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If 95% of people use less than 2GB per month, why did they need to change the plans? Surely the people using gigantic amounts of data are breaking the terms of

by dcurtis 16y ago

If 95% of people use less than 2GB per month, why did they need to change the plans? Surely the people using gigantic amounts of data are breaking the terms of service and can be dealt with. "Unlimited data" isn't about data, or price, or value. It's about not having to worry -- or to even think about -- how much you use your phone. If I'm on a 2GB plan, even though I use less than 2GB per month on average, I'll start thinking about rationing my usage every single time I use my phone. That fundamentally changes the experience of having the internet in my pocket. I am amazed that Apple allowed AT&T to make these changes. They go against the stuff Apple stands for -- the culture Steve was talking about at D8 yesterday.

ihodes 16y ago
I sent a (probably futile) email to Steve Jobs this afternoon expressing basically the same sentiment. It's not Apple-like. I don't want to worry about the nitty gritty of how many bytes I'm sending and receiving. I just want to use my iPhone, and I pay to be able to do just that.
- leviathant 16y ago
  "It's not Apple-like." You emailed the wrong person. It's AT&T, not Apple. They're two very separate companies. To be honest, I've had less trouble with AT&T than any of the other telecoms. This change prompted me to check my data usage for the last six months and I was surprised to find that I actually use less than 200mb a month on my iPhone - these new plans are actually going to save me money.
  - ihodes 16y ago
    This I realize. I also know that Apple has more influence in this than AT&T does, by sheer force of economy if nothing else. I somehow doubt this either happened without Apple's approval, or if it did, something will be changing with regards to AT&T's exclusive rights to the iPhone in the near future. Besides, had I emailed AT&T's CEO, I may have received a cease and desist. Didn't want to chance that: http://9to5mac.com/ATT_FAIL http://9to5mac.com/ATT_FAIL
  - jrockway 16y ago
    AT&T should realize that they'd be out of business (because of their poor customer support and poor network) without the iPhone. I would think that if they do realize that, then they would listen to what Apple has to say.
    - leviathant 16y ago
      Just like Sprint's out of business. Just like T-Mobile's out of business. Just like Verizon's out of business. Wait, what? They all have terrible customer support, and I've had zero complaints about AT&T's coverage while I've had my phone, with the exception of when I was at Lollapalooza a couple of years ago, where I got no signal at all, which added salty irony to all the AT&T sponsorship banners in Grant Park that year. You can't possibly believe that "American Telephone & Telegraph" would so easily be out of the telephone business without the iPhone. That's an absurd notion.
tzs 16y ago
That's why in every MMORPG I've played, I've ended up with an inventory full of potions I never use. Every time I might want to consume one, I worry that it might not be the best time to use it. My phone does have limited minutes and that doesn't bother me, but that's because the limit is three orders of magnitude over my average use, and two orders of magnitude over the most I have ever used. I'm only at risk of hitting the limit if I undergo some major life changing event, which I'd probably notice.
- philwelch 16y ago
  That's exactly the intuition that led Cingular (now AT&T) to give rollover minutes. I doubt they will offer me any "rollover gigabytes" for my data plan, however.
awa 16y ago
yup, if I am on one of these plans, I no longer will try new apps when somebody mentions it, also, i will quickly uninstall /switch off(try to) all apps/settings which sends data to ATT and Apple to make "my" iPhone experience better
pohl 16y ago
If 95% of people use less than 2GB per month, why did they need to change the plans? Surely the people using gigantic amounts of data are breaking the terms of service and can be dealt with. I think it's a better policy to gently disuade, via pricing structure, people from going hog-wild on consuming a finite, shared resource. Trying to handle each case on the back end as a TOS violation sounds a lot more messy, expensive, and reactive to me. You know there are probably guys out there who would torrent hundreds of movies over a tethered phone or share their MP3 collection over Limewire (ok, I'm dating myself), or perpetually stream video if they thought to themselves "hey, it's free". This pricing structure is designed to make those guys feel the pinch, as well they should. There's only so much spectrum in the neighborhood of a given tower.

by dcurtis 16y ago

ihodes 16y ago

I sent a (probably futile) email to Steve Jobs this afternoon expressing basically the same sentiment. It's not Apple-like. I don't want to worry about the nitty gritty of how many bytes I'm sending and receiving. I just want to use my iPhone, and I pay to be able to do just that.

leviathant 16y ago
"It's not Apple-like." You emailed the wrong person. It's AT&T, not Apple. They're two very separate companies. To be honest, I've had less trouble with AT&T than any of the other telecoms. This change prompted me to check my data usage for the last six months and I was surprised to find that I actually use less than 200mb a month on my iPhone - these new plans are actually going to save me money.
- ihodes 16y ago
  This I realize. I also know that Apple has more influence in this than AT&T does, by sheer force of economy if nothing else. I somehow doubt this either happened without Apple's approval, or if it did, something will be changing with regards to AT&T's exclusive rights to the iPhone in the near future. Besides, had I emailed AT&T's CEO, I may have received a cease and desist. Didn't want to chance that: http://9to5mac.com/ATT_FAIL http://9to5mac.com/ATT_FAIL
- jrockway 16y ago
  AT&T should realize that they'd be out of business (because of their poor customer support and poor network) without the iPhone. I would think that if they do realize that, then they would listen to what Apple has to say.
  - leviathant 16y ago
    Just like Sprint's out of business. Just like T-Mobile's out of business. Just like Verizon's out of business. Wait, what? They all have terrible customer support, and I've had zero complaints about AT&T's coverage while I've had my phone, with the exception of when I was at Lollapalooza a couple of years ago, where I got no signal at all, which added salty irony to all the AT&T sponsorship banners in Grant Park that year. You can't possibly believe that "American Telephone & Telegraph" would so easily be out of the telephone business without the iPhone. That's an absurd notion.

tzs 16y ago

That's why in every MMORPG I've played, I've ended up with an inventory full of potions I never use. Every time I might want to consume one, I worry that it might not be the best time to use it. My phone does have limited minutes and that doesn't bother me, but that's because the limit is three orders of magnitude over my average use, and two orders of magnitude over the most I have ever used. I'm only at risk of hitting the limit if I undergo some major life changing event, which I'd probably notice.

philwelch 16y ago
That's exactly the intuition that led Cingular (now AT&T) to give rollover minutes. I doubt they will offer me any "rollover gigabytes" for my data plan, however.

awa 16y ago

yup, if I am on one of these plans, I no longer will try new apps when somebody mentions it, also, i will quickly uninstall /switch off(try to) all apps/settings which sends data to ATT and Apple to make "my" iPhone experience better

pohl 16y ago

If 95% of people use less than 2GB per month, why did they need to change the plans? Surely the people using gigantic amounts of data are breaking the terms of service and can be dealt with. I think it's a better policy to gently disuade, via pricing structure, people from going hog-wild on consuming a finite, shared resource. Trying to handle each case on the back end as a TOS violation sounds a lot more messy, expensive, and reactive to me. You know there are probably guys out there who would torrent hundreds of movies over a tethered phone or share their MP3 collection over Limewire (ok, I'm dating myself), or perpetually stream video if they thought to themselves "hey, it's free". This pricing structure is designed to make those guys feel the pinch, as well they should. There's only so much spectrum in the neighborhood of a given tower.