• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

AT&T changes smartphone data plans

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
AstroManLuca said:
$15/200 MB, $25/2GB, and $45/unlimited (ACTUALLY unlimited, no 5 GB cap) with tethering is much more fair.
Click to expand...
Just another way of bilking more money out of their customers. I have a hard time believing it costs AT&T $15 and $25 to send 200MB and 2GB of data respectively.

If AT&T wanted to be fair, they would charge a flat per KB rate.
 
I underestimated my data usage for the past few months.

Jan: 758MB
Feb: 560MB
Mar: 700MB
April: 1.7GB
May: 500MB so far

I don't even remember what I was using my phone for in April. 😀
 
her209 said:
Just another way of bilking more money out of their customers. I have a hard time believing it costs AT&T $15 and $25 to send 200MB and 2GB of data respectively.

If AT&T wanted to be fair, they would charge a flat per KB rate.
Click to expand...

Psssh, how about I had an unlimited data package from Alltel for dumb phones... it was $20 for unlimited texts and data. No I had always had a Moto Q which technically wasn't allowed on the plan so I disabled data to be safe. Last month my Q died so I reactivated my Moto RAZR and used maybe 10-15 minutes of WAP data (pretty much until I realized how useless it was). Now I get my bill and VZW charged $92 in data usage.

Forget the fact that I have unlimited data on my phone and the overages are BS, but I have no idea how they justify charging $90 bucks for 15 minutes of HORRIBLE internet. Needless to say I need to give them a call about this whole thing.
 
I just checked my data usage and I avg about 250mb a month - with one spike up to like 450mb - on my iphone.

So I guess I am in the ~98% that stands to 'gain' $5 a month or so. Still, that being said, as a consumer it pains me to see unlimited dropped.

I don't understand all the angst on the blogs however, especially since ATT has said you can keep your 'unlimited' plan if you want to. I wonder how long before Verizon follows suit, especially as it was their c-level execs who started this drumbeat of pay-for-usage iirc.
 
I think I was doing about 500mb a month on an old 8700 BB, so these plans are going to suck for anyone with a state of the art phone capable of doing a bunch of media stuff.
 
Scholzpdx said:
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.
Click to expand...

2gb really isnt much, i average between 3-4GB a month and ive never tethered my phone. it literally all comes from stream music and web. i stream slacker for 6-8 hours a day at work and then sometimes more after work. Luckily im on VZ now but i fear in the future they will follow suit
 
Interesting comparison with Verizon...(I didnt put the info together)

FOR INDIVIDUAL PLANS IN THE UNITED STATES:

VERIZON:

Unlimited Talk = $70 a month
Unlimited Text = $20 a month

25 MB Data = $10 a month <--- this is a joke data plan since most will be forced to go for 5 GB plan.
5 GB Data = $30 a month

Tethering = $30 a month

Data over 5 GB = $0.05 per MB

-----

AT&T:

Unlimited Talk = $70 a month
Unlimited Text = $20 a month

200 MB Data = $15 a month <--- 68 &#37; of users
2 GB Data = $25 a month <--- 98 % of users user less than 2 GB
3 GB Data = $35 a month

Tethering = $20 a month <--- less than Verizon

Data over 3 GB = $0.05 per MB ??? or is this $10 per 1 GB until you reach 5 GB, then you pay $0.05 per MB?
Click to expand...
 
TheWart said:
I just checked my data usage and I avg about 250mb a month - with one spike up to like 450mb - on my iphone.

So I guess I am in the ~98% that stands to 'gain' $5 a month or so. Still, that being said, as a consumer it pains me to see unlimited dropped.

I don't understand all the angst on the blogs however, especially since ATT has said you can keep your 'unlimited' plan if you want to. I wonder how long before Verizon follows suit, especially as it was their c-level execs who started this drumbeat of pay-for-usage iirc.
Click to expand...

People are mad, and justifiably so, because they are giving you an 18% discount for a 60% reduction in available data use. And that discount goes out the window if you use a lot of data. Use 4.9 GB in a month and on VZ, Sprint, or T-Mobile you're still paying $30, but on AT&T it'll be $55.
 
TUAW apparently got some clarification from AT&T on a few issues:

- AT&T will continue to offer the $14.99 250/MB data plan for the iPad. It will not be reduced to the 200 MB cap the carrier will be offering on its cheaper smartphone plan.

- iPad users reaching their 2 GB limit under the forthcoming plan will be able to initiate a new monthly cycle on demand with a new start date. This would appear to make the iPad plan more of a "2 GB or 30 days, whichever comes first" cycle than a "30 days with 2 GB cap plus overage fees" cycle, with the exception being that users will have to manually initiate a new cycle should they reach their 2 GB cap before the end of the billing cycle.

- iPhone users can bump up from the $15 200 MB data plan to the $25 2 GB plan without penalty as long as they initiate the change before the end of the desired billing cycle. This will allow users on the lower tier to simply bump up to the $25 plan as needed rather than having to pay $15 per additional 200 MB over the initial 200 MB limit. Users can then bump themselves back down for their next billing cycle. It is unclear at this time whether users on the higher tier will be able to drop down to the lower tier mid-cycle if they see that their data usage will be low for that period.
Click to expand...

Makes me think that it might be worth the time/hassle to just change my plan to the $15/month 200mb and manually upgrade to the $25 if I need it.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/02/candid-answers-from-atandt-on-the-new-iphone-data-plans/
 
So, how much bandwidth are you guys using? If you stream music during work hours, how much bandwidth is that? I've used 5.5GB total (up + down) in the last 14 months. To me this will actually save me money with zero impact on my usage - about the only thing that it will do is that I'll probably check a bit more often what my usage actually is.

Since I'll have a grandfathered $30/month unlimited plan, I don't need to change.

But I'm probably dropping to the $15/200MB plan as soon as it's available and then changing it to the 2GB/month limit when I see that I'm above the 200MB. It will require watching my usage more closely... but for $180/year savings I'm willing to check more often.

About the only thing that I'm disappointed about is that the $15/month plan isn't more like 400MB because then I could probably move to that and stay there and not worry about it.
 
Yes for you guys that use little data that`s fine but there are many of us who enjoy streaming videos and music all day. This is ridiculous but you guys that choose to stay on AT&T have to deal with it. Subpar network quality and now this, why does anyone use AT&T?
 
pm said:
So, how much bandwidth are you guys using? If you stream music during work hours, how much bandwidth is that? I've used 5.5GB total (up + down) in the last 14 months. To me this will actually save me money with zero impact on my usage - about the only thing that it will do is that I'll probably check a bit more often what my usage actually is.

Since I'll have a grandfathered $30/month unlimited plan, I don't need to change.

But I'm probably dropping to the $15/200MB plan as soon as it's available and then changing it to the 2GB/month limit when I see that I'm above the 200MB. It will require watching my usage more closely... but for $180/year savings I'm willing to check more often.

About the only thing that I'm disappointed about is that the $15/month plan isn't more like 400MB because then I could probably move to that and stay there and not worry about it.
Click to expand...

So true, so true. I haven't decided yet whether to stay on my grandfathered plan or to lower it.

I wonder if this basically means video chat over 3G is a no-go on AT&T....either that or they have some crazy good compression.

@zero
So you are near enough a power outlet to stream videos 'all day' on a phone but don't have access to a wifi network? That stinks
 
I just checked on ATT's site, and I average 400 mins, 1500 txts, and 1.5gb a month of usage. I need to step down a few plans minutes wise, over 12,000 rollover lol
 
Seems like most of the people who are pissed off about these changes are streaming audio for 8-10 hrs per day at work. If that's you, don't change your plan and you'll be grandfathered in. Or use wifi. Or transfer videos to your phone's memory instead of streaming from Netflix over 3G.

Meanwhile, these changes will probably make most people's monthly fees smaller. Pretty heavy iPhone user and apparently used less than 100MB per month since I got it.

Plus, since my wife wanted to get a data plan and won't be a heavy user, the 200MB plan for $15 (vs. the $30 unlimited plan) is perfect.

ATT gains more customers like this, and loses the heavy users (2GB+)... probably a win/win in their eyes.
 
morkman100 said:
Seems like most of the people who are pissed off about these changes are streaming audio for 8-10 hrs per day at work. If that's you, don't change your plan and you'll be grandfathered in. Or use wifi. Or transfer videos to your phone's memory instead of streaming from Netflix over 3G.

Meanwhile, these changes will probably make most people's monthly fees smaller. Pretty heavy iPhone user and apparently used less than 100MB per month since I got it.

Plus, since my wife wanted to get a data plan and won't be a heavy user, the 200MB plan for $15 (vs. the $30 unlimited plan) is perfect.

ATT gains more customers like this, and loses the heavy users (2GB+)... probably a win/win in their eyes.
Click to expand...

It will probably also force a lot of traffic onto wifi as well.
 
charrison said:
It will probably also force a lot of traffic onto wifi as well.
Click to expand...

Exactly... If someone was at Starbucks and wanted to stream some videos or music, they would think twice before just using 3G and maybe jump on the wifi network there. I bet there are plenty of heavy users that would just use 3G because they didn't want to have to sign into the hotspot, since the 3G is unlimited anyways...

In my opinion, the only dumb thing with these changes are:
1. tethering is $20 extra but no extra bandwidth comes with that... basically they charge you $20 to burn through your bandwidth faster.
2. They should have a higher bandwidth plan (5GB+) instead of making you pay for 2GB + 1GB + 1GB, etc... but I guess they would rather not have that customer anymore.
 
morkman100 said:
Exactly... If someone was at Starbucks and wanted to stream some videos or music, they would think twice before just using 3G and maybe jump on the wifi network there. I bet there are plenty of heavy users that would just use 3G because they didn't want to have to sign into the hotspot, since the 3G is unlimited anyways...

In my opinion, the only dumb thing with these changes are:
1. tethering is $20 extra but no extra bandwidth comes with that... basically they charge you $20 to burn through your bandwidth faster.
2. They should have a higher bandwidth plan (5GB+) instead of making you pay for 2GB + 1GB + 1GB, etc... but I guess they would rather not have that customer anymore.
Click to expand...

Soooooo true.

I knew it wasn't gonna happen, but I was hoping the "Verizon+Pre=free tethering" would catch on. At the very least, the $20 for tethering should get you an additional 2GB for your tethered devices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top