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BFizzzle

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2010
2,443
0
Austin TX
My wife and I will never give up our unlimited plans. We have had them since the first gen iPhone and we will have it until AT$T forcefully stops our service or go elsewhere.

Never really bought into AT$T's bs, like many did, about network abuse, bandwidth hogs, blah blah blah. And why do I care, not my problem, AT$T's problem. I pay for data with a great plan they intially offered. Why would I want anything less. Then screwing us with throttling speeds, disabled Apple features, facetime, tethering. AT$T has lost any shred of decency it may have had. These overpriced tiered and shared plans are a total SCAM and violations of net neutrality.

If AT$T is good for something, it's scamming the end user with less service for higher cost.
amen.. i got sick of it.. and found somone who would trade me their grandfathered verizon udp (no thorttle) for my att grandfathered udp.. sucks i have to pay outright for handsets if i ever decided to upgrade (or add a line and use that phone) but as much data as i consume.. its well worth it on LTE.
 

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
If AT$T is good for something, it's scamming the end user with less service for higher cost.

I don't feel scammed or that I have less service. I'm paying $40 less a month and have two important features I didn't have previously with unlimited data...tethering/facetime. For a family that doesn't go over 6GB/mo, the switch was worth it for me.

If you're a user that uses 20GB/mo and somehow isn't throttled so badly that you want to break your phone, then I'm sure you're happy to hang on to your unlimited plan. That is...until AT&T "forcefully stops your plan";)

----------

So as a government employee I can't get the 15% discount on a single line?

Yep, you can...I had the government discount when I only had one line of service. It only applies to your voice line, and not your whole monthly bill. They're very indiscriminate about what constitutes "government employment" too.
 

chakraj

macrumors 65816
Feb 6, 2008
1,285
10
So Cal
oh yeah.. that too LOL
yeah you do.. you can have the buyer change the number.. but theres a cooling off period on numbers.. so you'd have to wait a few months before that number would be active again.

I was told that you could transfer the line, but that unlimited would not be available to the new holder? That was ATT.
 

BFizzzle

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2010
2,443
0
Austin TX
I was told that you could transfer the line, but that unlimited would not be available to the new holder? That was ATT.

you most certainly can unless something has changed since the iphone 5 launch.. i did it.. in fact if you call and try to cancel your contract.. ask for the ETF.. att will (unless it has changed since the ip5 launch) ask if you know anyone that will take over the contract so you dont have to pay the etf.
 

0dev

macrumors 68040
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
It depends solely on your usage. For me personally, I need unlimited data, I used 2GB just today off tethering, streaming TV shows, posting here, etc. If you are more conservative with your usage you can probably get away with downgrading your plan and saving some money without really losing much. Can you change back if you decide you want unlimited again? I'm not sure what's going on with AT&T at the moment, I'm not in the US myself.
 

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Jul 10, 2008
4,480
500
I'm trying o determine if I should switch as well. Right now we have 4 iPhones and 1 non-smart phone. After the corporate discount our bill,is $250/month. We only use between 4-5 gb/month between the 4 iPhones. Right now 2 are on unlimited plans, the other 2 on lower plans.

We also have 3 iPads, maybe getting a 4th. One ipad has an unlimited plan which we won't get rid of, so really we might put 2 or 3 on the shared data. I don know hat the usage on the iPads will be though. One will be high, 3+ gb is my guess, the other ones low, 500mb to 1gb/month.

How many devices can be added to the shared data plans? What happens if you hit your usage? Throttled, or charged extra? How much?

Thanks for any help.
 

speed4tu

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2009
98
0
I will never willingly give up my unlimited plan on Verizon. They don't throttle and I average between 6-10gb of data monthly. I have the 20$ discount promotion monthly applied and only pay 77 per month for 450 min, unlimited text/data after taxes.
 

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
I'm trying o determine if I should switch as well. Right now we have 4 iPhones and 1 non-smart phone. After the corporate discount our bill,is $250/month. We only use between 4-5 gb/month between the 4 iPhones. Right now 2 are on unlimited plans, the other 2 on lower plans.

We also have 3 iPads, maybe getting a 4th. One ipad has an unlimited plan which we won't get rid of, so really we might put 2 or 3 on the shared data. I don know hat the usage on the iPads will be though. One will be high, 3+ gb is my guess, the other ones low, 500mb to 1gb/month.

How many devices can be added to the shared data plans? What happens if you hit your usage? Throttled, or charged extra? How much?

Thanks for any help.

Here's a link to the AT&T online tool that allows you to add devices and calculate how much each might use and then which GB Mobile Share plan would work. You can have up to 10 devices on Mobile Share.
 

jwlbel

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2012
939
1,824
Here's a link to the AT&T online tool that allows you to add devices and calculate how much each might use and then which GB Mobile Share plan would work. You can have up to 10 devices on Mobile Share.

I just used that link and on the mobile share plan with only 4 shared gbs for 2 iP5 and one regular phone with no data it would be $180. I am currently paying $170 for 700 mins (which I never come close to, since most of my calls are mobile to mobile) and I have family unlimited texts and unlimited data on 2 iPhones. Even though I don't use much data right now, it is nice not having to worry if I want to stream a movie or music. So according to the info from the link above I would be paying $10 more a month and lose my unlimited data. No thanks.
 

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Jul 10, 2008
4,480
500
Here's a link to the AT&T online tool that allows you to add devices and calculate how much each might use and then which GB Mobile Share plan would work. You can have up to 10 devices on Mobile Share.

That's just what I needed, thanks. With the corporate discount, what does it apply to with a shared plan like these? And if you choose the 10gb plan, what happens if you reach 10gb? Exta charges, how much, etc?
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
That's just what I needed, thanks. With the corporate discount, what does it apply to with a shared plan like these? And if you choose the 10gb plan, what happens if you reach 10gb? Exta charges, how much, etc?

$10 per GB you go over.
Not sure what your companys discount covers but its usually not the data plan. Just the voice and texts that get discounted with the shared plans.
 

StephenAndrew

macrumors member
Dec 12, 2009
93
2
Connecticut, USA
I was in a similar situation. Kept my unlimited plan with ATT when I got the iPhone 5. Got an iPad 4 last week and wanted to use mobile hotspot on the iPhone to tether the iPad. I found out that ATT withholds that feature unless you have a shared/tiered data plan (along with using facetime over cellular). Not coincidentally, the very features being withheld for unlimited data plan holders are the features that use a lot of data. And not to mention they throttle usage after 5GB each month anyway, so it's hardly "unlimited". I ended up giving up my $30/month unlimited plan to a $50/month 5GB plan, in order to use the mobile hotspot and facetime over cellular. I never go over 5GB, so I'm not too worried about that, but I made it very clear to that I was not pleased about paying more and getting less - for the sole reason of being able to use the features they withhold in an effort to push people out of their grandfathered "unlimited" plans. Bunch of bull - the customers that have been with ATT a long time and were once willing to pay for the most expensive data plan they offered are now being punished for their loyalty. I talked with one of their reps on the phone, and while she was very nice, basically just said that's their policy and there's nothing we can do about it. At least they're still allowing subsidized prices for upgrades on an unlimited data plan, which is more than we can say for Verizon...they're all a bunch of crooks if you ask me though.
 

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Jul 10, 2008
4,480
500
$10 per GB you go over.
Not sure what your companys discount covers but its usually not the data plan. Just the voice and texts that get discounted with the shared plans.


Thanks for the info. What I found in AT&T support forums is the FAN discount will apply to the main data plan, so 22% off the $120 is pretty good. Plus I guess it comes off the primary phone rate as well.
 

Tofray

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
107
1
Well, I'm just about through the first month since I switched from unlimited to shared...Just like clockwork, between 2 iPhones (5/4S) and 2 iPads, we're gonna be coming in at just under 5GB. We didn't limit our data-consuming behavior at all, and we actually streamed netflix a little more than we usually do.

I must say, just being able to tether my iPad has made it worth it...We also have been using Facetime a lot more than I thought. Saving money was just a bonus.

Success!:p
 

BarryL

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2012
368
77
At least they're still allowing subsidized prices for upgrades on an unlimited data plan, which is more than we can say for Verizon...they're all a bunch of crooks if you ask me though.

I agree, Verizon pulled the plug on discounted phones and unlimited data. Although Verizon does not throttle like those chumps at AT&T. I just added tether to my Verizon unlimited plan. It was $30/mo, after my corporate discount it's $26. Although it's unlimited, so unlimited LTE phone data, unlimited tether for $52/mo ($26+$26).

Hardly a bargain, but Verizon's LTE footprint is awesome.
 

dcpmark

macrumors 65816
Oct 20, 2009
1,026
815
I will never willingly give up my unlimited plan on Verizon. They don't throttle and I average between 6-10gb of data monthly. I have the 20$ discount promotion monthly applied and only pay 77 per month for 450 min, unlimited text/data after taxes.

I think I have the same Talk and Text plan as you, but you must not have the extra $30 per month (less my 15% discount) for unlimited tethering. I also use 5-11GBs per month without even streaming, so I'm going to hang on to it until they make me give it up.
 
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