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Thinking about giving up unlimited data. Am I crazy?

E

eekcat

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 5, 2010
1,028
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So right now I'm grandfathered onto AT&T unlimited data, and it appears to be popular opinion that having unlimited is a good thing. However, I'm thinking of going to the 4GB plan to take advantage of tethering... just as an option. I suppose there's no going back though. I also carry around a Verizon LTE mifi/hotspot (work pays for both), but it would be nice to have a GSM hotspot option. Would it be foolish to give up my unlimited AT&T plan? :confused:
 
I hate to be one of "those" people, but you should just jailbreak your device. It isn't very complicated and there is currently a very easy to follow online tutorial. Then you can pay a one time fee of $19.99 for MyWi 4.0 which offers various easy to use tethering options.

Then you can avoid losing unlimited data, which I personally wouldn't give up unless one day we are forced to do so by AT&T.

The iPhone Hacks forum on this site will get you started.
 
eekcat said:
So right now I'm grandfathered onto AT&T unlimited data, and it appears to be popular opinion that having unlimited is a good thing. However, I'm thinking of going to the 4GB plan to take advantage of tethering... just as an option. I suppose there's no going back though. I also carry around a Verizon LTE mifi/hotspot (work pays for both), but it would be nice to have a GSM hotspot option. Would it be foolish to give up my unlimited AT&T plan? :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
No not at all. I gave up my unlimited data for the tethering option and I'm loving it! It's quick, easy and convenient. Plus the battery drain is excellent while using the personal hotspot. Can't say the same for the jailbroken mywi which drains the battery much faster.

Who cares if you have unlimited data if you're not using it. With the tethering feauture you get 4GB of data, which for me at least is plenty. Just take a look at your past few months of data usage and check to see if you are passing the 4GB mark. If not I would do it in a heart beat! :)
 
do you use more than 4gb of data regularly or ever?

If yes, don't give it up, if no, give it up.
 
howard said:
do you use more than 4gb of data regularly or ever?

If yes, don't give it up, if no, give it up.
Click to expand...

Even if you go over once or twice a year what is it like $10 a GB over? Small price to pay for the luxury of tethering. Plus you're paying $5/month extra for unlimited which most people do not even take advantage of.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

As AT&T has been sending out love letters to those using MyWi, I don't think the jailbreak route is going to work here. (not that there aren't plenty of other good reasons to jailbreak though)

OP, I would start by looking at your average monthly data use. If it's safely under 2GB then you probably don't have much to lose by jumping over to the $25/2GB data plan and turning on the extra 2GB/$20 tether as needed.

If your usual monthly data use exceeds 2GB though, I wouldn't do it as much of your "extra" data will be eaten up by your regular phone use, and tethering a PC can eat up a LOT of data very quickly.
 
yes you are crazy. if you need to tether, jailbreak.
Click to expand...
Yet another person chiming in that the above is indeed the truth. How many of us all saying the same thing will it take? Shouldn't be more than 5 or so....
 
Indeed, jailbreaking is the way to go.

MyWi and My3G (download files over 20mb, watch hi-def YouTube all without wifi) make it all worth it.

And if you don't use the MyWi tethering a ridiculous amount AT&T won't say a thing. I haven't gotten any "love letters" yet.
 
I am in a similar boat. The main thing that concerns me is the future. That is to say, as mobile tech improves we will use more data. I don't want to loose my unlimited and then in a year or two it might be "normal" for me to be using over 4GB a month. Then again, ATT will probably eventually force us all out of the unlimited anyway.
 
b166er said:
I am in a similar boat. The main thing that concerns me is the future. That is to say, as mobile tech improves we will use more data. I don't want to loose my unlimited and then in a year or two it might be "normal" for me to be using over 4GB a month. Then again, ATT will probably eventually force us all out of the unlimited anyway.
Click to expand...

The move to LTE will force people to stay on 3G or lose the unlimited plans.

I made the move after using the he'll out of my tethered iPad and laptop for a month. I let SLingplayer stream pretty much all day for nearly a week at work and did thing I would never normally do. I went from 3.2gig to a one month spike of 10.5gigs. It was insane how much effort that was to use that kind of data at work.

Made the switch to tethered on the 4gig plan and love the ease of the legit hotspot. Not to mention no more hassles with JB and the flakey restarts I did damn near daily to get MyWi to run anyhow. Glad the hassles are gone, no other reason form me to JB so worked out for me.
 
I'd give it up personally! In the 5 months i've had my iPhone 4 i've used about 2.5gb of data.

As mentioned though, if you regularly use more than 4gb, or anywhere close to that amount i'd consider not doing it.
 
Sooner or later AT&T will push everyone off the unlimited plan. It is only a matter of time. I still have my unlimited account but seldom use more than a few GB a month. I would never teather, just to S L O W ....:p
 
dccorona said:
if work is paying, I don't see any reason to give it up.
Click to expand...
Not to be negative but what if you lose or change jobs?

I'm grandfathered in and Never giving it up. Just when you least expect it you'll wish you had it.

I'm not going to be Crazy :)
 
Instead of jailbreaking and installing MyWi, jailbreak and install TetherMe. 1/4 of the price, uses native tethering so battery life is top notch, and keep your unlimited. FYI- I've been using both MyWi (back when I had my 3G) and more recently TetherMe (since I got my iPhone 4, first 4.0 jailbreak) and have gotten no "love" letter. Just keep it real (I've never gone over 4GB a month) and you'll be GTG.

Forgot to mention - needing to use more and more data is increasing every day. When :apple: introduces cloud syncing and streaming you'll wish you had unlimited :)
 
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I also am grandfathered in and really have never gone above 2G on my phone. Once I tie in the computer, then there may be a whole different story.

Use your LTE for about 4-6 and put yourself through all types of scenarios you could be in terms of CPU usage and look a the MB/GB usage trend. If it's high, you know the answer. This may include traveling. I just don't see why you would need to cut your throat if you don't need to.
 
Wait... I can't tether without jailbreaking unless I give up the unlimited data plan? Crap.
 
If you have no interest in any video and can promise yourself that you won't in the future, yes...give it up

If not, I would stay on it as unlimited will be insanely valuable in the future with video exploding
 
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