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AT&T Introduces Postpaid Subscription Plans for Tablet Data Access

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Apr 12, 2001
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Fresh on the heels of confirmation that AT&T will support personal hotspot functionality for the iPhone 4 when the feature debuts with iOS 4.3 next week, the carrier today also announced the launch of new postpaid subscription data plans for tablet devices such as the iPad.

Like the prepaid options that have been offered until now and continue to be offered, the new data plans do not require a contract and offer the same options of $14.99 per month for 250 MB and $25 per month for 2 GB. For a limited time, the carrier is offering the first month free for customers signing up for 2 GB subscription plans.
AT&T today introduced convenient new postpaid billing options for tablets. Beginning today, customers can choose between AT&T's existing prepaid billing options or the new postpaid plans. The new plans can be added to customers' existing monthly wireless statements, offering the simplicity of a single monthly bill. For a limited time, customers who activate a new postpaid $25/2 GB plan will receive the first month free.

The new postpaid billing option will be available across AT&T retail locations, as well as att.com, Best Buy, Fry's, select Nexcom locations, and Walmart stores nationwide.
Click to expand...
Tablet plans cover 30-day periods, with overages for postpaid customers charged at $10 per GB.

While the new offering come in at the same price points as the prepaid options, the option of delaying payment by shifting from prepaid to postpaid can be enticing, and shifting billing onto a customer's existing wireless bill from AT&T can simplify payment and record-keeping procedures for customers.

Article Link: AT&T Introduces Postpaid Subscription Plans for Tablet Data Access
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/03/atandt-introduces-postpaid-subscription-plans-for-tablet-data-access/
B

bbplayer5

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2007
3,129
1,127
Why dont they allow roll-over data? Problem would be solved and they would destroy everyone.
 
L

levitynyc

macrumors 65816
Aug 19, 2006
1,123
3,704
Oh how convenient. Theyll automatically charge me for something even if I don't use it.

Sorry, I'm staying with the prepaid option.
 
M

meatling

macrumors newbie
Feb 17, 2011
21
0
i know I am an idiot but what is the pro/con between pre/post paid. They seem the same to me.( a rip off) 45 a month for 4gb. I have the unlimited and don't want to give it up. Also don't want to pay 55 a month. Guess I gotta jail break after owning 4 iphones.
 
A

aikomhoch

macrumors member
May 23, 2003
72
1
Long Island
If one has an iPhone 4, it seems it makes more sense to simply add tethering for $20 and broadcast wifi to the iPad, rather than add 3G cost to the machine and $25 for 2 gb of data. Assuming one always is in possession of the iPhone, that is.

No?

Except I'm on the unlimited data plan and I assume I'd need to "downgrade" to the 2gb ($25) iPhone plan.
 
T

troop231

macrumors 603
Jan 20, 2010
5,822
553
I think I'll pass.. and just get the WiFi iPad and tether my iPhone 4 to it using HandyLight.
 
FSUSem1noles

FSUSem1noles

macrumors 68000
Feb 23, 2006
1,622
16
Ft. Lauderdale
meatling said:
i know I am an idiot but what is the pro/con between pre/post paid. They seem the same to me.( a rip off) 45 a month for 4gb. I have the unlimited and don't want to give it up. Also don't want to pay 55 a month. Guess I gotta jail break after owning 4 iphones.
Click to expand...

Pre paid, you pay before hand basically pay to use the feature.. Post = Monthly bill, basically they charge you every month whether or not you use the data..
 
S

skuban

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2009
7
0
USA!
Broke Much?

If you find delaying a $25 payment by a month enticing... you should not be getting either plan! (Save your pennies or pay off some debt instead)

;)
 
T

tjb1013

macrumors newbie
Mar 3, 2011
7
25
meatling said:
i know I am an idiot but what is the pro/con between pre/post paid. They seem the same to me.( a rip off) 45 a month for 4gb. I have the unlimited and don't want to give it up. Also don't want to pay 55 a month. Guess I gotta jail break after owning 4 iphones.
Click to expand...


Count me in the idiot camp. I've been in only a couple of places where I could needed to use 3G since I got my iPad, but am considering getting 3G access in iPad 2. But I would need it rarely and would prefer to treat my sign-up like a day pass. Definitely do not need a monthly subscription. Not sure what would be best.
 
Y

yargok

macrumors newbie
Jun 18, 2009
24
1
I think the terms have changed a little and this makes it interesting:

If you choose the cheap post pay plan, you get 250 mb of data. If you exceed 250 mb, you can get an additional gb (1250 mb total) for $10 (=$25 total). This has an option value associated with it, if you can get by on less data most of the time.

Under the old prepay plans, if you exceeded your data allotment, you could reup again on the same plan. So if you exceeded your 250 mb plan, you could pay another $15 (=$30 total) to get an additional 250 mb (500 mb total). Under the new prepaid plan, it only discusses reupping on the expensive plan:

Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment may choose to purchase an additional 2 GB for $25.
Click to expand...

It makes no mention of what happens when you exceed the plan on the cheaper plan.

It is hard to tell if this is better or worse for the customer.
 
Le Big Mac

Le Big Mac

macrumors 68030
Jan 7, 2003
2,809
378
Washington, DC
FSUSem1noles said:
Pre paid, you pay before hand basically pay to use the feature.. Post = Monthly bill, basically they charge you every month whether or not you use the data..
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, however, iPhone data (and voice) bills are for the month ahead, not the month behind (at least on the new billing system). So it's not really "post paid"--you have to cancel before you get the bill to avoid the next month's charge. I assume it would be the same for iPad "postpaid" bills.
 
A

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
i'll buy into this cool tech when they increase the bandwidth allotment per month and let me buy data for the family and use it among different devices as i see fit
 
L

Little Endian

macrumors 6502a
Apr 9, 2003
753
204
Honolulu
I will continue to use My-wi. If My-wi or other tethering options become unavailable in the future then I I would rather pay sprint or some other 3rd party other than ATT or VZ for dedicated wireless hotspot access.
 
T

tempusfugit

macrumors 65816
May 21, 2009
1,112
1
Chicago
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

troop231 said:
I think I'll pass.. and just get the WiFi iPad and tether my iPhone 4 to it using HandyLight.
Click to expand...

Explain to me how a socks5 proxy running on your iPhone can tether it's inernet connection to a wifi iPad.

You need both devices connected to the same wifi network for that to work, and if that's the case, what's the point of using your iPhone's data connection?
 
FSUSem1noles

FSUSem1noles

macrumors 68000
Feb 23, 2006
1,622
16
Ft. Lauderdale
Le Big Mac said:
Oddly enough, however, iPhone data (and voice) bills are for the month ahead, not the month behind (at least on the new billing system). So it's not really "post paid"--you have to cancel before you get the bill to avoid the next month's charge. I assume it would be the same for iPad "postpaid" bills.
Click to expand...

Yes, but don't forget AT&T said they'll give you the 1st month free which I assume by doing that they're saving you from having to fork up the initial $25 to start the service.. it's all just a big screw job no matter how flat you make it...
 
Aduntu

Aduntu

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2010
599
1
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

yargok said:
I think the terms have changed a little and this makes it interesting:

If you choose the cheap post pay plan, you get 250 mb of data. If you exceed 250 mb, you can get an additional gb (1250 mb total) for $10 (=$25 total). This has an option value associated with it, if you can get by on less data most of the time.

Under the old prepay plans, if you exceeded your data allotment, you could reup again on the same plan. So if you exceeded your 250 mb plan, you could pay another $15 (=$30 total) to get an additional 250 mb (500 mb total). Under the new prepaid plan, it only discusses reupping on the expensive plan:

Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment may choose to purchase an additional 2 GB for $25.
Click to expand...

It makes no mention of what happens when you exceed the plan on the cheaper plan.

It is hard to tell if this is better or worse for the customer.
Click to expand...

That'd be 1274 MB, not 1250.
 
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