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AT&T to limit iPhone bandwidth of heavy users
- Thread starter Wiss
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The article said it was 3%.
You would get a note first, same as with ATT.
However, unlike ATT, Verizon specifically allows VoIP and TV slinging in their rules of service.
This is another reason why ATT likes to promote WiFi in their phones (besides the lack of coverage).
Seems like they consider 3G an option to only be used if we're away from WiFi.
Which makes a weird sort of sense, I guess.
Haha... not really.
Too bad you and the rest of the iPhone world are stuck. However it's not like things are going to get better with Verizon's CDMA system. I'll just wait until all of the "Quit Sucking Verizon" posts start popping up. The iPhone is going to end reasonably priced "unlimited" plans across the board.
I don't understand how it would be abusing their service by using a lot of data... I have used over 50gb so far, and I expect to use a lot more! In the plan they advertise "Unlimited Data" as part of the plan. I am paying for unlimited use of their data services, no matter the bandwidth or total amount transferred - I expect to be able to use as much as I want!
It's the 1% of users that is using about half the bandwidth.
Most users won't be affected. Those who are abusing the network probably knows who they are.
I think what they're saying is that in the future, they WON'T be advertising plans as unlimited.
So enjoy your current plan.
Just be aware that in the future, if you ever get a subsidized phone from AT&T, you'll have to agree to a new plan, and that plan likely won't say "unlimited".
Are we to believe AT&T are so stupid as to have not seen this coming?
Or is it simply that being able to say 'unlimited' is a great marketing tool, and when people actually take them at their word, they have to give those customers the shaft as the network can not handle what they offered.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)
I have no problem with this if they make the rules very clear and only apply them to new contracts. If they try to penalize or change the rules on people who signed up under the current system then I have a big problem with it.
I have no problem with this if they make the rules very clear and only apply them to new contracts. If they try to penalize or change the rules on people who signed up under the current system then I have a big problem with it.
I figured a 5GB softcap would be fair just like in their aircards.
I barelly use 30-60mb per month so can care less.
I barelly use 30-60mb per month so can care less.
I hope they do apply it to my current contract, them making that change will allow me to drop my contract with ATT, essentially getting out a year early. It will not apply to currecnt contracts if they remove the unlimited. At most they will cancel a few % of users contrats, but i dont see them doing that either really.
AT&T has recently modified the terms to allow VoIP. A good step, but still missing TV.
However, like a Gizmodo writer once said:
For those of you saying that "oh it's unlimited so I can BitTorrent or whatever I want"...
It's like eating at a buffet. Yes, it's unlimited food. But that doesn't mean you can pull up a dump truck and fill up the truck with the entire buffet. It crowds out the other customers and decreases the buffet's service.
It all comes down to some people thinking they're more important than others.
It's like eating at a buffet. Yes, it's unlimited food. But that doesn't mean you can pull up a dump truck and fill up the truck with the entire buffet. It crowds out the other customers and decreases the buffet's service.
It all comes down to some people thinking they're more important than others.
Okay.. i admit im one of these people they are probably talking about. I use pandora (along with backgrounder) and im always checking all the websites.. facebook,macrumors..i occasionally tether. etc.. i use easily over a gig a month.
we are on a family plan. we pay $300 dollars a month. $90 of that money is for internet because we all have iphones. i wish they would add a data cap. I would drop At&t in a heartbeat. Not because my service is horrible but because i do not want to be restricted. Its hard enough to make sure you dont go over your minutes. now u have to make sure you dont go over your data?
you cant even check how many minutes you used in that day because it takes like a day and half for it to add on..
we are on a family plan. we pay $300 dollars a month. $90 of that money is for internet because we all have iphones. i wish they would add a data cap. I would drop At&t in a heartbeat. Not because my service is horrible but because i do not want to be restricted. Its hard enough to make sure you dont go over your minutes. now u have to make sure you dont go over your data?
you cant even check how many minutes you used in that day because it takes like a day and half for it to add on..
Maybe putting a cap for full speed and after that slower? I am on contract with vodafone in Germany and I am on an unlimited data plan, but we only get 1GB full speed and after that it's slower speed, but you can still access internet and all, that way you don't keep hogging bandwidth. I know that there is still the issue that you keep monitoring your usage because you might not want to loose full speed. But I think people need to learn to use the internet on mobile devices, we are still not in the era of unlimited bandwidth and speed, for that you have your home internet. Just my .02
AT&T to Urge Customers to Use Less Wireless Data
The below was taking from the NYTimes website
AT&T is considering ways to encourage customers to use less wireless data as its network struggles to keep up with demand, a company executive said Wednesday.
What we are seeing in the U.S. today in terms of smartphone penetration, 3G data, nobody else is seeing in the rest of the planet, Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive for mobility and consumer markets at AT&T, told analysts at a conference in New York. The amount of growth and data that we are seeing in wireless data is unprecedented.
AT&T is the exclusive United States carrier for the iPhone, whose owners are big users of network capacity as they surf the Web and download videos.
The company has been criticized by owners of the phone for delayed text and voice messages, sluggish download speeds and other network problems.
Mr. de la Vega cited the heaviest data users, saying that 40 percent of AT&Ts data traffic came from just 3 percent of its smartphone customers.
But he emphasized that the company would first focus on educating consumers about their data consumption in the hope that doing so would encourage them to cut back, even though they are paying for unlimited data use.
Were going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they dont crowd out the customers on those same cell sites, he said.
The company might consider a pricing scheme that addresses the usage, Mr. de la Vega said. But he said that would be determined by regulatory factors and industry competition, among other issues.
Although the company declined to provide further details, analysts speculated that AT&T could be talking about a tiered pricing structure, not unlike a voice plan.
You use more minutes, you pay more, said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. Mr. Sharma pointed out that carriers in other countries put data-use limits on iPhone customers to manage demand.
Still, Mr. Sharma said pricing plans based on use were only part of the answer to AT&Ts network congestion.
They still have to improve things on the back end so they can deal with the issues of multiple users on the network at the same time, he said.
AT&T has announced a goal of adding 2,000 cell sites to improve its network this year. And this week it released an iPhone application called Mark the Spot that lets users report data problems, dropped calls and spotty coverage.
All wireless carriers are preparing for growth in the use of smartphones and mobile computers that will place high data demands on their networks, said James Brehm, a senior mobile consultant with market research firm Frost & Sullivan.
AT&T and other service providers want to be smarter about how they bill customers and maximize all streams of revenue, while growing the number of connected devices and data traffic at the same time, Mr. Brehm said.
Mr. de la Vega acknowledged the companys difficulties in meeting the demands of its customers, but said things were improving in some areas. In New York, I think weve turned a corner, he said.
The below was taking from the NYTimes website
AT&T is considering ways to encourage customers to use less wireless data as its network struggles to keep up with demand, a company executive said Wednesday.
What we are seeing in the U.S. today in terms of smartphone penetration, 3G data, nobody else is seeing in the rest of the planet, Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive for mobility and consumer markets at AT&T, told analysts at a conference in New York. The amount of growth and data that we are seeing in wireless data is unprecedented.
AT&T is the exclusive United States carrier for the iPhone, whose owners are big users of network capacity as they surf the Web and download videos.
The company has been criticized by owners of the phone for delayed text and voice messages, sluggish download speeds and other network problems.
Mr. de la Vega cited the heaviest data users, saying that 40 percent of AT&Ts data traffic came from just 3 percent of its smartphone customers.
But he emphasized that the company would first focus on educating consumers about their data consumption in the hope that doing so would encourage them to cut back, even though they are paying for unlimited data use.
Were going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they dont crowd out the customers on those same cell sites, he said.
The company might consider a pricing scheme that addresses the usage, Mr. de la Vega said. But he said that would be determined by regulatory factors and industry competition, among other issues.
Although the company declined to provide further details, analysts speculated that AT&T could be talking about a tiered pricing structure, not unlike a voice plan.
You use more minutes, you pay more, said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. Mr. Sharma pointed out that carriers in other countries put data-use limits on iPhone customers to manage demand.
Still, Mr. Sharma said pricing plans based on use were only part of the answer to AT&Ts network congestion.
They still have to improve things on the back end so they can deal with the issues of multiple users on the network at the same time, he said.
AT&T has announced a goal of adding 2,000 cell sites to improve its network this year. And this week it released an iPhone application called Mark the Spot that lets users report data problems, dropped calls and spotty coverage.
All wireless carriers are preparing for growth in the use of smartphones and mobile computers that will place high data demands on their networks, said James Brehm, a senior mobile consultant with market research firm Frost & Sullivan.
AT&T and other service providers want to be smarter about how they bill customers and maximize all streams of revenue, while growing the number of connected devices and data traffic at the same time, Mr. Brehm said.
Mr. de la Vega acknowledged the companys difficulties in meeting the demands of its customers, but said things were improving in some areas. In New York, I think weve turned a corner, he said.
I've been complaining when it's advertised as "unlimited" as well. Most of us here know there's a soft 5GB data cap, but most normal consumers don't.
I think people who use as much as you do should pay more than I do -- I hardly ever get close to 1GB a month -- but you should either really have an "unlimited" plan or should be told what your cap is.
Well said. Or at least get a warning around 4 or 4.5GB and charge extra for overages. I don't even use 5GB at my homes connection.
For a cellphone it's too much IMO, and if it helps on cutting down network congestion then it's only fair.
I'm not sure ATT modified their terms per se, but instead changed their unofficial policy towards allowing such iPhone apps... after the FCC caught them giving Apple advice on the topic.
Of course, leaving something off the prohibited list isn't the same as making it always permissible. Verizon's terms do the opposite and specifically allow certain things (at least for now), which gives the user more leeway.
Good idea, and that's what some carriers here already did. Once you hit the magic 5GB limit, they marked your account as being allowed less bandwidth until the billing month was over.
The irony of AT&T . . . tacitly complaining about bandwidth and service interference from current customers . . . while simultaneously trying to keep and attract new customers by talking smack about VZW. 
