AT&T Replaces iPad Unlimited Data Plan with 2GB Capped Plan for New Customers

[thatisme]

If you are an existing customer you will be allowed to keep the $29.99 Unlimited plan for the iPad.

I believe a ton of us are in the same boat. I for one, am.

I was really hyped up for the ability to cancel the plan and re-do it when needed for the unlimited. I started it the day my ipad arrived, and had every intention to cancel on day 29, then order it again when I knew I would be travelling. Now, if I do that, from what I've read, that I would be now forced to the 2GB cap plan when activating again.

At that price for service, it is no difference than getting a mifi on a contract...

5GB = 60.00 on mifi
4GB = 50.00 on iPad plan.
6GB = 75.00 on iPad plan.

So no real deal here. Just another highly overpriced, underwhelming service. Way to go AT&T.

 

[marksman]

Really? I find articles on several sites the exact opposite. Take off the blinders and think about the fact ATT has a small 3G footprint. There's clearly a map for that... They just want you to think they handle so much data, read this site and then make a comment.

Amazing how many apologists stand up for a company with average service and fails to deliver on two promises in just over a year. (tethering, now this)

Actually, that article has been recently refuted, and AT&T says they carry 50% of ALL data traffic in the US. That means as much as all other carriers combined.

Reality sucks eh?

One of the big selling points of the 3G iPad was that you could turn it on when you needed 3G and off when you didn't. $30 a month, month-to-month. Unless you can assure me that just because I own a 3G iPad before June 7th I get to keep the $30 plan, even if I turn off my 3G service for a particular month, then I call BS.

Probably not going to happen, but there is a $25 plan that gets you 2 gigs a month that will meet most peoples needs just fine.

Yeah! I never eat my entire entree at a restaurant. Why should I pay as much as someone that does? ::eyeroll::

Yeah real good comparison. Oh wait no its not. It would be more like if you went to a gas station and they charged you $50 to fill up. Doesn't matter how full your tank is, or how big the tank on your car/truck/suv is.. $50 to fill er up.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The iPads would butt-rape AT&T's crappy network without a data cap. I'm surprised they didn't do it from the start.

Let's turn-on the wayback time machine and see what ATT's CEO says about that:

From 3/31/10 CNET Article: (Bold added for emphasis.)

"One of the bigger surprises about the iPad when it was introduced was the sweet 3G prepaid subscription deal Apple and AT&T are offering.

But it turns out, AT&T's CEO doesn't anticipate many people will even use it.

At an investor conference Wednesday, Randall Stephenson predicted that Apple's tablet computer...will primarily be "a Wi-Fi-driven product," according to Reuters.

"My expectation is that there's not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription," Stephenson said. "



So, while what you say is in the common sense realm, clearly ATT's leader is too far up in his ATT tower to understand the reality on the ground. Just weeks prior to the 3G launch he told investors he did not believe the 3G would be a huge seller. May I say the emperor has no clothes?

Stephenson may think he has made a quick fix here, but he has alienated a lot of previously happy customers like myself. A 2nd iPhone carrier didn't excite me all that much until today, thanks not to ATT's network, but ATT's brilliant CEO.

 

[Cecco]

I will be selling my 3G iPad because of this You hear that Apple and AT&T!? I had enough..GOODBYE!

Hey everyone...copy my response and maybe AT&T will get rid of this 2GB cap.

Ahemm, did I misunderstand something?

The iPad is not locked to a carrier, isn't it?

So why bashing the iPad, because one carrier changes his plans? Can't you simply switch to another carrier?

Here in Europe you can get cheap plans from smaller carriers. Well, their coverage is weaker than that of the main players, but that's simply the reason for the lower price. You have to decide, what is more important for you, good overall coverage or cheap price.

And if really no carrier offers you a comparable plan to what you had at AT&T, then you won't get it with another 3G device either.

So I understand, that you might quit with AT&T, but why getting rid of your iPad ???

 

[jlluna]

I am not happy, i travel allot and i use about 3gb a month with Mywi, so this is not good for me a have 3 other iphone on my account, Not Happy At All! i will try to keep my plan on unlimited as long as att lets me, but does that mean if i try to get the new iphone 4g i will have to go with the new plan?

 

[JediZenMaster]

Stephenson may think he has made a quick fix here, but he has alienated a lot of previously happy customers like myself. A 2nd iPhone carrier didn't excite me all that much until today, thanks not to ATT's network, but ATT's brilliant CEO.

I get where your coming from. But if verizon did offer the iPhone they would most likely not offer unlimited plans either.

I honestly think that verizon is going to do this with their smartphone plans also. So then the only providers you will be able to get true unlimited would be T-Mobile or Sprint and this could even trickle down to them too.

But to play devils advocate here if you have an iPad or iPhone plan already then your grandfathered in. So no worries then right?

 

[ldkaplan]

Bye-bye Pandora on the way to work.

So if I have unlimited and don't modify my plan, I will keep unlimited? I assume I will lose it when I upgrade to the next phone.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Bye-bye Pandora on the way to work.

So if I have unlimited and don't modify my plan, I will keep unlimited? I assume I will lose it when I upgrade to the next phone.

If you have the iPhone plan then you keep it.

 

[miles01110]

Shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone. It's a small miracle they offered an "unlimited" plan to begin with.

 

[j33pd0g]

So wasn't the iPad suppose to be about consumption? Does that bandwidth meter factor in application downloads, or fancy new magazine/newspaper subscriptions? I know you can do all of that via wi-fi, but sometimes a wi-fi connection isn't available when you're on the go.

 

[Spyderturbo007]

So is everyone calling to complain about this? I'm on hold right now. Not that they will probably care, but if then get 500,000 phone calls, they might re-evaluate the situation.

 

[shervieux]

I bet Apple is fuming over this. this was the whole point of their marketing. I know also there are a lot of businesses adopting these instead of laptops for their semi-road warriors (those who are sales, etc and those who do not need a work-horse on the road).

I was looking at data usage when travelling to the Bahamas. The average email is 5mb and can get much higher very quickly with attachments. But also think of this, it takes (according to what AT&T told me) 2-3 mb just to make the connection to check for mail. so your average mobile email is 7-8mb. Let's for the sake of keeping it simple and round this to 10mb (which is not unrealistic). Now for work, I receive probably 20 emails a day that I have to respond to (on a light day). That is 200mb a day. I would have used it up in 10 days, and that does not even include web-surfing, AIM, apps that require internet connection to stream, etc.

Luckily for me, I do not go anywhere that much. But I know many who are on the road a lot, and companies look down upon you always sitting in a coffee shop - but i know many would do it just to use the free wi-fi (although coffee shops looks down on you sitting there for hours - unless you are a huge coffee drinker). No wonder why so many business men are uptight and agitated.

 

[odedia]

People are missing the point.

These new terms go into effect on June 7th-wwdc day.

This means AT&T have no reason to please apple anymore.

This means that the iPhone exclusivity deal is officially over.

Verison iPhone on WWDC.

 

[shiseiryu1]

Great Bait and Switch

I'm so tired of AT&T and their crap.

 

[KarlOlsson]

Because when i purchased it, it was UNLIMITED! Dumbazz!

I don't understand. You need to use a lot of data for your business? Seems pretty worthwhile to you. Sure it sucks you cost goes up, but you do understand you are using more bandwidth than other people right? I guess sell your iPad. How will you upload your photos then, out of curiosity?




Again you are the reason why this exists. Why should people who use 5 megs a day be paying for you to use 2 gigs a day. Why has that been fair for the past couple of years?

Also seriously, does nobody have wifi? Wifi anyone? Anyone?

How the heck are u paying for My data use.....? really. wow thats a pretty stupid response! if so can you please refund my CC 2x29.99 , thankyou so much!

 

[Ted13]

So? Then keep the $30/month unlimited rate. Existing iPad customers aren't affected.

arn

Arn: I'm on the $15/250MB iPad plan right now -- do I have to upgrade before June 7th to the $30/Unlimited?

 

[Jarbo]

This will really screw some apps

Take MLB for example.

on the MLB site they EXPLICITLY recommend that you should have an unlimited plan.

From MLB.com Moblie FAQ:

Why do I need an unlimited data plan?
Video content requires large amounts of data. A single 30-second clip will use roughly 500KB of data which could easily run over your data plan's limits.

Not all carriers require an unlimited data plan. Some, such as AT&T, will let you access content on a pay-per-KB basis.

To avoid excessive carrier data charges, contact your carrier today and sign up for an unlimited data plan.

 

[VanNess]

In UK we got tariffs up to 10 GB.

I think your complains are a bit off in the case you are thinking on downloading movies from iTunes on the go, why don't you just do it at home on WiFi? If everyone would download entire series on 3G your network would explode.

I may understand streaming, but in my case I personally don't even bother with that as when I stream from YouTube in HD takes ages I just don't want to see the clip/movie in pieces.

You still don't have any other network beside ATT(for the iPad)?

AT&T's data performance is the limiting factor in my area, so downloading one of iTunes exclusively-for-the-iPad HD movie rentals over the data network isn't going to be a first choice. Still, it was nice to know it was an option, especially on the go, outside my area, where wifi isn't exactly ubiquitous.

 

[Xtgirl]

So basically, the device I bought to use cool 3G streaming apps like /netflix and ABC... well that will be pointless now...

From what I've read, one movie may use over 1GB...

This is extremely disappointing and before you say it... i know.. i can stay grandfathered, but on a whole there would only be a couple months a year i would be away from wifi and want to do this...and I would be over buying to cover myself(and my husband may not let me We just cancelled our mifi because the iPad's deal was so much better...

Yeah, i can still surf the web but i'll alway be wondering how quickly i"ll run out with the iPads bigger screen.

I feel like they pulled the bait and switch without even giving us a chance....have us buy into this awesome innovative plan and device, spend more money....oh nevermind, we changed our minds a month into it.

one of the best features of the plan was being able to turn it on and off when you want...

One thing i'm really unclear on...can you even do that under the new system? or can you only move from the lower data plan to the higher and vice versa..

i think they are worried about video chat on the new iphone using bandwidth.

I'm seriously pissed...its bad business to promise something and take it away almost immediately.

Now..if they grandfathered and allowed us to still decided month to month if we wanted to purchase the unlimited 30 dollar plan...then I wouldn't be mad, but we all know that won't happen.

I feel bad for the people who will not have their iPad before June 7th and won't have a choice...

I'm going to think very hard about whether I want to keep my 3G iPad...Its a great device, but they've seriously irritated me.

 

[Baycon]

1) This is a horrible move. Telecommunication companies have been like this forever though. "Unlimited" only meaning 2GB/5GB and the likes. However, taking from that quote a poster gave us on page 2 or 3, ATT really doesn't understand their customer.

2) For us, in Canada, we've been getting the shaft from day 1. The *ONLY* reason I am not getting an iPad, is because of the terrible data plans being offered by the 2 companies who have complete monopoly (at least where I currently live).

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/ipad-dataplans

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpWls_iPadPlans.page

$35 is the best we can do, at 5GB.

 

[Journojulz]

"on the $15 (200mb) plan, you'll pay $15 for each additional 200MB,
but on the $25 (2gb) plan, you'll pay $10 for each additional GB"

The fact is the 3g networks at at busting point - and with a new iphone on the way with a massively overspecced camera - the option of true unlimited is unrealistic.

Everyone has the freedom of buying an SUV and taking a weekend driving holiday in manhattan island - but if everyone did it at the same time....

Does it suck? Yes

Is it fair? Its reality.

The alternative to making people think about their responsibility is to let the whole system grind to a halt.

How much data is 2GB anyway in terms of typical media consumption?

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Many hotels include a complimentary high speed Internet connection in every room.

The convention was AT the hotel, I wasn't staying there.

It was an hour from my house, and at $20 in gas it was still cheaper than the $120 night discounted rates.

AND, when would it be ok to park a 5 & 10 yo (with cognitive skills at teh 7-8yo range) in a hotel room while I worked 10 hours down on the floor? Because, i'd never do that.

There was no wifi available where i was at in the hotel.

 

[Anuba]

Not really a unique AT&T thing, it's happened in other countries. Telia in Sweden used to have unlimited plans (and their plans were always among the most generous in the world, plus they have massive capacity reserves per user compared to AT&T), but it just didn't work. They have a 5 GB cap now for their top of the line plan. Near every base station was at least one little 15-year old b*tch who used the 3G network for downloading every torrent known to man, 24/7/365. The networks just aren't built for this. The unlimited plans rely on collective moderation and common sense. It's like a shared office connection except with less bandwidth. One such bandwidth hogger can be the cause of everything from sluggish browsing for everyone else, to dropped calls in an area. 10 years from now I'm sure the carriers will have tons of overcapacity on their 4G or 5G networks. Until then, enjoy your 2 GB cap and thank the iPad guy in your area who tried to download 50,000 apps simultaneously and made the SMS congestion on New Year's Eve look like a breeze by comparison.

 

[bytethese]

Ahemm, did I misunderstand something?

The iPad is not locked to a carrier, isn't it?

I take it you don't live in the US? There's only 2 major GSM carrier's here and AT&T is the only one you can get 3G on with an iPhone, iPad, etc. It's technically possible to use T-Mobile but their 3G frequencies are different and you would only obtain EDGE speeds on your device.

 

[david77]

You're grandfathered in. So what's your beef?

You lose the option. The option that was part of the "breakthrough deal" that was announced.