3 ms·

Ugh. I live in Arkansas, and my AT&T bill this month is $410. Granted, about $150 of that are payment plans for devices, but still. The base rate plan is $110,

Ugh. I live in Arkansas, and my AT&T bill this month is $410. Granted, about $150 of that are payment plans for devices, but still. The base rate plan is $110, and there's a $20-30 per line fee for four separate lines. I have an iPad Pro 11" LTE and an iPhone X, my wife has an S10+, and I handed down my 6th Gen iPad LTE to my 10-year-old. It's a lot more than "needed", and our aggregate data usage is 30+ GB/month, but still. The difference in cost is staggering.

dman 7y ago
Why dont you use tethering and use the connection from your phone on your ipad?
- mrnaught 7y ago
  Tethering incurs extra charges too.
- scarface74 7y ago
  I have T-mobile. I have unlimited tethering but it’s only 512Kbps for tethering, which is surprisingly enough for light dev work in a pinch. The $130 extra for an iPad with cellular and $20 extra per month for unlimited data on the iPad is well worth the convenience of having two cellular devices. I pay roughly $210 a month for five phones and two iPads all with unlimited data. T-mobile also has free data roaming in most other countries where we go on vacation.
- LyndsySimon 7y ago
  It drains the battery, for one thing. For another, it's one extra additional step that I have to go through to get online on the iPad, and the lack of friction to doing things online that are more substantial than is comfortable on a phone is the primary purpose of the device. Finally, I very often tether my MBP to my iPad, because the iPad's battery lasts much longer. If my phone battery is low I pretty much need to charge it so I can get calls from family. If my iPad's battery dies I'm merely inconvenienced for a while.
treve 7y ago
I live in Toronto, but managed to get an US AT&T plan because prices are so much better. I pay $30 USD for 8GB that carries over month-to-month. I outright bought my Pixel 2 though, second hand. Bit lower than your $410, but it sounds like you have multiple plans, always buying very high-end new hardware. There's a point where you have to accept that this is an expensive hobby or luxury item. You chose to get all these devices.
- LyndsySimon 7y ago
  > There's a point where you have to accept that this is an expensive hobby or luxury item. You chose to get all these devices. Oh, no doubt. I'm not really complaining about the price I'm paying for the devices themselves; I included that specifically so it wouldn't be taken as if the entire bill was due to the data I consume. > always buying very high-end new hardware That's a pretty recent thing for me. The first new flagship phone I ever bought was an S7 Edge. I liked it enough that it made sense for me to upgrade to the iPhone X when it died. The 6th Gen iPad was an impulse purchase, but one that turned out to be a much more practical thing than I expected. Then I upgraded and passed it down to my daughter - she's homeschooled, and can access her online lessons from wherever we happen to be on it, which is very handy.
ac29 7y ago
4 lines with unlimited data starts at $120/month at Tmobile (and goes up to $160 or $200/month if you want to add tethering and international data). If they have decent coverage where you live, you should switch.

dman 7y ago

Why dont you use tethering and use the connection from your phone on your ipad?

mrnaught 7y ago
Tethering incurs extra charges too.
scarface74 7y ago
I have T-mobile. I have unlimited tethering but it’s only 512Kbps for tethering, which is surprisingly enough for light dev work in a pinch. The $130 extra for an iPad with cellular and $20 extra per month for unlimited data on the iPad is well worth the convenience of having two cellular devices. I pay roughly $210 a month for five phones and two iPads all with unlimited data. T-mobile also has free data roaming in most other countries where we go on vacation.
LyndsySimon 7y ago
It drains the battery, for one thing. For another, it's one extra additional step that I have to go through to get online on the iPad, and the lack of friction to doing things online that are more substantial than is comfortable on a phone is the primary purpose of the device. Finally, I very often tether my MBP to my iPad, because the iPad's battery lasts much longer. If my phone battery is low I pretty much need to charge it so I can get calls from family. If my iPad's battery dies I'm merely inconvenienced for a while.

treve 7y ago

I live in Toronto, but managed to get an US AT&T plan because prices are so much better. I pay $30 USD for 8GB that carries over month-to-month. I outright bought my Pixel 2 though, second hand. Bit lower than your $410, but it sounds like you have multiple plans, always buying very high-end new hardware. There's a point where you have to accept that this is an expensive hobby or luxury item. You chose to get all these devices.

LyndsySimon 7y ago
> There's a point where you have to accept that this is an expensive hobby or luxury item. You chose to get all these devices. Oh, no doubt. I'm not really complaining about the price I'm paying for the devices themselves; I included that specifically so it wouldn't be taken as if the entire bill was due to the data I consume. > always buying very high-end new hardware That's a pretty recent thing for me. The first new flagship phone I ever bought was an S7 Edge. I liked it enough that it made sense for me to upgrade to the iPhone X when it died. The 6th Gen iPad was an impulse purchase, but one that turned out to be a much more practical thing than I expected. Then I upgraded and passed it down to my daughter - she's homeschooled, and can access her online lessons from wherever we happen to be on it, which is very handy.

ac29 7y ago

4 lines with unlimited data starts at $120/month at Tmobile (and goes up to $160 or $200/month if you want to add tethering and international data). If they have decent coverage where you live, you should switch.