Stealthipad
macrumors 68040
There is little doubt with the new FCC regulations that Unlimted" will not be around anymore
at&t will require new sims with LTE! Got a bad feeling about $30 unlimited data!
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DiamondMac
macrumors 68040
There is little to no chance that AT&T allows those with unlimited now to get unlimited on LTE.
AT&T has done their best to get as MANY of them off unlimited the last year or so and when LTE is announced, AT&T will require new plans for it thus eliminating any grandfathering into LTE
AT&T has done their best to get as MANY of them off unlimited the last year or so and when LTE is announced, AT&T will require new plans for it thus eliminating any grandfathering into LTE
On a side note, how do you like the HTC Inspire. My husband is trying to decide on getting the HTC Inspire.
Thanks,
Carol
Apple 26.2
macrumors 6502a
Captain Obvious alert: We don't know what the providers are going to do.
dccorona
macrumors 68020
no, we just don't think the fact that the SIM will be different means anything...
Imagine you're on a beach. Every summer on the beach, the number of ice cream vendors goes up, the amount of ice cream purchased goes up, and the number of shark attacks goes up. Does this mean that ice cream is causing shark attacks? No.
New technology = new SIM, new technology = no more unlimited data, but new sim /= no more unlimited data
Apple 26.2
macrumors 6502a
emeraldthree
macrumors newbie
The unlimited data plan was not $30/month. I got the media net unlimited data + 200 text messaging plan for $20/month for my Treo 650. Even though I haven't upgraded my phone, AT&T has stopped supporting the web browsing feature of the plan and only allows me to receive email. They didn't grandfather me in even though I hadn't even changed my phone.
If it wasn't for the 1200 mins/$39.99 cell plan, I would have been long gone from AT&T.
The problem in the USA with tiered data is that the vast majority of Americans have never had to live with any "limited" data.
It's the companies faults for always advertising "unlimited" and now they are changing strategy.
I think the only major cellular company left that has "true unlimited" is Sprint. Tmobile USA imposes a data throttling cap (5-10GB depending when you signed up).
Both ATT and Verizon, although claiming they have unlimited (for those on those plans)....but if you read the fine print, it usually states (fair use or something like that).
That being said, I have 2 problems with how US companies are moving towards tiered data:
1. Lack of education to the end customers
a. They need to give you real easy to understand examples of data usage. None of this viewing 20,000 webpages, 5000 youtube videos examples. That only confuses the end user to thinking they can use a lot of data. They need to say, if you view one Netflix streaming movie, it's going to end up using 200-500MB per movie. That means if you watch 5-10 Netflix movies, you will use up all 2GB of your monthly data.
Obviously they don't want to do that because the consumer would actually understand viewing 5 movies consumes all their tiered data and doesn't sound as good in terms of marketing/advertising as viewing 20,000 webpages.
b. pricing
ATT sets the limit at 200MB for $15. That's a lot of crap. I know they got internal statistics and the average iphone user consumes between 300-700MB of data each month. They put that 200MB limit to "upsell" the 2GB/$25 data plan.
They need to be straight forward with tier pricing.
Say $10 for 500MB, $20 for 2GB, $30 for 3GB and $10 each GB after that. And they could offer some "premium deals" like $60 for 10GB for "heavy users"
Of course, what I write makes sense to the 98% of customers ATT claims doesn't abuse their network. But ATT isn't about the 98% of their customers. They are all about greed and profits and their network gets pounded because they haven't marketed and educated their customers.
It's the companies faults for always advertising "unlimited" and now they are changing strategy.
I think the only major cellular company left that has "true unlimited" is Sprint. Tmobile USA imposes a data throttling cap (5-10GB depending when you signed up).
Both ATT and Verizon, although claiming they have unlimited (for those on those plans)....but if you read the fine print, it usually states (fair use or something like that).
That being said, I have 2 problems with how US companies are moving towards tiered data:
1. Lack of education to the end customers
a. They need to give you real easy to understand examples of data usage. None of this viewing 20,000 webpages, 5000 youtube videos examples. That only confuses the end user to thinking they can use a lot of data. They need to say, if you view one Netflix streaming movie, it's going to end up using 200-500MB per movie. That means if you watch 5-10 Netflix movies, you will use up all 2GB of your monthly data.
Obviously they don't want to do that because the consumer would actually understand viewing 5 movies consumes all their tiered data and doesn't sound as good in terms of marketing/advertising as viewing 20,000 webpages.
b. pricing
ATT sets the limit at 200MB for $15. That's a lot of crap. I know they got internal statistics and the average iphone user consumes between 300-700MB of data each month. They put that 200MB limit to "upsell" the 2GB/$25 data plan.
They need to be straight forward with tier pricing.
Say $10 for 500MB, $20 for 2GB, $30 for 3GB and $10 each GB after that. And they could offer some "premium deals" like $60 for 10GB for "heavy users"
Of course, what I write makes sense to the 98% of customers ATT claims doesn't abuse their network. But ATT isn't about the 98% of their customers. They are all about greed and profits and their network gets pounded because they haven't marketed and educated their customers.
OneMike
macrumors 603
LTE is to 3G as EDGE is to 3G. Different.
Even if iPhone 4 supported LTE with same sim I'd bet you couldn't keep unlimited.
Would like to but I don't see it happening.
chris975d
macrumors 68000
I don't know if you've gotten the text and email yet, but anyone doing this (which is what I did...iPhone 4 owner who purchased the Atrix at no commitment price, so that I could keep my unlimited data plan) is now being asked/forced to switch to the 2Gb plus tethering plan $45 total if they use the Atrix with the unlimited plan. Starting this past Monday, within a couple of hours after I put my iPhone 4 SIM into my Atrix, I get a text and email saying to call in and add an appropriate 4G data plan to my account, as the iPhone data plan wasn't eligible. I called in to ask what that was all about, and was told (twice) that "4G" phones are now being required to be on the metered "4G" plans. After this happening for the third time this week, I've just put my SIM back in my iPhone 4 and will leave it. I'm not giving up my unlimited plan. With this happening, I've got a feeling that all new "4G/LTE" phones will require one of the new metered plans.
Here's the text that I get each time I put my iPhone 4 SIM in my Motorola Atrix (4G phone). Here I just put the SIM in my Atrix, used it for about 30 minutes, then put the SIM back in my iPhone. About an hour later, this is the text I got:
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Yeah, old article but that doesn't matter. All signs point to, if you want 4G, you get off unlimited plan and onto a tiered plan. You can even see that now, with them requiring a tiered plan to use the hotspot feature.
From here on in, it'll be if you want X feature get off unlimited and onto a tiered plan.
b166er
macrumors 68020
I would put money on us unlimited customers loosing our unlimited if we go LTE. ATT absolutely can, and will (legally) require us to drop our grandfathered data plans in order to switch. There is no language in our current plans that touches on the future of the network or the introduction of LTE. And it has nothing to do with SIM cards.
I'm not happy that I'll loose my unlimited, but I am excited for LTE. What sucks the most is in the future we will be using much more data on a daily basis then we do right now. As mobile speeds continue to increase so will the amount of data our apps use.
I'm not happy that I'll loose my unlimited, but I am excited for LTE. What sucks the most is in the future we will be using much more data on a daily basis then we do right now. As mobile speeds continue to increase so will the amount of data our apps use.
chris975d
macrumors 68000
I think that my screenshot above of the text I get each time I put my iPhone 4 SIM (unlimited 3G data plan) in a "4G" Motorola Atrix (a phone in which I bought full price, with no commitment) is almost definitive proof that we will be forced off of the unlimited data plan in the near future, and especially if we go to LTE. If they can require me to change data plans on a phone I paid full price for ($499) with no new contract signed, it certainly means they can take it away from us once we have to sign a new contract to get the next/LTE iPhone (which we WILL have to do...they've never allowed us to purchase the iPhone without renewing a 2-year contract..other than the 1st gen).
ucfgrad93
macrumors Core
Agreed. Unlimited plans are going the way of the dinosaurs.
Ivabign
macrumors 6502
I have a Verizon iPhone 4 and the way I look at it is if the unlimited goes away... Then the I can order the cheapest plan and get a 4G portable device and use wifi. Then I will have a 4G iPhone. In a perfect world I would cancel the carrier data plan and go with the 4G hotspot. But I imagine it would take gov't intervention to get the data requirement waived.