AT&T Unlimited Data Plan - How much data do you use?

iMas70 · Mar 24, 2015

I do the normal e-mail/Facebook and surf the web along with stream music though apps like Pandora and iHeart Radio. I'll use 3-5GB most months. Streaming through this apps doesn't use much data. I swapped over to YouTube yesterday. Used it for about 4.5-5 hours. That ate up 3GB so it brought my monthly usage up to 5.5GB. Of course a speed test showed that I was being throttled. No problem using YouTube though. Did it again today and am up to 7.5GB. If I do this a few days each week for a month, I'd easily be up to about 40GB.

I can definitely tell that connections and downloads are slower at .5 Mbps but it's not unusable.

g.t. rags · Mar 24, 2015

i was barely using 3 gb a month, so i got rid of my unlimited plan.... my ISP provides plenty of hotspots that i can connect to wifi 85% of the time....

Mlrollin91 · Mar 24, 2015

I only use about 4-5GB a month, but its more for the peace of mind of not having to worry about it. Tethering would be nice, but I think unlimited data is more important. Being able to stream movies always comes in handy.

macher · Mar 25, 2015

iMas70 said:
I do the normal e-mail/Facebook and surf the web along with stream music though apps like Pandora and iHeart Radio. I'll use 3-5GB most months. Streaming through this apps doesn't use much data. I swapped over to YouTube yesterday. Used it for about 4.5-5 hours. That ate up 3GB so it brought my monthly usage up to 5.5GB. Of course a speed test showed that I was being throttled. No problem using YouTube though. Did it again today and am up to 7.5GB. If I do this a few days each week for a month, I'd easily be up to about 40GB.

I can definitely tell that connections and downloads are slower at .5 Mbps but it's not unusable.

Throttling isn't as bad as people make it out to be especially when you get low LTE pings. We have a 4 line family plan each line has unlimited data and each line uses average of 4-5GB/month. On my line I use 5'ishGB/month. None of the lines have been in situations where we needed or wanted to tether so that's not an 'issue' right now.

What's important is not worrying about overages AND phone subsidies on a 2 year contract.

Newtons Apple · Mar 25, 2015

3-5GB on a heavu month. Mostly 2-3 but not giving up my unlimited plan.

I have use 6.5GB while on vacation and AT&T did not even text me a warning.

Unlimited is "peach of mind" for me.

iphone1027 · Mar 25, 2015

I use about 4-5 GB per month. Last month I went over the "soft" limit to 5.5 GB and I didn't receive any "warning text message."

SAIRUS · Mar 25, 2015

4-5.
I travel a lot so Netflix, Client Demos, Pandora, etc.

Mliii · Mar 25, 2015

I had the grandfathered, unlimited plan (which really wasn't unlimited anyway) for a very long time, but never used more than 2 Gigs of data a month - always seem to be where I have access to WiFi.
So I dropped it and went with a lower tier plan to save a few dollars. I don't miss it, but could see where I might if I had fewer WiFi options available.

lwilliams · Mar 25, 2015

I use about 2.5 - 3 gb per month. But I am keeping my unlimited plan.

We don't use the voice minutes on our plan because most of the calls are to each other and other family on ATT. The few random calls we make/get from outside ATT usually adds up to about 150 -200 minutes per month.

So I will keep what I have.

Rayfire · Mar 25, 2015

Around 5-7GB per month thanks to streaming TV shows or movies. Like a lot of previous posters said, it's nice not to worry about overages, it's a no brainer for a grandfathered single line.

Vudoo · Mar 25, 2015

I used to use only about 4 GBs a month, so I dropped it because I wanted to hotspot my phone. So now I am paying $65 for 4 GBs with data rollover and unlimited talk and text. Much better than the $85 for 450 minutes and 200 texts.

iMas70 · Mar 25, 2015

iphone1027 said:
I use about 4-5 GB per month. Last month I went over the "soft" limit to 5.5 GB and I didn't receive any "warning text message."

They will send you the warning text once, maybe twice and that's it. You'll still be throttled after going over 5GB.

cousintim · Mar 25, 2015

iMas70 said:
You'll still be throttled after going over 5GB.

I gone as much as 1GB over and never been throttled.

CurvedParker · Mar 25, 2015

Ended up only using 2-4GB/month. Changed to a 50GB/mo plan with rollover data between my wife and I for the same price so we can tether, not get throttled and share 50GB of data (when they were offering the double data deal) we will never ever use. The unlimited plan makes no financial sense for most people these days.

pooleman · Mar 25, 2015

cousintim said:
I gone as much as 1GB over and never been throttled.

I get throttled every month. I use around 10-15 GB A month. I don't receive the text warnings any more. I wouldn't even mind being throttled if they did it reasonably. If they reduced my speeds by 1/2 or even 2/3. But I get dropped from 17 MBPS to about 0.65 MBPS. It's rediculous. I hope the FCC/ FTC can actually do something about this.

titans1127 · Mar 25, 2015

Last year i used to average 4-6GB a month. Ever since I started my new job in December I've been averaging 10-15GB a month. The throttling cap hasn't been 5GB for the last 3 bill cycles now.

Plan is to switch to T-mobile once my contract is up in September and the next iPhone is released. Tired of the throttling and no hotspot as well.

Applejuiced · Mar 25, 2015

About 5-6GB per month on my 6 Plus.

macher · Mar 25, 2015

CurvedParker said:
Ended up only using 2-4GB/month. Changed to a 50GB/mo plan with rollover data between my wife and I for the same price so we can tether, not get throttled and share 50GB of data (when they were offering the double data deal) we will never ever use. The unlimited plan makes no financial sense for most people these days.

It doesn't make sense if you don't use data. Example we have a 4 line family plan and each line has unlimited data. We use a total of 20GB/month between all 4 lines. My bill with taxes is $217/month with FAN discount. We also get subsidies on devices. We have never been in a situation where we wanted or needed to tether.

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titans1127 said:
Last year i used to average 4-6GB a month. Ever since I started my new job in December I've been averaging 10-15GB a month. The throttling cap hasn't been 5GB for the last 3 bill cycles now.

Plan is to switch to T-mobile once my contract is up in September and the next iPhone is released. Tired of the throttling and no hotspot as well.

I can only speak for myself but the throttling isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's not good but it's also not that bad if you know what I mean.

Doesn't TMo throttle?

Gryfter · Mar 26, 2015

had the 10GB for $100 family share plan; only 2 of the 4 actually uses data... got the 20GB for $100 back in October and now with the rollover, I never have to worry...

my brother and I usually use 6-8GB per month...

Azzin · Mar 26, 2015

I'm in the UK, so obviously not on AT&T, but I recently moved from an unlimited data/tethering plan (on 3) to a 10 gig plan on EE and I've realised quite how little data I actually used.

I've been resetting the data usage stats on my i6 since I moved to EE & I'm actually only using circa 3 gig per month.

I have been over that (5 or so GB), as I tethered one Saturday whilst helping a friend fix his laptop, but mostly the figure is 3.xGB each reset!

Also, 3 didn't have 4G where I am ("Coming soon"

), so moving to 4G on EE has been a real revelation and made it worth the extra outlay).

Hieveryone · Mar 26, 2015

iMas70 said:
I do the normal e-mail/Facebook and surf the web along with stream music though apps like Pandora and iHeart Radio. I'll use 3-5GB most months. Streaming through this apps doesn't use much data. I swapped over to YouTube yesterday. Used it for about 4.5-5 hours. That ate up 3GB so it brought my monthly usage up to 5.5GB. Of course a speed test showed that I was being throttled. No problem using YouTube though. Did it again today and am up to 7.5GB. If I do this a few days each week for a month, I'd easily be up to about 40GB.

I can definitely tell that connections and downloads are slower at .5 Mbps but it's not unusable.

5gb every month. Then throttles so switch to wifi.

blcfla · Mar 26, 2015

So AT&T 'unlimited' is really 5GB then throttled? I'm not up on all the new plans. I have vzw unlimited and I use 7-12gb usually a month, but I rarely turn on wifi either.

nobodyjustwalks · Mar 26, 2015

macher said:
Doesn't TMo throttle?

T-Mobile doesnʻt throttle their unlimited plans. Used to use my 5S as a TV to watch Netflix while connected to external speakers and it worked great. Iʻd easily use 50-100 GB a month with no throttling!

However, I believe their lower tier plans do have throttling once you go over your limit, but at least thereʻs no overage charge.

Sketchr · Mar 26, 2015

macher said:
It doesn't make sense if you don't use data. Example we have a 4 line family plan and each line has unlimited data. We use a total of 20GB/month between all 4 lines. My bill with taxes is $217/month with FAN discount. We also get subsidies on devices. We have never been in a situation where we wanted or needed to tether.

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I can only speak for myself but the throttling isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's not good but it's also not that bad if you know what I mean.

Doesn't TMo throttle?

It's my understanding that Tmo doesn't throttle for unlimited usage of netflix, streaming, any regular usage, but once you start using torrents p2p they will throttle...

titans1127 · Mar 26, 2015

macher said:
It doesn't make sense if you don't use data. Example we have a 4 line family plan and each line has unlimited data. We use a total of 20GB/month between all 4 lines. My bill with taxes is $217/month with FAN discount. We also get subsidies on devices. We have never been in a situation where we wanted or needed to tether.

----------

I can only speak for myself but the throttling isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's not good but it's also not that bad if you know what I mean.

Doesn't TMo throttle?

I personally think the throttling makes the phone pretty much unusable for anything but loading up a basic webpage or refreshing Facebook or Twitter. Any heavy webpage or trying to load up a YouTube video or Netflix takes forever and buffers constantly. I don't feel like I am able to use my phone to its fullest potential with reduced speeds.

Last bill cycle they throttled me at 11GB. That was with 10 days left to go in the bill cycle. I only managed to use another 2GB the remainder of the cycle and I was trying to use the phone the same way

AT&T Unlimited Data Plan - How much data do you use?

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