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AT&T data plan for iPhone IS unlimited

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macrumors P6
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
16,793
51
Where bunnies are welcome.
Too many people are spreading misinformation about the iPhone data plan with AT&T. The TOS has a cap of 5GB, BUT that is for air cards, NOT the iPhone. The iPhone data plan is unlimited.

Moderator, can we make this a sticky, so the misinformation might stop?
 
iphone.aggie said:
Too many people are spreading misinformation about the iPhone data plan with AT&T. The TOS has a cap of 5GB, BUT that is for air cards, NOT the iPhone. The iPhone data plan is unlimited.

Moderator, can we make this a sticky, so the misinformation might stop?
Click to expand...

its technically unlimited, but ATT watches your trends
so if you usually use x amount of data a month, and suddenly start using 4x amount, theyre gonna get curious and start asking what your doing
 
Yes it is technically unlimited, but AT&T has released several statements about soft caps for all mobile devices. Now whether AT&T will go after you once you go over this soft cap is their choice.
 
dccorona said:
its technically unlimited, but ATT watches your trends
so if you usually use x amount of data a month, and suddenly start using 4x amount, theyre gonna get curious and start asking what your doing
Click to expand...

Do you have anything that substantiates that claim?

Kyeris said:
Yes it is technically unlimited, but AT&T has released several statements about soft caps for all mobile devices. Now whether AT&T will go after you once you go over this soft cap is their choice.
Click to expand...

Do you have a link to these statements?
 
I hope everybody goes bangbusters on their data and it forces AT&T to come out with different level plans.
 
maybe

while it maybe unlimited, there is just SO MUCH in the TOS, that they could use, if we abuse it, like streaming video, jailbreaking, using a slingplayer app, tethering, maybe even MMS setups that AT&T could just BAM, cancel the contract and or charge additional fees for usage that wasn't on the phone itself.
 
This is also from the terms of service:

Accordingly, AT&T reserves the right to (i) deny, disconnect, modify and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited or whose usage adversely impacts its wireless network or service levels or hinders access to its wireless network, including without limitation, after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage and (ii) otherwise protect its wireless network from harm, compromised capacity or degradation in performance, which may impact legitimate data flows.
Click to expand...

If they feel someone is using too much data, they are free to limit it or charge them more. Most people don't use that much anyway. Tethering isn't allowed in the TOS either so you won't be racking up data usage that way.
 
tivoboy said:
while it maybe unlimited, there is just SO MUCH in the TOS, that they could use, if we abuse it, like streaming video, jailbreaking, using a slingplayer app, tethering, maybe even MMS setups that AT&T could just BAM, cancel the contract and or charge additional fees for usage that wasn't on the phone itself.
Click to expand...

I totally understand that, but that wasn't the point of the thread. The point was there isn't a cap. If there's a so-called soft cap, it's certainly not stated in the TOS.
 
tivoboy said:
while it maybe unlimited, there is just SO MUCH in the TOS, that they could use, if we abuse it, like streaming video, jailbreaking, using a slingplayer app, tethering, maybe even MMS setups that AT&T could just BAM, cancel the contract and or charge additional fees for usage that wasn't on the phone itself.
Click to expand...

Exactly, that's part of it. There is no clear distinction in the TOS about a soft cap, that's completely correct. But AT&T has the complete power to flag you for excessive usage when they wish to.

So true, there may be no true soft cap, but there are multiple blogs and sites out there saying that AT&T could be imposing soft caps. This is just speculation as well, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of the people that have an iPhone would never go over this soft cap in the first place, but for those that do AT&T can choose what they want to do with you.

While most common uses for Intranet browsing, email and intranet access are permitted by your data plan, there are certain uses that cause extreme network capacity issues and interference with the network and are therefore prohibited.
Click to expand...

Accordingly, AT&T reserves the right to (i) deny, disconnect, modify and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited or whose usage adversely impacts its wireless network or service levels or hinders access to its wireless network, including without limitation, after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage and (ii) otherwise protect its wireless network from harm, compromised capacity or degradation in performance, which may impact legitimate data flows.
Click to expand...
 
diabolic said:
This is also from the terms of service:



If they feel someone is using too much data, they are free to limit it or charge them more. Most people don't use that much anyway. Tethering isn't allowed in the TOS either so you won't be racking up data usage that way.
Click to expand...

When the term "excessive usage" appears, that itself means your data is not unlimited. If it were, you could constantly be downloading huge videos and AT&T wouldn't do a thing.

By the way, if the OP read through that entire TOS, we should really find him a lady friend or a hobby.
 
diabolic said:
This is also from the terms of service:



If they feel someone is using too much data, they are free to limit it or charge them more. Most people don't use that much anyway. Tethering isn't allowed in the TOS either so you won't be racking up data usage that way.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, the point of this thread was not to support tethering. :)

Sure, they can do what you say, but the point is, it's unlimited. Whether they will limit you or not, who knows.
 
Michael CM1 said:
When the term "excessive usage" appears, that itself means your data is not unlimited. If it were, you could constantly be downloading huge videos and AT&T wouldn't do a thing.

By the way, if the OP read through that entire TOS, we should really find him a lady friend or a hobby.
Click to expand...

I'll let lawyers do that! I simply looked for the parts that pertained to the issue.
 
on a legal standpoint (i know too damn much about law considering my family is infected with lawyers)....

.....if AT&T canceled someone's service because of "excessive usage," and excessive usage was not specifically defined in the TOS, there is a FAT lawsuit waiting to happen. They MUST define what excessive usage is, otherwise they would be able to say 1MB is excessive usage and cancel everyones service
 
sam011989 said:
on a legal standpoint (i know too damn much about law considering my family is infected with lawyers)....

.....if AT&T canceled someone's service because of "excessive usage," and excessive usage was not specifically defined in the TOS, there is a FAT lawsuit waiting to happen. They MUST define what excessive usage is, otherwise they would be able to say 1MB is excessive usage and cancel everyones service
Click to expand...


They wouldn't go that far because Verizon already lost a class action lawsuit for terminating people's contracts because of excessive usage.

And the OP is right, the TOS specifically says the 5GB cap is only for aircards. Nothing said regarding the iPhone.

So DL away. :D
 
DjPiLL said:
They wouldn't go that far because Verizon already lost a class action lawsuit for terminating people's contracts because of excessive usage.
Click to expand...

Exactly my point. You have to define it in the contract before you start taking action. The difference, however, is that Verizon was advertising their internet card with "Unlimited internet" but in the contract it said it was limited to 5GB. So Verion's lawsuit was mainly about false advertisement. I remember this because I purchased an internet card, and they told me to sign for the contract without letting me see the contract first. So I made them print out the whole thing so I could read it in the store. Once I came across the clause stating the 5GB limit, I yelled at them for false advertisement and told them to immediately cancel my service. The manager tried to tell me it was too late because my service was activated and I would have to pay early termination fee (this was before their 30 day guarantee thing, even though I think they were wrong to begin the service before I signed the contract). I mentioned I have many connections in the BBB and FCC who would love to hear what they were doing to me. They canceled my service, and I got a call that same day from some dude in charge of the western district that included CA apologizing for the inconvenience. They really sucked up to me after that.

I'm not fond of Verizon as i Just left them for asking me to pay an additional $90/month because an audit of my account revealed me doing tethering on my phone 4 YEARS ago, which was way before they started offering it. But that doesnt go without implying that AT&T is definitely not any better than them
 
Lets do some math:

5 GB = 5,000,000 KB = 40,000,000 Kb
40,000,000 Kb / 30 days = 1,333,333 Kb / day
1,333,333 Kb / 24 hours = 55,556 Kb / hour
55,556 Kb / 60 minutes = 926 Kb / minute
926 Kb / 60 seconds = 15 Kb / second

This means that you could constantly download at 15 Kb/s for an entire month to fill that entire "cap". There is no way that anyone would would be able to, or want to do such a thing though, so a more practical number would be necessary in order to understand data usage.

Starting back at our 1,333,333 Kb / day number, lets see how much time each day we can have at full speed (we'll assume 1,200 Kb/s):
1,333,333 Kb / 1,200 Kb/s = 1,111 seconds
1,111 seconds is around 18 and a half minutes of full speed downloads a day. Forget about torrenting.

Enjoy :D
 
geoffreak said:
Lets do some math:

5 GB = 5,000,000 KB = 40,000,000 Kb
40,000,000 Kb / 30 days = 1,333,333 Kb / day
1,333,333 Kb / 24 hours = 55,556 Kb / hour
55,556 Kb / 60 minutes = 926 Kb / minute
926 Kb / 60 seconds = 15 Kb / second

This means that you could constantly download at 15 Kb/s for an entire month to fill that entire "cap". There is no way that anyone would would be able to, or want to do such a thing though, so a more practical number would be necessary in order to understand data usage.

Starting back at our 1,333,333 Kb / day number, lets see how much time each day we can have at full speed (we'll assume 1,200 Kb/s):
1,333,333 Kb / 1,200 Kb/s = 1,111 seconds
1,111 seconds is around 18 and a half minutes of full speed downloads a day. Forget about torrenting.

Enjoy :D
Click to expand...

1,333,333 Kb a day? isn't that over a GB a day?
 
If its "unlimited" then why am I charged extra for tethering / texts?

Pretty sure that's "data"...
 
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