AT&T Customers With Grandfathered Unlimited iPad Data Plans Will See Throttling After 22GB of Usage

[aristobrat]

These companies are offering an expensive service and it is not the fault of customers that they refuse to significantly upgrade their infrastructure to handle the traffic demands of today.

In terms of the specific AT&T Unlimited plan this thread is about:

It was only available "for sale" during a few months in 2010.
It was only available to people who owned the first-gen iPad, which was a 3G device.
Netflix (and other major pay video streaming services) were NOT on iOS at that time.

As for AT&T offering an expensive service:
2010: $29.99/month
2017: $29.99/month

As for AT&T infrastructure upgrades:
2010: 3G speeds
2017: LTE speeds in many areas approaching 100 Mbps (based on uploaded screenshots here)

And somewhere along the line, someone figured out how you could use this NOT EXPENSIVE service to tether. Now that the infrastructure has been upgraded in many areas to where LTE speeds are capable of supporting multiple devices, people are buying this specific AT&T Unlimited plan on eBay (often times paying over $1000 to get it) and canceling their home Internet.

I've been using US carrier data plans since 2002 when I had to import my first Microsoft smartphone (Orange SPV) from eBay UK. As many complaints as I have had/currently have about wireless carriers, how AT&T has handled this specific Unlimited plan over the last seven years is definitely not one of them.

 

[idunn]

Hi David (or "Consumer" of choice),

We hope you're enjoying surfing, streaming, downloading, gaming, watching, and more on your iPad. Heads up: Starting on May 24, 2017, you're getting screwed.

That's right, when we advertised and sold you an "unlimited" data plan we didn't really mean it—or in any event didn't really consider the consequences.

So guess what? Beginning late May your "unlimited" plan is effectively useless in this age of high bandwidth and multi GB use.

Sorry? Does that sound right? Never mind. You're just another slub and mindless consumer to us. You'll likely get over it and forget this in five minutes—even if your bank account will not.

Happy days,
Your pals at AT&T

 

[FelixDerKater]

What if we let the pennies trickle in after the first $100 of the bill is paid? Hmmm.

 

[JackieInCo]

[

Yeah but can you make a call? I think tmo is still ****

T-Mobile isn't all that. Here in Denver, I can make a call on AT&T but I have to be on WiFi to do anything else or use my iPhone with T-Mobile tethering enabled to use the net.

T-Mobile Kicks AT&T to the curb here in Denver. Both of these speeds are mid day tests. Same factory unlocked 6S+. The VPN in one cap is from Adguard

 

[lazard]

Hi David (or "Consumer" of choice),

We hope you're enjoying surfing, streaming, downloading, gaming, watching, and more on your iPad. Heads up: Starting on May 24, 2017, you're getting screwed.

That's right, when we advertised and sold you an "unlimited" data plan we didn't really mean it—or in any event didn't really consider the consequences.

So guess what? Beginning late May your "unlimited" plan is effectively useless in this age of high bandwidth and multi GB use.

Sorry? Does that sound right? Never mind. You're just another slub and mindless consumer to us. You'll likely get over it and forget this in five minutes—even if your bank account will not.

Happy days,
Your pals at AT&T

except 99% of the people on the plan don't surf, download, watch, or game on their ipad...they just use it as a hotspot so they can surf, download, watch or game on their desktop, laptop, tv, etc.

 

[mikecorp]

Then stop call it "UNLIMITED".
[doublepost=1493620500][/doublepost]

except 99% of the people on the plan don't surf, download, watch, or game on their ipad...they just use it as a hotspot so they can surf, download, watch or game on their desktop, laptop, tv, etc.

How do you know? Who cares it is unlimited.

 

[mlody]

Another reason to switch from att. I really can't think of a reason to use them anymore.

Coverage?

 

[thekeyring]

except 99% of the people on the plan don't surf, download, watch, or game on their ipad...they just use it as a hotspot so they can surf, download, watch or game on their desktop, laptop, tv, etc.

So? That's a feature of iPad. AT&T didn't sell 'unlimited data under certain conditions'.

 

[JackieInCo]

Coverage?

What God is coverage if the data speeds are not even half a mb. See my screen caps a few posts up. T-Mobile wind hands down on coverage and data speeds in my area.

 

[belvdr]

What God is coverage if the data speeds are not even half a mb. See my screen caps a few posts up. T-Mobile wind hands down on coverage and data speeds in my area.

In my area, T-Mobile offers no data or voice, so people opt for AT&T or Verizon which gives around 10 Mbps. It is great you can choose any of the three carriers, but it really depends on the user and their area.

 

[JackieInCo]

In my area, T-Mobile offers no data or voice, so people opt for AT&T or Verizon which gives around 10 Mbps. It really depends on the user.

Actually, it depends on the area. Here, Verizon and AT&T have poor coverage. Sprint and T-Mobile are the best carriers.

 

[Gasu E.]

AT&T needs to look up the definition of "unlimited".

Maybe you should try looking that up yourself. The first thing you will notice is that "unlimited" is an adjective. That means it is meaningless without it being understood what the noun is that it is modifying. I (and ATT) think the "noun" is the amount of data you can download/upload. What do you think it is? The speed of the download? Clearly that's absurd. The speed of the download is limited by the capabilities of the technology/laws of physics, as well as the available bandwidth and congestion. It's not infinite, even in theory.

I hate how companies use the word "may" when warning that something will happen. Just be honest. "May" means "will". They will throttle the alleged "unlimited" data.

No, for a long time, networks have supported different service levels, which determine relative priorities of the various users if conflicts occur during times of congestion. If you exceed your quota, you will be assigned a lower service level tag. It's like having a traffic cop who prioritizes who gets through a congested intersection. If traffic is light he will quickly wave you through, regardless of your usage. If it's heavy, you may have to wait until someone else goes through.

 

[load97]

Sucks ballz, another corporate giant toting unlimited, that really isn't unlimited 100% of the time. The unlimited word is so twisted. Should have an addendum after the word unlimited*



*full speed when we feel you deserve it.


I'll probably be switching bat to ATT soon enough because of coverage issue though. VZW is no better.

 

[zorinlynx]

All I can think of is those few people who were outright bragging on the forum that they were using 200-300GB of data a month on these plans.

This is what you get when you abuse resources, folks.

 

[lazard]

So? That's a feature of iPad. AT&T didn't sell 'unlimited data under certain conditions'.

They didn't sell "unlimited data at LTE speeds" either

 

[thekeyring]

All I can think of is those few people who were outright bragging on the forum that they were using 200-300GB of data a month on these plans.

This is what you get when you abuse resources, folks.

They paid for unlimited data, knowing they would use a lot. Would it be better if they paid for data they would never use?

 

[TurboPGT!]

I hate when articles are so misleading and click-baity like this. It's still unlimited. Users will still likely be able to use 30, 40, 50, even 100GB and beyond on their iPad. It IS NOT a throttle. It IS NOT a data cap.

What it IS, is deprioritization. Your data is prioritized lower than other users ONLY DURING TIMES OF CONGESTION. And that doesn't mean you are going to see a hard cap to your speeds, you are just going to see slightly slowed speeds so that other users will have enough bandwidth and higher priority.

This is why everybody is so wrongly antagonistic and hostile toward the new unlimited plans, because they are convinced there is a 22GB **CAP** where you will be throttled down to unusable speeds. That is NOT the case, and people are unable to understand that because of constant misleading articles such as this.

Yes, speeds *might* be slowed. But only in areas that are very congested. Most users are not going to be on a super congested tower all the time where you'd actually see this "deprioritization".

If this translates to the real world experience of the user, then it is a great thing. I like it way better than overage charges.

Most people haven't seemed to notice that their "deprioritization" is now a feature of all the limited plans as well. So I can choose a 10 GB plan and not worry that my devices are definitely going to try to go over that. If they do, it's free. And the experience will vary from normal performance, to slower.
[doublepost=1493659589][/doublepost]Basically all the plans are now "Unlimited" in the sense that you can gladly exceed your allotment of "High Priority Data" and not get charged. You just have to decide how much data you need every month before you can afford to shift to "Low Priority Data".

 

[zorinlynx]

If this translates to the real world experience of the user, then it is a great thing. I like it way better than overage charges.

Most people haven't seemed to notice that their "deprioritization" is now a feature of all the limited plans as well. So I can choose a 10 GB plan and not worry that my devices are definitely going to try to go over that. If they do, it's free. And the experience will vary from normal performance, to slower.
[doublepost=1493659589][/doublepost]Basically all the plans are now "Unlimited" in the sense that you can gladly exceed your allotment of "High Priority Data" and not get charged. You just have to decide how much data you need every month before you can afford to shift to "Low Priority Data".

Are you sure about this? I haven't exceeded my plan yet on AT&T (Mobile Share Advantage 6GB), but the site said that if you exceed your allowance you will be *throttled* to 128kbps.

This is very different than being de-prioritized.

 

[T-R-S]

Switched from At&T to T-Moible my wife & I pay $100.00 per month total no surprises on the bill we have had it for 2 months or so everything is perfect I alone was doing 10GB/month on At&T and always had to watch and make sure my wi-fi was on Today we are doing about 18GB/mth total I never watch my streaming at all (ever) We got $300.00 in Visa cards for switching - plus we travel to Canada zero roaming fees zero data roaming fees zero long distance calling.
T-Moble is actually a cell phone company that makes it convenient to use the service. All I can say it works for me - no regrets switching from At&T

 

[Southern Dad]

Personally, I understand that this is a business decision that AT&T has to make. I've enjoyed this plan since 2010 with the original iPad. When the plans were sold, the amount of data that we consumed was far less because the AT&T coverage maps were a bit weaker and we were using 3G. It's been a great seven year run. I am able to accept that after 22 gigabytes I may see some slow down or throttling when tower usage is heavy. It's not the end of the world.

 

[ateslik]

We just switched off the grandfathered plan last month. We got to add two family members because the new Unlimited Plus plan is no longer limited to only 4 people. We now get Mexico and Canada included, and 10Gb tethering - which has been awesome. I was paying $130/mo on the GFU, now in the ULP I'm paying $80/mo. The grandfathered plan offers no advantage over the new Unlimited Plus plan. Tmobile would have been cheaper by $10/mo, but for that money we all got to keep the coverage we know works well for all of us already in our 4 different cities nationwide.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Are you sure about this? I haven't exceeded my plan yet on AT&T (Mobile Share Advantage 6GB), but the site said that if you exceed your allowance you will be *throttled* to 128kbps.

This is very different than being de-prioritized.

It "says" the same thing about Unlimited plans too. But as OP was pointing out, it isn't a hard cutover, and isn't likely to be as bad in real world.

 

[Nautilus007]

Truth be told, I'm sure there were a few people using massive amounts of data (in the terabytes or even more) on AT&T's network using hotspots who ruined it for everyone.

Id love to know the single person responsible for the decision and why they even bothered thinking about these plans, I can't imagine there are that many.

 

[zorinlynx]

It "says" the same thing about Unlimited plans too. But as OP was pointing out, it isn't a hard cutover, and isn't likely to be as bad in real world.

I should probably just use up all my data near the end of my billing period to see what happens.

Anyone ever download a torrent over cellular? Seems like a fast way to do it.

 

[BeSweeet]

In this case, "may" means "will." So MR just stopped playing the game and got right to the point. Network congestion could mean a million things under the sun.

As in... anything you say *may* be used against you in a court of law. HINT: EVERYTHING you say that CAN be used against you in a court of law WILL be used against you.

You're right. I forgot that with AT&T, "may" probably is just "will."