All the way back in 2007 with the launch of the original iPhone it was in the fine print that the Unlimited Plan had a 5GB data cap. They have already covered their ass on this.
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AT&T to Throttle Unlimited Data Plan Customers Starting in October
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All the way back in 2007 with the launch of the original iPhone it was in the fine print that the Unlimited Plan had a 5GB data cap. They have already covered their ass on this.
That's not how it's going to work. I'm sure they have some soft cap and once you hit that you'll be throttled. At CURRENT statics it will only effect the top 5% not for now on the top 5% will be capped. Jesus us some common sense people.
Abuser? AT&T sold "unlimited" data plans at one point and a contract was signed with the customer. By using as much data as the customer wants does not make that person an "abuser" -- they are simply operating within the contract.
You have either fallen for the telecom brainwashing that is currently going on over data charges -- or work for a telecom yourself and want to promote the myth of an unlimited plan user as an "abuser".
Mostly audio and some video but not as much as you think. I have a long commute so Tech New Today I listen to every day on the way home. During lunch I'll check out Break.
From that I saw, many people exceeded this without any warning from AT&T.
So it is likely AT&T is going to start hard throttling at 5GB or before that if they really want to push the 5GB cap limit.
Free and open Wifi Hotspots are not that common, yes Coffee Shops and such have them, but many hotels charge and you can't listen to streaming radio while driving down the road using hotspots.
Honestly, it doesn't take much to get into a higher data usage, I manage the cell phones for our office and most people are in the 2-3 GB/mo. range (They are not tethering by the way) and some get into the 3-6 GB/mo. range. This is only going to increase with iCloud and such bandwidth hogs.
Many ask how you reach that, well, what they do is all Apps are downloaded on the phone, as well as songs from iTunes, add to that Books (mostly Kindle), then add in Netflix, toss in some Youtube and streaming audio and you have the answer as to how this is possible.
Now, to be honest, unlimited data should indeed mean unlimited (without restrictions, aside from those saying not to commit crimes of course), not throttled or restricted from being able to tether.
As far as tethering, my wife and I have three lines that we tether from, one AT&T and two T-Mobile, one of the T-Mobile lines is a mobile hotspot, the other is an Android phone, they both have data throttling, so we split our usage among them and find that we rarely, if ever go over the limits to be throttled. But it works out a lot cheaper than getting home internet in our area:
Cable - $60 per month
DSL - $30 per month + $40 per month for the phone line (cheapest phone line available from the phone company in our area and bare DSL doesn't seem to actually work here)
Both options have a 5 GB/month data cap, if you go over, your service is cut off for the rest of the month with one and I think you are charged extra for the other now, I can't remember which is which though.
T-Mobile Hotspot - $30 (after discounts, but it is throttled after 5GB/month, but since we have two other lines that have unlimited data, it is not an issue anyway)
The problem boils down to AT&T not being willing to upgrade their network and that we live in one little corner of our city that gets neglected by everyone, since if we cross either the streets (we live on a corner) we are in another town.
As for the 5GB limit on the AT&T data plans, they never put that in the business contracts, so they are not covered for us.
More like, I'm going to open an all you can eat restaurant... but I'm going to limit the fat people who eat all the food when they come into my restaurant... so there is food left for everyone else! duhhhh
Exactly. Notice ATT doesn't actually say what this number is? They can simply shift the baseline anyway or anytime they want. How do we know that the top 5% isn't a customer that uses 1.8GB to 5GB a month? What if less than 5% actually ever go over 2GB a month? Or what if they do, but only 6 months out of 12? Does it actually affect the quality of service or are they just making it up?
Finally, with the emphasis on cloud services, what ATT, Verizon, et. al are trying to do is move internet access from their services to Comcast. How long to you think it will be before the Broadband providers start capping and throttling...?
BTW - Goodbye Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, YouTube, Skype Video, Facetime or any service that relies on internet streaming.
It was never in any fine print for the iPhone plans.
It was only for Data Connect unlimited plans.
The 5GB cap on smartphone plans was pure myth and has been busted many times.
AT&T is following T-Mobile. T-Mobile starts throttling users down to EDGE speeds once they hit 2GB of data.
No they are not because the top users where using their data out of contract on unapproved devices ie free tethering.
Really, the Providers underestimated the popularity of Smartphones, being able to send a pic of what you just ate for lunch, use it as a GPS, videophone with a relative.
Can you blame them with wanting to charge money for those privileges?
Welcome to Capitalism, the country where now a company has more cash the the country...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/07/29/apple.cash.government/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
No, those users aren’t operating within the contract. There are always clauses in the contracts. The nature of the “unlimited data plan” itself is a myth.
AT&T has a specific one regarding to unreasonable use of the network. They have the right to actually terminate your contract and ban you from their network if you unreasonably use up too much of their capacity.
Actually, the tiered plan was put in place to help combat the majority using what was promised. Otherwise we would have seen higher data limits in the new tiered plans. This newest throttling ploy is aimed at those abusing the system.
I pay $30 for unlimited, although I never use more than 3GB. The next guy pays $25 for 2GB and a third pays $45 to tether, each paying an additional $10 per GB over. My $30 is a reasonable rate, the new ones are simply not. They were designed to force caps on the average user and entice unlimited users to assimilate.
I ask what would be a reasonable amount of a data limit for "average and above-average users" (excluding the extreme users) considering current and next-generation technologies? Second, how much would that plan cost?
This is weird because this past week I started thinking AT&T had already started throttling me. I use my phone overnight, in the same place every night, in an area that has full service. My data has gone up over the past few months since I got Netflix, and have to stream it over 3G because where I am when streaming, there is no 3G available. I'd say I've been at about 20GB per month. So I would say they've already started doing it to an extent.
What?
This thread is lousy with corporate apologists.
AT&T is baiting and switching the early adopters who made the iphone a success. They sold an unlimited data plan to lure customers in, and have taken a series of steps to invalidate the plan they originally sold us on. I don't care if there was fine print about "abusers," I care about getting what I've been paying for. AT&T is screwing over its costumers yet again, and I'm amazed at the people who are defending it.
This thread is lousy with corporate apologists.
AT&T is baiting and switching the early adopters who made the iphone a success. They sold an unlimited data plan to lure customers in, and have taken a series of steps to invalidate the plan they originally sold us on. I don't care if there was fine print about "abusers," I care about getting what I've been paying for. AT&T is screwing over its costumers yet again, and I'm amazed at the people who are defending it.
Outside of coffee shops and libraries, who has free wifi these days? Everywhere I go, they want you to pay.
Gee. *Hours* of video. That's like, a small handful of videos. A month.
Glad I don't leave the house much.
Glad I don't leave the house much.
karma will ******* AT&T over soon enough
I'm sick of this POS company screwing customers over and over again. First comes UNLIMITED DATA really means 5GB cap. Then comes NO MORE UNLIMITED DATA PLANS. Now comes "let's throttle users down to EDGE speeds because they are on unlimited data plans so they see now that having unlimited data plan sucks so let's switch over to the 2GB plans".
Screw this company. They will burn for their business ethics. I really hope this is a breach of contract because I for sure did not sign up for unlimited data with throttling.
Verizon is looking better every single day.
I'm sick of this POS company screwing customers over and over again. First comes UNLIMITED DATA really means 5GB cap. Then comes NO MORE UNLIMITED DATA PLANS. Now comes "let's throttle users down to EDGE speeds because they are on unlimited data plans so they see now that having unlimited data plan sucks so let's switch over to the 2GB plans".
Screw this company. They will burn for their business ethics. I really hope this is a breach of contract because I for sure did not sign up for unlimited data with throttling.
Verizon is looking better every single day.
Not to be a "corporate apologist," but really AT&T could have ended unlimited data at any point and forced people who wanted to upgrade to new iPhones to sign new service agreements with data caps. They didn't. I guess this is a fair trade off.
I love the whiners in these types of threads. I consider myself a heavy data user, and if I break 1GB per month, it's a lot. I will have the unlimited plan from the beginning, and will keep it as long as I can, but jeez, if your using more than that, or over 2GB per month, you need to get a freakin' life. Get off the damn phone\internet and go out and breath the air, LOL.