Question about data plan.

I'm in the same boat. One side of me says that skipping the 3G was a great idea since the 3GS seems so much better (especially since 3G coverage wasn't available in my area at all anyway).

But I am half tempted to just wait until they announce their tether plans and see if the plans change.

 

The 3G data plan has always been $30 and any texting package would be added alacarte.
As far as the drop in price... no signs as AT&T raised the 3G plan to be in accordance to all other PDA plans.

 

Yes, from what I can remember, the 1st Gen iPhone data plan was $20 dollars, and the ur text plan was $10 dollars more. So your new plan will be $30 plus $15 for 1500 Text.

 

Data plan for the newbie

Hey everyone,

I am switching over to AT&T from verizon. I understand that the base data plan for the iPhone is $30. However, this plan does not give you unlimited data correct? I currently pay $30 for my data plan on my Omnia, and have unlimited data. So, how much data usage am I allowed under ATT's $30 data plan?

As for rumors of a $20 dollar data plan on ATT, all the articles I've read make mention of a $20 LIMITED data plan. Anyone else read it the same way? In this context, does this mean that the current $30 plan is unlimited - since a cut to the current plan would be categorized as a LIMITED plan? Did I just answer my own question?

 

Currently all data plans offered by AT&T for the iPhone are unlimited, though they do not include texts in that. You can puchase 200, 1500, or unlimited texting plans.

 

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It's unlimited up to 5 GB

 

Context?

Hmm.. could you put your statement into context, such as a common/general function on the iPhone (downloading music, photos, etc.). The 5GB is throwing me off. Thank you.

 

Basically, when there are threads asking "how much data do you use per month" the answers on this board tend to range from 0.5-3 GB, at the most.

It's probably POSSIBLE to hit 5 GB, but I haven't seen anyone around here admit to it. It would be pretty hard.

Remember, Wifi doesn't count. I probably use about 1 GB a month on AT&T and another 1-2 GB on Wifi. So I don't even come close to the limit.

 

I bet 99.5% of users don't ever even reach 1GB of data transfer on their phones, especially considering the phone has wifi, which doesn't count against you.

I spend quite a bit of time on the internet (mostly reading this site) while on my iphone and the occasional youtube, and I very rarely even go over 500mb.

Sure you have those power users who play on youtube or stream video/music off the internet 8 hours a day, for the whole month, but they are the extreme minority.

 

The $15/month extra has nothing to do with the speed.

The $15/month extra is because AT&T is giving you a $400 discount off of the price of the phone.

When you bought the original iPhone, you paid full price -- $399. AT&T did not discount the price of the phone. Instead, they created a special, cheaper data/text plan for the original iPhone.

With the iPhone 3G/3GS, the full price is $599. AT&T resells the phone for $199. Since they discounted the full price of the iPhone 3G/3GS, they're not doing a special, cheaper data/text plan.

Going back to speed, AT&T still sells phones that can't use 3G, and they get charged $30/month for data, and $15 for unlimited text. So there is no discount based on speed.

 

That's an interesting take on it. If they would officially explain it this way and offer the lower cost data plan for anyone willing to pay the unsubsidized cost, that would make sense. As it is however, if you bought a $599 3G or 3GS, they would still charge you $30 and $15.

 

Yeah, it would be great if they had a cheaper data plan for people who don't get any discount off of the phone's price! Customers in that situation really lose/lose.

 

The regular (non-tethering) iPhone plan is UNLIMITED; there is no soft cap. Now if you do have irregular usage, there is a flag thrown in the system.

 

Has something changed recently? I know most of AT&Ts data plans have a 5GB cap, but the iPhone never did have that cap stated in the agreement. I remember there being a number of threads on this topic.

Edit: Doh! I somehow missed the post above mine!

 

A friend of mine downgraded his plan a couple of years ago, and was able to keep all of his rollover minutes.

Hopefully that policy didn't change and you're able to keep yours.