Unlimited data plans still being grandfathered

[beegie]

Their data cap process is still odd to me...

Back when ATT first took away True Unlimited, I read their "fine print" & it said something like: It depends on how jammed up/clogged up our "airwaves" are... -- which gave no definite answer, which is probably why you got by sometimes with more, sometimes with less.

Early on I got 1-2 of those text msgs like you got but none since, & that's been several years, yet they continue to "throttle at will" even w/o a "warning text msg."

 

[beegie]

NEVER MIND ON NET.10 for heavy internet users! Unbelievable Timing; Just within the past few days this tech news was released:

Article dated 9/30/13:
http://liliputing.com/2013/09/straight-talk-net10-clarify-unlimited-plans-2-5-gb-of-high-speed-data.html

Net.10 & StraightTalk are now throttling their no-longer-true-unlimited at 2.5gig; & just as w/ATT several years ago, they are "blaming" it on "increased numbers of users" flocking to LTE!

Well, What did they expect? "Hello, we created this new service (LTE) for John Q. Public, but if too many of you want to use it, we'll have to skew you over." :-/

...Would like to try Net10 for next phone, but need to find/read reviews first.

----------

For heavy internet users looking for alternatives, I quickly looked up all carriers' data plans mentioned in this thread:

3gig - $60 - AirVoice

3gig - $60 - H20 Wireless

5gig - $70 - PagePlus

7gig - $70 - AIO

 

[PNutts]

Majority netflix and a little iTunes radio during the iOS 7 beta period.

You may already know this but for the greater good I'll mention that Netflix has "quality" settings that determine the picture quality / download size.

 

[joeblow7777]

U can hit over 5gb on lte pretty easily with just basic web surfing these days.

I know cause my wife doesn't stream pandora Netflix or anything like that. She uses the iPhone as a main Internet connection even those we have laptop and iMac at home.

If you're not streaming some kind of media regularly, or you have no wi-fi so all of your surfing is via your data plan, I don't see why you should clear 5GB. I typically don't even pass 1GB of data in a month, but my broadband internet usage is usually 100-200 GB

 

[apple_iBoy]

Just curious, which streaming app/s did you use to go over 5GB? I assume netflix + pandora.

iTunes Match and now iTunes Radio on my commute racks up those bits pretty quickly

 

[impulse462]

You may already know this but for the greater good I'll mention that Netflix has "quality" settings that determine the picture quality / download size.

Yeah I know that, but I can't watch something not in HD anymore. Just can't do it.

 

[unplugme71]

Yes, the GF plans carry over to a new phone, but you have the LTE GF unlimited plan going forward, which does throttle you down to EDGE speeds at 5GB.. I'd like to get a confirmation of that from someone though.

Nope. I ran a speed test on LTE and was getting 27 down and 5 up after using 6.5GB with 4 bars of service.

----------

Back when ATT first took away True Unlimited, I read their "fine print" & it said something like: It depends on how jammed up/clogged up our "airwaves" are... -- which gave no definite answer, which is probably why you got by sometimes with more, sometimes with less.

Early on I got 1-2 of those text msgs like you got but none since, & that's been several years, yet they continue to "throttle at will" even w/o a "warning text msg."

Agreed. I go over each month and never get capped. I think it's bc their network capacity in my area is very good

Why piss off a customer if you don't have to

 

[sulpfiction]

U can hit over 5gb on lte pretty easily with just basic web surfing these days.

No way. Basic web sufing all day, everyday won't even be close to 5gig.

 

[aneftp]

No way. Basic web sufing all day, everyday won't even be close to 5gig.

It happens. I am running a little test myself and already at 400mb in about 2 days over lte. Thays 200mb per day. 200mb x 30 days is 6gb per month if I continue at this pace. And I don't stream music or youtube either.

 

[sulpfiction]

It happens. I am running a little test myself and already at 400mb in about 2 days over lte. Thays 200mb per day. 200mb x 30 days is 6gb per month if I continue at this pace. And I don't stream music or youtube either.

I guess I wasn't considering wifi. I use a ton of internet on my phone and I rarely even hit 2gig/mo. But Im also connected via wifi most of my day. lol...Never really tried straight LTE for an extended amount of time.

 

[tivoboy]

not automatic

Nope. I ran a speed test on LTE and was getting 27 down and 5 up after using 6.5GB with 4 bars of service.

----------

it doesn't happen automatically or in real-time as well AT&T doesn't track usage the same way the phones do. some have said DL is the only thing tracked, not UL at all.

Also, they simply have the RIGHT to do it, and some have said it requires several pay periods of overages before the put in the more automated trigger to throttle. Head on over the HF, there are many users who have posted that they have hit A threshold and have been systematically throttled after continued overages.

 

[unplugme71]

it doesn't happen automatically or in real-time as well AT&T doesn't track usage the same way the phones do. some have said DL is the only thing tracked, not UL at all.

Also, they simply have the RIGHT to do it, and some have said it requires several pay periods of overages before the put in the more automated trigger to throttle. Head on over the HF, there are many users who have posted that they have hit A threshold and have been systematically throttled after continued overages.

I track usage on AT&T, not my phone. I never, ever, have been throttled. One month I've peaked over 9GB because I was streaming movies over LTE instead of WiFi.

----------

It happens. I am running a little test myself and already at 400mb in about 2 days over lte. Thays 200mb per day. 200mb x 30 days is 6gb per month if I continue at this pace. And I don't stream music or youtube either.

200MB is possible, although damn you spend a lot of time browsing. The average web page now is around 720-965KB. So you knock out 250 pages in a day and you can easily hit that.

With modern web, html5 and css can add up quick.

If you spend 90 seconds per page, you'd spend just over 6 hours.

 

[user-name-here]

5gig - $70 - PagePlus

Doesn't PagePlus still make it difficult to get an iPhone on their network? From what I read on HowardForums Verizon can still do sweeps of their network to see what phones are on it at any time and have PagePlus shut down the account if an iPhone is on it.

Also should probably add that PagePlus is Verizon 3G only (no LTE).

 

[aneftp]

I track usage on AT&T, not my phone. I never, ever, have been throttled. One month I've peaked over 9GB because I was streaming movies over LTE instead of WiFi.

----------



200MB is possible, although damn you spend a lot of time browsing. The average web page now is around 720-965KB. So you knock out 250 pages in a day and you can easily hit that.

With modern web, html5 and css can add up quick.

If you spend 90 seconds per page, you'd spend just over 6 hours.

Yep. Average 4-5 hours real time on my iPhone web surfing. LTE u can browse more web pages faster.

I do have access to hospital wifi if I wanted to. But kinda of anal going through hospital secure wifi network (hospital also has open wifi for patients and guest). But I can use secure log on wifi. But I'd rather not have hospital tracking every website I visit since they can identify each phone or laptop being used.

 

[beegie]

Doesn't PagePlus still make it difficult to get an iPhone on their network? From what I read on HowardForums Verizon can still do sweeps of their network to see what phones are on it at any time and have PagePlus shut down the account if an iPhone is on it.

Also should probably add that PagePlus is Verizon 3G only (no LTE).

Thanks for adding that additional info. I merely "ran through" those sites real quick just to grab prices & links & did not investigate any details at that time. So we can scratch off PagePlus now as an option.

 

[unplugme71]

Yep. Average 4-5 hours real time on my iPhone web surfing. LTE u can browse more web pages faster.

I do have access to hospital wifi if I wanted to. But kinda of anal going through hospital secure wifi network (hospital also has open wifi for patients and guest). But I can use secure log on wifi. But I'd rather not have hospital tracking every website I visit since they can identify each phone or laptop being used.

That's how most orgs are setup. I don't get how people can be so dumb to connect their phone to the secure wifi with their login and then be on Facebook, Twitter, etc.. all day!