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It reads to me like you won't have the choice of keeping the grandfathered $30 unlimited plan if you upgrade your device as has been the case before.

IOW, I can keep my unlimited as long as I stay on iphone4s, but the next iphone iteration won't allow that.

So, you're gonna want the $30/3GB plan, whether you want it or not.

Oh, and they aren't stupid. They meticulously analyze customer usage patterns and then determine the best way to hose us down in the bent over position.

I imagine they don't want that kinda bad pr. The current LTE phones are still unlimited with the grandfathered data plans...
 
Actually, it's $15 for 200MB (13.3MB/dollar). So $20 for 300MB is a better deal if you use it all (15MB/dollar).

Ah yes it was, I think I was thinking of the iPad data plans where 250MB was the $15 plan.
 
yeah but if you want the lowest data plan available it's still $20...that's ridiculous

The problem is that the plan isn't actually charging JUST for your data usage. It's ALSO charging the balance on some smartphone that people think costs $200. For example, if I buy an iPhone for $200, and ATT pays Apple my $200 plus another $400, then ATT has to find a way to get that money from me. Over two years, that's about $17 / month just to make up the difference interest-free.
 
Seriously?

No one forces you to be an AT&T customer. You are completely and legally allowed to purchase good&services from an AT&T competitor or to even simply go without a mobile phone of any kind.

You are not exactly being raped in the a$$ - unless maybe your AT&T store is in the local jail?

The hyperbole gets thick in these discussions. If you don't like the products AT&T sells - don't buy it. Problem solved.

You're AT&T's wet dream. They want more customers like you.
 
Not nearly enough

Here in Canada, the best plan we can get is 5 GB. I'd seriously like to know what percentage of customers will go with (and stay with) the 500 MB plan.

I recently took a trip within the country and didn't realize until the end of the second week of it how much I really depend upon my WiFi connection at home. My plan is 5 GB, and I ran out about half way through the trip (about two weeks before the end of the month). NOT looking forward to the bill on that one, because I know I went way...way...over. And this was under normal usage conditions too.
 
Take this with a grain of salt as it did come from AT&T, but I did confirm with 2 different service agents that,

1) The unlimited plan will stay with you if you are grandfathered in (which I believe is everyone that has an unlimited plan) and

2) the unlimited plan will also stay with you after you upgrade the phone next.

...but that is how it has been for years. There are 4S users (like me) that still have the $30/Unlimited plans that we got in 2009.
 
...but that is how it has been for years. There are 4S users (like me) that still have the $30/Unlimited plans that we got in 2009.

4S user also with the unlimited plan and the minute I hit 2.01 GB of usage I was throttled down to unusable speeds. The $30 for 3 GB doesn't sound so bad in my situation. I think I'll wait a month or two and see how much data I really use before making any changes though.
 
AT&T needs to bring back the unlimited data plan, Sprint offers unlimited data for a very reasonable price only $30 and At&t whats to charge $50 5gb thats crazy
 
Sooo...

Instead of:
$25/2gb = $12.50/gb

Now we have:
$30/3gb = $10.00/gb

Right???
 
How to lower your AT&T bill

All right everyone, here's how to lower your AT&T iPhone bill, assuming you don't use a TON of data every month. This will help some people (those who don't need a ton of minutes and data), and be irrelevant to others.

Use their Pay As You Go system. No contract and amazingly affordable plans.

For $25/month, you get 250 minutes and unlimited texts. (Unlimited minutes is $50/month.) Pay $25 up-front and you get 500MB of data, then $5/month for 10 megabytes will allow you to roll it over every month. (I use under 50MB every month so this lasts a lonnnngg time for me.)

So essentially you pay $25 up front (for the 5GB data package), then $30/month afterward for everything. If you buy an iPhone 4S unlocked and go with this plan, it's all more than paid for in under 10 months (and you're not tied into a contact).

When you're not already locked into a contract, this is a GREAT plan. Can't beat paying $30/month for everything you need.
 
Sooo...

Instead of:
$25/2gb = $12.50/gb

Now we have:
$30/3gb = $10.00/gb

Right???

On it's face, your analysis is correct. However, you miss the fact that most people use less than 1GB of data a month, and almost never go over 2 GB. By forcing them to pay $30 for 3GB, AT&T is forcing customers to pay more money for data they likely won't use, even though customers are technically getting a better rate.

And for the record, the $20 for 300MB is the biggest ripoff I've seen in a long time! That comes out to $66.67 per GB!!!
 
Come on. Why don't they make it 500 MB- $15, 1 GB- $20, 2GB- $25, 3GB- $30 and whatever. I don't nearly use my 2GB and totally don't need 3. People are not so stupid that they need these "simpler" plans.
 
Take this with a grain of salt as it did come from AT&T, but I did confirm with 2 different service agents that,

1) The unlimited plan will stay with you if you are grandfathered in (which I believe is everyone that has an unlimited plan) and

2) the unlimited plan will also stay with you after you upgrade the phone next.
This isn't the case for users upgrading from the original iPhone (which requires $19.99/month unlimited 2G (GPRS+EDGE) data and 200 SMS plan) to 3G-based iPhone.

And I strongly doubt customer agents know anything about what AT&T will require with iPhone LTE.
 
Guys - I'm on a 2GB/month plan and want to use Pandora semi-regularly. Haven't tried it yet on 3G in the car.

Can anyone who uses Pandora recommend what they think would be a reasonable plan for occasional monthly use?

Thanks!
 
Get AT&T to look at the plans we get in Canada. I pay $30 for 6GB. This plan is not offered all the time, usually for about a month or two when a new iPhone gets released, and then maybe again around Christmas, and when it does get offered all the carriers offer it. Sure it's not unlimited but I watch Netflix and hockey frequently and tether an hour or two per weekday on the train and use maybe 3GB at most.
 
part of the problem is that AT&T has no shame, or ever will...

The Best Buy Mobile representative ALMOST gave me the 4gb for $30 plan until someone said, "you can't discount that, the 4S isn't a 4g phone". AT&T's iPhone 4S is the same speed as 4g! What a myth...

AT&T is very good at telling big tales in the effort to close a deal... for themselves.



If the carriers' concern truly was that their network capacity is limited, they would allow customers to purchase a block of data and have it roll over when it is used up. There would not be any recurring monthly charges. Buy 10gigs for $100, keep it on your phone for as long as you want. 2 years later if you still have not used it all, the remaining data is still there... No new data charges until you roll over from 10 gigs.

THAT would motivate people to get on wifi and use wifi whenever possible. That would motivate people to not use so much bandwidth on the carriers' networks.

What the hell is this crap?!

A fair plan would have been this:

Plan 1) $10/month for 500 Megs.
Plan 2) $20/month for 1GB, tethering included.

$5 for each additional 500 Megs.

Done.

This isn't costing them anymore. They are already making fat money on their plans. They are not offering anything better, but are raising prices.

Both of these ideas makes a lot of sense, but not the maximum "cents" that AT&T is clearly after. ;)
 
Every time there is a price hike people always seem dumbfounded that a for-profit company is wanting to maximize their profits.

If you don't like what is going on the solution is simple.....switch carriers. Make a statement with your wallet. The reason hardly anyone does that is because, in the end, an extra $60/year is really a nominal number.
 
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This is their solution? To get rid of some of the cheaper options and make it even more expensive?

Honestly, they should have kept the $15 price point and bumped up the data limit from 250MB to 300MB as a courtesy.

Bumping up the rates with modest limit increases is just plain greedy. Thanks anyway, AT&T.

So this is basically a price hike.

Across the board price increase. For no reason. This doesn't serve customers in the slightest. Nor does this compete with Verizon's 4GB for $30 or Sprint's unlimited plan.

When I saw the headline, I was momentarily excited. I thought maybe we'd finally get family data. Or maybe a new cheaper plan for those of us that actually know how to conserve data and are primarily on wifi. But then I read the details, and it's full-on fail.

I'm paying them $1 per MB already. Isn't that enough profit?

Greedy bastards.

Great. They want customers to help subsidize AT&T's $3 billion (plus 4G spectrum worth about $1 billion) breakup fee to T-Mobile.

This seems pretty worthless... they're working up their cheapest plan back to $30 by keeping their lowest data down next to nothing (mb). If 3gb is $30, 5gb is $50, and an additional 1gb is only $10... give us 1gb for $10 and that's it! :p

... So, now there is absolutely no incentive to drop the unlimited data plan unless you absolutely have to have official tethering.

Just when you thought AT&T couldn't get more greedy...

And this is precisely why I won't ever sign-up with AT&T again, they just don't care about customers enough to offer them a reasonable value of service for what they are actually charging them for. THANK GOODNESS that the T-Mobile merger finally fell through last month!



Why are you folks even surprised?

Without true carrier competition in the USA, which will only happen if they are forced to use the same frequencies, technology, and share TOWERS, this is to be expected.

what is BS and should be illegal is that you can't tether or hotspot on the 3 gb plan, you're buying an amount of data not what you can do with it. That's lilke saying you can't use speakerphone unless you're on the 900 min/month package. Euros all get this and nobody cares or wants more for tethering.

Sadly, both these points are true.



These are blatant price hikes. Most users need more than 300 MB. But, 3 GB? I don't think so. 2 GB is no different than 3 GB because the average consumer doesn't likely use nearly that much. So, instead of paying $25, people now have to pay $30.

I'm going to go tether on my grandfathered unlimited plan now, just because. Internet nannies come get me. Me tethering is "illegal", but corporations charging unfair prices is a "legal contract". Right.

Hey, I'm not mad at you, sounds good to me. :cool:
 
So this is basically a price hike.

Does this apply to unlimited users as well? I have a 3GS that I pay $30 for the unlimited data. This won't change will it? And what if I decide to upgrade to an iPhone 5? Can I still keep my unlimited data or will I have to switch to the new plans?

I'm in the same boat. If I have to "upgrade" my plan, I'll switch when I get an IP5. Like the "pay by the minute" plans, the phone companies will continue to gouge us until someone comes out with a better option. Sprint: This is your opportunity. Get your performance up, and you'll have more customers than you know what to do with.
 
small bandwidth

Guys - I'm on a 2GB/month plan and want to use Pandora semi-regularly. Haven't tried it yet on 3G in the car.

Can anyone who uses Pandora recommend what they think would be a reasonable plan for occasional monthly use?

Thanks!

I listen to internet radio at 64K ACC bit rate (whatever this means), which comes out to be 20 to 30 MB per hour based on my observation.
 
according to basic algebra, it would then follow that...

more smartphone users = more revenue generated to maintain profit margins...


it's nothing more than money grab.

Maybe you should re-take Algebra I...

More smartphone users does not necessarily equate to more revenue generated because the network has to be strengthened (costs money) in order to support a large influx of new smartphone customers. For any business to succeed, money has to be spent first, before you get any returns. I'm just happy I have unlimited data for all my devices.
 
Because unlimited isn't unlimited. People are being throttled when they hit 2GB of usage in many areas. At least with these plans you won't be tethered.

Exactly. This may sound crazy, but I'm actually considering dumping my unlimited data for the 3G plan. Why get throttled at 2GB when for the same price I can get 3GB?
 
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