Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Considering Modifications to Deadline for iPad Unlimited 3G Service Activations
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Now let's assume modest usage of streaming, one movie a day. That's going to add up to something like 1 gb a day, and 30 a month. That will cost 375$ on the new pricing plan and 30$ on the old plan or a ~1200% price increase. Sure such usage might be considered "hogging" to most, but the plan was advertised as allowing that so its all within the terms offered. If ATT couldn't provide such bandwidth they should have never advertised that they could offer it.
Tell it to the FTC...
Yup... Tell it to the FTC... Join the others who have filled out the form. Only takes a few minutes. Be sure to include this source you found.
https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
Yup... Tell it to the FTC... Join the others who have filled out the form. Only takes a few minutes. Be sure to include this source you found.
https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
Activating iPad SIM for unlimited 3G
Even if you don't have an iPad, you can still buy a SIM and activate it for use in any device:
http://modmyi.com/forums/unlocking-activation/712894-activating-ipad-3g-sim-without-ipad.html
Even if you don't have an iPad, you can still buy a SIM and activate it for use in any device:
http://modmyi.com/forums/unlocking-activation/712894-activating-ipad-3g-sim-without-ipad.html
I read in the Apply Forums that it is not possible to tether iPhone 4 with the iPad. Some people say that this may be possible when iPad gets the 4.0 upgrade. Did I read this wrong?
Movie steaming over 3G is now dead. It works out (at a lowball 500mb/flick) to be around $6.50 a movie. In addition to whatever you paid to access the movie.
As AT&T is itself a "cable" provider it's not hard to understand their motivation to kill streaming services such as Netflix. Just wait till they start doing this for home broadband. How many of you have a broadband provider that isn't interesting in preserving the traditional subscription model?
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Sure it could be, but if their prize- however it is paid- is not big enough, why are they going to bother taking it on? This is small potatoes no matter how I try to calculate a potential prize: not enough people affected, not enough dollars to claim lost by those people. Apple can kill the whole thing by offering to refund for all 3G iPads purchased through June 7, but for all the gripes, how many would actually return their iPad 3Gs?
OK, but we know that there have only been about 2M iPads sold worldwide. And we know a very large number of those are wifi iPads (wasn't the 1M number shared before the first 3G was delivered?). So, this too is at most "hundreds of thousands" of people (only those in North America who could get the deal with AT&T).
Similarly, I think the prize for the iPod battery exceeded $10M, where I can't figure out any scenario where the prize for this iPad mess getting even close to that. If I did end up with only $20 from the iPod battery class action, why would anyone expect anything more than $20 for this hypothetical iPad class action?
I understand about being mad about the situation- very, very poor actions on AT&Ts (and maybe Apple's too) part. But for those heating up for some kind of class action, I just don't see any big outcome win for claimants.
The only way I see this getting any real resolution is to get the masses to quit/refuse AT&T, until AT&T comes out with better deals for customers. However, that won't happen. They'll report more subscriber growth again at the end of the quarter. There is no measurable punishment for such action... just more revenues & profits. That's why they choose to do such things, get away with it, and get rewarded for it.
I read the interview on TUAW, that is not Apple or AT&Ts website. No one can direct me to a place on an Apple or AT&T website that specifically says if you cancel you cannot restart
This guys is apparently a marketing/pressroom lackey for AT&T.
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=1916
He obviously has never actually run a complex network in his life. The problem is that they are not outliers if the population grows significantly. Huge assumptions here. One, that most folks would gravitate to WiFi. Second, that size of the 'outlier' population won't increase if you encourage the population to grow. Meanwhile in the part of AT&T that is committed to service level obligations there was a large dilbert moment groan.
Does anyone know how we get notified that we've used our 2GB? Will we get an explicit choice as to whether to pay for a new month or will it automatically charge and keep chugging?
There is nothing that says you can "restart". When you cancel the plan you terminate/exit. It is done. not binding. over. You could sign up for a new plan. But you were not restarting it because the last one is over. You had to enter a new agreement.
As a courtesy the plan has clause a automatically renew at same terms option. That is only good for immediately renewing on a rolling basis. Stop the roll, clause disappears.
Under the 250 MB plan there were multiple notifications (20% , 10%, 0%) . Should be in the AT&T FAQ/documentation somewhere. Can't imagine why exact same feature would not be leveraged for 2GB.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
They don't have to show it. When you cancel, you've ended your service. When you return to sign up (anew) again, there just won't be that same option.
For example, right now, i have a DISH network subscription called "Absolute". It was a special offer they had a few years ago that was "all HD channels" for a low flat price. That deal ended a long time ago but it is grandfathered as long as I keep the subscription. I could call and cancel it today, go on vacation, then come back and want to sign up with DISH again. However, the "Absolute" option will not be available to me anymore because I ended the subscription.
The "grandfathering" is a courtesy. If I end that courtesy, I don't get re-grandfathered later on. Instead, I can choose from whatever deals they are offering at the time I want to (re)sign up for (new) service again. That's the case here. You can try to believe that since it doesn't say that somewhere, that it means you can enjoy, cancel, then get the same unlimited deal again. But i would not count on that at all.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Apparently, AT&T will alert you as you move toward the limit, but I haven't seen anything that will alert you at the limit.
And they don't want any automatic services as they make more money by people actually going over. With automatic service, everyone should sign up for the $15 deal and have it automatically upgrade. These companies are all about figuring out how to squeeze every possible dollar out of each customer.
For example, they could bill by the megabyte, so that lite users pay little and heavy users pay big. But they prefer these "blocks" because it makes them more money to get you to pay for data or minutes that you don't use. This is long-term ingrained in the industry, such as rounding up to the nearest minute for long distance billing.
Class actions are important for a few different reasons. (1) it is more efficient for courts to litigate silmilar claims in the same case (2) it makes it easier to remedy small dollar amount claims if they're repeated hundreds or thousands of times (i.e. not cost effective to sue over 100 bucks, but if it happens a hundred thousand times, it is cost effective) (3) generates negative press for defendant (4) costs a lot of money to litigate (5) final claim can still be hefty, even if individuals don't get much back.
Considering the cost of litigating a class action lawsuit and the potential award if they lose, this can motivate companies to avoid situations where they may expose themselves to such liability.
So the benefit isn't just the $20 gift card or whatever you get 5 years down the road.
How is that source useful? He states explicitly that his presumption is that most users are on WiFi ; not 3G. He is not promising large number of folks on 3G. The only promise is that some very small lunatic fringe won't get impeded. ...... well guess what ... is wasn't a small lunatic fringe.
FCC can't tap them on the head for making stupid predictions, but there is no promise here of unlimited bandwidth no matter how many people want it.
So you are dismissing his statement? Letting him off the hook?
I don't care who he is. He spoke on behalf of AT&T, and that's enough for me.
I use 4GB easily on my iphone
That's very interesting and bad if you depend on streaming during the day. I've been using over a year now an app called WUNDER RADIO, allowing me to stream radio station from all over the world. I have on average 4-6GB per month 64 or 128kbs stations.
That's very interesting and bad if you depend on streaming during the day. I've been using over a year now an app called WUNDER RADIO, allowing me to stream radio station from all over the world. I have on average 4-6GB per month 64 or 128kbs stations.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Thanks for the lesson. So what's really in this that could benefit us end users (claimants)? AT&T lives in a bad PR reality, so they don't really care much about that (unless it hits their ever-growing revenues very hard).
Is it going to force this unlimited deal back for iPad 3G owners? Not likely.
Is the max possible dollars at risk more than AT&T spends on- say- a month's office supplies?
Round and round this class action talk goes, but actions- and outcomes- speak louder than gripes, whines, etc. Via a class action lawsuit, how exactly can the claimants put it to AT&T (and/or Apple) so that either company would actually feel it, and do something different in the future?
We absolutely need a decent tired plan as you suggest.
I want to see 2 GB at $20 and 5GB at $30 with the 250mb at $15 staying or upped to 1 GB
Exactly, which is why they have effectively crippled the iPad and actually turned it into nothing better than a "large ipod".