Letter from AT&T: my goodness, you use a lot of data!

Pipper99 · Dec 22, 2010

I got a letter from AT&T yesterday stating that they've noticed that I use more than 2gb of data per month which puts me outside of 98% of their customers typical data use. The letter gave me a friendly reminder that AT&T has many free wifi hotspots, and, if I wasn't aware of this, that I should turn on wifi in my iphone settings and that the iphone would automatically connect to those free wifi hotspots. I guess that streaming internet radio and podcasts all day puts me into the 2% category. I feel special.

I'm glad that I'm grandfathered into the unlimited data plan. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they've reserved the ability to move me to a 2gb plan at their discretion.

jbro1999 · Dec 22, 2010

haha I guess I should be expecting one too! All I do is stream music. At work, my car and home.

i700plus · Dec 22, 2010

Did you use more than 5GB on average per month?

Sedrick · Dec 22, 2010

I find that with WiFi everywhere I'm at (home, work, eats), that I rarely even use the dang data plan.

Small White Car · Dec 22, 2010

Ha ha.

I love it. The passive-aggressive mother approach.

I also love the "hotspot" suggestion. As if I spend all day sitting at Starbucks. I use my Wifi when I can because it's way faster, but I've never found AT&T hotspots to be any help whatsoever.

blueroom · Dec 22, 2010

Wow, I wonder how many people are needed on the AT&T payroll to send those idiotic letters out. I'd start streaming video 24/7

BeyondtheTech · Dec 22, 2010

If they're bitching so much, they should allow me to get the hell out of a data plan altogether.

Seriously.

I just picked up a Clear iSpot 4G last week for $20 on their holiday sale, and not only am I able to FaceTime and download large files anywhere without jailbreaking, I'm able to split out the signal to my entire family in the car simultaneously.

And it's 4G and it's unlimited usage for $25 a month, no contract.

No affiliation to company, product, or service. Just a damn happy customer.

barkomatic · Dec 22, 2010

I guess I should be expecting a letter like that soon. I just moved and Fios isn't installed yet. Glad I got handylight and an unlimited data plan.

Pipper99 · Dec 22, 2010

i700plus said:
Did you use more than 5GB on average per month?

No, never more than 3.6 gb. Since May, I've used:

May 3.1gb
June 3.6gb
July 2.3gb
Aug 2.2gb
Sep 2.3gb
Oct 2.8gb
Nov 2.9gb
Dec 3.1gb

I think that I'm going to let TuneIn Radio run continuously this month and see what I get.

Pipper99 · Dec 22, 2010

Small White Car said:
Ha ha.

I love it. The passive-aggressive mother approach.

I also love the "hotspot" suggestion. As if I spend all day sitting at Starbucks. I use my Wifi when I can because it's way faster, but I've never found AT&T hotspots to be any help whatsoever.

Same here. I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and I don't find that wifi hotspots (that are accessible) to be as ubiquitous as AT&T says. When I got the first iPod Touch, I was so frustrated because I couldn't use it without hanging out at McDonald's or staying at home.

Mlrollin91 · Dec 22, 2010

Pipper99 said:
No, never more than 3.6 gb. Since May, I've used:

May 3.1gb
June 3.6gb
July 2.3gb
Aug 2.2gb
Sep 2.3gb
Oct 2.8gb
Nov 2.9gb
Dec 3.1gb

I think that I'm going to let TuneIn Radio run continuously this month and see what I get.

Have yet to get that letter. Ever since Netflix came out i've been using 3-4GB a month. Does AT&T even have the right to send a letter telling you you are using too much data, we're paying for unlimited without a cap.

Small White Car · Dec 22, 2010

Mlrollin91 said:
Does AT&T even have the right to send a letter telling you you are using too much data, we're paying for unlimited without a cap.

What? How would you word a law that makes it illegal to send letters?

I mean, they have laws for things like stalking and threats of violence...but I don't think this quite qualifies for that.

ihonda · Dec 22, 2010

im at 46gb with 6 days left in cycle.. this is the first time ive ever done this much and it was sort of on accident but not really.. i pull 700KB/s when tethered they just upgraded towers in last month so when i moved the internet was gonna take 2 weeks to get installed and i needed my mkv goodness.

hcho3 · Dec 22, 2010

Can you post the letter? I am curious what they are trying to accomplish. They want you to cut the usage?

Tito Georgie · Dec 22, 2010

I used 38GB last month lol I just recently moved don't have Internet yet so I tether with my Mac. Download a lot of movies and what not. No letter here yet..

xyz1534 · Dec 22, 2010

ihonda said:
im at 46gb with 6 days left in cycle.. this is the first time ive ever done this much and it was sort of on accident but not really.. i pull 700KB/s when tethered they just upgraded towers in last month so when i moved the internet was gonna take 2 weeks to get installed and i needed my mkv goodness.

46 GB in a month....WOW!!

drummingcraig · Dec 22, 2010

Mlrollin91 said:
Does AT&T even have the right to send a letter telling you you are using too much data, we're paying for unlimited without a cap.

Read the OP again. The letter did not say that "you're using too much data" nor was it a threat. Just a reminder to try using wifi when possible.

I'm not saying thats its not a silly letter, but its certainly a very legal letter.

Tito Georgie · Dec 22, 2010

Where's my letter ?

vincenz · Dec 22, 2010

I find I have a hard time using more than a gb a month. How do people use so much data?

Tito Georgie · Dec 22, 2010

vincenz said:
I find I have a hard time using more than a gb a month. How do people use so much data?

I tether with my Mac.

iceterminal · Dec 22, 2010

My normal places are at work and at home. Both places I have massive wifi coverage.
But anywhere else its a crap shoot. I'm in Dallas, and while I can find wifi spots all over the place, they're not open and require passwords. Some places are easy, they use their telephone number as the password/wep key. But others just aren't available. So when that is, I normally refrain from using 3G since its rather slow compared to my wifi connections. Its great to have if I need it, but I don't use it for just normal browsing.
Maybe I'll try this streaming radio trick and see what ATT says.

RetiredInFl · Dec 22, 2010

Mlrollin91 said:
. Does AT&T even have the right to send a letter telling you you are using too much data, we're paying for unlimited without a cap.

Actually I don't think you are paying for data without a cap. I believe their "unlimited" data is "limited" to 5GB per their TOS. While I am sure you can argue that point until the cows come home that's what they do. If you exceed the "cap" to often they can do bad things to you that I couldn't even put into words since this is a PG rated forum.

Dr McKay · Dec 22, 2010

Every network except T-Mobile here in the UK has scrapped the unlimited internet plans, now we're limited to 500MB per month.

drummingcraig · Dec 22, 2010

vincenz said:
I find I have a hard time using more than a gb a month. How do people use so much data?

Streaming radio or video can use data pretty quickly. Especially now with apps like Netflix has a lot of folks are streaming as much as ever.

IBradMac · Dec 22, 2010

ihonda said:
im at 46gb with 6 days left in cycle.. this is the first time ive ever done this much and it was sort of on accident but not really.. i pull 700KB/s when tethered they just upgraded towers in last month so when i moved the internet was gonna take 2 weeks to get installed and i needed my mkv goodness.

They'll ban you soon with that kinda usage. Wow

Letter from AT&T: my goodness, you use a lot of data!

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