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

[amro]

Along with my unlimited plan, I have the worldwide international data roaming package that is no longer offered. It was offered to FAN members. It tacks on $30/month, but I can get data anywhere in the world, and I travel quite a bit. If AT&T ever pulls this from me, I'll switch to T-Mobile Simple Choice which offers worldwide roaming as well, albeit limited to 128kbps. Also, I can tether on my Android phone when I'm overseas and don't get any nasty grams from AT&T.

But, if you don't travel, unlimited seems to be a dying benefit. And frankly, T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans are the way to go if you know TMo is good in your city.

 

[jrcsh6]

I was to a point where I was getting throttled each month. It drove me up the wall. It would be one thing if throttling was a reasonable decrease but it was to the point that the phone was half way useless. I went to the 10 gb family share with my parents hardly using anything!

 

[Rafterman]

AT&T's going to eventually take your unlimited plan away, one way or another, so might as well get it over with.

 

[vitacura]

Been hearing that for years. But until they do, I am keeping it. So far I am better off with my current plan than a shared one.

 

[iMas70]

After thinking about this for a few days, I'm going to keep my Unlimited plan and also go with a 2 year contract instead of doing the NEXT program.

My options for the 64GB phone are -

Unlimited data with 2 year contract - $120.61 x 24 + $299.99 = $3194.64
Unlimited data with NEXT - $120.61 x 24 + $799.99 = $3644.63

10GB Shared with 2 year contract - $109.50 x 24 + $299.99 = $2927.99
10GB Shared with NEXT - $109.50 x 24 + $749.99 = $3377.99

Giving up Unlimited isn't worth the $11.00 per month savings to me. Keeping Unlimited and going with NEXT would cost a lot more.

My current contract ends on October 18th. I talked to someone at AT&T yesterday. They confirmed that date and told me that I can upgrade on October 1st. So I only have to wait a week and a half after the release. Maybe I will luck out and find one in a store. If not, then I will order one. But I get to upgrade 2 1/2 weeks earlier than I thought I was going to. Not a bad deal. Then I'll see if plans change 2 years from now. Maybe it will be better to give it up then or unlimited will truly be unlimited.

 

[eprisencc]

They have to pry unlimited data from my cold dead hands. You don't get unlimited voice and text but Google provides work arounds for all of that. You can use hangouts for unlimited calling using only your data plan and also can use google voice for texts. I can go down to the lowest minute plan, 550, and still have all the features of the mobile share plan without giving up unlimited data.

 

[fskywalker]

Pretty solid (60%) support so far for grandfather "unlimited" plan, even with its limitations.....

 

[mastercheif91]

I was to a point where I was getting throttled each month. It drove me up the wall. It would be one thing if throttling was a reasonable decrease but it was to the point that the phone was half way useless. I went to the 10 gb family share with my parents hardly using anything!

This. I've been on verizon for the last year, due to better service in my area. But what kept me on AT&T so long was my grandfathered unlimited data. However, when they started to throttle me to 56kb speeds the second I hit 3GB, I told them to screw off and ditched them. Don't regret it for a second.

 

[bigchief]

We have 4 iPhones and I had unlimited for years. Switched over to family share 10GB and saved $100 a month. We have never gone over. I use to think unlimited was the "Holy Grail" and found out it is not. I'm saving $1200 a year. You can damn near buy 2 iPhone 6s with that!

 

[jrcsh6]

Unlimited was a joke to me. It's unlimited and unusable at 5gb. If it's part of a family plan it's better to do something like the 10gb.

 

[rui no onna]

Unlimited was a joke to me. It's unlimited and unusable at 5gb. If it's part of a family plan it's better to do something like the 10gb.

Not necessarily. If you have 4 lines on unlimited, that's 5GB LTE for each line so 20GB total (assuming even usage) versus just 10GB with more or less similar pricing. If you move to 20GB, then you'll be paying $1,200 more over 2 years.

 

[kevroc]

Have anyone here have willfully converted to the new AT&T plans because of benefits over the unlimited grandfather plan? (not by switching to another carrier).

Thanks,

Francisco

I switched and am happy I did. I need tethering and I wanted unrestricted use of my data. I was tired of AT&T saying I can't do this and that on the unlimited plan. I also like knowing that I get a much bigger bucket of data that I can use instead of just the 5GB. I can also scale my data up and down if need be, I've gone to the 15gb plan and down to the 2gb plan as my usage changes.

I also like being able to add my devices like tablets to the list for $10 and they can share in the data bucket. I generally don't use much data on them but when I need it I know it's there and it's only $10 /month versus whatever the dedicated tablet plans are.

Plus unlimited talk/text and I never have to worry about it.

It was a no brainer for me...

I even sold my iPad Unlimited Data Plan on eBay for several hundred dollars and that $30/month plan went to $10/month on my shared plan. So I'm saving $20/month right there and never used that much data on the iPad anyway.

 

[edhchoe]

I stick my SIM card in my ipad and provide hotspot for family when we travel. 10gb easy. No way giving up unlimited data in my case