What if you had a sony laptop and found out the guy who has a macbook pro is using 10x the data you are for the same $40 price tag. How would you feel about that?
Especially when you could be paying $20 and he could be paying $55 for his actual usage.
That is what is going on here. People who use a lot more than everyone else obviously have a vested interest in the shared pricing model where all the other users subsidize them. You can tell from these threads people like you will defend this practice at seemingly any cost.
I don't recall a single person who used large amounts of bandwidth ever saying, "You know what, I use a lot of bandwidth, and I should pay for what I use."
I know that most of the people saying things like what you have said don't understand, fundamentally how and why a business like AT&T sets their pricing. I do though.
Can you tell me that you believe people who use tethering will use more data than they do without, less data than they do without it, or the same data they do without it?
Which of those three is true?
So when we all know the answer is more, than we know the average usage goes up, which means the cost goes up for AT&T which means to make the same amount of money they must charge more money. As I have said until I am blue in the face, they can either charge everyone more or they can charge the person who is using bandwidth more.
If you want AT&T can change the plan and charge $30 for tethering and include 1 gig of data transfer in it, and charge $10 per 1 gig overage after that. Is your problem they are tying the two together out of convience? They certainly could separate them if you wanted, if that would make it easier on you.
So now tethering is not an add on but instead is its own plan with its own base data rate.
The bottom line is how much the data the average user uses, impacts what the price is for the consumer. That one person or another person uses 1.6 gigs or 1 gig or 200 megs is wholly irrelevant. People who tether will use more data which means that because they are using tethering the data costs for AT&T will go up.
And people please stop with the wholly inapplicable analogies. I would prefer you spend that time trying to wrap your mind around how companies that charge for data access, like AT&T set their pricing. That would be more useful than making a bunch of horrible and inapplicable restaurant analogies, because it is not like any of those things.
Since you love all these analogies though, here is what it is like...
When you go to an all you eat buffet, you can get a clear glass and get water for free. If you want a soda you have to pay EXTRA for it. Now the buffet could just raise the price of its buffet for everyone by .75 cents and give away free soda. Sure they could do that... but some people don't want soda, and don't want to pay for everyone who does want soda. So the soda is like tethering, those who want to drink soda at an all you can eat buffet have to pay for it. Those who do not want it, are not forced to pay for others soda.
That is what you get. What is the problem? You pay for 2 gigs you get 2 gigs.
If you want to use tethering, it costs more.
Actually a good portion of the user base will be able to use the lowest tier pricing, and lots of new customers as well. So you are way off on the 90% in the second tier part. A good portion of customers will be able to use the $15 a month plan, which is significant savings. It is a 50% reduction in fact. By AT&T's own numbers 65% of their data customers use less than 200 megs in a month. That is massive.
Yes I am an apologist for AT&T because people are knee-jerk over-reacting based on ignorance and apparently confusion.
Most AT&T customers are saving significant money because of these changes. The problem is it is at the cost of those who have been saving money on their backs for all these years.
So obviously those here who are going to have to pay for their usage now are upset and want to remain the status quo. Why would they not, they were getting other people to pay for them to have cheaper data costs.
Now the tables have turned, and the costs have been brought in line closer to the point that those that use more data have to pay for it. Woes me yeah I am a big apologist, or perhaps a realist, with a pretty significant and expansive business background who understands how and why this was done and what went into setting the price.
I will ask you what I said above.. Do you choose for everyone to pay $38 a month for 2 gigs and free tethering, or do you choose for how it is going to be with $25 for 2 gigs and tethering $20 extra?
