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AT&T Working on System to Allow App Devs to Pay for Customers' Data Usage

Small White Car said:
How so? Let's say I pay AT&T $30 for 3 GB. Then I pay Netflix $2 for 3 more GB. I use all 6 GB. I'm not getting charged twice.

But what about you? You only use 1 GB of data normally and another 1 GB for Netflix. You're already paying for 3 GB in total. Well then you shouldn't sign up for Netflix's little $2 deal. That's the better plan for this hypothetical you.

The only way this could be bad is if Netflix doesn't give you that choice and makes you pay that extra fee no matter what. But my god, that'd be stupid of Netflix, wouldn't it?
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Go grab a balloon. Inflate it. All the way until if you put any more into it, it will pop. Now tie it off and put it on table in front of you. That's the total amount of bandwidth you and I pay for each month from AT&T to do with how we please.

Now squeeze that balloon so that 2/3 of it is on one side of your hand, the other 1/3 on the other. That 2/3 is the part you pay for that you actually used under a model like this one. The other 1/3 is the part that Netflix "subsidized" by charging you a little extra for the movie you want to watch. AT&T doesn't charge that 1/3 against your total usage (how nice of them) because they are getting paid a fee by Netflix for that 1/3.

But wait a minute. That whole balloon is your bandwidth. Its just that now you've paid a little bit more to Netflix to not count that 1/3 usage against your total monthly usage.

Now if your month-to-month usage stays the same...that is to say you don't use any more bandwidth with this program in place than you used to, then you just got charged twice for the same bandwidth. Once when you paid for it, a second time when you paid Netflix to buy it on your behalf from AT&T.

Do you think Netflix is going to charge less for that content because you are using their data plan? Nope, they'll charge you a premium. Do you think AT&T is going to discount your monthly fee because you used 1/3 less than you normally would have by using Netflix pre-paid data plan? Nope, they will just not throttle you that month.

In fringe cases, you could possibly go to lower-tiered data plans if you used this enough. Perhaps if AT&T did away with mandatory Tiered data plans for smartphones, and had you pay by the drink this could possibly end up being a savings to the consumer. But I'm sure they've run their own numbers and it will never be cheaper to pay by the GB than going with a tiered plan.

Squeezing the balloon is the nature of the industry, AT&T just happens to be more creative about it. That and they are like the house in Vegas and the house always, always wins.
 
pmz said:
A lot of what you said is true. What bothers me is that AT&T has CREATED this arena by their own horrible practices regarding data.

What they SHOULD be doing is just trying to expand, expand, expand to the point where this kind of thing isn't necessary. Their goal should be providing lots of data at reasonable prices to consumers.

In a few years we should have 5 GB LTE plans for $10 a month. $2 per GB should be the goal, and it should be a pay per use. If I use 15 GB one month, then I pay $30. If I use less, I pay less.

Thats convenient and fair, and thats where we (AT&T) should be heading. Not towards, "How do we make more money with our current, awful model?"
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True. I would LOVE to see a Pay-as-You-Use plan but that doesn't benefit ATT and they are not likely to do that.

And ATT and Verizon and many others that had the Unlimited Plan are cutting it back thanks to people using unlimited data and liking it. ATT is doing the same thing as other BIG carriers. The only carriers NOT doing the UNLIMITED RECALL are the smaller ones still vying for marketshare.

Are they doing what is in the benefit of the customer, not really, but in a sense they can be if the customer gets more data...and maybe at a slightly discounted rate because the Developer buys in Bulk for Less....in turn selling to Consumer for less than ATT pricing.

AND perhaps ATT will be upgrading their network if they expect any customer to stay on board after hearing of the Free Data for X apps and finding out it isn't good.

anyway, ATT created this idea...just like Las Vegas: you don't build something like Vegas in the desert and expect NOT to make money.
 
jlgolson said:
If you use those services, then the data is charged to the 3GB (or whatever) bucket of data that you purchase with your $25 or $30 per month.

If you use Netflix or Pandora or Hulu, which offers to cover your data bill as part of its monthly service plan, your data bucket is left untouched.

Pretty simple.
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The way you present it makes a lot of sense, and promises a 'Happy Ending'.
The problem is that we all are yet to see any happy endings from AT&T.

When the iPad 1 launched and AT&T offered Unlimited 3G Data, happiness was all around, but it barely lasted two months, and it turned into an empty garden.

Well, I think I have said enough about this topic, it's time to let others involved, while I get back to my own business. :eek:
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
Now squeeze that balloon so that 2/3 of it is on one side of your hand, the other 1/3 on the other. That 2/3 is the part you pay for that you actually used under a model like this one. The other 1/3 is the part that Netflix "subsidized" by charging you a little extra for the movie you want to watch. AT&T doesn't charge that 1/3 against your total usage (how nice of them) because they are getting paid a fee by Netflix for that 1/3.

But wait a minute. That whole balloon is your bandwidth. Its just that now you've paid a little bit more to Netflix to not count that 1/3 usage against your total monthly usage.
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Well, you're just describing the guy that I already said shouldn't sign up for a service like this.

So you're just re-explaining what I've already said would be a bad idea. Yeah, I agree. That guy shouldn't sign up for this.
 
At&t's plan is super obvious.

1. Get big name developers that have streaming/download services to pay off the data.

2. Reduce data package allotments but charge the same amount of money, because users are getting too much "free" data.

3. Leverage newfound control over developers and users to line pockets.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

r.j.s said:
I don't see many devs taking part in this. The ones that do will just pass the cost on to the customers anyway.
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Not true. Depends on the apps. Some companies who provide it as a means of support or access would have no problem rolling it in. For example retailers would likely provide data free access so you can shop at their stores.

Some streaming services might do it and modify their costs but because of their lower cost it will be less for consumers.

As they noted compare it to 800 numbers. Companies with 800 numbers pay for every minute the lines are used but it is free to the customers. Lots of companies will not want bandwidth concerns keeping customers away.

A streaming music site that charged 2 a month more for bandwidth but keeps the customer from worrying about it impacting their bandwidth.
 
Another type of App that could be good for this: Shutterfly.

They already allow you to store an Unlimited amount of photos.
Imagine if you could upload for free, build the book "freely" and then purchase the book all on your smartphone or iPad.
I could even see the app being FREE and no subscription price but would allow their end-consumers the ease of knowing they aren't using tons of data.

Would they do this…maybe not but that is another odd App I could see using this method.
 
i'll pass

I would have to say this is very greedy on AT&T's part.

Why?
Because when you send a text message in the US, the sender and the received pay for it.
In most other countries, the sender pays for the text message, not the recipient. This is why there is no incentive for other mobile network to provide Email-to-SMS gateways.

So AT&T and other US carriers are already making more money that most carriers, and then they want to take the expense and spread it to businesses? Why because its easier for a business to charge more for a service or app to cover the data expense. This would not help small businesses this would make them inept in the market place.

What incentive then does the consumer have to get on a wifi for network traffic, other than obvious speed. typical "I'm not paying for it, who cares"

If they cant be profitable with their business maybe they need to look at the expense ledger and figure out why it cost to much to run a mobile company.

This is pure greed from a company that makes so much money by nickel and dimming customers.

Tempted to cancel AT&T if this goes thru.
 
Small White Car said:
Well, you're just describing the guy that I already said shouldn't sign up for a service like this.

So you're just re-explaining what I've already said would be a bad idea. Yeah, I agree. That guy shouldn't sign up for this.
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The problem with your perspective is that we are all becoming "That Guy" in AT&T's eyes. First they eliminate Unlimited. Then they throttle Unlimited grandfathered customers at levels below the Tiered users. How long do you think before they find a way to start excluding top Tiered customers? I'm betting the second the iPhone 5 comes out there will be another round of people becoming "that guy."

I'm a Uverse triple-play subscriber from day 1. I have quickly watched my service pricing increase month after month and while generally happy, now have monthly caps on my super-fast pipe coming into my home. This is terrestrial data, not over-the-air bandwidth. But they've capped me. My response was to drop my speed down so its not so easy to blow past my cap too quickly. The cycle repeats itself.

AT&T is quickly heading towards a nickel-and-dime business model. I wonder how long before the admin costs to support such a model outstrips the profit margin?
 
r.j.s said:
Maybe the server it goes to?
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They probably will give developers some kind of unique identifier that they authenticate to AT&T's network with. If it could only be tracked by the server it went to, I would immediately sign up and wreak havoc by downloading huge amounts of data from other servers to burden AT&T.
 
Wait... I thought people using more than 2GB of data a month was a serious threat to their network and now they want developers to "buy more bandwidth" on their existing network to subsidize data heavy app bandwidth.

If it pleases the court, I now submit...
EXHIBIT B: Developers, Developers, Developers
AT&T actively seeking developers to use more bandwidth on their already threatened network.

This goes with my EXHIBIT A: 2GB Throttle vs. 3GB+ Utopia
AT&T's bandwidth throttling solution is for customers to actually use more than the top 5%.

Just remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch. This isn't a beneficial feature for the customer, it's just another revenue scheme like lipstick on a pig.
 
TimTheEnchanter said:
Wait... I thought people using more than 2GB of data a month was a serious threat to their network and now they want developers to "buy more bandwidth" on their existing network to subsidize data heavy app bandwidth.

If it pleases the court, I now submit...
EXHIBIT B: Developers, Developers, Developers
AT&T actively seeking developers to use more bandwidth on their already threatened network.

This goes with my EXHIBIT A: 2GB Throttle vs. 3GB+ Utopia
AT&T's bandwidth throttling solution is for customers to actually use more than the top 5%.

Just remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch. This isn't a beneficial feature for the customer, it's just another revenue scheme like lipstick on a pig.
Click to expand...

Nice. :apple:
 
Whether it benefits us or not depends on what kind of data plan we have. Let me explain!

Suppose, I have unlimited data and I use Netflix a lot. Now, if Netflix becomes part of this plan, they will probably raise their streaming fee. So, now, I have a $30 unlimited data plan but I also end up paying higher streaming fee to Netflix.

Where it benefits is for customers with say 250MB data plan. For extra $$$ a month, they can keep their 250MB data plan while enjoying worry-free streaming from Netflix.

Either way, it will be us paying for it anyway and not the "App Devs".
 
Daveoc64 said:
It's very easy to do. Potential options:

Usage of a specific port
Sending data to/from a specific "whitelisted" hostname or IP address
Usage of a different APN

Some carriers already exclude certain web pages or Apps from data allowances/charges. Things like Apps that let you check your account details or software updates on some phones.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks. The thing I'm more concerned about is privacy & tracking stuff.
 
They complain that the network is having a hard time keeping up, but they're willing to give 'unlimited' data to specific applications at a cost? Wasen't it just last year they released a statement saying how they were trying everything in their power to ease the load of the network(throttling for example)?
 
I wonder how this will affect prepaid users?
Sometimes when I travel I pay the $30 for 500MB, so it's not like I'm not paying for their service. Although most months I just pay the $25 for 250 minutes and unlimited messaging.
I guess we'll see if this happens.
 
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