phone call on AT&T in SF. Dropping a call after getting through to my sister in the hospital or while phone sexing a lady friend brings about a rage inside me that I never knew existed. My iPhone 3G contract is up any day now and theres no way I'll get another iPhone on AT&T without testing an android phone on another carrier.
- ekanes 16y ago>> my sister in the hospital or while phone sexing a lady friend Thank goodness for caller ID. ;)
- sausagefeet 16y agoNot quite sure how this affects AT&T people. My services sucks so much I could probably not even do 2GB/mo.
- mawhidby 16y agoLooking at the data usage trends on my AT&T online account, it seems like the most bandwidth I've used in a month is a little over 300MB. Granted, I don't have an iPhone (and I would probably consume more bandwidth if I had an iPhone or Android phone), but it seems like the 2GB is fairly reasonable. Could anyone with an iPhone share their data usage statistics? I'm curious to see your usage.
- Jtsummers 16y agoI've used 2.9GB since August 2008. Half of that in the last 6 months, not sure why the spike there. My average for the last six months has been 250MB per month with a high of 383 (January, was moving and had no other internet service) and a low of 55 (April, surprised by that one). I expected my low would be March, worked in an office that month that completely banned the use of cell phones, anything with a wireless signal actually.
- MrFoof 16y agoSince acquiring my 3GS I've sent 345MB and received 2.7GB of data over the 3G network. That works out to around 280MB/month, considering I've had the phone for a bit over 11 months.
- PStamatiou 16y agoI'm at 1.1GB sent, 5.6GB received since I got it around the same time. I attribute much of this to emailing photos to my flickr and tumblr accounts, as well as attaching images to tweets with twitpic
- DrewB 16y agoI have an iPhone and was surprised by the amount of data I use a month. Usage info for my account is not available prior to November 2009, but for the 7 months since, I've averaged 560 MB a month. Since the start of baseball season in April, I've streamed quite a bit of audio using MLB At-Bat. April saw the most data usage with 663 MB. I thought it would be much higher. I'm disappointed with the 2 GB cap, but now that's I've seen my actual usage it seems more reasonable. My wife and I could save $10 a month and still stay comfortably under the cap.
- FluidDjango 16y agoI'm on the sidelines, not yet being ATT customer, but have * existing customers* received notification? The "news" on ATT is TLDR, to figure out all parameters, but note that the Apple store (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad) still shows old rates. Wonder what happens if I buy iPad from Apple when site gives old rate... what leverage would I have against rate increases. Anyone yet read details on the plan they signed up for - regarding changes?
- teye 16y agoMy next question would be: will AT&T's 4G service be capped? Sprint's current offering includes a 5GB 3G cap and no limit on 4G access.
- tibbon 16y agoWhy did tethering take a year to deliver on, whereas other carrier around the world were able to do it much quicker? Also, I'm not quite sure I understand why it requires the 4.0 OS. I was under the impression that tethering is present in the 3.x OS as well. They could push a really minor update to change and enable this.
- sirn 16y agoSome sort of AT&T's policy. To enable tethering, it used to be a single MobilConfig installation until Apple required them to be signed on 3.1.2, presumably to enforce AT&T's policy, which also result in tethering being unusable outside any "Apple-certified carriers" even in the unlocked countries.
- b3b0p 16y agoYou would think as time goes on and technology improves the cost and bandwidth price/performance would go down.
- zaidf 16y agoWhile the 2gb might be ok for vast majority of the people, I am against this kind of plans on principle. Let's not forget this is AT&T and if they can introduce a transfer limitation, they can also modify the limitation at any time.
- briansmith 16y agoWhich principle?
- steveklabnik 16y agoThe principle that there's a psychological difference between 'free' and 'not free.' Under an unlimited plan, bandwidth feels like it's free, because there's no cap. With caps, I'll _constantly_ worry about how much data I'm using. Now I feel glad I went with Android... new OS update just straight up gives me tethering, and T-Mobile's still got unlimited data plans.
- briansmith 16y agoThe previous plans were not unlimited--they were capped at 5GB, IIRC. AT&T said that 98% of its customers will save money by switching to these plans. And, AT&T doesn't have the capacity to handle many people who would exceed these limits. AT&T will now send alerts directly to your phone when you get close to reaching the caps. I think this is a much better solution to the "worrying" problem than forcing everybody to over-pay for under-provisioned service.
- steveklabnik 16y ago> AT&T said that 98% of its customers will save money by switching to these plans. When trying to overcome debt, many financial advisors recommend paying off the smallest debt first, even if it has relatively lower interest than other debts. This is because the psychological win of paying off an entire debt quickly has a much bigger impact upon the ability of people to stick with their payments, rather than the mathematically better path of paying down a higher-interest debt first. So yes, people may be saving money. But that doesn't mean that it's necessarily better. I'd rather pay an extra $5/mo or whatever for the peace of mind. > And, AT&T doesn't have the capacity to handle many people who would exceed these limits. As a consumer, I don't care what AT&T has the capacity to do. They're supposed to figure out how to serve me and give me what I want. It's obviously possible, as they were doing it before, and other companies still have unlimited bandwidth plans. Innovate or die. But I guess I'm expecting too much out of the telecom industry...
- solahere 16y agojust 2GB was my first thought..then I checked my usage. reality check.
- cmelbye 16y agoYeah, I've used like 3GB since mid-January, and I regularly tether using one of the hacks to enable it.
- adolph 16y agoI, for one, welcome the new cheaper data plans as I'm near wifi enough to not hit 3g so much. I also wish all those upset about this class action status so I will get a $2.50 coupon...
- elblanco 16y agoIt's okay, after Android 2.2 gets pushed out, you can just use it as a wi-fi hotspot for your iPads.
- OmarIsmail 16y agoYou can already do this now with a jailbroken iPhone and it's amazing. And jailbreaking an iphone now is probably the simplest hack a person can do. Seriously, now that I've gone jailbroken and have MyWi and the other app that fools apps into thinking they're on WiFi instead of 3G. jailbroken iPhone + iPad = amazing
- elblanco 16y agoNow if only it was part of the stock device and didn't require jailbreaking.
- eli 16y agoAs I've said here several times, the unlimited mobile data simply will not last. It's actually more fair for everyone -- the many people who only use a small amount of data should pay less.
- mortenjorck 16y agoOk, this is just stupid. Not the caps, the fact that paying for tethering doesn't increase your cap. I thought the whole (customer-facing, anyway) point of charging for tethering was the greater bandwidth that the network expects to bear with a desktop-class device. Yet nearly doubling your data charges doesn't actually get you any more data, merely AT&T's blessing of how you use your allotted data.
- Zak 16y agoAT&T is still trying to pretend it isn't just a dumb pipe for your data. I expect this to change eventually, but it might take a while since barriers to entry in to the mobile ISP market are pretty high.
- protomyth 16y agoanyone know how much bandwidth is consumed by a movie (2hr) on NetFlix?
- matty 16y ago4GB is a safe bet for best quality stream, but it depends on the encode. For iPad its scaled down. Assuming top encode rate is 1Mbps. 1Mbps * 7200 seconds = 7200 Mbit / 8 = 900 Mbytes
- tjmaxal 16y agoWhile we are complaining about AT&T, has anyone else noticed that if you use an unlimited plan, AT&T refuses to let you track usage? So even if you wanted to switch to a lower plan you can't b/c you have no idea how much voice/data/texts you are using.
- parrots 16y agoActually I had no problem going in to see how much data I was using. Macrumors has a post on it if you're having trouble: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/checking-atandt-iphone-data-usage-history/ http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/checking-atandt-iphone-d...
- azim 16y agoThanks for the tip. I asked a rep at the AT&T store about this and was told by them it wasn't possible. Would be nice if they knew their stuff.
- pkulak 16y agoThis seems to me like a confirmation that video chatting will be a big part of the new iPhone.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- jrockway 16y agoSo $45 for tethering and 2G? That sucks. I pay $60 for Sprint's 3G/4G plan. 5 gigs a month on 3G and unlimited on 4G, and the 4G speed tends to be around 3-5Mbps. (That means, I get 1.5Tb per month for $60. Not that I use it that much.) AT&T is really not competitive here. What is their value add? Why would you do business with them?
- pavel_lishin 16y ago> What is their value add? Why would you do business with them? "Look, we have iPhones!"
- potatolicious 16y agoUgh. I use an iPhone, but it's not so superior to the competition that I'm willing to put up with this shit. I'm seriously considering moving to Android (or in my wild dreams, iPhone on another carrier) after my contract is up.
- jrockway 16y agoWhy not pay the $175 to be free of the oppression forever? If you switch from AT&T 3G + tethering and use 5G a month, that will be $75 a month. Sprint will be $60. If you have more than 12 months left, the ETF pays for itself. And even if not, at least you don't have to deal with AT&T anymore. (Although, in my experience, all phone companies are a pain to deal with. Luckily, I don't have problems very often.)
- pavel_lishin 16y ago> it's not so superior to the competition that I'm willing to put up with this shit. And yet you're going to keep putting up with it instead of cancelling your plan?
- samratjp 16y agoThis just goes to show how terrible wireless in the U.S is. I do hope Clear will use this to their marketing advantage.