Will you give up unlimited data to buy iPhone 5 with a subsidy?

im not going to shell out the full retail price of a phone everytime i want to upgrade just to keep unlimited data. thats just crazy

Full price. Unlimited data is everything.

Probably. I'm usally around 2-3 gigs at most anyway and I don't use my phone for my main internet connection. Honestly I'm thinking about just buying a phone out right because I don't want to be tied to a contract. I may stay on AT&T but I'm thinking about giving Staight Talk a try or maybe I just want to be phone free for a month or two and not pay that bill.

I am on Straight Talk now with my 4s and love it. When the new iPhone comes out, I will either pay full price and stick with ST, or depending on my expendable $ at the time, might drop ST and sign a new contract with one of the big guys to get the subsidized price...or I'll just keep my 4s until the 5s drops next year

Only big sticking point for me not staying with ST would be if I do decide to get the new iPhone, and they don't support the 4G/LTE network, which I'm not sure if they will...but it would suck doubling my bill back to $100 :-/

If you really use so much data that you can't switch to a tiered plan, it's time I introduced you to: The computer and Home Internet.

Att has already made their policy clear in regards to unlimited data plans. You will be throttled at 3gigs using 3g/HSPA devices and 5gigs using LTE. I will keep my unlimited plan because I average about 2gigs a month on 3g and I still get my discount whereas I would not using a tiered data plan. If it came down to it I would give up the unlimited data but I would want to keep my discount on the tiered plan.

einmusiker said:

keep in mind that when the iphone has 4G speeds you will be using MUCH more data than you currently are on 3g, it's the nature of the beast.

Click to expand...

I don't think this is entirely true. I don't really forsee me using my phone for many other things than I use it for now. The only difference is, the things I use it for now (music streaming, casual browsing, email, etc) will be FASTER. I made this analogy in another thread: It's like going from a Honda Civic to a Corvette. The drive to work is still the same (you're still using the vehicle for the same purpose) only now, you can get there FASTER!

Considering I just upgraded to a 4S last year if they gave me the option to switch to tiered in exchange for a year early upgrade I'd do it in a heartbeat. Me and my wife usually use right at 2GB's. I'd go for the 4GB plan and pay a little more but that would include upgrading a dumb phone to a smartphone, plus free tethering is a nice bonus.

What I'll probably do is buy is try to sell my iPhone 4 32 GB for anywhere between 300-400 euros. That means paying 300 euros myself - not too bad if you consider that you have to pay 200-something euros when you get an iPhone with a contract.

chrf097 said:

If you really use so much data that you can't switch to a tiered plan, it's time I introduced you to: The computer and Home Internet.

Click to expand...

This ^

While I have unlimited data with VZW, I only use, on average, 1.5GB/month. I'd have no issues giving up my unlimited data since I am always connected to wifi at home, and most public places have wifi nowadays.

However, I am soon switching to VM where I'm going to be paying close to full price for the iPhone.

My contract is up on my iPhone 4 this month and that's good because for the last two months I have been fighting with keeping the damn thing working.

If the iPhone 5 is a redesigned phone I may buy into it at some level but if it is the same form factor/design of the iPhone 4/4s I won't buy it at all.

Never had a problem with the iPhone in the past but the iPhone 4 has been aggravating.

I don't have unlimited data but even if I did it wouldn't be worth the 400-500 price difference. I rarely (never?) go over 2 GB and don't
foresee that changing in the next year or so. And even if I do, isn't it only like a 10 dollar ping or something per gigabyte over 2?

I've unlimited data since the iPhone 3G, but I am almost always under 2GB. I have to wait and see how much more I use with 4G, I don't think it will be a significant number. As others have said, if your data usage shouldn't increase unless your habits change- things should just load faster. But I'm going to keep my unlimited for a while and see what happens. If time goes by and I find I'm not hitting 5GB then I'll switch to a tether plan down the line. Unless they take them away too haha.

I have a 4g phone and I'm still under 2gb of data. Unless all you do is surf the web or something, it's pretty hard to go over. And I do use my phone a decent amount

infinity12402 said:

I have a 4g phone and I'm still under 2gb of data. Unless all you do is stream music/video or something, it's pretty hard to go over. And I do use my phone a decent amount

Click to expand...

FTFY

Leonard1818 said:

I don't think this is entirely true. I don't really forsee me using my phone for many other things than I use it for now. The only difference is, the things I use it for now (music streaming, casual browsing, email, etc) will be FASTER. I made this analogy in another thread: It's like going from a Honda Civic to a Corvette. The drive to work is still the same (you're still using the vehicle for the same purpose) only now, you can get there FASTER!

Click to expand...

The thing is that once you get that corvette you will find yourself taking the scenic route on your way back home, and doing more things with this new found speed that you otherwise wouldn't have done. It's human nature.... technically having faster speed will not increase your data usage... but throw in the human element and once you have this speedier data, you will tend to do things that you didn't do before thus adding to your data usage.

bigjnyc said:

The thing is that once you get that corvette you will find yourself taking the scenic route on your way back home.

Click to expand...

Unless you live around here. There are no scenic routes. I take the same route whether I'm in our utility vehicle or sports car. In any case, faster speed doesn't guarantee more usage despite how often that's parroted. You can use your data faster but can and will aren't the same thing.

AbyssImpact said:

Full price. Unlimited data is everything.

Click to expand...

Not with throttling...

Leonard1818 said:

The drive to work is still the same (you're still using the vehicle for the same purpose) only now, you can get there FASTER!

Click to expand...

You don't get something for nothing. Leadfooting it comes with less MPG.

bigjnyc said:

The thing is that once you get that corvette you will find yourself taking the scenic route on your way back home, and doing more things with this new found speed that you otherwise wouldn't have done. It's human nature.... technically having faster speed will not increase your data usage... but throw in the human element and once you have this speedier data, you will tend to do things that you didn't do before thus adding to your data usage.

Click to expand...

while this is true, i don't think habits will change that significantly. i already have the ability to do things like watch HD youtube videos on my phone... but i rarely do it... and won't start doing it because i have a few extra mbps to work with.

the only thing that would cause me to really see a spike in data usage is if there was a really good, clean way to watch TV on my phone. i'm talking from u-verse, being able to watch all of my recorded shows, have full access to all the dvr functionality at my fingertips, etc. etc.

i do see that happening in the next year or two... but even then, i feel like more often than not, i'd be on wifi doing that sort of thing, not 3G/4G.

takeshi74 said:

Not with throttling...

Click to expand...

Has Verizon announced they are going to be doing any more throttling than they currently have been? To my knowledge it has been MUCH less of an issue with Verizon due to the fact they only throttle during times of network congestion. For a lot of people that is never.

Leonard1818 said:

I don't think this is entirely true. I don't really forsee me using my phone for many other things than I use it for now. The only difference is, the things I use it for now (music streaming, casual browsing, email, etc) will be FASTER. I made this analogy in another thread: It's like going from a Honda Civic to a Corvette. The drive to work is still the same (you're still using the vehicle for the same purpose) only now, you can get there FASTER!

Click to expand...

And because you are getting there faster, you are burning gas faster.

Umm won't you have to switch to a tiered 4G plan anyways? They aren't going to give you unlimited 4G.

bigjnyc said:

The thing is that once you get that corvette you will find yourself taking the scenic route on your way back home, and doing more things with this new found speed that you otherwise wouldn't have done. It's human nature.... technically having faster speed will not increase your data usage... but throw in the human element and once you have this speedier data, you will tend to do things that you didn't do before thus adding to your data usage.

Click to expand...

Yes, of course it opens up new doors. keeping with the car example, you can now go race on the weekends/take a back road like you said/etc. But you don't HAVE to do those things. You can. You have the ability. And if you do, you pay.

From a different perspective though, I can't think of one thing that I currently CAN NOT DO at all on a 3G connection that you CAN ONLY DO on a 4G connection. Are there certain apps that ONLY work on 4G? (of course not yet). I just don't see how, suddenly with a 4G connection, I am going to start streaming movies to my phone every day (or any other task that uses a lot of data).

I think most people will continue to use their devices in a similar way to how they use them now... Sure there will be the occasional "I did this because I can on 4G" thing, but I don't think that will be commonplace. The same with the vehicle example. Sure there will be days when you're driving your new sports car that you'll say "I'm gonna open it up and go fast today" but day-to-day, you're still going to drive like a normal car.

----------

sakau2007 said:

while this is true, i don't think habits will change that significantly. i already have the ability to do things like watch HD youtube videos on my phone... but i rarely do it... and won't start doing it because i have a few extra mbps to work with.

Click to expand...