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Keep unlimited or switch to share?

T

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
We have 5 lines with AT&T on a family plan. Three have unlimited and the other two have 2gb. Right now only my phone is LTE. We have a fan discount too. If we switched our plan to the share plan we will save up to $70 a month. Even if we took the largest plan.. 20gb.. We'd still save $10 a month including taxes.

If we did that.. The unlimited lines could have 5 gb each and the two others would split the last 5. In addition, we would be able to tether. Currently the monthly data usage by line is approximately 2gb, 2 gb, 1.5gb, 1 GB, .5gb. I have my iPad separate on Verizon LTE so I would not be tethering it. Would you consider switching? If we had the 20gb... I can't fathom how we'd ever go over 20 GB. Three of the people on our account are my dad, mom, and brother's fiancée and they hardly use their phones' data.
 
tl01 said:
We have 5 lines with AT&T on a family plan. Three have unlimited and the other two have 2gb. Right now only my phone is LTE. We have a fan discount too. If we switched our plan to the share plan we will save up to $70 a month. Even if we took the largest plan.. 20gb.. We'd still save $10 a month including taxes.

If we did that.. The unlimited lines could have 5 gb each and the two others would split the last 5. In addition, we would be able to tether. Currently the monthly data usage by line is approximately 2gb, 2 gb, 1.5gb, 1 GB, .5gb. I have my iPad separate on Verizon LTE so I would not be tethering it. Would you consider switching? If we had the 20gb... I can't fathom how we'd ever go over 20 GB. Three of the people on our account are my dad, mom, and brother's fiancée and they hardly use their phones' data.
Click to expand...

I would rather pay more. They will have to pry my unlimited plan from my cold dead fingers!
 
tl01 said:
We have 5 lines with AT&T on a family plan. Three have unlimited and the other two have 2gb. Right now only my phone is LTE. We have a fan discount too. If we switched our plan to the share plan we will save up to $70 a month. Even if we took the largest plan.. 20gb.. We'd still save $10 a month including taxes.

If we did that.. The unlimited lines could have 5 gb each and the two others would split the last 5. In addition, we would be able to tether. Currently the monthly data usage by line is approximately 2gb, 2 gb, 1.5gb, 1 GB, .5gb. I have my iPad separate on Verizon LTE so I would not be tethering it. Would you consider switching? If we had the 20gb... I can't fathom how we'd ever go over 20 GB. Three of the people on our account are my dad, mom, and brother's fiancée and they hardly use their phones' data.
Click to expand...
I have 3 iphones and saved almost $100/month by moving off unlimited and to the 10GB share... the tethering is very nice... If you get throttled at 5GB with unlimited is it really unlimited? I am very happy with the switch so far - each phone hardly uses 1GB each, I use the most but have never been over 2GB in 6 years.
 
nikhsub1 said:
I have 3 iphones and saved almost $100/month by moving off unlimited and to the 10GB share... the tethering is very nice... If you get throttled at 5GB with unlimited is it really unlimited? I am very happy with the switch so far - each phone hardly uses 1GB each, I use the most but have never been over 2GB in 6 years.
Click to expand...
Agree...unlimited is a myth.

It makes people feel better, but if you're getting throttled at 5 gig...you have a 5 gig plan. It's like having all the gas you want for a set price per month, but if you go over 1500 miles you can't go faster than 5 mph.

In many situations data sharing can make sense. But it all depends on the total number/type of devices and how they are being used.
 
I actually switched my family plan to Mobile share today. I didn't have unlimited data, but I was paying $295/month 3 lines, unlimited talk and text, 2 3GB plans and 1 2GB plan.

Now I'm paying $181 for 4GB Mobile Share :D. It was a great move for me.
 
mantan said:
Agree...unlimited is a myth.

It makes people feel better, but if you're getting throttled at 5 gig...you have a 5 gig plan. It's like having all the gas you want for a set price per month, but if you go over 1500 miles you can't go faster than 5 mph.
Click to expand...

I've thought about this as well. Couple things...

1. AT&T may eventually forget about us unlimited folks and stop throttling once enough are on tired plans. I know, wishful thinking. May take years.

2. LTE throttling might not be that bad.

3. 5 gigs for $30 is still great even with no tethering. If they offered it now, many people would jump on it.
 
djuzi05 said:
I actually switched my family plan to Mobile share today. I didn't have unlimited data, but I was paying $295/month 3 lines, unlimited talk and text, 2 3GB plans and 1 2GB plan.

Now I'm paying $181 for 4GB Mobile Share :D. It was a great move for me.
Click to expand...
Yeah I saved about the same... If you count the ipad I was paying $29/month for 2GB that now I pay $10/month for on shared. For families it really does save some coin, obviously for individual users it is pretty useless. If I were a bachelor with no kids, I would have kept unlimited for sure, one can dream I guess :D
 
mantan said:
Agree...unlimited is a myth.

It makes people feel better, but if you're getting throttled at 5 gig...you have a 5 gig plan. It's like having all the gas you want for a set price per month, but if you go over 1500 miles you can't go faster than 5 mph.

In many situations data sharing can make sense. But it all depends on the total number/type of devices and how they are being used.
Click to expand...

Unlimited is not a myth. Once I hit 5gb, maybe they throttle me maybe they don't. But what they don't do is charge me one penny more. I understand it makes those that don't have unlimited feel better by bringing up throttling but really it's just sour grapes.
 
Blorzoga said:
Unlimited is not a myth. Once I hit 5gb, maybe they throttle me maybe they don't. But what they don't do is charge me one penny more. I understand it makes those that don't have unlimited feel better by bringing up throttling but really it's just sour grapes.
Click to expand...
OK, but I am saving almost $1200/year by moving 3 phones OFF of unlimited... almost pays for 2 full price phones a year. Plus, everyone's usage habits are different. My wife barely gets over 500MB per month, same with my daughter - what is the point to keep them on unlimited? Just cause? It makes zero finacial sense to do so but like I said, if I were single I would have kept it.
 
Your on AT&T so your really not unlimited but 5GB's. I'd make the change and save the money since your not really giving up anything.
 
If unlimited was unlimited... Then sure... I'd totally keep it... No Doubt. However, given my usage is way below... And I could save up for a while in case we started going over I'd have plenty to pay for unlikely overages. I do wonder if they will ever be nice to the unlimiteds but I do doubt it.

I'm the mom of two little boys so I hardly sit long enough to do something that would use up that much data. My kids do use their iPads but those stream off my iPad 3 when necessary.

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boomhower said:
Your on AT&T so your really not unlimited but 5GB's. I'd make the change and save the money since your not really giving up anything.
Click to expand...

That's sort of how I see it.. Then I can use the left over for overage instead of being throttled.
 
Blorzoga said:
Unlimited is not a myth. Once I hit 5gb, maybe they throttle me maybe they don't. But what they don't do is charge me one penny more. I understand it makes those that don't have unlimited feel better by bringing up throttling but really it's just sour grapes.
Click to expand...

It's not sour grapes as I actually still have unlimited. But since I check my usage throughout the month to make sure I'm not on pace to break the 3 gig (now 5 gig) barrier, how is that different than being limited?

It's not. If people change the use of their phone because they are worried about throttling. Or if the 'regular' use of their phone results in them being throttled - they aren't 'unlimited.'
 
boomhower said:
Same as 3G, 100kbps. i.e. dog slow. Pretty much Edge on a good day.
Click to expand...

really i switched to verizon (traded some sucker for my att unlimited for his verizon udp.) so i haven't experienced throttling on LTE. by my 4s would get always 300 kbps and sometimes 500 kbps... still dog slow. but much better than 10 kb/s like you said you are getting. I could still use spotify and pandora.
 
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