Bye bye Unlimited Data

[duction]

if they offerd my 500mb of data on 4G i would turn it down with o2, i have unlimited 3g which is fine for me as i cannot get 3 or 4g at my home, at work i have no problem...

so id deff keep unlimited,

 

[Leonard1818]

I went from 2gb to 7gb in my first full month of LTE usage. You say you wont use any more data, but in the time it took to load 1 website you load many. Lets say macrumors forums. Before you may wait for a wallpaper thread to show up. Now you see the page and want to look at the previous page and so forth and so on. I was still getting up to 16mb/s when throttled.

interesting.... sounds like your data use went up by 2.5x as well.

I would love if someone did a legitimate study to see how much increase there was in data use for those who went from a 3G phone to a 4G phone. I wonder if the 2.5x figure would be about average...

 

[Wicked1]

Why bother keeping the unlimited plan when it isn't unlimited anymore, they just throttle you.

I gave it up to add wifi hotspot and I still did not use nearly all 5 gig so now I am off the the ATT family shared plan of 4GB for $70 and $40 per iphone X3 so new cost will be $190.00 basically same as I was paying minus around $13 for my discount so will be $177 was paying $200. I have an iPad too and never bothered with data version and now with wifi hotspot I get to use that as well

 

[Photogdave]

Neither my wife and I ever go pass 1GB a month. I'm always connected to WIFI at work and at home. I've been monitoring our usage very closely for quite sometime and combined usage roughly is about 1GB a month so the switch for us was a no brainer.

I do understand everyones point of keeping their unlimited though. I personally think it's worth it to those who use LOTS of data just not worth it for us.

It USED to be worth it. Unlimited was good back before throttling.....but even then very few ever went over 3GB data. The Unlimited tag was comforting......just like Free Nights and Weekends old gimmick. When in most cases you'd use very few minutes in those periods.

Now, per Verizon, if you are in Top 5% of Data users, you're considered a heavy user and so you're tagged that way one you hit that % range.
Then if you go into certain areas thats deemed by Verizon as "Congested" they throttle the piss out of you to where the phones useless.

In a small town, with 5 smartphones total between Uncles and Cousins Top 5% of Data use can be 1-1.5GB.
It happens everyday to me, I travel and hit these small towns and boom, maps wont even load.

Ive been at 4GB of data before and not been throttled depending on area, but even Big towns(more towers) can be "Congested" and then you're screwed again.
Its annoying having supposedly "Unlimited Data" yet its VERY VERY limited.

Yes, the Unlimited Data should be honored, but its not anymore, and being i never hit 5GB, why not choose 6 and be done. At 6GB, Id still save money compared to my current plan(complicated)
Even Choose 4GB, and if I go over they add a GB and charge $15. Becomes pay as you go then.
If youre under 4, great, need more, bill me LOL

 

[Leonard1818]

It USED to be worth it. Unlimited was good back before throttling.....but even then very few ever went over 3GB data. The Unlimited tag was comforting......just like Free Nights and Weekends old gimmick. When in most cases you'd use very few minutes in those periods.

Now, per Verizon, if you are in Top 5% of Data users, you're considered a heavy user and so you're tagged that way one you hit that % range.
Then if you go into certain areas thats deemed by Verizon as "Congested" they throttle the piss out of you to where the phones useless.

In a small town, with 5 smartphones total between Uncles and Cousins Top 5% of Data use can be 1-1.5GB.
It happens everyday to me, I travel and hit these small towns and boom, maps wont even load.

Ive been at 4GB of data before and not been throttled depending on area, but even Big towns(more towers) can be "Congested" and then you're screwed again.
Its annoying having supposedly "Unlimited Data" yet its VERY VERY limited.

Yes, the Unlimited Data should be honored, but its not anymore, and being i never hit 5GB, why not choose 6 and be done. At 6GB, Id still save money compared to my current plan(complicated)
Even Choose 4GB, and if I go over they add a GB and charge $15. Becomes pay as you go then.
If youre under 4, great, need more, bill me LOL

holy crap! Haven't seen this name in a while. I believe we chatted over on the android forums (samsung fascinate) regarding the iphone.

Hope you're still enjoying your iphone!

----------

yup, it was you

http://androidforums.com/fascinate-support-troubleshooting/457816-samsung-fascinate-2-3-problem.html

 

[Mr Hill]

Get ready for your data usage to skyrocket.

I agree. The ability to tether with LTE means you will probably end up using a lot more data than you used to. I wonder if there will be a consumer backlash against AT&T and Verizon once people start getting tons of overages for going above the data caps.

 

[Leonard1818]

interestingly enough... we still share the same types of viewpoints too. If you're ever in Ohio, let's grab a beer.

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I agree. The ability to tether with LTE means you will probably end up using a lot more data than you used to. I wonder if there will be a consumer backlash against AT&T and Verizon once people start getting tons of overages for going above the data caps.

how? What sense would that make? How is it verizon's/ATT's fault if the people sign a contract then go over? It's called accountability. Unfortunately, it's a fast-fading concept.

 

[mpossoff]

It USED to be worth it. Unlimited was good back before throttling.....but even then very few ever went over 3GB data. The Unlimited tag was comforting......just like Free Nights and Weekends old gimmick. When in most cases you'd use very few minutes in those periods.

Now, per Verizon, if you are in Top 5% of Data users, you're considered a heavy user and so you're tagged that way one you hit that % range.
Then if you go into certain areas thats deemed by Verizon as "Congested" they throttle the piss out of you to where the phones useless.

In a small town, with 5 smartphones total between Uncles and Cousins Top 5% of Data use can be 1-1.5GB.
It happens everyday to me, I travel and hit these small towns and boom, maps wont even load.

Ive been at 4GB of data before and not been throttled depending on area, but even Big towns(more towers) can be "Congested" and then you're screwed again.
Its annoying having supposedly "Unlimited Data" yet its VERY VERY limited.

Yes, the Unlimited Data should be honored, but its not anymore, and being i never hit 5GB, why not choose 6 and be done. At 6GB, Id still save money compared to my current plan(complicated)
Even Choose 4GB, and if I go over they add a GB and charge $15. Becomes pay as you go then.
If youre under 4, great, need more, bill me LOL

For me so far with AT&T it's not worth it to change to Mobile Share. We have a family plan, each line has unlimited data and each line gets my 28% FAN discount. 3 lines use 4GB range and 1 line uses about 2GB/month. We have never been throttled.

So I pay $86.40 after my FAN discount for 4 lines of unlimited data.

Total bill without taxes is $189.60. 700 minutes, unlimited family text, unlimited data each line, aList, mobile to any mobile.

I don't need unlimited voice because we have mobile to any mobile and aList on a 700 minute voice share plan. We each have our Google Voice #'s in aList and each have the GV Connect app. We only use GV Connect app when calling land lines which results in unlimited calling to land lines.

With the mobile share plan we would need the 15GB plan. With that plan it would cost $160(15GB) + $90(3 phones)= $250. I'm not sure where the FAN discount applies but I'm sure I'd be paying more compared to what I have.

We don't tether much at all and you can jailbreak and get a tethering app. If you only use the jail broken tethering app only when you need it, you will be safe. The problem is people use it as their primary Internet connection.

 

[bogatyr]

did you ditch your home internet service?

that increase seems astronomical...

No, I still have Comcast at home.

EDIT: Also, if Verizon has been throttling me - I've never noticed. I can't say if they are or aren't but I've never been able t detect any difference in my speeds at the beginning of a month compared to the end when I'm reaching 10s of GBs.

 

[twylie]

I am in process of dropping my unlimited plans as well in favor of a Share Everything plan.

Current:
AT&T Unlimited Data on iPad = $30
+
Verizon unlimited talk/data/1000txt/tether = $130
= Total of $160 / mo

On average:
iPad data ~ 500MB (most stuff done over WiFi)
iPhone 4S data ~ 500MB
Tethering data ~ 1GB

New:
Verizon Share Everything 6GB
iPhone 5
Verizon iPad
Total of $130 / mo + single bill and management

I'm also planning on selling my AT&T unlimited account on ebay (currently going for $4-500) as well as my second gen iPad. Funds from those cover the new iPad to provide LTE as well as hotspots on both devices will give me added flexibility.

As much as I liked being grandfathered in on the unlimited deals, it was costing me money for my usage and holding me back by making it harder to upgrade to LTE on the phone.

I still have a Sprint family plan w/ 3 dumb phones but not sure adding them to the Verizon plan will make sense.

 

[bogatyr]

Thats ridiculous. Its no different, 1GB of data transfer is the same 1GB on 3G or 4G, speed in which its transferred has no effect.

You may surf more cause speed is more pleasurable, but just it being 4G has no bearing on quantity of data.

When your internet usage is limited by your connection speed and then all of a sudden it isn't, your usage WILL go up. If your internet usage wasn't limited by 3G, then no it won't.

One example: Netflix and many other video providers, adjust the quality of the video based on your connection speed. Faster speed = higher quality = more data usage.

Another example: You're constantly waiting for pages to load. After 4G, your pages load faster than you can click through them, you're going to use more now that you're not waiting on load times.

These don't include tethering or FaceTime on cellular - both of which increase usage even more if you utilize them.

 

[alent1234]

Lte may actually be less data transferred. It's a better protocol with less overhead and less lost packets
Carriers charge for raw data

 

[Photogdave]

holy crap! Haven't seen this name in a while. I believe we chatted over on the android forums (samsung fascinate) regarding the iphone.

Hope you're still enjoying your iphone!

----------

yup, it was you

http://androidforums.com/fascinate-support-troubleshooting/457816-samsung-fascinate-2-3-problem.html

hahaha. Yep it was me. I recognized the name when it popped up
Yes im definitly still loving the phone. You remember when I got the 4s, Ive still not had 1 issue where I had to reset it.
Only complaint was Siri going down once in a while.....but thats sever based, not Phone related.
Its been awesome, Ill never go back.
Cant wait to get 5, the 4s will go to wife.....as shes in love with it too.

 

[Leonard1818]

When your internet usage is limited by your connection speed and then all of a sudden it isn't, your usage WILL go up. If your internet usage wasn't limited by 3G, then no it won't.

One example: Netflix and many other video providers, adjust the quality of the video based on your connection speed. Faster speed = higher quality = more data usage.

Another example: You're constantly waiting for pages to load. After 4G, your pages load faster than you can click through them, you're going to use more now that you're not waiting on load times.

These don't include tethering or FaceTime on cellular - both of which increase usage even more if you utilize them.

So in conclusion: If you don't use netflix on your phone and you are aware of your facetime and browsing use and try to restrain yourself from doing it when not on wifi, you should be OK.

Another question: Does the netflix app allow you to toggle the quality down at all? I know it delivers content based on speed it detects but do you have a "manual override" setting of sorts so you can tell it to not beam stuff in full HD if you don't care or want to conserve data?

 

[bogatyr]

So in conclusion: If you don't use netflix on your phone and you are aware of your facetime and browsing use and try to restrain yourself from doing it when not on wifi, you should be OK.

Another question: Does the netflix app allow you to toggle the quality down at all? I know it delivers content based on speed it detects but do you have a "manual override" setting of sorts so you can tell it to not beam stuff in full HD if you don't care or want to conserve data?

Also as long as you don't tether - tethering is where most of my usage is from I think.

Regarding Netflix: Not that I can find. I just double checked. Netflix, Hulu+ and HBO Go are all high data items of mine.

 

[Leonard1818]

hahaha. Yep it was me. I recognized the name when it popped up
Yes im definitly still loving the phone. You remember when I got the 4s, Ive still not had 1 issue where I had to reset it.
Only complaint was Siri going down once in a while.....but thats sever based, not Phone related.
Its been awesome, Ill never go back.
Cant wait to get 5, the 4s will go to wife.....as shes in love with it too.

Ditto on all accounts. I don't use Siri too often. I haven't had to do ANYTHING software-related (or hardware for what it's worth) to my iPhone since getting it. The thing JUST WORKS. The Fascinate was a huge black mark on my impression of Samsung. I have since only purchased ONE samsung product and that was only because I got free shipping (amazon prime) on it.

My 4S will soon be passed down to my wife as well (who also loves the iphone but doesn't say it too much cause she knows I'll sell the 4S and buy her a 5 and she thinks it's a waste of money). She has always liked all-things-apple though. I'm more of a "all-things-technology" kinda guy.

Should I even ask how much you like the camera on the 4S? How do you think the revised camera on the 5 will perform?

My wife is way more into photo than me. The extent of my photo-taking is with my phone or our fancy DSLR after she's fidgeted with all of the little buttons and switches for me. She always manages to get really good shots with the horrible fascinate which I was never able to do. I imagine her pictures with the 4S will be great. And with photostream sharing, I will easily have all good pictures of my daughter right there!

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Also as long as you don't tether - tethering is where most of my usage is from I think.

Regarding Netflix: Not that I can find. I just double checked. Netflix, Hulu+ and HBO Go are all high data items of mine.

Yeah, that too. Tethering is something that I've lived without so far. I can't think of a time when I might use it but you never know...

 

[jmgregory1]

I, like others here, have looked at moving into the shared plan with AT&T, but when I ran the numbers, the shared plan just doesn't make sense, considering we will have 4 iPhones and one dumb phone on our plan, and my wife and I both currently have unlimited plans.

We use the 1400 shared plan @ $80, plus have the unlimited texts with unlimited mobile to any mobile @ $30 plus my unlimited data @ $30 (for a total of $140 on my primary line). When you add in my wife at $40 ($30 unlimited data plus $10 additional phone charge), then 2 additional iPhones at $40 each and one dumb phone at $10, the total is $270. That includes 16gb (theoretical) of data, unlimited texts and 1400 minutes of talk (clearly we're not going over talk minutes). We could do a dollar for dollar match, but we'd be going down to 10gb of data to do so. It might make sense if AT&T didn't screw the additional dumb phones with a $30 charge ($20 more than I'm paying now).

I don't care about using facetime over wireless (although I do use it in the office over wifi quite consistently). And having hotspot would be great, except for the fact that I'd be eating through more data doing that, which would again force me into a higher data bracket. They've definitely figured out a better way to screw us and I assume the unlimited will at some point in the near future go away completely.

 

[Photogdave]

When your internet usage is limited by your connection speed and then all of a sudden it isn't, your usage WILL go up. If your internet usage wasn't limited by 3G, then no it won't.

One example: Netflix and many other video providers, adjust the quality of the video based on your connection speed. Faster speed = higher quality = more data usage.

Another example: You're constantly waiting for pages to load. After 4G, your pages load faster than you can click through them, you're going to use more now that you're not waiting on load times.

These don't include tethering or FaceTime on cellular - both of which increase usage even more if you utilize them.

I can see that. LTE isnt costing more data, but you may use it more.....I agree.
But thats a personal discipline issue too though agree?
Someone said they surf much more taking a dump than they did on 3G.
Id say get your ass off the pot and go back to work right?

I always hit Wifi when present, especially at home, I got a FAT PIPE at home. No need in cellular data.
I don't just surf the web for sake of doing cause i can.
Also, 3G.......WHEN IM NOT THROTTLED has never effected my surfing habits.....good for me. If you're in a bad 3G area I can see it effecting others.
I actually look forward to it cause, the way I surf, I look for something, once I'm satisfied, I'm done, phone down. That can happen much quicker now.

As for GPS, yes maps will be more data, but I use a Garmin for that stuff. Pointless chewing through battery and data on phone GPS everyday........unless you have to.
But when thats happened to me, I open maps, get my directions, close phone.
Done. So i think a lot of these LTE data jumps can be attributed to careless use.
Like water use, people leave faucets on cause they can.....there's not end to it......unless you care about your bill and waste

 

[groupersandwich]

I gave up unlimited on our two iPhones in order to upgrade to the 5, but I'm actually coming out ahead about $5/month by doing so. Between my wife and I we use roughly 800mb-1gb per month of data. That goes up to around 1.5gb/month in the summer when we're going to the beach every weekend and tethering (jailbroken, tetherme). My wife is addicted to talking and has blown past our 1000 minute limit on numerous occasions. She also LOVES texting. For the levels of usage we have for data, text and voice it made no sense for us to cling to unlimited data. And I don't see myself or my wife suddenly watching video on our iPhones now because we have LTE because honestly, watching video on a tiny cellphone screen sucks. And the coastal community that our beach house is in barely has 3g, let alone LTE. So in our case it made more sense to go ahead and jump on the 4gb share plan (gives us a little wiggle room just in case) and give up the unlimited.

 

[Hammie]

I moved to a 10GB Mobile Share plan. With 9 devices and after my discount, I will save around $100 per month. I had 4 unlimited plans, but the iPhones rarely went over 400MB and the iPads rarely went over 2GB. Average usage was around 750MB-1GB for the iPads and 200-300MB for the iPhones.

Even if I feel I need to bump it up to the 15GB plan, it will still be a savings every month.

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

The other thing to consider is that when it comes time to upgrade devices, you will be buying them outright rather than having them subsidized. So while you may be paying $5 more per month for the "gotcha" plan, it will really be costing you much more if you ever intend to upgrade your devices.

AFAIK that's not true. That is why, for example, a dumb phone is still $30 per month on the share plan. Part of the monthly cost for each device is to pay back the purchase subsidy on a 2 year contract. That is also why adding a tablet is only $10 - tablets are fully paid for and no repayment of the purchase subsidy/discount is required.

AT&T still tracks the contract durations for all devices under contract on the plan.

 

[Leonard1818]

AFAIK that's not true. That is why, for example, a dumb phone is still $30 per month on the share plan. Part of the monthly cost for each device is to pay back the purchase subsidy on a 2 year contract. That is also why adding a tablet is only $10 - tablets are fully paid for and no repayment of the purchase subsidy/discount is required.

AT&T still tracks the contract durations for all devices under contract on the plan.

sorry-- that was from a verizon perspective.

I later posted that I should include that I'm a verizon customer. Now the thread is so big, I wouldn't imagine someone would be able to find my post.

Anyway, it does pertain to Verizon. If you "keep your unlimited data" on verizon, you are, effectively, going to a month-to-month contract and will not be subsidized on your future phone purchases.

This also enables Verizon to drop you at any time they wish. As someone else pointed out, this will probably happen eventually as more and more users switch over and the pool of those clinging to their unlimited dwindles.

Anyone who's studied business knows there are good customers and bad customers and a company (especially a large and successful one) can and should choose who to serve.

 

[pure3d2]

Seriously folks, you think I did this to save a dollar? Good lord...

I did this for:
- gain Facetime over 3G
- tether our iPads and laptops

Our 700 minutes were getting chewed up. I telecommute for my job, I'm always on the phone, and I have a tween who talks on the phone incessantly. If I jumped up another tier on my minutes plan, it would be more than I really need. And again, our data was under utilized over the past 5 years?

Could have done the jailbreak and bought TetherMe for $5 to enable tethering with unlimited data.

Maybe you'd do Facetime a lot over 3G so it'd be worth it to you. But then you're going to be burning through the data as well.

 

[ripper998]

how? What sense would that make? How is it verizon's/ATT's fault if the people sign a contract then go over? It's called accountability. Unfortunately, it's a fast-fading concept.

Its Verizon's and ATT's fault forcing people into contracts that they know will push them into a region with overages. Its called price fixing. ATT & Verizon are fixing the market. The only reason the feds dont go after them is because they let sprint and T-Mobile play, but they arent a competition.

 

[splashnader]

AT&T will have to pry my unlimited data plan out of cold dead hands.