Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T to Launch New Unlimited Data Plan

Quick chat with AT&T regarding tethering (it could be offered in the future) and AT&T next question:
Screen Shot 2017-02-17 at 1.15.02 PM.png
 
I've held onto my unlimited ATT plan since 2008 with a vice grip, even after they jacked up the price multiple times. And now it's time to say adios, smell ya later ATT. I'm off to better options (cheaper + tethering + better network). Your inability to keep up with competition will be your downfall. So glad I got the unlocked Verizon version of the iPhone 7!
 
Hitch08 said:
OK. So I'm a little hesitant to post this, but what the heck.

First, some useless back-story... There are four of us with phones - my wife and our two kids (high school age). They've both had instances where they have turned off their Wifi at school and then later went home and streamed YouTube, used FaceTime, etc., killing our 20GB shared value plan (which is $15 for each additional 1GB overage). It happened again this month. Half way through the month, we had less than 2GB's left.

I started the process to switch to Verizon on Wednesday afternoon. Called AT&T on Thursday to make sure two of the phones were unlocked and could be switched. I also had to finish off payments for my son. When I called AT&T for that, they transferred me to the service termination department. The fellow there told me about this new unlimited plan. He said it was the same cost as Verizon - $180. We chatted about it for a bit and I asked him if it included 10GB's of tethering. His response was "not yet." I did not know that AT&T didn't allow tethering. I am disappointed with his response as it was limited to saying that they don't yet have a separate allowance, like Verizon, for tethering. He certainly didn't tell me no tethering at all. Fortunately, he gave me his email address as I told him that I might still switch to Verizon if I get hit with cancellation/restocking fees from them. He switched us to the AT&T unlimited plan.

I canceled the switch to Verizon. Then I read there is no tethering and I also read that the $180 price kicks in after the second month. For the first two months, the price is $220.

He and I traded emails late yesterday afternoon. He assured me that the price is $180, starting with the first month. He said that if it doesn't, he'll issue me a credit. I checked the MyATT app this morning and it shows $220 per month. I just sent him an email.

However, tethering is working for me. I have my iPhone's wifi turned off. I have my iPad's wifi turned off. I connected my iPad to my iPhone via bluetooth and my iPad is connected to the internet.

TL;DR: I have the new AT&T Unlimited Plan and my iPad is tethered to my iPhone and it's working fine. I better not get screwed for $80.
Click to expand...

Well like me and someone else tried to tell everyone earlier in this thread... we have been able to tether with our iPad pros with this plan with direcTV. They might say they don't allow tethering but that isn't exactly true at all.
 
avanpelt said:
I have a feeling if you reboot your iPhone, Personal Hotspot will no longer be able to be turned on in Settings. Other people on the "old" unlimited plan mentioned that once they rebooted their iPhone after switching to the plan, when they tried to enable Personal Hotspot on their iPhone, it told them to contact AT&T.
Click to expand...

Except on iPad Pro. I've restarted it MANY MANY times and tethering and hotspot has never ever went away.
 
They need to define their throttling speeds or this is pointless.

Previously "unlimited" plans, after they hit 5gb, would be throttled down to something like 0.1Mbps, where even Google Maps was unusable.

I'm not opposed to some bandwidth throttling under these two conditions:

1. There is network congestion, and,
2. The throttled speed is actually usable. To me these days, that probably means somewhere around 2-3Mbps at a bare minimum. I can survive without the fastest LTE/4g rates of 5/15/10Mbps, but their old throttled rates were basically only usable for email.

If they can't support those throttled rates under heavy load conditions, then they need to improve their infrastructure, period.
 
  • Like
Reactions: btrach144
ls1dreams said:
They need to define their throttling speeds or this is pointless.

Previously "unlimited" plans, after they hit 5gb, would be throttled down to something like 0.1Mbps, where even Google Maps was unusable.

I'm not opposed to some bandwidth throttling under these two conditions:

1. There is network congestion, and,
2. The throttled speed is actually usable. To me these days, that probably means somewhere around 2-3Mbps at a bare minimum. I can survive without the fastest LTE/4g rates of 5/15/10Mbps, but their old throttled rates were basically only usable for email.

If they can't support those throttled rates under heavy load conditions, then they need to improve their infrastructure, period.
Click to expand...
It's not throttling but deprioritization that depends on the congestion that might be present on a particular tower and only for the duration of congestion on that particular tower. Not really something that can be defined as it likely won't even kick in many instances, and in some that it would kick in it would affect latency rather than actual speed/bandwidth and even then hard to say to what degree as it can differ on the congestion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aristobrat
Deoe
BoltmanLives said:
Its 15GB base for family with rollover...so Let's say first month your family uses 11GB (2.75 GB avg each) then 4 GB roll-over so the next cycle we then have 19 GB. Its always not used amount under 15GB added to next cycle..

So the next month we start with 19GB use 13 GB ..the rollover is 15-13= 2GB so the following month we have 17GB...so it varies each month usually we end up using 10-13 GB. Nice for heavy months if you have that buffer.

"Rollover Data is a benefit that we first introduced with our Mobile Share Value plans where unused data from your monthly plan allowance rolls over for one billing period."
[doublepost=1487343612][/doublepost]

Lucky..have to keep my eye out for that again.
Click to expand...

Depending on which supervisor you get you can get usually get that plan switched if you say you really need the extra data and you're contemplating switching. Don't be too mean but be stern, lol! Good luck!!
 
ls1dreams said:
I'm not opposed to some bandwidth throttling under these two conditions:

1. There is network congestion, and,
2. The throttled speed is actually usable. To me these days, that probably means somewhere around 2-3Mbps at a bare minimum. I can survive without the fastest LTE/4g rates of 5/15/10Mbps, but their old throttled rates were basically only usable for email.

If they can't support those throttled rates under heavy load conditions, then they need to improve their infrastructure, period.
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure what the point of throttling or deprioritization is.

NOBODY should be allowed to hammer away at a tower, right?

For instance... if you've only used 19GB for the month... you can bang away at the tower possibly depriving others of network speed.

So what exactly changes if you've used 30GB for the month?

I just don't understand the idea of "after you've used this amount of data... your further connections to the tower will be affected"

It seems like ALL connections to the tower should be managed at ALL times... not just after a certain point.
 
Michael Scrip said:
I'm not really sure what the point of throttling or deprioritization is.

NOBODY should be allowed to hammer away at a tower, right?

For instance... if you've only used 19GB for the month... you can bang away at the tower possibly depriving others of network speed.

So what exactly changes if you've used 30GB for the month?

I just don't understand the idea of "after you've used this amount of data... your further connections to the tower will be affected"

It seems like ALL connections to the tower should be managed at ALL times... not just after a certain point.
Click to expand...
They do manage the connections at all times, but at some point there might be too many of them congesting a tower in which case some additional buckets come into play like prioritizing users who haven't gotten over a certain limit (or don't have a limit as part of their plan) ahead of those who have.
 
For those that think the 22GB deprioritization is not individual it is.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0126.PNG
    IMG_0126.PNG
    154.6 KB · Views: 195
who on earth thought it was 22gb limit for throttling for the whole account? that doesn't even make sense
 
C DM said:
They do manage the connections at all times, but at some point there might be too many of them congesting a tower in which case some additional buckets come into play like prioritizing users who haven't gotten over a certain limit (or don't have a limit as part of their plan) ahead of those who have.
Click to expand...

So it's basically a way to encourage these "unlimited" customers to stay under 22GB of usage to get the best experience.

Because I'm not seeing a physical difference between:
  • The tower being congested with people who are under 22GB
  • The tower being congested with people who are over 22GB
I mean... if the tower's full... the tower's full. It doesn't matter who is trying to connect or how much data they've used during their billing cycle.

But if I'm understanding this correctly... as long as you haven't gone over 22GB yet... you'll get connected to the tower first. Is that right?

Next question... do we think this will be noticeable?

I'm just trying to wrap my head around this as I will become a Verizon Unlimited customer later this year.

For instance... if I've only used 19GB for the month... everything should work as normal.

But if I've used 23GB for the month... what will happen? Will my email take an extra half-second to download? Will YouTube buffer endlessly or fail to load?

BTW... I'm just curious about all this. I'm on the 6GB Verizon plan right now... and I rarely get close to the top.

But I am wondering how this will affect people who do use tons of data. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: btrach144
Too bad people can't build their own wireless network like they did with local High speed ISPs
 
blah blah. If i had more lines then maybe. i've been with att since the cingular days. I own my iPhone 6 and wife is on NEXT and we also have a corp discount. chatted with them about a random international call charge and also asked about increasing my GB on my plan.

told them verizon and tmobile just came out with some good plans. they offered to give me 5GB more at no extra cost. so 20GB @ $100/month. Both my wife and i used roughly 13-14GB but sometimes have to scale back so the extra 5GB will help.
 
I just finally gave up my old grandfathered unlimited plan. I used to have 700 minutes with rollover and 10 landline numbers that didn't count against my minutes and unlimited texts. By switching plans now everything is unlimited and my bill went down by $20 a month. Seemed like a no brainer to switch plans. Between my husband and my phone, we average about 25gbs a month. I asked how much that plan would be and it would have been more expensive than the new unlimited plan. Since I took advantage of the $600 trade in offer for my iphone 6+ I would lose that monthly rebate if I was to switch carriers. I have never had a hotspot included in my plan I don't miss something I have never had. So I will be with ATT for at least until 2018.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back