Good thing I have the unlimited 3G plan

[OneMike]

I'm on day 5 of my cycle and already used 1.5GB. Roughly 300MB a day and that was taking it easy. I do stream music on my commute . That's why I just decided to stick with my wifi ipad + iphone.

I would think there will soon be an at&t app to monitor your usage or if it's like regular att service you can always check it online in your billing account.

 

[ReallyOldGuy]

This actually is an important thread. I had my iPad delivered to a Hilton yesterday. The hotel has wifi BUT it is $9.99 @day. I'll be here all week, so I opt for the 3G unlimited. Got the iPad about 10:30in the morning, stopped using it at 5pm. When I checked this morining I had used a total of 271.45 MB. No streaming. So thought back as to what I had used it for after reading this thread. Updated 8 apps, downloaded 2 and followed macrumors most of the afternoon. Mostly sufrfing the web. then I realized what happened and went back and checked. I spent about 30 minuites in the thread about SREEN SAVERS! This used Huge amounts of Mb. So be very careful WHAT you browse. Those of you who are more knowledgeable in this area are aware of these things, I know I am but was still shocked. We need to share what eats data with the people who may not be aware and are operating on a budget.

 

[MikhailT]

That's not proof, nor is it a fact there is a limit. That language is put in there to protect against you running torrents or running your phone as web server. That would be excessive usage by using your device as something other than it was attended. That does not mean they will cap you of normal usage.

I never said there's a cap for normal typical usage. We're not talking about typical normal web browsing stuff here. Note my original post, "Do not abuse this. AT&T does not consider unlimited as unlimited bandwidth 24x7. They have a cap somewhere where they'll start to warn you and can cut you off for "disrupting their services". Video streaming all day on the iPad 3G would take up more downstream bandwidth than either torrenting or web servers.

AT&T has no way of knowing what users are using on their devices, data is data to them. They have to have a "soft" cap limit somewhere to notify them of an excessive usage, which allows them to send a warning to their users about excessive usage and the potential service cut off if the users don't stop it.

People should not be running around thinking their unlimited plans means that they can do everything they want and there's no limit to it. That's absolutely not true and there is a limit and the agreement already explains majority of it.

Also, why don't you explain to us the uses that's not permitted because it would be using iPad for other than its intentions? Why shouldn't it be running torrents or web servers, to most people it's a tiny computer, not a phone?

 

[grapes911]

I never said there's a cap for normal typical usage. We're not talking about typical normal web browsing stuff here. Note my original post, "Do not abuse this. AT&T does not consider unlimited as unlimited bandwidth 24x7. They have a cap somewhere where they'll start to warn you and can cut you off for "disrupting their services". Video streaming all day on the iPad 3G would take up more downstream bandwidth than either torrenting or web servers.

AT&T has no way of knowing what users are using on their devices, data is data to them. They have to have a "soft" cap limit somewhere to notify them of an excessive usage, which allows them to send a warning to their users about excessive usage and the potential service cut off if the users don't stop it.

People should not be running around thinking their unlimited plans means that they can do everything they want and there's no limit to it. That's absolutely not true and there is a limit and the agreement already explains majority of it.

Also, why don't you explain to us the uses that's not permitted because it would be using iPad for other than its intentions? Why shouldn't it be running torrents or web servers, to most people it's a tiny computer, not a phone?

Every site out there is reporting that there is no cap. Obviously you've decided to believe otherwise. I'm not going to continue to waste my time. I give up.

 

[iArch]

I'm one of those who views 3G as something I'll use only when I have to. One easy way to conserve bandwidth, is to snag a browser like Atomic and toggle images off. Should work great for simple surfing tasks where text only gets the job done.

 

[stealthman1]

you might be surprised what was in that Terms of Service agreement you accepted. Web browsing and email use are the only authorized uses of the 3G cellular network. ATT could boot you off for any other use.

 

[flyguy206]

I average 500 MB a week on my iPhone web surfing.

How could anyone get by on 250 MB a month?

Did AT&T rig the game???

250 is good if you only use your ipad when wifi is not available and you don't stream video.

 

[NateEssex]

This actually is an important thread. I had my iPad delivered to a Hilton yesterday. The hotel has wifi BUT it is $9.99 @day. I'll be here all week, so I opt for the 3G unlimited. Got the iPad about 10:30in the morning, stopped using it at 5pm. When I checked this morining I had used a total of 271.45 MB. No streaming. So thought back as to what I had used it for after reading this thread. Updated 8 apps, downloaded 2 and followed macrumors most of the afternoon. Mostly sufrfing the web. then I realized what happened and went back and checked. I spent about 30 minuites in the thread about SREEN SAVERS! This used Huge amounts of Mb. So be very careful WHAT you browse. Those of you who are more knowledgeable in this area are aware of these things, I know I am but was still shocked. We need to share what eats data with the people who may not be aware and are operating on a budget.

I'm missing something; what caused the heavy data use on that page, the reloading of images?!

 

[leesweet]

Also, the reason there are two tiers (250 and 'Unlimited') is that many/some/whatever people either do or don't (look at the argument either way you like) spend a lot of time in WiFi, and don't need a lot of 3G data.

1. I have WiFi in all buildings at work, and WiFi'd FiOS at home. So, I have a WiFi iPad that I leave at work so I don't need to carry it back and forth. (Excessive? Apple stock has been very good to me... ).

2. I also have a 3G iPad for use at home and on vacations and outside. I'm starting with the 250 to see how often I'm using 3G at all. But I know on my iPhone I almost never use 3G except in a store googling something, etc.

Now, on a similar subject, which probably needs a new thread, I'm wondering how bad your WiFi connection needs to get before the iPad flips to your 3G. I'm pretty in my first testing last night that my 3G usage is higher that can accounted for by the 'pure 3G' testing I did. (I.e., with WiFi off.)

I think it's failing over to 3G when it thinks the WiFi is either not there or 'poor enough'. This is important, because people with 250 MB may be frittering it away when they don't know they are.

Right now I have the 3G off on that iPad when inside, but that's a pain to have to turn it on and off all the time. The point is that it should be automatic, which means if you eat 3G when WiFi isn't good enough, more people will be forced to purchase unlimited perhaps.

I don't know of any way to tell which 'band' you are actually using at any given time, if both are turned on. The WiFi indicator may not actually move, and the 3G doesn't anyway. Anyone?

 

[Apple-Man23]

Steve said in the keynote that the 250 plan is mostly for people who want to use 3G for email but not surfing. In my opinion if you're gonna do any surfing at all on 3G then you're best off with the unlimited plan.

 

[HiRez]

Would be cool if you could save a Netflix buffer temporarily to disk (basically download it). Load it up on WiFi then watch later without burning your 3G plan.