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Since they did away with rollover for voice and made that unlimited, how about rollover for data?

I was actually sort of hoping to see that being the unique "twist" that AT&T put onto their mobile data sharing plan. No such luck, unfortunately.
 
little off topic

has anbody went from premier to personal and had there unlimited data still? I've been told I can't do that I would loose it.
 
I never use SMS. I just use Google Voice. Free, and much more flexible (I rarely answer texts on my phone, I usually answer them from the computer or my iPad. And I've been doing that long before Apple rolled out iMessage).

Good. I used Google Voice until we had to put unlimited SMS on the family plan for my mom and my grandma. Google Voice is still SMS though, but it's free.

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Oh my friend, they DO offer this. It's exactly what I do. I use an iPhone 4S with the APN info changed to the iPad and pay the $30 data prepaid. All voice and texts go through Skype/Google Voice/iMessage.

With AT&T? And is this an old plan or one that they currently offer?

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Frankly, for your needs, I'd buy a tablet SIM plan and just put it into your smartphone, assuming you are able to do that. Then start using Google Voice for your texting needs. Problem solved.

Oh, now I get it. The plan is only for tablets. Jailbreakers always win :)
 
I think this is a good deal for families of 4 or more. Remember when comparing plans that this new plan includes UNLIMITED minutes & messages, as well as TETHERING across all devices. It may not be right for everyone, but now I don't have to worry about my daughter going over 309MB. Basically, our data is now our data to use as we want. We've been asking for this forever.
 
Really I can keep my unlimited data too

Sure as long as you don't mind being deluded into thinking unlimited is still unlimited and unthrottled.

The thing is, AT&T is now saying you can get up to 20GB's of shared UNTHROTTLED data as part of this plan. Unlimited users will be throttled at 3GB on 3G and 5GB on 4G/LTE.
 
Now you are just being silly. You aren't just looking at the data side. The $70 is for unlimited talk, text, AND your 4 GB of data. I assume you have a 550 minute plan. That means you are paying $70/month for phone for 3 lines + $30/month/phone for data. No texting really? Unlimited texting is $30 on a family plan. That puts your bill at $190. If you go with a plan that doesn't have less data, go for the 10GB plan. For $210, you would get unlimted talk, text, and 10GB of data to share between your 3 phones, and you would be able to enable tethering on any 3 of them to allow your tablets and computers to play on the Internet while you are away from home and there is no WiFi. So you could look at it as paying $10 for the extra gig and $10 for turning on tethering on all three phones. If you want those features, that sounds like a decent deal based on the current environment. It is still a boatload of money, but you have the option of staying where you are for now.

You obviously haven't put much thought into it. If you had, you see that 3 phones on 4GB plan is $190, 3 Phones on 6GB plan is $195, and 3 Phones on 10GB plan is $210. The 4GB for $190 is silly when for $5 you could get 50% more data. But if you had used the 6GB option, your exaggeration wouldn't be as big.

These plans stink for people with low minutes and a couple of phones and no text. That is why there are various plans from various carriers. Pick your poison.

<edit: 3GB of data is currently $30. 2GB on the old plan is $25 (but you can't get that anymore)...which do you actually have?>

Here is a spreadsheet to better show you the numbers as to how this works for phone plans.

ATT Shared Data Phone Plan Google Doc

This shared pricing scheme doesn't make sense. It's significantly more expensive.

Figuring for the data portion of the bill only:

I have three iPhones each with 3GB of data. That's $25/mo. x 3 = $75/mo.

With this new shared data plan I would pay $70 + $40 + $40 + $40 = $190/mo.

With this new plan I would have the privilege of paying 2.5x more for 44% of the data (4GB vs. 9GB). WTF?

Who would this pricing scheme benefit (besides AT&T, of course)?
 
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Sure as long as you don't mind being deluded into thinking unlimited is still unlimited and unthrottled.

The thing is, AT&T is now saying you can get up to 20GB's of shared UNTHROTTLED data as part of this plan. Unlimited users will be throttled at 3GB on 3G and 5GB on 4G/LTE.

That's good i just peak at 2gb
 
and for some reason the data choices go from 1GB to 4GB. why no 2 or 3GB choice? probably because i don't use close to my 4GB i pay for but will do so if i had a cheaper 3GB option.

going prepaid next month. 2 iphones $60 to $80 depending on carrier and plan

They do offer a 2GB shared data plan. It costs $15 more than the 1GB shared data option. So you can pay $55 for 2GB if you like on the shared plan.
 
So this is how AT&T hides the "charging for FaceTime over cellular" news by announcing shared data plans? Well played AT&T well played...
 
In "adding" a gaming device or tablet to your plan, is it talking about tethering or does the device have to have it's own AT&T sim card?
 
If you peak at 2gb, why the concern about keeping unlimited data, specially when AT&T's unlimited data isn't truly "unlimited"? Not trying to be critical...just curious.
I hate to go over and plus they don't have a family share plan that cheaper than what we pay...We pay around $187 the only plan cheaper is the 1GB and there two other phones in the plan that use data and they are at 200mb each
 
[/QUOTE]

With AT&T? And is this an old plan or one that they currently offer?
[/QUOTE]

You signup for a data only plan from an iPad, either the $15 or $30 plan depending how much data you want.
Then pop the sim card from the iPad into your iPhone, and go to unlockit.co.cz if you can't change the APN settings manually. Or if your phone is unlocked, change the APN for data to 'broadband.'

Done!
 
Maybe I'm having a hard time figuring out the possible benefits of this because I'm looking at it in terms of how it would benefit my family. So can anyone explain to me a situation where this is a good deal and would save them compared to what they pay now?
 
Good stuff - I have seen people bringing up the $30 plan frequently. This is the 30MB data plan w/ 1000 minutes isn't it? - or am I missing something. I use ~700 minutes or more avg and use the phone for business so I'm one of the few that still need voice.
Yes, but I am in error. I was under the impression that the $30 Straight Talk service plan offered more cellular data.

Anyhow, I'd love to see the $45 unlimited plan come down in price, or an intermediate offer with a reasonable amount of data (500MB or maybe 1GB) and fewer voice minutes.
 
So right now I have unlimited data, 700 shared minutes, unlimited text for 2 iPhones, 1 4g iPad. $224 tax tags title out the door. I averaged about 4 months and we break about 1 gig in data. We never come close to breaking minutes.

So if I wanted 6gb for my lot:
90+35+35+10=170 before tax

10gb
120+30+30+10=190 before tax (close to what I pay now + tethering).

On the surface, it might be worth it?
 
I thought it was a better deal looking at it this morning on my phone than I see looking at it on the computer.

I currently paying $70+30 before discount and taxes on my current plans. I would be paying $120 before discount and taxes under these new plans.

For the extra $20, I would get the following additional benefits:
unlimited messaging, while now I only get 200/month (and use less).
unlimited voice, while now with my 450 minute plan I have thousands of rollover minutes available.
Hotspot capability, which I haven't generally needed.

What I would lose, is unlimited data on my iPad. However, my max usage is only 2GB on that, and 1GB on phone, so 4GB would be enough.

It would only be worth it if someone else were to added to my plan.
 
No, it didn't. If you're on the 450 minute plan with unlimited text and 3GB of data, you're *still* on the 450 minute plan with unlimited text and 3GB of data at exactly the same price.

These are additional options, they're not replacing the existing plans.

So did I misunderstand Verizon's change as well? I thought ALL Verizon plans would be forced to the new system, not just family plans. I'm looking at my account online and have the option of upgrading my individual plan to the same minutes-based plans and different data tiers as before. If so, this alleviates MANY fears I had.
 
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