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Checking AT&T iPhone Data Usage History

My usage fluctuates around 100MB, give or take 20MB. The only exception is back in November with 205MB. I am pretty sure that is due to Motion X GPS Drive that was streaming my navigation maps.

Between WiFi at home and at work, it seems I don't use 3G data that much. This may save me $150 a year. I like it. Oh, if innovation comes along and my usage goes up 10x, I can still upgrade by another step and still keep on saving $5 a month.
 
furi0usbee said:
So your 3G is faster than Wi-Fi? Or am I missing something? Are you using WiFi off a 56k modem?
Click to expand...

yeah my 3g is faster and no I'm not using wifi off of a 56k modem haha, I have the apple airport extreme base station.

wifi is amazing on my macbook but on the iphone ehh not so much
 
I'll keep my Unlimited plan until I see what tethering on a jailbroken 4th gen iPhone does. There's a lot of free wifi where I take my laptop... I bet I'll be able to drop $15 off my bill safely. I'll have to watch the usage more if I do though.

Also, what happens if we do get video conferencing with the next iPhone? How will the usage look then?
 
timlot said:
Folks need to stop trying to rationolize this bull from At&t. Yeah you may not be hitting that 2GB limit now, but future is filled with services that will need alot of bandwith, netflix, video chat, wireless syncing, etc. that will easily push pass that limit.
Click to expand...

"rationalize"
Spellcheck is a good thing.

I do agree though, that more data-hungry apps are in the pipeline.
Especially with multitasking being released in OS4.
 
Psiklops said:
Correct - I confirmed with AT&T that the only way to get tethering is to go with the new Data Pro Plan. You can still purchase an unlimited plan with a new iPhone, you just won't be able to tether it.
Click to expand...

you're information is not correct.

2 new plans and a tethering option on one of them. no unlimited plan to NEW customers being offered after Jun 7.

existing customers can keep current unlimited plan or switch if they want to save money. switching will not extend contract.

looking for the reference i found for this part but...
existing customers who choose to keep their unlimited will be allowed to add tethering

edit:
can't find my reference so i'm not putting weight in that speculation about tethering with unlimited
 
Unbelievable

I can't believe AT&T can't manage tacking on tethering without gouging an additional fee out of their user base. I don't truly need it since I found the terminal emulator app but I did look forward to the day I could type on a standard keyboard when doing live updates to a server wherever I'm at. Alas, it's more predictive typing on a 2.5 inch flat keyboard in my future.

I didn't think I was a huge bandwidth user--mostly stream internet radio on the daily commute (hooray ooTunes), listen to Pandora when not doing that, and a bit of Facebook/YouTube here and there. It's not like I'm streaming movies or playing games 24/7. Checked my usage and I'm at 1995MB with another week+ left in the billing period. Guess I'm stuck with the $30/mo. plan even though I was initially excited about possibly reducing my monthly bill by a few bucks.

So to the jerk who hypothesized about my unauthorized tethering, yeah, you can be in the ostensible top 2% of bandwidth users and not be doing anything other than streaming music for a few hours a day.

I can't say that any of the other carriers are going to be much better but I can damn well guarantee that I'll be looking at switching as soon as possible. I hated AT&T before I was coerced in to using them and they've done nothing to improve my opinion of their service in the 2+ years I've been with them.
 
Shame we don't have rollover data. That might come in handy.

What I really want is lower voice plans. I have so many rollover minutes that I never use. They offer a Senior Nation plan but you need to be 55+ to use it. So I'm wasting $10/month just because I'm not retired. Ridiculous.
 
wax0 said:
Everybody is saying that they don't go over 300 to 400 mb per month, if that were the case, there was not reason for at&t to change the data plan to 2gb limit, they are changing it because they know people are using more than that and are going to need to use more than that, people are getting ripoff and many of the commenters are happy because they save $5, this is crazy, people are giving their freedom away for $5???, plus these people are going to see that they really need more if they want to use video calls, voIP and of course tethering, I would highly prefer not to do tethering at this price, I also think at&t are adjusting those graphics so people think they are using lessdata that what they are really using, so people think this is a good deal for them, for instance, friend of mine was away from home over the weeken and downloaded a lot of music, files were 30 mb each, and they were more than 5, but his data shows only 80 mb usage so far, do not let them to take your unlimited freedom for $5, you do not know what is next!!!!
Click to expand...
That is true for SOME people. AT&T said some time ago that a very small minority of the users are using a lot of data. Most people don't approach it.

I just looked at my data plan usage history. I averaged 100 MB per month, and maxed out at 219 MB per month one month, which was the only month I went over 200MB.

I almost always have WiFi coverage where ever I go so I rarely use that much 3G data. I'm rather excited at the prospects of switching to the $15 plan. I don't really care about tethering right now, I don't have an iPad or MacBook currently. Maybe sometime later but I'm sure when I do want it I can just change my plan.

I'm also planning on buying my wife an iPhone. Before we weren't willing to spend an extra $60 per month for data plans for 2 iPhones. Now we can have both iPhones for $30 bucks a month. Win/Win for us.
 
wax0 said:
Everybody is saying that they don't go over 300 to 400 mb per month, if that were the case, there was not reason for at&t to change the data plan to 2gb limit, they are changing it because they know people are using more than that and are going to need to use more than that, people are getting ripoff
Click to expand...
No, they just want to get rid off that 2% of users that use more than 2GB of data each month. At first they will let people keep their unlimited plan, but by this time next summer, I am fairly sure they will force people to switch to the limited plans. The load due to the high data users probably makes them unprofitable for AT&T, so it would be happy to see them go somewhere else.

I am surprised that they offer a 200MB plan. They will probably sell phones at a higher price for new customers who opt for the cheaper plan.
 
jameskatt said:
The only one with 4G is Sprint. But then Sprint has a much smaller coverage area. And 4G uses twice the battery power for very little gain in actual speed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the 3-4 times faster speeds is "very little gain" to a fanboy of a device on a different service, but to people that actually enjoy calls that don't drop and really fast 3G and 4G service, it's a pretty big deal.
 
Based on the postive/negative rating for this thread, I am surprsied that so many people disapprove of being helped to figure out their data usage...;)
 
Can everyone STOP getting upset over the extra cost of tethering from AT&T?

Verizon already does this exact same thing. I see people claiming that Verizon will come in and be more fair with their pricing but it simply isn't true. Verizon charges for tethering as well as the unlimited device plan. I checked with them when the Palm Pre Plus came out with it's built in hotspot option. I was shown voice$ + phone data$ + tethering$ = $/mo.

Besides, you can always jailbreak. I just want a jailbroken cable option and not use the wifi.

This story just made it's way onto my 12pm local news recap. lol
 
wax0 said:
Everybody is saying that they don't go over 300 to 400 mb per month, if that were the case, there was not reason for at&t to change the data plan to 2gb limit, they are changing it because they know people are using more than that and are going to need to use more than that, people are getting ripoff and many of the commenters are happy because they save $5, this is crazy, people are giving their freedom away for $5???, plus these people are going to see that they really need more if they want to use video calls, voIP and of course tethering, I would highly prefer not to do tethering at this price, I also think at&t are adjusting those graphics so people think they are using lessdata that what they are really using, so people think this is a good deal for them, for instance, friend of mine was away from home over the weeken and downloaded a lot of music, files were 30 mb each, and they were more than 5, but his data shows only 80 mb usage so far, do not let them to take your unlimited freedom for $5, you do not know what is next!!!!
Click to expand...

You wear tin foil hats, don't you?
 
slyreptile said:
So instead of using the money they've been collecting on data plans to upgrade their system to handle the bandwidth, they're screwing everyone by capping the usage. But their giving unlimited access at AT&T hotspots, so that's what...only AT&T stores? And why do people continue to stay in their contracts with this company?
Click to expand...

Geez. Quit bitching and just keep your current plan! You were OK with it yesterday. Nothing has changed! This is a great deal for the average user.
 
video chat....

the best part is.... with the awesome new front facing camera for video chat, we will ALL be using more than 200mb, and have to ration our potential use of this new feature to stay under 2gb. I guess it makes sense though, if every cell phone user used camera chat for every call, there would be major bandwidth problems.
 
Dwalls90 said:
People are really flipping out for no reason ... 98% of iPhone users use below 2Gb ... that 2% is almost guaranteed to be those 'illegally' tethering ... thus basically 100% of iPhone users need no more than 2Gb of data ...
Click to expand...

Well that is sort of the ire too - yes, most people who use tethering, even the new $20 a month tethering, will use more than the 2 gig limit. They are charging you almost as much as the data plan itself and giving you nothing more in return - I mean, they aren't even doing the tethering - the iPhone OS is!

This is a useless tethering option and  so needs to drop AT&T as sole US provider if they are doing this.
 
Dang my usage was 1.7 gigs last month.i would love to switch to the $15 dollar but i realized i used TomTom a lot last month and that kills the data usage :) If it wasnt for Nav..id do it, but as one user pointd out, if the 4g does have video chat on it that would kill the data usage also..
 
AT&T is in business to make money. . .

To all of those who say that this plan is going to save them money, that may be true for now.

However, I'm betting that AT&T has quite a few highly paid individuals who know the market now and know where the market is headed in terms of data hungry devices and consumers who crave such devices.

Those highly paid individuals who work for AT&T have crunched the numbers and made projections, and they've advised AT&T to adjust their pricing plans to allow the company to be even more profitable in the future. If they're doing anything less than trying to make AT&T more money, they won't be on the payroll much longer.
 
Looks like AT&T will be getting $15 less each month from me... and I'm beyond happy about it.

usages.jpg
 
avanpelt said:
To all of those who say that this plan is going to save them money, that may be true for now.

However, I'm betting that AT&T has quite a few highly paid individuals who know the market now and know where the market is headed in terms of data hungry devices and consumers who crave such devices.

Those highly paid individuals who work for AT&T have crunched the numbers and made projections, and they've advised AT&T to adjust their pricing plans to allow the company to be even more profitable in the future. If they're doing anything less than trying to make AT&T more money, they won't be on the payroll much longer.
Click to expand...

These same people have probably seen surveys where people say the main reason they don't buy an iphone is the high monthly cost. We've all seen Calculations of what it costs to own an iphone over 2 years. Drop that number by $360 and you might find a lot more people intersted in buying one. The smart people at ATT might have realized that and figured out a way to make the IPhone more appealing to new customers, while still protecting themselves against datahogs. There's more money to be made by increasing your customer base than in making a couple bucks more off some of them.
 
wax0 said:
Everybody is saying that they don't go over 300 to 400 mb per month, if that were the case, there was not reason for at&t to change the data plan to 2gb limit, they are changing it because they know people are using more than that and are going to need to use more than that, people are getting ripoff and many of the commenters are happy because they save $5, this is crazy, people are giving their freedom away for $5???, plus these people are going to see that they really need more if they want to use video calls, voIP and of course tethering, I would highly prefer not to do tethering at this price, I also think at&t are adjusting those graphics so people think they are using lessdata that what they are really using, so people think this is a good deal for them, for instance, friend of mine was away from home over the weeken and downloaded a lot of music, files were 30 mb each, and they were more than 5, but his data shows only 80 mb usage so far, do not let them to take your unlimited freedom for $5, you do not know what is next!!!!
Click to expand...

I agree with the first part of your statement. The rationale makes no sense. If 98% of the users are not even using more than 2GB then these users are not the heavy users. This option will save them $5 per month true. But in the future who knows.

This also does nothing to curb the 2% that is probably taxing the network. Many of whom are using JB iphones. Maybe they are under false assumtions that people would choose the AT&T tethering option now that it is offered. Or AT&T has something up its sleeve to prevent those JB phones from tethering or using the network illegaly. Thus if you want to then use the phone as a tethering device you will have no choice but to cap usage and buy the tethering option. Hmmm.

In regard to the last part and the downloading of music, are you sure they were not on wifi at that point or any point?
 
Small White Car said:
As of yesterday the planned tethering plan was assumed to cost $60.

Now it'll cost $40.

How is that "more?"
Click to expand...

You mean the vaporware tethering plan with the unlimited bandwidth compared to the crippled 2G tethering plan that costs just $5 less than the data plan you also need which gives you a data plan with a minuscule data amount that makes tethering an iPad, or laptop on even an occasional basis pretty much useless?

If they are going to cripple tethering to such a degree it should just be free and people can use their 2 gigs however they want.
 
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