Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Carrier Keep or Lose ATT Grandfathered Unlimited...

S

samcraig

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jun 22, 2009
16,786
41,983
USA
Advice -

I currently have unlimited (grandfathered) with ATT. In the past 2 years - I have only gone over 3GB twice (and not by much).

I have loads of Amazon credit and am going to upgrade my phone. However - if I go via Amazon, I will lose unlimited.

To keep or not to keep unlimited is the question. I think I am leaning towards keeping because you never know in the future what services will use more data. But on the flip side - unlimited might not be grandfathered forever, it does save me $250 out of pocket to use Amazon and I'm on WiFi a lot.

Torn

Thoughts?
 
Don't they throttle your bandwidth down as you approach (or exceed) 2GB of data?

I think too many people hold onto the unlimited bandwidth to their detriment, that is avoid certain upgrades that will actually benefit them more then what the unlimited bandwidth provides.

Just my $.02
 
maflynn said:
Don't they throttle your bandwidth down as you approach (or exceed) 2GB of data?

I think too many people hold onto the unlimited bandwidth to their detriment, that is avoid certain upgrades that will actually benefit them more then what the unlimited bandwidth provides.

Just my $.02
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've never experienced throttling as far as I know..

Just a little nerve-wracking to give it up - wonder if others here have and don't regret it at all...
 
I gave up my unlimited AT&T plan to switch to T-mobile.

If you're considering losing it, I say you don't need it. If you did need it, you would know for sure.
 
Look into selling it if you are going to get rid of it. Some people make a bunch of cash from them. Unlimited iPad plans are selling for $800 on eBay.
 
maflynn said:
Don't they throttle your bandwidth down as you approach (or exceed) 2GB of data?

I think too many people hold onto the unlimited bandwidth to their detriment, that is avoid certain upgrades that will actually benefit them more then what the unlimited bandwidth provides.

Just my $.02
Click to expand...

3GB on 3G or 5GB on LTE. Even though I have broken 5GB a few times and haven't been throttled. According to some AT&T reps you have to break 5GB and be in the top 5% of your area.

I wouldn't get rid of my unlimited for anything. Though hardly do I ever go past 5GB, its nice to know that if I had to, it won't cost me anything else. But then again I am paying $30 for unlimited, vs. $50 for 5GB.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
3GB on 3G or 5GB on LTE. Even though I have broken 5GB a few times and haven't been throttled. According to some AT&T reps you have to break 5GB and be in the top 5% of your area.

I wouldn't get rid of my unlimited for anything. Though hardly do I ever go past 5GB, its nice to know that if I had to, it won't cost me anything else. But then again I am paying $30 for unlimited, vs. $50 for 5GB.
Click to expand...

If I had that usage it would be no contest/question. In the past 24 months - I've only gone over 3gb twice - and it was still less than 4gb. Isn't it $10 per gig over your plan? Right now I pay $30 for unlimited. 3GB would also be $30. So seems less of an issue on paper.
 
I wouldn't give up my unlimited data plan for anything. There's just something about piece of mind knowing I don't ever have to worry about how much data I eat up. I have t-mo and use 11-13 GB/ month so I guess you could say I'm very liberal with my data usage.
 
it really depends on your personal usage. i'm always on wifi and i have never exceeded 2GB in 5 years. i also don't stream a bunch of stuff so even if i had no wifi, 2 or 3GB would be enough for me.
 
Wasted time/effort. Amazon doesn't allow gift cards to be used for cell service. LOL - oh well... Thanks everyone!
 
I would recommend keeping your grandfathered unlimited data plan. As far as I know, switching phones doesn't make you lose your plans.
 
I had 2 lines grandfathered with unlimited data that gave up. I really don't use all that much data. I gained the unlimited talk and text which I use more.
 
I gave up my unlimited data quite awhile ago. Since I'm almost always near wifi, I rarely go over 500 MB of data in a month.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I gave up my unlimited data quite awhile ago. Since I'm almost always near wifi, I rarely go over 500 MB of data in a month.
Click to expand...

Same here. It's one of the soft benefits from working from home. I think having the hotspot functionality would be nice. The kids could use their iPods in the car and that means one more place I don't have to talk to them. ;)
 
my iphone is on AT&T shared plan and my work galaxy s3 is on verizon with unlimited data

i use 1.5GB or so on both phones. i rarely stream music, youtube or netflix or porn. lots of other things to do on smartphones
 
You never know when you need it. I'm not sure what tariffs they have in America but there are still networks in the UK offering unlimited data.

I went away for 5 days recently and used 7GB mainly tethering and watching Netflix.

You obviously dont have that flexibility on restricted plans. I also rarely use more than 2GB in a month - but occasionally i can go nuts, download a load of music from icloud at the airport / train station if i'm going travelling and out of coverage - tethering on the train, tether in hotels or on holiday etc.

It gives you a lot of freedom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back