AT&T relents on 'unlimited data' plan limits

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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
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The only fear I have with family plan shared data is that there won't be a price break. What's the point in doing a 5GB shared plan for $50/mo when a 3GB plan on each line is $30?

It will be great for low data usage customers though. $30/3GB shared across two or three lines might be just what a lot of people need.
 
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
Red Storm said:
With two lines you save $10 a month.

With each additional line you save $30 a month.
Click to expand...

It all just depends on your usage. I'd rather pay the $10/mo for the the dedicated 3GB per line. If you added another line, you'd have to up your data allotment to cover the extra phone, so you'd move from a 5GB/50 to 7GB/70 maybe?

For me, it just doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'm sure for a lot of people out there it does.

I had thought that if I stay with AT&T that I might be interested in a 10GB/80 plan if I could split it between my two iPhones and an iPad. But I don't see it being that cheap for family share and I'm almost certainly leaving AT&T for Sprint this year.
 
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Wonderful Pork

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2005
1,531
1
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bearxor said:
The only fear I have with family plan shared data is that there won't be a price break. What's the point in doing a 5GB shared plan for $50/mo when a 3GB plan on each line is $30?

It will be great for low data usage customers though. $30/3GB shared across two or three lines might be just what a lot of people need.
Click to expand...

If they had a $30/3GB shared I'd be all over that. My brother and I barely use 2GB as it is, and my parents certainly wouldn't use 1GB. That would bring my monthly plan down by $30/mo and my mom could get a smartphone. If they had a 5/$50 plan I might do that just to put my iPad on there too.

But there is no way that'll happen since it'll bring ARPU down dramatically. Just like charging per bit for data like a utility company would. Flat fee for connection ($5/mo) and then with usage it goes up from there. Atleast that way the bandwidth hogs would pay their fair share, but they'd lose a ton of cash from people on WiFi, etc.
 
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
If you want to know what I'm really envisioning, it looks something like this:

1st line - 3GB/$30 mo
2nd line - share your 3GB for $14.99/mo

And so on.
 
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
Wonderful Pork said:
If they had a $30/3GB shared I'd be all over that. My brother and I barely use 2GB as it is, and my parents certainly wouldn't use 1GB. That would bring my monthly plan down by $30/mo and my mom could get a smartphone. If they had a 5/$50 plan I might do that just to put my iPad on there too.

But there is no way that'll happen since it'll bring ARPU down dramatically. Just like charging per bit for data like a utility company would. Flat fee for connection ($5/mo) and then with usage it goes up from there. Atleast that way the bandwidth hogs would pay their fair share, but they'd lose a ton of cash from people on WiFi, etc.
Click to expand...

What I'd really like to see is everyone switched to a $10 or $15 for 1GB plan with $10 per GB overages after that, period.

To be completely honest, they should have dropped the unlimited plans with the iPhone 4 launch. They still had iPhone exclusivity and the bleed would have been very minimal. They should have just said 'If you want to upgrade to an iPhone 4, you have to sign a new contract that has tired data only. Otherwise, you can keep your iPhone 3G/3GS on the unlimited plan until you decide to switch carriers or change to a current plan.

There's absolutely no reason to keep people grandfathered in on old plans when they go to sign a new contract. Sprint did the same thing when they went to EVDO. They just said 'If you don't have a EVDO device, you can keep your current $10/mo unlimited data and texting plan. If you want a EVDO device, then you need to sign up for the $15 Data and $15 Texting plan.
 
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alent1234

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2002
3,915
0
0
iphone 4 was their last chance to lock in customers before verizon got it. with iphone 5 watch them do this.

i don't know if apple gave them a discount on pricing, but at&t literally opened the flood gates on early upgrades. people were getting them after only a year. going to be a lot of upset people come later this year
 
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Cobalt

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2000
4,642
1
81
I stream Pandora and Spark Radio on my 4S at work daily while on 3G. Average use of about 6-7 hours for 5 days a week and I consistently use under 3GBs a month. Data isn't a finite resource and wireless data usage has exploded at an incredibly exponential rate over just the last 3 years. Don't like it go somewhere else but people are getting incredibly unreasonable with all this.
 
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lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
7
76
ultimatebob said:
I believe that T-Mobile and Verizon have been caught throttling their power users as well.

How about Sprint... is their "Truly Unlimited" plan legit?
Click to expand...
On 4G? Never heard of such a thing.
On 3G, I know they throttle their power users.
 
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lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
7
76
gsaldivar said:
Every provider has an "acceptable use" clause in the TOS that gives them the ability to set limits on "unlimited" service. Yes, even Sprint.

This is nothing new. The only difference here is that AT&T is now explicitly stating what the bounds of "acceptable use" are, with respect to data. Truly unlimited data does not exist, regardless of what you've seen in commercials.
Click to expand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jphXLfKO2yg :sneaky:
 
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lothar

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2000
6,674
7
76
T_Yamamoto said:
I heard they can't throttle 4G like its physically impossible. Don't remember where I read it .
Click to expand...
Care to explain your signature?

Galaxy Nexus (Verizon 4G/LTE)
ROM: Liquid ICS V1.0
Kernal: LeanKernel 2.30 exp 1
Theme: ICS&Black
Speeds: 180mhz~1.2ghz
(Currently taken away because I used too much data eventhough I have unlimited)
Click to expand...
Is Verizon tightening the leash?
 
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wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
4
0
i wish everyone would start abusing the shit out of their data plans and call into cs and bitch when they get throttled. im so sick of this shit- if the cell companies cant afford to serve unlimited data then they are doing it wrong. put more cell towers up or whatever the hell you have to do, because a 5gb or so cap is unacceptable. all they are trying to do is get us used to paying up the ass for a partial service.

what are the data limits in korea? and what are average speeds? and what are the costs?
 
her209

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,336
11
0
Alone among the Big Four national wireless carriers, Sprint has an unlimited data plan that isn't subject to throttling. However, it reserves the right to cancel service for those who use excessive amounts of data.
Click to expand...
Sprint's network is dog slow. I don't think I could use an excessive amount of data even if I tried.
 
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soccerballtux

Lifer
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
how is this being spun as good PR, ha! They know most people only use 2GB so they are giving you 3 to get more money out of you.
 
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the DRIZZLE

Platinum Member
Sep 6, 2007
2,956
1
81
wirednuts said:
i wish everyone would start abusing the shit out of their data plans and call into cs and bitch when they get throttled. im so sick of this shit- if the cell companies cant afford to serve unlimited data then they are doing it wrong. put more cell towers up or whatever the hell you have to do, because a 5gb or so cap is unacceptable. all they are trying to do is get us used to paying up the ass for a partial service.

what are the data limits in korea? and what are average speeds? and what are the costs?
Click to expand...

The heavy users wont pay what it would really cost to serve them with the amounts of data you are talking about. Right now the heavy users are subsidized by the light users which is fine, but there are limits.
 
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