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AT&T Scales Back Throttling of Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans
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Yes, I do.
Well, glad you asked!
I start work at about 4am, and since I am slightly ADHD, having background noise helps me concentrate, so I put on streaming radio, and listen to that while I work. 10 hours later, when I'm getting ready to end my day, I call my wife on FaceTime, and chat with her in n the way to the car.
On the weekends, when I'm not working (every third weekend), I take pictures with my kids and family, and that gets uploaded to iCloud, plus, I have to keep up with macrumors. If I'm home, it's pretty easy to use the computer, so the phone stays in my pocket.
Oh yeah, mail comunes a bit, too, as I get 200-400 emails a day.
For the Pareto analysis, the streaming radio takes the cake, but iCloud is making a case for second place, especially with the videos.
This is key point right here. They should raise threshold limit from 5GB to at least 20GB, then throttle when congested if u go over that.
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While I am against the throttling on "unlimited plan," if they must do it, it should be done be real world "congestion" times only and not continuously. There are peak times in any given area and that should be the only criteria if they must throttle. Reset to full speed during peak times at each billing cycle then becomes logical.
I keep thinking about my original iPhone with ATT and how engaging the web was a sad joke that I pretty much stopped using it. Seems between ATT and Apple's original iPhone promoting how great they (both are), the customer was left out of the equation for true satisfaction of service and usability.
I keep thinking about my original iPhone with ATT and how engaging the web was a sad joke that I pretty much stopped using it. Seems between ATT and Apple's original iPhone promoting how great they (both are), the customer was left out of the equation for true satisfaction of service and usability.
You still can't FaceTime over LTE?? I'm grandfathered in and have been doing that since my iPhone 5.
This is exactly the reason why I switched the T-Mobile. They paid off my Next balance and since I have reached upwards of 40 GB/Month without being throttled. Seriously loving T-Mo.
You should ask your employer, unless thats you to hook up WIFI in your office... Also I use BYOD for work emails and access and I was able to reduce my bill significantly, 50% on my line (VZW).
I do agree with ones point though that AT&T should set their throttling level a bit higher for unlimited plans if at all, say 25GB not 5GB. To throttle someone that uses 5GB on their second day for the remaining 28 days in their cycle is BS.
...except that you pay more and have to monitor your usage.
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What makes you think they can't take unlimited away? You're on a 2-year contract. They're not obligated to renew the same contract terms. Eventually they'll just do away with unlimited altogether when renewing contracts. Of course they'll lose customers, but those of us who don't abuse the unlimited access will be screwed and will end up paying more with another carrier. I've had unlimited for years and have never been throttled because I rarely come close to 5GB. It's nice to not have to worry about overage charges, though.
Never seizes to amaze me how loyal customers are often treated....all customers should be throttled dependant solely on network congestion. Also, unlimited data customers should never have data caps that are lower than that of the highest tiered plan. But my opinion doesnt bring in extra profit so it doesnt matter....
I did have unlimited but in my case it was a waste of money. It was cheaper for me and my wife to go on the mobile share plan. Not only is my overall plan better, my bill is lower and I get discounts from my employer. We also didn't even come close to using over 15GB a month. This is why I said in some cases, unlimited is OK especially if you have an individual plan but for many, its obsolete due to the fact that its an unattractive option.
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True which is why I said in certain situations it's OK.
This is exactly it. My wife and I were on unlimited, but we never used THAT much. Having switched to a 30GB a month mobile-share plan we're saving about $90 a month on our family plan. That's over $1k a year!
Of course, I can understand the unlimited for those who hammer on their data plans, but I rarely go above 10GB a month. Heck, even 30GB is too much for me but changing means leaving this promo behind.
Yep, the limit should be the highest data tier they have available, not 5GB. Also, throttling everyone while under heavy congestions would be fair.
Of course that doesn't make sense $ wise for ATT.
Meh. ATT still sucks.
It's taken years. They should pay us cash money for all these years of throttling.
Exactly! Love that promo. With rollover we are seeing over 45GB a month available. Plenty for us so it just might as well be unlimited as far as we are concerned.Heck, even 30GB is too much for me but changing means leaving this promo behind.
Lol at "Hotspots"
What scenario are you gonna come across exactly when you're gonna use your iPad being hotspotted by your iPhone 6 Plus. Why not just do what you were gonna do on the iPhone. They are the same OS lol.
Or if its that serious to use the iPad for something you probably are at someones house or have WiFi.
As a single line user, and 89$ monthly bill payer, its not worth an extra 40$ a month to have that feature.
Yeah I guess all people who don't have families are obsolete.
Do we even exist?
Again I pay 89$ a month for practically unlimited usage on all fronts and all my mobile needs.
How much do you and your family pay for (limited data) that you have to share. --And hope only one of you is a serious data user??
LOL SO MUCH CONFUSION, you're all misunderstanding it. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ONCE THERE IS CONGESTION ONE TIME ONE DAY IT GOES BACK TO .5mbps NO MATTER WHAT ALL MONTH.
"their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle."
Biggest confusion in this thread...
^THAT STATMENT REFERS TO THE monthly 5GB soft cap. Not to the congestion/throttling aspect.
Your speed being restored refers to your uncapped speed of 5GB at the next billing cycle.
Remember, even on unlimited, the first 5GB is treated like any other tier plan and those first 5 are untouchable.
So the restoration refers to the return to your full 5GB.
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AFTER THE 5GB ---->>>>
When actually being throttled, after the 5GB, it will be on a case by case basis of congestion in your area and in relation to the towers you are connected to and their load.
Throttled means you are down to .5mbps so if that Friday morning you are in NY and its congested, and you are over the monthly 5GB, it will throttle you to near or at .5.
The next couple days, its Sunday evening and its not congested, you will be in throttle potential, but because its not congested, it will be like 2mbps-10mbps so its easy to stream Youtube at that speed.
It goes on like that day to day and you're not throttled during times of non-congestion and are throttled during times of tower congestion on a day by day, case by case basis.
Then like 2 weeks later with the new billing cycle, your "speed is restored" and until you pass 5GB again you will not be messed with no matter if its congested or not.
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For me it works, and its all i really wanted. I live in Arizona in a quiet part of town and Im sure I will rarely or never be throttled.
To me it will be essentially true unlimited and I don't have to switch or worry again.
Its what I have been waiting for. I noticed the other day something felt funny lol. I thought i was supposed to be throttled 2 more days but suddenly I was able to stream HD video while driving and my bill cycle was still two days away.
It would be nicer too if they upped the soft cap from 5GB to 10 or 20GB but this is good enough. It was the crippling .5mbps speed that was killing me.
There is nothing that i need to do on my phone that is more bandwidth hungry than needing to stream Youtube. So now that I can do that without thinking twice about it, its all I need.
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Verizon is a non-starter for me for two reasons.
- Zero Verizon coverage where I live. Full LTE AT&T coverage, though.
- I will never give up simultaneous voice and data
Even if #1 wasn't an issue, #2 would be.
I like the message behind this article, though. I hope it bears out in practical usage ... I still have an unlimited plan for my iPhone.
And by "freeloading" I'm sure you mean AT&T's "most loyal" customers who have been with them the longest, paying for unlimited data plans at a time when those were the most expense data plans available.
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Bingo. This is AT&T's sleazebag excuse that they use to try and justify what they're doing. "We need to throttle at 5GB for 'network maintenance'. Want to pay an extra $200 a month? Then feel free to use 50GB of data with no stress on the network whatsover!".
Oh yeah forgot about at part - the rollover. Yeah, I wouldn't go back to unlimited at this point with all the savings I'm making. I have 55GB right now available. I only used 5GB last month, hah!
As I said before, in some situations (such as yours) unlimited data is fine but for families (2 or more) it's a waste of money especially if bandwidth usage is low. It just doesn't make sense to pay more for something when you don't need it.
That's just silly.
You are aware that you can use hotspot with ANY wifi connected device right? Like, for example, a Mac. And even at that, iPad and iPhone are very different devices despite being the same OS. I use hotspot frequently with my MacBook Air.
Also I have a mobile share plan with 40GB to share with 9 different people. I pay about 70 a month with an iPhone 6 Plus on AT&T Next. Nobody will even be able to TOUCH that pricing with an old unlimited plan.
Yeah... there is a very strict policy in place for that at my employer.
As for the throttling, I haven't experienced that, ever since they started that about... was it 3-4 years ago?