I didn't get the 4G iPad because it seemed to be way too easy to blow through the data cap very quickly. Just wondering if anyone has experienced this yet and what do you think they will do if thousands start complaining?
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Anyone blown through their 4G data cap yet?
- Thread starter cualexander
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Complaining? About what? The services they paid for and agreed to?
Smells like enticement in here.
Smells like enticement in here.
Ok, what I mean is this. I work in computer support and explaining the concept of data caps to people is difficult.
Say they update it for 1080p Netflix streaming and you watch 1 movie, cap gone, watch 2 movies, 10 gig cap gone. See my point? Trying to explain to someone they can only watch a few movies is difficult.
Say they update it for 1080p Netflix streaming and you watch 1 movie, cap gone, watch 2 movies, 10 gig cap gone. See my point? Trying to explain to someone they can only watch a few movies is difficult.
LTE will let you do what you're going to do faster.
I've had an LTE mobile hotspot for a while and it's not enticed me into doing anything I wasn't already going to do. It just allowed me to do things that I couldn't have done on 3G without inconvenience.
Simple solution: don't stream 1080p Netflix movies over 4G. One email from ATT or VZW that you've hit your data cap should be more than sufficient notice that you should reconsider your cellular data usage.
Also, I don't see how watching Netflix movies makes a difference whether you're on 3G or 4G. It's the same amount of data regardless of data throughput speed, and just because 4G speeds are faster doesn't mean the movie plays any quicker.
I'm paying for the 3 gig for $30 plan via AT&T. I am out of town in an area with super slow wifi so I have been using the data most of the time. By using data mostly, but still only downloading apps on my computer and transfering them.. I am using about 100-150mb a day. If I lived here, I would definitly go through 3 gigs in less than 30 days.
But where I normally live, I have fast wifi at home and fast wifi at school and both places are where I spend most of my time. I'm not even worried about using a bunch of data here where I'm at now because I know I won't use very much at all where I normally live.
I'm not worried about it... I love my ability to go online with my iPad almost anywhere. And yes.. the LTE is blazingly fast and awesome!
As long as I don't download or stream using my data connection, I'll be fine.
But where I normally live, I have fast wifi at home and fast wifi at school and both places are where I spend most of my time. I'm not even worried about using a bunch of data here where I'm at now because I know I won't use very much at all where I normally live.
I'm not worried about it... I love my ability to go online with my iPad almost anywhere. And yes.. the LTE is blazingly fast and awesome!
As long as I don't download or stream using my data connection, I'll be fine.
You are assuming the general public is logical about computers. All I'm saying that there is a large market of iPad users that have no concept of what a gigabyte actually is. All they know is that it is fast and has HD.
I downloaded 23 GB on my iPad so far. And there is no 4g plan that will support that - best you can get is Verizon with 10 gigs a month for $80 a month; after that it's $10 per GB. Now, of course that's syncing from the cloud, but imagine if your Internet went down and your iPad decided to suddenly sync a 1080p movie (I think it automatically syncs in the middle of the night) - ouch!
Netflix automatically takes advantage of higher speeds to serve you higher quality video, and 99% of the time 3G isnt fast enough to trigger the highest quality.
I'm not assuming anything. I'm simply saying that these clueless consumers will learn quickly when they're notified that they've blown thru their data cap in a few days, and they'll adjust their behavior accordingly.
An iPad data plan is prepaid, so it does not rack up charges for additional data use like a smartphone. These people will not be surprised by a whopping data bill after a month, they'll simply receive notices that they're running low on their allotted data - and they can either buy more or hold off until next month.
Get real. See my post above. You won't get stuck with a big bill, the data plan is prepaid. All that will happen is your data gets throttled down to nothing and you'll be notified.
Either way, you're still watching a movie that goes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours long, which means you're still using 800k-1.5GB versus 1-1.7GB over 4G. And that's under optimal conditions.
With LTE speed, some of us may wonder if replacing LTE with cable the same way many of us no longer have land line. Nothing wrong with it, except the cap is handicapping the idea. Browsing fast is cool, but LTE speed, we'll be tempted to try things that normally use Internet for such as Netflix.
Of course, I don't disagree with anything you say. It just takes one incident where one uses up all his data in a matter of days to understand the consequences of what he/she "tried".
Personally, I think data caps + faster 4G speeds makes little sense.
That's all I'm saying. Having 4G on a device with such a high resolution and these pathetically small data caps just seems silly.
I think it depends on how you're using it. For reading macrumors, your right because you're still reading the pages at the same pace and it's not loading any more data.
But as mentioned, apps like Netflix can and will use more.
I don't think I'll have a problem burning thought the 2GB plan I signed up for with Verizon. Based on my usage patterns when I tethered my iPad 2 to my iPhone I hardly ever got close to getting near 2GB. I also am making sure to turnoff the cellular and LTE radios when I'm at home and on my wi-fi network.
And all I'm saying is that it's not Apple's or ATT's or VZW's fault that people didn't do their homework before buying a product that may not suit their needs.
For reference: see 4g phones from the past few years 
Nothing new here. It's like nobody knew what 4g was until Apple reinvented it with the new iPad.
Nothing new here. It's like nobody knew what 4g was until Apple reinvented it with the new iPad.
But what I'm hoping is that enough people tie up their support department with questions regarding it that they will eventually cave and raise the cap!
Are you using Verizon? How did you update your plan? Or did you simply purchase a 2GB plan after the 1GB plan was exhausted. If that's the case, you spent $10 and then $30. But if you really just updated, then did you just spend $30?
I really hope this is possible because I'd like to do the same. Thx.