Please don't ruin our DATA PLANS!

[pranavss11]

I only did the small hack because I wanted to have the option for emergency purposes (and why not when it is built into the phone?). I do not use it as if it was my broadband.

So tell me, why would I pay $60 when I won't even be using it unless absolutely necessary?

So... if you want to QQ about OMG RUIN DATA PLAN BBQHAX then yeah... WATCH ME!

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

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.

You agreed to those terms of use. As with most things in life, there are two choices. Upholding your end, or not.

 

[UngratefulNinja]

I would never tether with my iPhone until AT&T officially supports it. But, I would never worry about AT&T somehow losing money because people tether, either.

Same here, exactly

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

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)?

I use 3g on my iphone all day at work, 5 days a week (hey, I have a boring job! ) and I used just under 1 gb last month. Now keep in mind, that's just regular website browsing, not streaming videos or Pandora or anything. But like I said....8 hours a day of that

 

[pianoplayer1]

I have a question then. What if in the future we are able to connect a big screen and a keyboard/mouse to the iphone. What happens then?

 

[Maclver]

I have a question then. What if in the future we are able to connect a big screen and a keyboard/mouse to the iphone. What happens then?

im sure ATT will find a way to charge for that too!

 

[jalpert]

You can enter into a contract to buy heroin, but that doesn't make it ethical, legal, or enforceable. Just because you entered into a contract for unlimited data with some fine print that says it's not unlimited, that doesn't give them the right to mislead the consumer, or take away your data privileges on a whim (on an app by app basis in this case).

If the contract says they have the right to do whatever they want, that doesn't mean they have the right to do so. And if they have the right to do so it doesn't make it right and they certainly don't deserve to be defended for their actions

You agreed to those terms of use. As with most things in life, there are two choices. Upholding your end, or not.

 

[The General]

You agreed to those terms of use. As with most things in life, there are two choices. Upholding your end, or not.

Actually, I disagreed. Then, I lied so that I could get an iPhone.

 

[mister880]

Some are more equal than others...

Which *might* be a valid complaint if AT&T didn't see fit to ignore the terms of the contract for some but not others based solely on the principle that "Some are more equal than others."

I use alot of international voice minutes and some data. My monthly phone bill is around $300.00 a month. Also have extra features on my account like AT&T world connect plan that cost $60.00 extra a month for data and discounted rates outside the U.S.

Thats why some customers are "more equal than others" Your argument is like saying the guy who drops 100 bucks in a Las Vegas Casino should be treated the same as a whale that comes in and drops 20K bucks in an hour. They are both customers but I think the whale will get a better room and nicer buffet!

Kevin L

 

[Maclver]

Actually, I disagreed. Then, I lied so that I could get an iPhone.

LOL!

 

[Excellerator]

To the people that are saying about downloading on a laptop with a cellular connection, the aircards that AT&T (and others) offer uses the same 3G towers and the same 5GB limit. So what is the difference for using them or the iPhone?

Also all US carriers do this same 5GB Unlimited BS, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. Someone should claim thats false advertising.

 

[Maclver]

To the people that are saying about downloading on a laptop with a cellular connection, the aircards that AT&T (and others) offer uses the same 3G towers and the same 5GB limit. So what is the difference for using them or the iPhone?

Also all US carriers do this same 5GB Unlimited BS, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. Someone should claim thats false advertising.

I agree...... they need to stop calling it unlimited!

 

[mister880]

I only did the small hack because I wanted to have the option for emergency purposes (and why not when it is built into the phone?). I do not use it as if it was my broadband.

So tell me, why would I pay $60 when I won't even be using it unless absolutely necessary?

So... if you want to QQ about OMG RUIN DATA PLAN BBQHAX then yeah... WATCH ME!

Then why doesn't GM sell OnStar on purely emergency basis? I'm not paying a monthly fee for OnStar but if I slam into a wall then the "help" button should still get me help because I don't use it very often?

Kevin

 

[goodcow]

If enough people push this teathering to the point that AT&T has to push back then we can all count on our DATA Plans going SKY HIGH and loose our unlimited choice!

Every day this week I've been streaming MSNBC video podcasts from the iTunes App over 3G to the tune of about 250MB per hour. Does that make you sad too?

Internet/MEdia Net
UNLIMITED
Used 1963.11MB of Unlimited

Next Bill Cycle
07/14/2009

 

[mister880]

5GB is unlimited for most users!

To the people that are saying about downloading on a laptop with a cellular connection, the aircards that AT&T (and others) offer uses the same 3G towers and the same 5GB limit. So what is the difference for using them or the iPhone?

Also all US carriers do this same 5GB Unlimited BS, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. Someone should claim thats false advertising.

Suing them for "5GB Unlimited Cap" is like saying that a monthly plan on voice minutes isn't truly unlimited because in a 30 day month there is only 43,200 minutes in a month and even if you use the call waiting the whole time it would only put you up to 86,400 minutes of use. So I guess even the unlimited plan is limited.

Kevin L

 

[Wicked1]

I pay $30 per month for data, so far I am at the 2GB avg on a monthly basis. It would be nice if they were able to charge variable plans like:

Just a Sample

$5.00 Max 1GB
$15.00 Max 3 GB
$20.00 Max 4GB
$30 Unlimited to 5GB per Month

Instead of them Governing it, they could charge a premium fee for KPS or MBS over your plan, although this point could be argued, but I am not a lawyer...

It would give ppl a choice because I do not need tethering, and I really do not care about MMS, I have SMS and Email at which point if I were on a limited plan I could watch my kps and mbs or GB's.

I have rollover minutes which is something Verizon does not offer, so for the same amount of $39.99 I have 450 minutes peak and 5000 Night N Weekend plus they rollover which is kool bc Verizon does not.

SMS and MMS could be bundled with Data, because I pay $15.00 for SMS and $30 for Data which kills me every month bc SMS doesn't rollover

If AT&T were to charge anymore then they do now for unlimited Data or SMS or MMS/Tethering it would become a cost issue that I can not justify bc I am not really a bandwidth hog.

From what I hear and have seen it looks like they will add $30.00 on top of the $30.00 Data plan so you will pay $60.00 for Data and Tethering, at which point is it truly worth the expense, that is $720.00 just for Data, it doesn't include SMS or Phone Calls, Yikes.

To each his/her own everyone has different needs but I have a feeling things are only going to get more expensive, but it will be interesting to see what happens with AT&T and Apple bc the amount Apple gets per phone and what AT&T gives up can not last forever, I don't think Verizon would ever agree to Apple's terms, they are pretty tough.

 

[pranavss11]

Then why doesn't GM sell OnStar on purely emergency basis? I'm not paying a monthly fee for OnStar but if I slam into a wall then the "help" button should still get me help because I don't use it very often?

Kevin

We are talking about two different things. It's a matter of opinion. Do you really think I would be tethering my computer when I "slam into a wall"? Stop taking it to the extremities just to prove a point.

 

[Maclver]

We are talking about two different things. It's a matter of opinion. Do you really think I would be tethering my computer when I "slam into a wall"? Stop taking it to the extremities just to prove a point.

ya I really didn't get his example either!

 

[The General]

Suing them for "5GB Unlimited Cap" is like saying that a monthly plan on voice minutes isn't truly unlimited because in a 30 day month there is only 43,200 minutes in a month and even if you use the call waiting the whole time it would only put you up to 86,400 minutes of use. So I guess even the unlimited plan is limited.

Kevin L

Let's say the cap is 5GB, which is 5,120 megabytes, or 5,242,880 kilobytes.

Let's divide 5,242,880 by 30 days. I can use 174762.667 every 24 hour period.

Let's divide that by 24 hours, to see how much per hour we can use.

174762.667 / 24 = 7281.77779 KB / hour

7281.77779 / 60 = 121.362963 KB / minute

121.362963 / 60 = 2.02271605 KB / second

So if I download stuff all month long at 2 kilobytes per second, then I will hit the cap. That means you can use 5GB+ in a month on GPRS. Not even EDGE. Now, let's see how much I am able to use on 3G.

My average connection here in Bakersfield is 1.5Mbits/sec. That means I am downloading stuff at 187KB/s ...

187 x 60 = 11250KB per minute
11250 x 60 = 675000KB per hour
675000 x 24 = 16200000 per day
16200000 x 30 = 486000000 per month.

486000000 / 1024 = 474,609.375 megabytes per months
474609.375 / 1024 = 463.485718 gigabytes per month possible

We are allowed 1/100th of the bandwidth that is possible. They call it unlimited, but it is actually 1% of what we could get with actual unlimited bandwidth.

Yeah, that not enough minutes in the month argument fails. I think it's fair to sue AT&T for calling "unlimited" 5GB, when it's obviously possible to use 500GB+ in a month. That's being generous with the 3G speeds, too. Once they roll out the 7.2mbps HSDPA+, it will likely be even more of a rip-off.

 

[pranavss11]

Let's say the cap is 5GB, which is 5,120 megabytes, or 5,242,880 kilobytes.

Let's divide 5,242,880 by 30 days. I can use 174762.667 every 24 hour period.

Let's divide that by 24 hours, to see how much per hour we can use.

174762.667 / 24 = 7281.77779 KB / hour

7281.77779 / 60 = 121.362963 KB / minute

121.362963 / 60 = 2.02271605 KB / second

So if I download stuff all month long at 2 kilobytes per second, then I will hit the cap. That means you can use 5GB+ in a month on GPRS. Not even EDGE. Now, let's see how much I am able to use on 3G.

My average connection here in Bakersfield is 1.5Mbits/sec. That means I am downloading stuff at 187KB/s ...

187 x 60 = 11250KB per minute
11250 x 60 = 675000KB per hour
675000 x 24 = 16200000 per day
16200000 x 30 = 486000000 per month.

486000000 / 1024 = 474,609.375 megabytes per months
474609.375 / 1024 = 463.485718 gigabytes per month possible

We are allowed 1/100th of the bandwidth that is possible. They call it unlimited, but it is actually 1% of what we could get with actual unlimited bandwidth.

Yeah, that not enough minutes in the month argument fails. I think it's fair to sue AT&T for calling "unlimited" 5GB, when it's obviously possible to use 500GB+ in a month. That's being generous with the 3G speeds, too. Once they roll out the 7.2mbps HSDPA+, it will likely be even more of a rip-off.

Great points in there general, I completely agree.

 

[jcde7ago]

I love how people are claiming selfishness here on account of AT&T *possibly* (but not at all probably) raising prices on our data plans if people start tethering.

Isn't that concept alone a bit hypocritical? Those people worried about this are only so because they feel that THEY *might* have to pay more. So technically, they're only worried about their own as*es. I find that a little funny. All this talk about "straining the network." Give me a break.

And FWIW, whether or not someone is more "likely" to use more data on a laptop/computer than they are on an iPhone DOES NOT MATTER AS LONG AS THEY STAY UNDER THE CAP.

Yes, we know that unlimited means roughly ~5 GB. I just can't understand why it's so hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that it doesn't really matter how you accrue your data, as long as it stays under the cap. Whether or not i use 4.999999 GB of data on my iPhone or laptop doesn't matter. I am capable of doing both right now. If I decided to leave my iPhone plugged in, streaming satellite radio all week long on my iPhone or laptop, IT DOESN'T MATTER AS LONG AS IT'S UNDER THE CAP.

I pay for my magical 5 GB of unlimited data. Please don't tell me how I should use it. Want to "strain" the network? Use MORE data than you're allowed to. Want to not get noticed by AT&T and NOT strain the network? Use 5 GB or less every month, doesn't matter how. I am sick of people trying to take the moral high ground here siding with ATT and crap when ATT would no sooner ream everyone in this thread up the butt for more money if they possibly could (oh wait, that's exactly what they're doing by trying to come up with a plan to charge for the *cough* unlimited *cough* data that you're already paying for).

 

[Excellerator]

Then why doesn't GM sell OnStar on purely emergency basis? I'm not paying a monthly fee for OnStar but if I slam into a wall then the "help" button should still get me help because I don't use it very often?

Kevin

The difference is WE ARE paying a monthly fee.

 

[dukebound85]

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.

read your contract and you will see it says no tethering

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

you do realize we cant use some data intensive apps over 3g right? what makes youthink tethering is allowed? its even against our ToS

you two need to stop trying to justify it....its written in black and white

 

[0970373]

At the end of the day, AT&T will offer tethering to iPhone users and they will charge a premium for that "privilege". Until then, those caught might be subject to additional charges above & beyond their normal data fee. Which, for all of you (including me) who are hacking their phones are (or should be) ready to pay if caught.

AT&T is not going to raise the normal data plan rate because of rogue hackers. But I would like to see better stepped price structure and give people an option.

 

[ChevyAppleJR]

I'm the customer it doesn't matter if I'm still in contract or not. A happy customer is a happy customer and a sad customer is a sad customer.

Why do you think sports players try to get their deal done early? Because they want a new deal. Aka....i wan't the 3GS iphone for 200 bucks.

I'm sorry but, as much as we whine about the contract and these subsidized prices...then at the end of the day, the customer gets what they want or else they move over to another carrier ala verizon. The fact that if they take out upgrade price, ATT makes 800 additional dollars in the following year and more importantly, makes iphone customers (loyal ones) happy and if they keep buying a phone every year, its just an ADDITIONAL 800 GAURANTEED MONEY!!!! Instead, my upgrade is in December which will make me NOT BUY THE NEW IPHONE, apple won't move new hardware (not as much as last year) and they will need to decide if ATT is worth. In ATT eyes, they are in big trouble. No MMS day one, No tethering including in data plans or at a ridiculous cost and just BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD SERVICE. If Iphone was on T-mobile, verizon, sprint....ATT would be screwed. So what does a 200 dollar drop do:

• Customer stays on an additional year.
• Customer likes ATT just a little bit better
• Customer keeps sticking with ATT
• APPLE sees hardware revenue increase, sticks with ATT

So why don't you guys just open your eyes!. there is more to this than 200 bucks.

Why would you want apple to stay with ATT? They need to move to all networks at a minimum Verizon!

 

[diabolic]

Isn't that concept alone a bit hypocritical? Those people worried about this are only so because they feel that THEY *might* have to pay more. So technically, they're only worried about their own as*es. I find that a little funny. All this talk about "straining the network." Give me a break.

Not at all. I'd be more than happy to pay extra for tethering.

I am sick of people trying to take the moral high ground here siding with ATT and crap when ATT would no sooner ream everyone in this thread up the butt for more money if they possibly could (oh wait, that's exactly what they're doing by trying to come up with a plan to charge for the *cough* unlimited *cough* data that you're already paying for).

I am just as sick of all the whining about how these companies are somehow ripping us all off all the time, whether it's the voice plan, data plan, texting plan, which devices are allowed, which devices are exclusive to a carrier, contract lengths, when we can upgrade, or how we use their service. These companies should be allowed control over how we use their network, services, and devices and they should be able to set their pricing as they see fit.