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Please don't ruin our DATA PLANS!

eddietr said:
That's exactly right.

I have the $30 data plan on my phone and the $60 laptop connect plan (5GB limit) on my MBP, and my usage on my $60 plan is four times what it is on my phone. And I'll bet that's pretty typical.

I think if people want to tether, then AT&T should offer a $60/month data plan for the iPhone that includes that feature.
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The one-size-fits-all model is very broken if the occasional tethering users were forced to pay $60 a month. It is probably broken anyway though.

Personally, I'm not going to suck down four times more unlimited bits. I find it pretty messed up that if I need to ssh into a server using a full sized keyboard and bigger screen while out and about, I need to either wait til I can find a wifi spot or pop my sim into a crappy Razr to tether. Even with the crappy Razr, it is still not kosher with AT&T. Ultimately, data is data, and if I never come anywhere close to the 5GB cap, I don't see why it would ever matter to AT&T, other than sheer greed.
 
Tomorrow will be my first day with AT&T and this is the first I've heard about a 5GB cap...silly me, thinking unlimited meant unlimited :confused:

So do you guys tend to hit this cap easily? I planned on using the internet on my 3GS a lot to get me through the night at work, but now this is making me wonder. Or does AT&T not really worry about high amounts of normal browsing and just crack down if they notice you tethering and downloading massive amounts (Netflix, etc)?
 
Stankonia said:
Tomorrow will be my first day with AT&T and this is the first I've heard about a 5GB cap...silly me, thinking unlimited meant unlimited :confused:
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I've had my iPhone 3G for an entire year.

My total download usage? 2 GB. Less than half of what we get per month. You absolutely will not hit the cap.
 
Stankonia said:
Tomorrow will be my first day with AT&T and this is the first I've heard about a 5GB cap...silly me, thinking unlimited meant unlimited :confused:

So do you guys tend to hit this cap easily? I planned on using the internet on my 3GS a lot to get me through the night at work, but now this is making me wonder. Or does AT&T not really worry about high amounts of normal browsing and just crack down if they notice you tethering and downloading massive amounts (Netflix, etc)?
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I don't really know what everyone is on about in terms of a 5GB limit. 5GB a month on a mobile device is more than fair. I think there was some statistic that the average user doesn't use more than 500MB a month. I surf the internet a LOT and I don't think I've used 500MB all told (from last July). As it happens, I'm usually in a wi-fi spot of some kind, and if not, there really isn't all that much data to be pulled from the average website.

Oh and just on a general note, how the F is using your data abusing it? If you're granted 5GB a month then it doesn't matter whether you use .1 mega-bites or 4.99GB. It's your data, you pay for it, thus you can use it however you like. There is no distinction in terms of HOW the data is being used (i.e. by an iPhone or a notebook). If AT&T can't handle data usage within contractual rights then they should A) limit all data usage to something they can handle, or B) upgrade their network. This thread is so moronic.
 
Don't you people get it? Proving that users use more bandwidth when tethering than when not tethering, matters not. We pay for unlimited bandwidth.

If AT&T can't keep up, then they should sell us limited bandwidth for cheaper.
 
The General said:
Don't you people get it? Proving that users use more bandwidth when tethering than when not tethering, matters not. We pay for unlimited bandwidth.

If AT&T can't keep up, then they should sell us limited bandwidth for cheaper.
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Well Said.... END OF THREAD!
 
The General said:
Don't you people get it? Proving that users use more bandwidth when tethering than when not tethering, matters not. We pay for unlimited bandwidth.
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No, you don't. You pay for unlimited bandwidth for use on your mobile device. Tethering is explicitly prohibited for the unlimited plans we have on our iPhones.
 
Badandy said:
No, you don't. You pay for unlimited bandwidth for use on your mobile device. Tethering is explicitly prohibited for the unlimited plans we have on our iPhones.
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It's the same hardware connecting to the same cell towers and using the same internet connection as when I use Safari on my iPhone. Explain how that's not "on [my] mobile device." Because I get to see websites on a bigger screen? Bollocks.
 
Badandy said:
No, you don't. You pay for unlimited bandwidth for use on your mobile device. Tethering is explicitly prohibited for the unlimited plans we have on our iPhones.
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you don't get it..... whether you use safari on your phone for 4 hours or whether you plug it in to your computer and surf the net 4 hours you are using the same amount of data!?!?! so whats the big deal
 
Maclver said:
you don't get it..... whether you use safari on your phone for 4 hours or whether you plug it in to your computer and surf the net 4 hours you are using the same amount of data!?!?! so whats the big deal
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Exactly, the fact is you are not going to be watching YoutubeHD video on your 3G connection, so in general its the same usage across both platforms. Saying that people will use torrents 24/7 is a small, small, small percentage of the people who want to tether. Many people don't want to be working on a word document on their mac and then have to take out their phone to use wikipedia :confused:
 
milani said:
I don't really know what everyone is on about in terms of a 5GB limit. 5GB a month on a mobile device is more than fair. I think there was some statistic that the average user doesn't use more than 500MB a month. I surf the internet a LOT and I don't think I've used 500MB all told (from last July). As it happens, I'm usually in a wi-fi spot of some kind, and if not, there really isn't all that much data to be pulled from the average website.
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Now that I think about it, you make a good point. I know from looking at NetLimiter on my laptop in the past that I average about 10-15GB a month. I was originally concerned about going over 5GB on my new phone, but I didn't stop to think about the fact that I would not be doing the same activities I do on my laptop. For example, no Netflix, no HD Youtube, no flash intensive sites, no downloading large files, etc.

I think I'll stop worrying about a 5GB cap
 
pianoplayer1 said:
Exactly, the fact is you are not going to be watching YoutubeHD video on your 3G connection, so in general its the same usage across both platforms. Saying that people will use torrents 24/7 is a small, small, small percentage of the people who want to tether. Many people don't want to be working on a word document on their mac and then have to take out their phone to use wikipedia :confused:
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who in the world is going to attempt to download a torrent on a 3G connection....
 
The General said:
It's the same hardware connecting to the same cell towers and using the same internet connection as when I use Safari on my iPhone. Explain how that's not "on [my] mobile device." Because I get to see websites on a bigger screen? Bollocks.
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Because you looking at it on a bigger screen and with the capabilities of a full PC makes users use more bandwidth on average than those just on their device.

Maclver said:
you don't get it..... whether you use safari on your phone for 4 hours or whether you plug it in to your computer and surf the net 4 hours you are using the same amount of data!?!?! so whats the big deal
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The big deal is that tethering is explicitly disallowed in the terms of use for the data plan. It's just not allowed. The capabilities of flash + a larger screen makes it easier for people, on average, to use more data. It's a more pleasant experience on a laptop so people use it more. That's why they charge for the service separately.
 
Maclver said:
you don't get it..... whether you use safari on your phone for 4 hours or whether you plug it in to your computer and surf the net 4 hours you are using the same amount of data!?!?! so whats the big deal
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The problem is that it's not people just tethering to surf and check email. If that's all most people did, they wouldn't care.
 
Maclver said:
who cares what people do...... its unlimited.. not unlimited except for "big" sites... come on
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It's unlimited for your handset. It doesn't matter that it's the same connection. Tethered users use more data than if they didn't tether, on average. Tethering is explicitly disallowed on the plans we all have on our iPhones. It's just against the contract. You can get around it all you want, but don't try to argue that it's "right". Your justifications don't hold any ground.
 
Badandy said:
Because you looking at it on a bigger screen and with the capabilities of a full PC makes users use more bandwidth on average than those just on their device.
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No. It's because they want to make more money. That is the only reason. I would ignore my ISP if they said I had to pay extra to use a router at home. Thus, I will ignore AT&T's absurd terms of use and continue to tether, hurting nobody.

Badandy said:
The big deal is that tethering is explicitly disallowed in the terms of use for the data plan. It's just not allowed. The capabilities of flash + a larger screen makes it easier for people, on average, to use more data. It's a more pleasant experience on a laptop so people use it more. That's why they charge for the service separately.
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It's explicitly disallowed for an absurd and laughable reason. Absurd and laughable rules exist to be broken. They also exist to be followed by suckers.

If you want to pay $30/mo extra for a tethering plan just to view websites on your computer instead of your phone, be my guest. I refuse to, and will not pay extra to use my internet connection how I see fit.
 
Tethering wouldn't be necessary if AT&T wasn't unfair about it's data policies.

You sell me a phone that has data fast enough for VoIP, then you let me buy a VoIP program, but I can't use your VoIP over your 3G? Why? Because it's not in your best interest? Screw that, I'm sorry it's a good deal for me, but you have no right to block it.

What about the fact that AT&T won't allow sling over 3G on the iPhone? Again, I paid for my unlimited data, I paid for my iPhone, I paid for my sling app but NO, because they said so.

Hell, there are a ton of cases where we HAVE to tether just to get what we paid for.

If Apple wasn't so restrictive over iPhone 1.0, there never would have been as many hackers. If AT&T wasn't so restrictive about denying us the services we paid for, the tethering hacks wouldn't be as prevalent.
 
jalpert said:
Tethering wouldn't be necessary if AT&T wasn't unfair about it's data policies.

You sell me a phone that has data fast enough for VoIP, then you let me buy a VoIP program, but I can't use your VoIP over your 3G? Why? Because it's not in your best interest? Screw that, I'm sorry it's a good deal for me, but you have no right to block it.

What about the fact that AT&T won't allow sling on the iPhone? Again, I paid for my unlimited data, I paid for my iPhone, I paid for my sling app but NO, because they said so.

Hell, there are a ton of cases where we HAVE to tether just to get what we paid for.

If Apple wasn't so restrictive over iPhone 1.0, there never would have been as many hackers. If AT&T wasn't so restrictive about denying us the services we paid for, the tethering hacks would be as prevalent.
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well said!
 
diabolic said:
Actually, it's unlimited with any exceptions they decide to exclude. Read the terms and conditions.
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thats the thing there should not be restrictions on unlimited.... I know its a stretch but its like saying you have an unlimited amount of money but... you can only spend $1000.00 a day
 
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