Giving Up Unlimited AT&T Plan (Switch to Different AT&T Plan): Good Idea?

[nostresshere]

Never give up unlimited unless you have to. Not like the internet will suddenly stop using more bandwidth. The bigger files are, and the more the world runs on the cloud, the more data you'll need to use.

Maybe they'll actually offer unlimited data again (lol), until then, keep it as long as you can. That's my advice.

I had some of that logic for years. Kept paying extra for unlimited. Paid for service on Ipad(s). Paid for service in some hotels. All for what? Some unreasonable fear of giving it up.

Finally switched. Saving $1000 to $1,500 a year. Stupid me for holding out for so long.

 

[scoop2mylue]

I will be switching to a 10GB family share for the 2 of us finally after many years thinking I absoluetly had to have unlimited then hearing we only use 6GB between the 2 of us a month saving will be $50 a month... easy decision just wish I would have done this earlier

 

[Cool Pup]

I had some of that logic for years. Kept paying extra for unlimited. Paid for service on Ipad(s). Paid for service in some hotels. All for what? Some unreasonable fear of giving it up.

Finally switched. Saving $1000 to $1,500 a year. Stupid me for holding out for so long.

I guess it depends on how much you use. I use about 10-15GB a month. I suppose it should be a case-by-case basis. I just hate the idea of paying monthly for something that I can hit a cap and then go over on.

 

[fskywalker]

28 replies in just 2 hours ! Guess my question is somewhat shared by others. I have just added a 3 options post, so we can all see a summary of what other people think or have already done!

 

[bpeeps]

Switching to a new plan would be more expensive than keeping my old unlimited plan. Plus I rarely go over 5GB. But that's just my anecdata.

 

[GermanSuplex]

I gave up my unlimited data plan earlier this year because it would save me money, and I had never come close to going over 2gb of data each month. I rarely went over 1gb each month, and many months I only used between 250-500mb.

Now, however, I find myself using nearly the whole 2gb, and one month I went over. My usage hasn't really changed, so I can't figure out where the huge jump is coming from, and I pay attention to downloading apps/music on wifi, streaming videos, etc. But like I said, I never went over with all that stuff turned on before, which is why I switched in the first place. The biggest user of data seems to be something called iTunes Accounts. It isn't clear exactly what that is or how it behaves, so I don't know how to properly monitor it. But, even if I go over and have to add a gig of data for $15, I'm still saving a bit of money.

 

[rui no onna]

28 replies in just 2 hours ! Guess my question is somewhat shared by others. I have just added a 3 options post, so we can all see a summary of what other people think or have already done!

Voted for the 1st option. I gave up my unlimited but my usage wasn't anywhere near yours so we do save on the new plans. Yours is a different scenario.

 

[MattMJB0188]

keep it at all costs. Your usage with new phones will only increase.

Sure, then his new phone will crawl at a pathetic 512kbps.

 

[Fant]

Yes when comparing old family talk plans with the new mobile share plans please make sure you factor in device costs. 4 iPhones cost about $120/month in addition to the $160/month for service for 10gb so you are looking really at $280/month for 4 iPhones/10gb

 

[iMas70]

I posted most of this info in one of the Next threads -

I have unlimited data on my iPhone and a 5GB plan on my iPad. I'm leaning towards keeping the unlimited data plan but am giving the shared plan some consideration. The 10GB plan would be the one for me if I was to switch over.

I'm looking at the AT&T site now. What I would go with is the 64GB phone. It costs $749.99. That's $31.25 per month for 24 months or $37.50 for 18 months.

My plan is -

450 minutes - $39.99
Unlimited data - $30.00 (FAN discount doesn't apply)
Unlimited texting - $20.00
Discount is $16.10
$73.89
Taxes/fees - $6.95
Total for the phone plan is $80.84

5GB Data plan for the iPad is $50.00
Discount is $11.50
$38.50
Surcharges/fees - $1.27
Total - $39.77

$120.61 total

If I add the phone to that for 24 months it adds $31.25 for a total of $151.86.

if I go with the 10GB Shared data. That is -

10GB - $100.00
Phone - $15.00
iPad - $10.00
$125.00
Discount brings that down to $96.25
I'll guess about $8.00 for taxes/fee
$104.25

Adding in the 64GB phone for 24 months brings the total to $135.50.

I'm always skeptical and throughly research everything that is going to cost me money. NEXT really doesn't seem bad if I'm reading all this correctly. It's just an interest free loan for "x" number of months, when the loan is paid off then you own the phone and can do what you like with it. You can also upgrade when you want and not be locked into a 2 year contact and not be able to upgrade if you upgrade date doesn't coincide with the release date of the new phone that you want. Seems pretty simple.
.................

I called AT&T. The rep said that my plan price won't change if I buy the phone on Next and keep my Unlimited plan. So if I do that, I end up paying full price for the phone and pay the same monthly rate as I would if I signed a 2 year contract and get the phone for $299.99. So that's an extra $450.00 over the course of two years.

With that said, I'm a little torn. On one hand I don't want to give up the plan because it's unlimited. It's slower after 5GB but I can still stream music and do pretty much everything else. Plus, I can't get it back if I give it up. On the other hand I very rarely go over 5GB and when I did I was pretty much trying to see what would happen. I usually use 2.5-3.5GB on the phone. The most combined useage has been 9.5GB. And that was a month that I went over the 5GB with my phone. So realistically the 10GB shared data plan would be perfectly fine.

I think I'm holding onto it just to have it. Like having a high horsepower sports car that I can only drive drive around the block.

Benefits of me giving it up, my monthly bill will be $15. lower, tethering/hotspot that I usually don't have a need for and I can get a new phone when I want instead of being locked in every two years. I kind of see what I should do. It's just a matter of standing up and doing it.

 

[fskywalker]

Well, so far on the Poll the majority thinks the grandfather unlimited is a better deal; perhaps should keep it for little bit longer . I would not discard seeing AT&T to launch unlimited again due to market pressure if everyone else eventually have it on LTE, lets see what happens.

 

[Chief Oddball]

I've run the numbers over and over, and for my use case, grandfathered unlimited is a better deal than either AT&T's current mobile share or Next offerings. That's just all there is to it for me. I use about 2 GB per month on a slow upward trend, I have no need of tethering and what I have right now just works for me. The only meaningful thing I'd accomplish by switching is paying more money. No thanks.

I have no intention of ever changing this plan unless 1) I'm forced to or 2) my usage is significantly altered.

 

[WolfSnap]

I gave up my unlimited data plan earlier this year because it would save me money, and I had never come close to going over 2gb of data each month. I rarely went over 1gb each month, and many months I only used between 250-500mb.

Now, however, I find myself using nearly the whole 2gb, and one month I went over. My usage hasn't really changed, so I can't figure out where the huge jump is coming from, and I pay attention to downloading apps/music on wifi, streaming videos, etc. But like I said, I never went over with all that stuff turned on before, which is why I switched in the first place. The biggest user of data seems to be something called iTunes Accounts. It isn't clear exactly what that is or how it behaves, so I don't know how to properly monitor it. But, even if I go over and have to add a gig of data for $15, I'm still saving a bit of money.

It's probably due to how they "round" the data usage. I bet they round up to a MB on every connection...

 

[fishmd]

I was interested to see this thread as this has been something I have been contemplating doing as well. I am sick of getting throttled every month once I go over 5 GB. It makes the device browsing and online use useless. Why am I paying for it?

My debate now though is wether or not I want to stay with ATT and switch to a mobile share plan, or go with T mobile. Both plans for me will almost come out identical in price (actually a little less on ATT because of a corporate discount) but T Mobile has no data overages, so I could get 5 GB of data say and then get throttled, or I could get their unlimited plan and not get throttled at all. (Or at least not like I do with ATT). I actually did the T mobile test drive and got same data speeds in my local area of living/working as I do with ATT. Hum. Either way, I need to decide soon I guess and then see about checking out the iPhone 6 in person to see if I will go with it or not.

Anyone else considering T Mobile?

 

[fskywalker]

I was interested to see this thread as this has been something I have been contemplating doing as well. I am sick of getting throttled every month once I go over 5 GB. It makes the device browsing and online use useless. Why am I paying for it?

My debate now though is wether or not I want to stay with ATT and switch to a mobile share plan, or go with T mobile. Both plans for me will almost come out identical in price (actually a little less on ATT because of a corporate discount) but T Mobile has no data overages, so I could get 5 GB of data say and then get throttled, or I could get their unlimited plan and not get throttled at all. (Or at least not like I do with ATT). I actually did the T mobile test drive and got same data speeds in my local area of living/working as I do with ATT. Hum. Either way, I need to decide soon I guess and then see about checking out the iPhone 6 in person to see if I will go with it or not.

Anyone else considering T Mobile?

I would consider it if the coverage is as good as AT&T in my area.

 

[technopple]

How did you get the graph of data consumption?

 

[iMas70]

You can view it on AT&T's site. Just go into the section for your plan. There is an option there. You can select a timeframe that you'd like to view.

 

[fskywalker]

You can view it on AT&T's site. Just go into the section for your plan. There is an option there. You can select a timeframe that you'd like to view.

It only shows you a couple of months in the screen, have to scroll to see a big range. I copied various screens and combined them.

 

[sluggozmom]

I see lots of people thinking about dumping the unlimited because they don't use "that" much data...so I am wondering just how much data they use with the addition of tethering/hotspot to their new plan. Or if it's even a consideration..

 

[alphaod]

I gave it up on my second line because I wasn't using more than 500MB a month on it. I also moved my parents into my account, so we're sharing 10GB on the account and on a heavy month it's barely approaching it on three phones, three iPads, and two MiFis.

For main line, I'm roaming all the time, so I'm not giving up my international data line. I can use 6-7GB a month roaming and it's nice to not care how much data I'm using.

 

[Knowimagination]

It ended up being a great deal for me. My wife and I were averaging about 3-4 GB per month with me on the unlimited plan and her on the 3GB plan. Our highest combined month was 6.5 GB in the past year.

Since switching to the 10GB mobile share plan we haven't even come close except for the month we went on a road trip and streamed music the whole time, used gps the whole time, and used our phones as hotspots when we weren't near wifi. That month we used 8.7GB.

For the two of us bill went from $186 to $120

 

[BigBeast]

I saw the writing on the wall a couple years back, so I dropped the unlimited plan. I don't regret it at all. I like the ability to tether- especially since I use my old 4S as an iPod for my car stereo system, and with iTunes Match, I have all my songs everywhere. Unless you're traveling constantly or live in an area with poor internet service, I wonder why your data usage is so high to begin with, honestly. I think you could be more vigilant in finding wifi access (unless the previously mentioned situations describe your internet access). Either way, I haven't regretted switching at all, and continue to wonder why people even make a fuss about the limited "unlimited" plan.

 

[StoutFiles]

Depend on your usage. The new plans have unlimited talk. These being phones, talking on them is nice.

And my grandfathered plan has rollover minutes. I have so many minutes rolled over I have unlimited talk.

----------

It ended up being a great deal for me. My wife and I were averaging about 3-4 GB per month with me on the unlimited plan and her on the 3GB plan. Our highest combined month was 6.5 GB in the past year.

Since switching to the 10GB mobile share plan we haven't even come close except for the month we went on a road trip and streamed music the whole time, used gps the whole time, and used our phones as hotspots when we weren't near wifi. That month we used 8.7GB.

For the two of us bill went from $186 to $120

Family plans are really the only reason to drop. I use about 7 GB a month, and while I do feel the throttling, stuff still loads so it's not a big deal.

 

[nyfliiboy]

Depends on the amount of usage you do. Last month using my phone regularly without tethering and being throttled I still managed to pass 8GB. For heavy data users no one should willingly give up unlimited data unless they want to pay more when they go over their allotted data portion.

 

[msegina613]

I think it all depends on how much you use and how much you save.

Before i switched off Unlimited and combined my family accounts to mine here was the situation:

My account unlimited, my wife 2GB or 3GB: $170 per month.
My parents, 1 Smart phone 2GB or 3GB, one basic, no messaging: $140ish per month.
My mother in law, one phone basic and messaging: $90 per month
Combined was over $400 month.

Consolidated to Family Value, Mother in law got Iphone on next:
10GB $100 -17% fan account. 5 phones $75, one next +25.
We pay $74.00, my parents pay $74.00, mother-in-law with next pays $60.
Total Bill: $208 plus change.

For me I saved about $96 dollars a month or $1152 a year. My unlimited plan wasn't worth $96.00 per month to me.