Is the grandfathered unlimited data from AT&T obsolete?

AppleFan360 · Sep 18, 2014

At the risk of getting my ass chewed by the members here, I was thinking the other day how the grandfathered AT&T unlimited data plan for the iPhone can actually be obsolete.

Here is my train of thought. AT&T has now made it cheaper in some cases NOT to have it. By removing the unlimited data plan and switching to a data share plan, monthly bills can be lowered quite a bit a AND you also get the hotspot feature and no chance of data throttling. It's not like you don't already have unlimited data. If you bust your cap you simply pay extra for that month.

Now I understand this does not apply to everyone but if you have two or more phones, all with unlimited data, the monthly bill can get pricey especially if the phones really don't use much data.

From a personal standpoint, I went to the AT&T website and ran the report of how much data my phones used over the past year and it turns out that between my wife and I, we used less then 10GB between the two of us. I switched us over to the data share plan and now we are saving almost $40 a month. Hanging on to the unlimited data plans were just not feasable anymore and we added features we didn't have before (hotspot, free international texting, unlimited talk, unlimited text).

As far as the iPad, that's a tough one. The unlimited data on the iPad is like gold simply because it can be a data hog. I admit I'm not giving that one up yet.

Again, this may not apply to everyone.

BJabs · Sep 18, 2014

Yup, currently considering dropping the two unlimited data plans we have for the Mobile Share plan. As a family, we haven't passed 2.5GB in data usage in any month, so the 10GB (which is highly discounted in relation to the <10GB plans) would be sufficient, and would save us, like, $80 or so each month.

You do have to consider that the Mobile Share plans go up by $25 each time you upgrade a phone without using Next, until every phone has been upgraded. When you switch to the Mobile Share plan, the monthly per-phone cost is discounted to $15, but it goes up to $40 (the regular smartphone monthly cost) when the phone is upgraded (waiving the discount). That's basically how they make the costs even out over time.

Merkyworks · Sep 18, 2014

Data consumption is just going to get higher and higher as apps, sharing data options and websites become more developed/time goes by. I will be staying with my unlimited plan.

mizerab1e · Sep 18, 2014

I recently dropped my 3 year old unlimited plan for 10GB shared plan. Just in case you haven't realized, they throttle you HARD after 5GB, which makes it pretty much worthless for me. I rather be able to use mobile hotspot legally and not be throttled every month and save a lot of money.

potaco · Sep 18, 2014

Merkyworks said:
Data consumption is just going to get higher and higher as apps, sharing data options and websites become more developed/time goes by. I will be staying with my unlimited plan.

The only problem with the unlimited plan is that it is throttled. With apps requiring more and more consumption at higher rates, I would assume that a lot of the benefit of having unlimited data would be lost if it's basically unusable after 5GB.

nopassn · Sep 18, 2014

I think so... (and I've got a grandfathered unlimited data plan)

My logic... I use whatever data I use. Typically between 3-5 gb a month. If you hit 5gb in a month, they throttle you for the following month... the throughput is next to unusable. So, as near as I can tell, the grandfathered unlimited is really nothing more than an expensive 5gb plan. I'm waiting for the dust to settle and for my iPhone 6+ to come in, and I'm going to switch plans, I think.

mizerab1e · Sep 18, 2014

potaco said:
The only problem with the unlimited plan is that it is throttled. With apps requiring more and more consumption at higher rates, I would assume that a lot of the benefit of having unlimited data would be lost if it's basically unusable after 5GB.

Exactly. It's a joke of universal proportion to say 'unlimited' yet it is nowhere close to being unlimited. I had verizon unlimited which wasn't throttled but they are following ATT's steps to screw customers over again.

I really hate providers.

yg17 · Sep 18, 2014

mizerab1e said:
I recently dropped my 3 year old unlimited plan for 10GB shared plan. Just in case you haven't realized, they throttle you HARD after 5GB, which makes it pretty much worthless for me. I rather be able to use mobile hotspot legally and not be throttled every month and save a lot of money.

I put my family of 4 on the 10 GB plan and between us, probably use around 3 GB a month. Paying for unlimited on my line "just in case" got old after awhile.

I figure that if there's ever a month that causes me to go over 10 GB for some reason, all the money I'm saving will cover the overages.

HelloMikee · Sep 18, 2014

Merkyworks said:
Data consumption is just going to get higher and higher as apps, sharing data options and websites become more developed/time goes by. I will be staying with my unlimited plan.

This is not true for websites. As a web developer our goal is to make our sites as small as possible in order to load as quickly as possible. Our mobile traffic has increased to 49% of overall traffic where it was just 30% two years ago. We also ship to over 50 countries and as emerging markets grow, we definitely don't want to push them away from long load times.

vitacura · Sep 18, 2014

I love the unlimited plan. I have gone over 5GB several times this year and never been throttled. Now, I don't use 10GB+, but it is nice not to have to worry about overages, and so far, no throttling here.

iregret · Sep 18, 2014

3 unlimited data plans on our bill. I use about 10gb of data a month. My brother in law uses about 6gb, my wife 100mb.

I've done the math. Even with throttling, not cost effective for my situation.

Actually, I wish I could throttle LTE to 10mb/s or so all month to stretch out the LTE speeds. I'll go through 5 gigs in the first 10 days, then suffer the rest of the month. It's stupid.

Oh, then at random, ATT will send me warning emails/letters, and texts telling me I need to stop tethering. Except I'm not tethering. ?!?? WTF

2298754 · Sep 18, 2014

If I switched my entire plan over to MSV, my monthly cost actually goes up. And to top it off, if I upgrade (using 2 year contract), the per line charge will go up from $15 to $40, making it not a value. I'm going to stick with my current plan, for as long as I possibly can.

mizerab1e · Sep 18, 2014

vitacura said:
I love the unlimited plan. I have gone over 5GB several times this year and never been throttled. Now, I don't use 10GB+, but it is nice not to have to worry about overages, and so far, no throttling here.

Not saying you're a dirty liar, but I think you are. There are thousands of us that got throttled every month due to this. So yeah.

BJabs · Sep 18, 2014

It is funny that if we were to switch to the Mobile Share plan, I'd gain the ability to use hotspots, and thus my data usage would probably go up by a lot, perhaps beyond 10GB if I'm not careful. It's like an, uh, Gift of the Magi, sort of.

bambooshots · Sep 18, 2014

Merkyworks said:
Data consumption is just going to get higher and higher as apps, sharing data options and websites become more developed/time goes by. I will be staying with my unlimited plan.

Doesn't help when they throttle you at 5GB.

I still have the unlimited plan but have considered going to the 10GB mobile share plan since it could be cheaper (with their discount) and so I can get my iPad in it. It sucks paying an additional $30/mo to get 3GB on data on the iPad.

vitacura · Sep 18, 2014

mizerab1e said:
Not saying you're a dirty liar, but I think you are. There are thousands of us that got throttled every month due to this. So yeah.

You have a right to your opinion, but I am not the only one on here that has not been throttled once we pass 5GB. I have never gone over 10GB, and go over 5GB probably 4 times a year. Love it! Don't be jealous.

james92se · Sep 18, 2014

I typically average 3 GB somehow even though I'm at work nearly 12 hours a day M-F on wifi the whole time and then on wifi the whole time at home after work and much of the weekend.

I'm on an unlimited data plan and have gone over 5 GB several times in the past year or two and not been throttled. I like to keep my unlimited data "just in case" I ever need to really use it in any given month.

I rarely ever talk on the phone. I routinely have months where I'll use less than 10 minutes of talk time TOTAL in the whole month. I'm on an obsolete 450 daytime minute 5000 night and weekend minute plan and an obsolete $5 200 text message plan. I refuse to pay for unlimited texts and thus inherently negate one of the principal advantages of iMessage and the like.

My TOTAL monthly bill comes out to $72 including all taxes and fees. I don't think I could come out lower than this anyway for a single line even if I did switch plans.

Gooberton · Sep 18, 2014

I'm holding out hope the FCC will step in and say they can't throttle

alexxn · Sep 18, 2014

Hmmm I just ran a report on the last year of my Data usage and the highest I've one is 1.8GB with an average of 1.3GB - I have unlimited -

Cool Pup · Sep 18, 2014

Merkyworks said:
Data consumption is just going to get higher and higher as apps, sharing data options and websites become more developed/time goes by. I will be staying with my unlimited plan.

Exactly. And same here. They'll have to kick me off my UDP to get me to get off of it.

Hopefully, some day, we'll get plans back to it or something close for a reasonable price (lol).

EdMan · Sep 18, 2014

yg17 said:
I put my family of 4 on the 10 GB plan and between us, probably use around 3 GB a month. Paying for unlimited on my line "just in case" got old after awhile.

I figure that if there's ever a month that causes me to go over 10 GB for some reason, all the money I'm saving will cover the overages.

This is me. I've had my unlimited since 07 and when my wife and I got on a family plan a couple of years ago I kept it and she has a 2gb plan. Neither of us ever go over 2gb. I never have as long as I've had it. When my new phones come in I'm switching plans.

mizerab1e · Sep 18, 2014

vitacura said:
You have a right to your opinion, but I am not the only one on here that has not been throttled once we pass 5GB. I have never gone over 10GB, and go over 5GB probably 4 times a year. Love it! Don't be jealous.

Jealous?? I didn't know one can get jealous of ********ters? Wow!

KaiMac · Sep 18, 2014

mizerab1e said:
I recently dropped my 3 year old unlimited plan for 10GB shared plan. Just in case you haven't realized, they throttle you HARD after 5GB, which makes it pretty much worthless for me. I rather be able to use mobile hotspot legally and not be throttled every month and save a lot of money.

I did the exact same thing. cut to a 10GB usage plan and it cut my bill down considerably. If you can predict your usage each month, then its a good call to switch. They will send you a txt mssg each month when you hit 65% of your usage and again at 90%.

Newtons Apple · Sep 18, 2014

mizerab1e said:
Exactly. It's a joke of universal proportion to say 'unlimited' yet it is nowhere close to being unlimited. I had verizon unlimited which wasn't throttled but they are following ATT's steps to screw customers over again.

I really hate providers.

Without the carriers providing limits, people would take advantage of the bandwidth and degrade everyone's experience!

Sorry you hate the providers for not giving you what you think you are "entitled" to get!
LOL!

james92se · Sep 18, 2014

alexxn said:
Hmmm I just ran a report on the last year of my Data usage and the highest I've one is 1.8GB with an average of 1.3GB - I have unlimited -

Where/how did you run this report? Curious what my average is without having to look up each bill individually and manually calculating

Is the grandfathered unlimited data from AT&T obsolete?

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