AT&T Announces New Limited Data Rollover Feature for Mobile Share Value Customers

[C DM]

A lot of people look at those US coverage maps painted red by Verizon in the flyover states and assume they need Verizon level coverage despite never driving through those areas. The vast majority of Americans rarely even leave their home metro area and do long road trips for the most part outside of a handful of times per year.

Many would find that in that areas they actually frequent, the carriers are pretty much even (except maybe Sprint). Switching carriers is scary so most would continue to pay more on the carrier that they're used to despite another one being cheaper.

Now for those living in flyover states there probably isn't much of a choice outside VZW.

I general I would agree with that. In a more specific way there are still more gaps that T-Mobile has (and certainly Sprint) compared to AT&T or Verizon, even within smaller areas, and especially when it comes to building penetration even in areas with good coverage.

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Technically, they already are doing this... I just got an upgrade to 15GB for free last month.

Pretty soon, these companies will come out with this revolutionary idea... unlimited data.

There's that, but that's more of a response to a slightly different pricing change that AT&T has also made earlier. Hopefully there will be something more specific to a rollover type of change that will come out of this for Verizon as well.

 

[aristobrat]

Who cares? Contracts for cellphones are outdated. At&t and verizon need to get with the program.

Huh?

AT&T and Verizon have been pushing the hell out of their contract-free plans for over a year now.

In case you haven't turned your TV on during prime time in a while (and have somehow escaped their never-ending commercials promoting these contract-free plans), they're called AT&T Next and Verizon Edge.

Has anyone else noticed that AT&T is NEVER the first company to implement a new idea between the big four?

AT&T doesn't have much of anything to gain by doing so, IMO.

T-Mobile, on the other hand, needs to make as much noise as possible -- as frequently as possible -- in order to get people to take notice of it.

These "new ideas" get T-Mobile so much free press!

 

[barkomatic]

Totally lame and it would have been better if they had done nothing. It's almost an insult compared with T-Mobile's plan.

Nevertheless, I'm sure AT&T's marketing will leave out the bit about one month.

 

[aristobrat]

I agree that it's very half-assed compared to T-Mobile but isn't it still better than nothing?

AT&T's first attempt of the Next plan really really sucked, too. They eventually re-tooled it, making it better for everybody.

Hopefully they'll do the same with this roll-over thing. It does seem really half-assed.

Like someone else already posted, it's like they had a meeting about "what's the minimum that we can do to respond?" and BAMMMMM, this is it. lol

 

[Huracan]

While the coverage is definitely improving overall, it's still lacking in quite a few places, and especially in a lot of indoor locations (even where the signal is just fine outside).

That's what the 700MHz band is supposed to tackle. I've noticed some of that the other day when I went into a store (going from LTE outside to 4G inside the store), and I remember similar issues years ago when I was with T-Mobile. However, I just went into an area of my work building that used to have pretty bad AT&T reception and I got about 3 bars with T-Mobile LTE. To be fair I also saw a couple of bars of AT&T when in the past I would get no service in that part of the building. My anecdotal experience so far in the San Francisco South Bay area is that at most I see connection dropping from LTE to 4G in a very few places, but I haven't had a No Service yet, and no dropping to 2G or 3G thus far.

All in all, as I said. I am not expecting it to be perfect, or as good as AT&T or Verizon. I am expecting it to be good for most of my day to day needs, and so far I think my experiments tell me that would be the case. AT&T has just aggravated me to the point of making me thinking about switching, and my antiquated, not truly unlimited plan, without texting, etc. having to worry about members of my family going over their monthly data limits just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.

The main problem I see with this whole thing is that it is not very easy to try other network. T-Mobile makes it slightly easier by giving you a phone for a week to try out. I decided to just get a prepaid card for a month to do proper testing. However, this is not the cheapest most convenient way. Unfortunately, without being able to try out other network, some misconceptions might be perpetuated, and people might be more afraid to switch than they should be.

All in all I've got a lot of excellent quote replies to my messages, all very good points.

 

[C DM]

Totally lame and it would have been better if they had done nothing. It's almost an insult compared with T-Mobile's plan.

Nevertheless, I'm sure AT&T's marketing will leave out the bit about one month.

Nothing really good in the overall sense and/or for most, sure. Better if they had done nothing? Clearly having $0.10 is better than not having it at all even if for most in most circumstances that dime won't change anything (until you might actually be in need of a dime for some reason).

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That's what the 700MHz band is supposed to tackle. I've noticed some of that the other day when I went into a store (going from LTE outside to 4G inside the store), and I remember similar issues years ago when I was with T-Mobile. However, I just went into an area of my work building that used to have pretty bad AT&T reception and I got about 3 bars with T-Mobile LTE. To be fair I also saw a couple of bars of AT&T when in the past I would get no service in that part of the building. My anecdotal experience so far in the San Francisco South Bay area is that at most I see connection dropping from LTE to 4G in a very few places, but I haven't had a No Service yet, and no dropping to 2G or 3G thus far.

All in all, as I said. I am not expecting it to be perfect, or as good as AT&T or Verizon. I am expecting it to be good for most of my day to day needs, and so far I think my experiments tell me that would be the case. AT&T has just aggravated me to the point of making me thinking about switching, and my antiquated, not truly unlimited plan, without texting, etc. having to worry about members of my family going over their monthly data limits just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.

The main problem I see with this whole thing is that it is not very easy to try other network. T-Mobile makes it slightly easier by giving you a phone for a week to try out. I decided to just get a prepaid card for a month to do proper testing. However, this is not the cheapest most convenient way. Unfortunately, without being able to try out other network, some misconceptions might be perpetuated, and people might be more afraid to switch than they should be.

All in all I've got a lot of excellent quote replies to my messages, all very good points.

Well, as I mentioned, certainly improving over time, and hopefully the whole indoor reception issue will become less and less of an issue for most people. That said, going with similar anecdotal experience, people who come to my house with T-Mobile simply get no service inside (but just fine outside) and it has been that way for years now. One of my work locations has had similar issues until they installed some repeaters to get the signal to work.

So, anecdotally at least, there will be people who have no issues and there will be those who do. Compared to let's say AT&T and Verizon, there will be more people with some reception issues with T-Mobile. Perhaps (and hopefully) all that will change and improve in the future, but it's still the case today (despite it being better in some respects than it was some time ago).

 

[elvisimprsntr]

One more perk: I can buy a new phone anywhere. I got my 6+ at the Apple store. As you know... with the unlimited plan you basically were forced to the AT&T store or risk losing it. This was the first time I ever bought an iPhone at the Apple store and I'll definitely be doing that again in the future... it was utterly painless!.

I bought my 6+ (and every iPhone before that) from Apple with in-shore pickup and kept my unlimited plan. I could care less about hotspot, not to mention the greater risk of going over your limit when using it.

 

[hrMACnstuff]

but AT&T ignores 5GB DataConnect customers

what a spit in the face to their dataconnect customers. a lousy 5GB of data and if you don't use it, you lose it. But hit 3.5GB and the email and call harassment begins. the "new" at&t is as disgustingly greedy and pathetic as the original a&t.
why not for all mobile customers?

 

[ghettochris]

Did anyone force you to use AT&T? Didn't think so

The lack of somebody selling me a nice simple DataCard with SIM five GB for $50 at the corner market like they do in other locations in earth forces me to. I am being discriminated against based on my location.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

Many would find that in that areas they actually frequent, the carriers are pretty much even (except maybe Sprint). Switching carriers is scary so most would continue to pay more on the carrier that they're used to despite another one being cheaper.

This is not entirely true. For instance, T-Mobile's building penetration is considerably worse than that of AT&T and Verizon. In many buildings where I get several bars of LTE on AT&T, T-Mobile drops service the moment you step through the front door. This is in NYC, by the way. As far as leaving carriers is concerned, I left T-Mobile after over 7 years with them. The only thing scary about the process was when I used my new AT&T phone for the first time and realized what I've been missing out on.

AT&T is not without faults of their own. However, their coverage is far more extensive and reliable than T-Mobile's.

 

[DJMeat]

When are the phone companies going to stop stealing from us?

I buy 10Gb of data in a month, at a price that is far higher than in many other countries. If I use only 7Gb, they simply steal the data I paid for.

The next month I use 11Gb, and they hit me with an overage charge. Even if I only used 1Gb a month for a year, and they have stolen 108Gb from me, they will still charge me extra if I go even a Kb over on the 13th month.

It is a disgusting practice, and this move by AT&T is one step ahead of literally the least they could do.

So how about they announce they are not going to steal anymore? A fair price for a decent service, and if I pay for it, I get to keep it until I use it.

You should probably see it more as you're paying to be able to access up to 10gb of data. Looking at it that way might be good for your blood pressure.

 

[B2k1977]

Can someone please explain the difference between Moble Share Plans and mobile share value plans? I spoke to AT&T and the only thing I could gather is that it's basically the same but you'll be forced into the NEXT program. I like the 2 year agreements and have no plans to ever switch it. So, what's next to get the cool features I want, I have to first pay for something I don't want? These phones are not worth upgrading every year. They don't change enough but every 2 years is a pretty good update. I don't think I should be forced to pay for early upgrades when I flat out don't want it.

 

[mellofello]

This was the final piece that got me to give up my unlimited plan. The 3 other people on my family plan average around 10 gb per month. Went with the 30 gb plan for $30 less per month then I was paying with 3 unlimited, and 1 2 gb plan. If I stay at my average of 10 gb per month I will have a pool of 40 gb of data every month which is definitely adequate to use my phone with 0 fear of going over and stream as much as I want to my phone.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

YEs, for a single line, keeping the unlimited plan is a good deal. With a family of lines, a hotspot that could be eliminated with tethering, plus a few cellular enabled iPads the share plan is looking better.

The phone companies have been trying to kill the subsidies, but now that people start paying for their phones there isn't a lock-in 2yr contract. They will have to keep getting more competitive.

Yep, especially now that Apple and the cellular providers have got people used to paying at least something for a phone. Just look back at the landscape prior to the iPhone. Almost nobody paid for a phone. Now everyone pays for their own phone except for cheap feature phones. What this means for Apple and other smartphone manufacturers is people will start holding onto their phones much longer, which will impact sales. Except for possibly Samsung which makes disposable phones to begin with.

The problem I have is that those who do choose to buy off contract and BYOD, don't pay much if any less for services than those who don't.

 

[Judas1]

This is like saying that every day I don't turn on my TV the cable company is "stealing TV" from me.

Come on.

You are paying for a limited amount of data, not an unlimited amount of content. Its totally different. Its like having to prepay for a certain amount of water or electricity. You pay that amount no matter how much actual water or electricity you use. And then they take your extra allotment at the end of the mount. That sounds fair to you?

Stealing? You are paying them for a service you agreed to aren't you?

Yes its stealing. Why should we have to pay for a certain amount of data, and the not be able to access it a month later? Did the data go bad? If I buy a pound of beans from the grocery store, and I haven't gotten to using them, should stores be allowed to take them back, and then I have to buy another pound because I might cook up something?

Do you expect an insurance company to pay you back your full premium when you don't have a car accident? I look at data rates the same way. You need to buy as much data as you feel comfortable using. If you constantly buy 5gb and only use 2gb, maybe you should just switch to 2gb plan? It is the same with insurance rates. They aren't stealing from you as you are the one determining the amount of coverage you're willing to pay for!

Buying data is not like buying insurance. When you buy insurance, the company takes on a lot of risk, and thats what they charge you for. How is att taking on risks by supplying a pipeline for data?

 

[lederermc]

When are the phone companies going to stop stealing from us?

I buy 10Gb of data in a month, at a price that is far higher than in many other countries. If I use only 7Gb, they simply steal the data I paid for.

The next month I use 11Gb, and they hit me with an overage charge. Even if I only used 1Gb a month for a year, and they have stolen 108Gb from me, they will still charge me extra if I go even a Kb over on the 13th month.

It is a disgusting practice, and this move by AT&T is one step ahead of literally the least they could do.

So how about they announce they are not going to steal anymore? A fair price for a decent service, and if I pay for it, I get to keep it until I use it.

I feel for you but we're not talking about a gallon of gas that can sit in your tank. Data access is a time depend commodity. If it goes unused, you can't go back in time and use it... Completely useless like an airplane seat after take off.

You agreed to it the plan when you signed up. If you don't like it then drop them and go to T-Mobile.

 

[joshdammit]

This is like saying that every day I don't turn on my TV the cable company is "stealing TV" from me.

Come on.

Does your cable company meter your usage? No? You get unlimited television watching per month? Then it doesn't remotely compare to what he was talking about.

...

This is why analogies should be used only to further explain something, instead of a substitute for a rational argument.

What he said made perfect sense. If you're given 10gb a month, and you only use 1gb one month and 11gb the next, that's 12gb out of the 20gb total you would have. Yes, we're aware that the terms of the contract stipulate you get 10 a MONTH, not 20 every TWO MONTHS. From a practical standpoint, however, it still sucks. You're paying for access to your carrier's data network, and that money is going towards maintenance and upkeep of the network as well as employee salaries. If you go under your data allotment one month, they take the same amount of money from you either way, even if you are technically taking it easy on their network by using less data. But the following month, you go over, and you're charged a fee to make up for all that extra bandwidth you're taking up. What happened to the extra money they made off of you the prior month? That's theirs now because you agreed to those terms. They don't owe you anything, and that really sucks.

We signed a 24 month contract for a monthly allotment of data (and phone service, of course.) Rather than giving you a set allotment of data, they're breaking it into monthly increments, effectively creating wide open penalty windows within the life of the contract where they have the right to arbitrarily bill us extra service fees. Now get ready, because I'm about to use an analogy PROPERLY:
This would be like signing a three year lease for your car, and getting billed extra for going over 12,000 miles one year, even though you went under 12,000 miles the following year.

See how it feels like they're stealing from us? We sign a contract for 24 months worth of 10gb per month, so it makes sense to assume we get 240gb over two years. That was clearly not the case, however. With AT&T's 1 month limitation on data rollover, they're essentially only slightly closing those wide penalty windows they have on our contract.

 

[macduke]

This was literally done just to have a bullet point that says data rollover so that they can say that they have it in commercials. Then 80% of customers who hear that think it's the same as T-Mobile. I think T-Mobile should rebrand their rollover system to emphasize the annual nature of their rollover plan.

At least this is a step in the right direction. Now if Verizon would play ball then I'd be all set. Monthly rollover would at least keep me from going over most of the time. I usually only go over when traveling which usually isn't back to back months. Although Verizon did bump up my data plan to 6GB plus that 1GB of promotional data I got when I upgraded my iPhone. I'm a couple weeks into my cycle and have only used 0.58GB (light holiday load) according to my Verizon notification center widget (which is an awesome feature). Most months I would probably roll over at least 3GB.

 

[lederermc]

.... Same with ESPN that I almost never watch. ...

This actually is stealing from you and the millions of people that don't watch ESPN. Your Cable company agreed to charge everyone $4 or $5 per month so everyone can get ESPN for "free". ESPN is costly and should be a premium channel like HBO/SHO etc. Forcing everyone (cable users) to pay for it revolting.

 

[MrXiro]

Go start your own company and run it at 0 profit. Let me know how that works for you

At&t runs at 0 profit? That is news to me...

Quit being an apologist for a company that gouges their customers, same goes for Comcast and TWC.

The only credit I give to At&t is that their customer service has been the best of any of the companies I've ever used and I've been with all of the big 4.

Sprint couldn't give a damn about their customers, I told them I was walking and they said it was fine with them. This was during the Dan Hesse era. I don't know how the new guy is doing.

Verizon are just a straight bunch of pricks. I will never shop with them ever again. Wouldn't even SELL me a SIM card even though I accidentally burned mine for my iPad.

Tmobile customer service is clueless and the in store reps use shady tactics (sneaking JUMP! onto your bill without asking permission).

And for your information I have run my own business and I don't nickel and dime people and still made a profit. There is thing called fair trade and then there is a thing called price gouging.

Letting your customers hold onto their data for 12 months costs you NOTHING. But high priced data caps with high priced overages, throttling once unlimited plans, extremely low point of entry data packages are all things that is considered bad business practices... maybe you should take a course or two in business before you smart off on people.

 

[Small White Car]

This is why analogies should be used only to further explain something, instead of a substitute for a rational argument.

I think you haven't gotten to my expanded explanation. I'd love to hear your response to it since nothing you said to me really addressed my point.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20571072/

Now get ready, because I'm about to use an analogy PROPERLY:
This would be like signing a three year lease for your car, and getting billed extra for going over 12,000 miles one year, even though you went under 12,000 miles the following year.

Cell networks have bandwidth capacity issues. Cars do not.

So no, it's not a good analogy since it (and you) are ignoring the very important aspect. If everyone tried to use all of their data in the same 10 minutes of the year it just wouldn't work. That's an issue that has to be acknowledged.

 

[Xultar]

Well, at least it's something. Not bad! I wonder if it will apply to the 30GB promo users?

Yes it does. I just gave up my unlimited plan on my phone, laptop connect and ipad for this deal.

I thought I'd die with my unlimited sims clutched in my cold dead hands. But the rollover got me. Even if it is for one month it's fine with me.

I switched today.

 

[rantor49]

If they reduced your overall bill by 50 cents and go wow we reduced your bill!!! <3 it would be the same to this, half assed.

Huh? So getting to roll over gbs of data from month to month is a bad thing? And only worth 50 cents? The ATT hate is strong here. T-Mobile can do this because the coverage sucks!! I don't care if they give it away if I can't use it reliably.

 

[toph2toast]

When are the phone companies going to stop stealing from us?

I buy 10Gb of data in a month, at a price that is far higher than in many other countries. If I use only 7Gb, they simply steal the data I paid for.

The next month I use 11Gb, and they hit me with an overage charge. Even if I only used 1Gb a month for a year, and they have stolen 108Gb from me, they will still charge me extra if I go even a Kb over on the 13th month.

It is a disgusting practice, and this move by AT&T is one step ahead of literally the least they could do.

So how about they announce they are not going to steal anymore? A fair price for a decent service, and if I pay for it, I get to keep it until I use it.

I'm sure in the fine print it says something like "you pay to use XGB of data per month and by not using all of it, you forfeit the remaining data". I mean, I have unlimited data, so does that mean I should only pay for 1 month of data then expect to have unlimited use the rest of my life? This was never an issue prior to the smartphone boom when you would buy a specific number of minutes and texts per month.

The amount of data for both T-mobile and AT&T still expires, whether it be in 1 month, 2 months or 12 months. You may have more time to use that data, but it will still go away at some period of time.

 

[31 Flavas]

You obviously don't have ATT. If you switch to a lesser plan, your actual plan costs go up so it is in fact CHEAPER to have the 20GB plan.

We just went through this. All of ATTs plans are seesaws. Reduce your data plan and the plan costs go up and you have less data. Buy the larger data plan and your other plan fees go down.

They do this because you pay more for data they they know you will NEVER actually use.

Oh really? I mean, it's not like AT&T has an target that your monthly bill should average. How dare you try and cut AT&T out of their fair share of your money. Heathen.