AT&T changes smartphone data plans

[Phobic9]

Right to the point:

- $30 "unlimited" data goes bye-bye and will be replaced by:
-- DataPlus: $15/month for 200MB cap // Additional $15 charge for each 200MB you go over
-- DataPro: $25/month for 2GB cap // Additional $10 for each GB you go over

- You'll be able to change data plans at any time.

- Smartphone tethering will cost an additional $20 on top of the DataPro plan (so $45 a month for 2GB with tethering). Data usage will be shared across your connected devices. iPhone will get tethering with the release of iPhoneOS 4.

- iPad $30 "unlimited" plan will also switch to the above plans.

This will be in effect on 7 June so you'll be grandfathered if you have the $30 unlimited plan until then.

Link: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/...-changes-to-data-plans-iphone-tethering-comi/

I expect Verizon to follow right along shortly. Yay.


Edit: Noticed this thread is also in the Apple forums but put it here since it pretty much applies to all of AT&T's smartphones.

 

[ViRGE]

Oh, has it been confirmed that this is for all Smartphones? The story I had read implied it was only for the iPhone/iPad.

AT&T's Definition of Progress: Getting less for more

 

[Anubis]

Oh, has it been confirmed that this is for all Smartphones? The story I had read implied it was only for the iPhone/iPad.

AT&T's Definition of Progress: Getting less for more

from reading the article it looks like everyone

 

[tatteredpotato]

I think I like Sprints pay $10 more and you keep unlimited strategy more. With 2 gig on the top tier, the iPhone is going to be held back from progressive, more bandwidth intensive, applications.

 

[lupi]

Wow, talk about a shitty move even if most would be unaffected by paying at the lower levels.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I don't really mind them that much but if you're paying $20/mo for tethering you ought to get unlimited. I find the idea of charging for tethering to be so stupid, especially since it's pretty easy to do for free. Make it so the tethering plan actually gives you something real.

$15/200 MB, $25/2GB, and $45/unlimited (ACTUALLY unlimited, no 5 GB cap) with tethering is much more fair.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I don't really mind them that much but if you're paying $20/mo for tethering you ought to get unlimited.

The idea of charging for tethering is that you'll use more data... however if you're capped you're just going to run into overages faster. So you're pretty much paying to pay overages.

 

[sjwaste]

Is this confirmed? My wife has an iPhone (first gen) and doesn't use much data, but I'll have to check her usage to tell her which plan to get.

Is it even possible to be on the 200MB plan? Won't the phone use that much just passively with push email/calendar?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Can't wait to use the video conference feature of the new iPhone!

Oh wait...

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Is this confirmed? My wife has an iPhone (first gen) and doesn't use much data, but I'll have to check her usage to tell her which plan to get.

Is it even possible to be on the 200MB plan? Won't the phone use that much just passively with push email/calendar?

Aren't you able to set it up to only sync on wifi so you never use the cell network for the email sync?

 

[sjwaste]

Aren't you able to set it up to only sync on wifi so you never use the cell network for the email sync?

No idea, probably. It's not my phone, so I haven't fooled with it much. I have an ipod touch, so all it has is wifi, obviously I'll check her data usage. She barely uses the damn thing for anything but calls, texts, and music. If she can get by on the $15 plan, her bill will actually go down.

 

[pm]

I've found with my iPhone, that if I make an effort to keep my data consumption down (for example, travelling in Europe with a per MB data plan) then I tend to use about 30MB per weeks or 120MB a month. That's checking email, surfing the web... no audio streaming, no video streaming.

I looked at my data usage history on my AT&T account. If I don't pay any attention to my data usage, I appear to be using just under 400MB/month. But more than just my average is my peaks, and I peaked at 1.2GB in the month of Nov. last year. I tend to stream an hour of news per day... so I'm surprised that I use as little as I do.

So, I use a fair bit more than 200MB per month, but way less than 2GB per month. As far as the plans... they seem pretty good to me. I wish there was a 500MB for $20/month. Personally, I'll switch the to $25/month plan as soon as I can to save the extra $60/year.

 

[mb]

Hah what a joke. I used 200MB in the first two days of having a Moto Droid.

And 565MB total since May 25.

 

[gorcorps]

I'll have to double check, but I'm pretty sure I use wifi so much that I believe I'm under 200mb a month. Definitely under 2gigs... so this may be a good thing for folks like me. Either way I'll be saving money.

 

[Spoooon]

The tiered pricing for if you go over isn't bad. Though, $15 per additional 200MB is lame, should just give you the 1GB like on the other plan. You'd still spend more than the 2GB plan and for less data.

I bet a lot of those new iPhone owners will go over the cap during that first month of use.

I end up between 500-1000MB per month during "regular" usage.

If Verizon were to follow suit, I could live with a 500MB cap for $10 and $10 for every 500MB I go over.

I think that's enough to where I could do most things without paying attention to usage, especially taking wifi into account.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The question is what happens to the smart folk who stayed with the $15 MediaNet plan?

 

[Phobic9]

The tiered pricing for if you go over isn't bad. Though, $15 per additional 200MB is lame, should just give you the 1GB like on the other plan. You'd still spend more than the 2GB plan and for less data.

I bet a lot of those new iPhone owners will go over the cap during that first month of use.

I end up between 500-1000MB per month during "regular" usage.

When Verizon follows, I could live with a 500MB cap for $10 and $10 for every 500MB I go over.

I think that's enough to where I could do most things without paying attention to usage, especially taking wifi into account.

There... fixed.

Sadly though, Verizon's rates/plans will most likely be exactly like what AT&T is doing. Not getting my hopes on them doing much else.

 

[Deeko]

I gotta say, I don't find this to be so terrible. The average user will save a lot of money by using the $15 plan. I use my phone a decent amount and I could quite easily stay under the 2GB cap - and still save $5/month. The only people being hurt are the data hogs, and frankly, I think that's who AT&T WANTS to hurt. If people that refuse to pay extra for excessive use leave the network, or at least cut down their usage, I don't think they'll shed too many tears.

 

[aphex]

This may be enough to sway me away from AT&T to another network that offers unlimited (should any exist after this goes into effect and the others follow)

I don't consider myself to be a heavy user, I primarily use my iPhone for streaming pandora/slacker while i'm at work. Most months I end up using 3-4gb of data. If just streaming audio puts me over their highest end plan, I'm gonna spend my money elsewhere.

So much for a Hulu app.

 

[Spoooon]

There... fixed.

Sadly though, Verizon's rates/plans will most likely be exactly like what AT&T is doing. Not getting my hopes on them doing much else.

I'm an optimist, what can I say.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

Well, goodbye SiriusXM app on my HTC Pure. I use it to stream to my desk each day. No WiFi in the area either.

 

[sswingle]

If Verizon adopts this I don't think I will be too upset. I could put the wife on the $15 plan and myself on the $25 and save $240 a year.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

2gb is too little. they need a 5gb/10gb option. I thought $30 for 5gb was pretty reasonable, comparing to carriers in the UK and parts of Europe. But I guess 5gb is too much of a strain on AT&T.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

200MB is a decent amount for a smartphone. I use about 150MB a month which is full of web browsing, youtube video, google maps, facebook and others on my Blackjack 2. I use my phone A LOT. The 2GB seems impossible for me to touch unless I were to tether.

 

[jpeyton]

Hulu and video chat?

There's another network for that.