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Say Bye bye to unlimited 3G data plan on AT&T

I'm on the iPad literally 12 hours a day and have used 115 MB on the unlimited plan. I stream TV or radio while at work.

iPad will always use wifi before 3G unless you disable wifi. I don't even notice the change from wifi to 3G when it happens... I have a hard time believing that I will exceed 2 GB except in the case of catastrophe. Wifi areas are everywhere! I'm in a smaller Iowa city with plenty of internets :p

I dislike being locked into one phone company just as much as anyone but with over 2 million iPads sold since launch I can clearly see why the move was made. I believe that those 2% of users exceeding 2GB really should pay premium prices for premium use.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
It's not moot at all. It's a breach of trust that will linger in many people's minds for some time to come. If they revised a year from now, OK, but 5 weeks after the 3G launched! That was one of the main selling points of the 3G.

I was not an ATT hater until today. Now I don't even know if I'll upgrade to the iPhone 4 in November b/c I'm not sure I want to do business with it. I don't think I'm atypical here.
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i agree. i bought the 64GB 3G just got it yesterday and now i find out about this! I'm not even sure how much data i use. i do travel twice a month for 2-3 days at a time and the wifi in the hotels is never very fast, usually end up switching to 3G in the hotel anyway. i guess i might as well sign up now and grandfather myself in.
 
Sharrpa said:
I'm on the iPad literally 12 hours a day and have used 115 MB on the unlimited plan. I stream TV or radio while at work.

iPad will always use wifi before 3G unless you disable wifi. I don't even notice the change from wifi to 3G when it happens... I have a hard time believing that I will exceed 2 GB except in the case of catastrophe. Wifi areas are everywhere! I'm in a smaller Iowa city with plenty of internets :p

I dislike being locked into one phone company just as much as anyone but with over 2 million iPads sold since launch I can clearly see why the move was made. I believe that those 2% of users exceeding 2GB really should pay premium prices for premium use.
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Good for you.

But here is a thought, why dont you turn off wifi and see what you would use on 3G?

I go nowhere there is wifi.... So if i were you, that would be 12 hours of 3G. I'm guessing you'd be ticked like the rest of us.

So before you get all high and mighty because you have access to wifi, see what you really would be using if you lost that. Because, you would be one of thoses 2% users I'm guessing.
 
Haven't seen this posted anywhere so far, but what if you have the $15 for 250mb plan? are you able to keep that plan or will that go away for the $25 2gb plan?
 
TraceyS/FL said:
Good for you.

But here is a thought, why dont you turn off wifi and see what you would use on 3G?

I go nowhere there is wifi.... So if i were you, that would be 12 hours of 3G. I'm guessing you'd be ticked like the rest of us.

So before you get all high and mighty because you have access to wifi, see what you really would be using if you lost that. Because, you would be one of thoses 2% users I'm guessing.
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Right, and this is the point (business-wise) of moving to these capped data plans. AT&T doesn't WANT customers like you because (and don't take it personally) you are a leech on their network. Your data use likely COSTS them money and they have little to gain by keeping you as a customer.

It's like opening up an all-you-can-eat buffet and saying "Hey, we know it's all you can eat, but we're going to limit you to 10 trips to the buffet." Most people won't care because they only make 2 or 3 trips, but there would be a few fatties who would raise hell. Guess what, they WANT those fatties to leave the restaurant.
 
chriskzoo said:
Right, and this is the point (business-wise) of moving to these capped data plans. AT&T doesn't WANT customers like you because (and don't take it personally) you are a leech on their network. Your data use likely COSTS them money and they have little to gain by keeping you as a customer.

It's like opening up an all-you-can-eat buffet and saying "Hey, we know it's all you can eat, but we're going to limit you to 10 trips to the buffet." Most people won't care because they only make 2 or 3 trips, but there would be a few fatties who would raise hell. Guess what, they WANT those fatties to leave the restaurant.
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I actually THINK i only used 2gb in the month, which included about 8hours of netflix kids programming.

However, AT&T did something with my usage reporting and it reset on Friday night to like 908mb (my plan didn't expire until Monday). I will never know what i really used.

My point was not everyone is near wifi. I wouldn't have had ann issue with 5gb cap down from the unlimited, but knowing that my regular use was about 1/2 of the new limit is upsetting.

I honestly can say that had the 2gb limit been in place to start with i would gone with my other ideas for mobile Internet.

But changing the game 5 weeks into the launch? Not cool at all.

I guess the AT&T dude is a moron and. Ipad users are really using data unlike what he thought...... Idiot.

Eta: and the buffet, I live in a retirement community area. They do try to do this and some have closed over it.... I watched a lady shove about 10 pieces of chicken in her purse one night.
 
While I'm very annoyed with AT&T over this from a business practice aspect, I AM glad to see that they've gone to a tiered pricing model for iPhone data plan... I'm going to drop that sucker down to the $15/month since I rarely use the data on the iPhone now that I have the iPad...

Also makes me that much more happy that I got the Sprint Overdrive unit. I was paying $40/month for an AT&T 3G dongle for my Macbook, + $30/month for the iPhone data plan, + would be paying $30/mo for the 3G plan on the iPad... Instead I'm paying $60/month for the Overdrive on Sprint + $15 for the minimal iPhone data plan, get 5GB/month 3g, Unlimited 4G (and here in Atlanta 4G is just about everywhere), it's faster, and can use that on all 3 devices at the same time, plus I'm not killing my iPhone battery life by tethering it. I can still activate the 3G on the iPad if/when I need it in an emergency, but 99.99% of the time I connect through the overdrive or my home Wifi.

AT&T - SUCK IT! You deserve to have customers leave in droves over crap like this! You can bet that the second any other carrier gets iPhone and/or iPad people will leave AT&T by the thousands.
 
chriskzoo said:
Right, and this is the point (business-wise) of moving to these capped data plans. AT&T doesn't WANT customers like you because (and don't take it personally) you are a leech on their network. Your data use likely COSTS them money and they have little to gain by keeping you as a customer.

It's like opening up an all-you-can-eat buffet and saying "Hey, we know it's all you can eat, but we're going to limit you to 10 trips to the buffet." Most people won't care because they only make 2 or 3 trips, but there would be a few fatties who would raise hell. Guess what, they WANT those fatties to leave the restaurant.
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Besides being offensive, your analogy does not fit the situation well. The iPad is a device that is functionally designed to continuously consume media (via wi-fi, wireless or 3G). The data plan is necessary to allow this functionality. Capping the data plan is the same as dictating how often and how much we can use our iPad - in essence, preventing our ability to use the device to it's full potential. I shouldn't have to limit it's usage to Wi-Fi, if I'm paying for a device that is capable of using 3G data.

A better analogy would be paying a monthly fee for ESPN, but only being allowed to watch 2 games a month, or buying a car, but only being allowed to put gas in it twice a month.

Using your analogy, AT&T is like a restaurant offering "All-you-can-eat", but only preparing enough food to supply single servings to 10 people. You shouldn't advertise what you can't realistically provide, which is exactly what AT&T has been doing for years - and now they are penalizing customers for trying to use what was advertised. You can't convince me that the 2% of users that use over 2GB of data a month is costing them more than the 98% of users that don't come close to using a significant amount of data, yet are paying $30/mo for it.

It is only a short time before the government is going to step into this mess. The cell companies have been cheating consumers for years, basing their advertising on "theoretics" instead of actual data. All of the companies promised their users "the world" with unlimited plans, etc., but now are all backtracking. This sucks.
 
WilliamG said:
AT&T royally sucks. You can bet that if you cancel your unlimited later, it won't work for re-sign-ups.

I can't wait to get rid of AT&T. I really can't. Worst network I've ever used. Dropped calls, outrageous pricing, and now this nonsense.. Just. Ugh!
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+1,000,000,000
 
ItsThatKush said:
or like leasing a BMW and them telling you that you can only drive 10,000 miles per year... oh wait. :rolleyes:
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A lease is different. It is basically a rental. The car company is ensuring that you do not put excessive mileage on the car which will affect it's value at end of lease. If you do, you have to pay a surcharge that will cover their loss.

There are no such limitations if you buy it outright.
 
bilibug said:
Besides being offensive, your analogy does not fit the situation well. The iPad is a device that is functionally designed to continuously consume media (via wi-fi, wireless or 3G). The data plan is necessary to allow this functionality. Capping the data plan is the same as dictating how often and how much we can use our iPad - in essence, preventing our ability to use the device to it's full potential. I shouldn't have to limit it's usage to Wi-Fi, if I'm paying for a device that is capable of using 3G data.

A better analogy would be paying a monthly fee for ESPN, but only being allowed to watch 2 games a month, or buying a car, but only being allowed to put gas in it twice a month.

Using your analogy, AT&T is like a restaurant offering "All-you-can-eat", but only preparing enough food to supply single servings to 10 people. You shouldn't advertise what you can't realistically provide, which is exactly what AT&T has been doing for years - and now they are penalizing customers for trying to use what was advertised. You can't convince me that the 2% of users that use over 2GB of data a month is costing them more than the 98% of users that don't come close to using a significant amount of data, yet are paying $30/mo for it.

It is only a short time before the government is going to step into this mess. The cell companies have been cheating consumers for years, basing their advertising on "theoretics" instead of actual data. All of the companies promised their users "the world" with unlimited plans, etc., but now are all backtracking. This sucks.
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I didn't say that - but their use is disproportionate to the point that AT&T now feels that they can offer 98% of their users a $5-$15 per month discount in exchange for pissing off (and hopefully getting rid of) 2% of their user base.

To more properly flesh your gas station analogy, it would be like a gas station offering unlimited fill-ups a month for $30. After looking at their data they see that most people only fill up twice a month and 2% of their customers are filling up 20X a month, costing them money. So they come out and say "Hey, most of you only fill up twice a month, so we're going to cut the price to $15 a month and that will give you 3 fill-ups and if you need more than that you can sign up for our $25 a month plan (still $5 cheaper per month) and that will give you 10 fill-ups, but we no longer offer unlimited fill-ups."

There is no saying that you CAN'T go over the 2GB per month usage, it's just that now you have to pay extra for it. That being said, I think that overage rates should be FAIR and based on actual pricing. So if it costs $25 a month for 2GB of data, it should be $1.25 or so for every 100MB of data you use beyond that (if my math is right).
 
Are we sure?

I've read this on various sites, but I can't find it anywhere on AT&Ts page. They still have the unlimited plan posted, and the announcement (according to the AT&T page) is just for "smart phones".

After spending 30 minutes on the phone with AT&T, and talking to several reps, they stand by saying the iPad plans are not changing, just the iPhone ones.

I'm still suspicious. An AT&T supervisor is researching the issue for me, and said he'd call me back with more info later today.

Apple seems to know no better, as when I called My local store they did not even know about the announcement, twilling me it was speculation ( although I did inform them that it was off of AT&Ts page directly.
 
How is it going to feel when you are paying to download and to see Ads on your device?

It was bad enough before, having Ads on a device, but at least in principle, you weren't paying to download them. Now, you have to pay to download them, and still look at them.

For shame AT&T.
 
seany916 said:
I've read this on various sites, but I can't find it anywhere on AT&Ts page. They still have the unlimited plan posted, and the announcement (according to the AT&T page) is just for "smart phones".

After spending 30 minutes on the phone with AT&T, and talking to several reps, they stand by saying the iPad plans are not changing, just the iPhone ones.

I'm still suspicious. An AT&T supervisor is researching the issue for me, and said he'd call me back with more info later today.

Apple seems to know no better, as when I called My local store they did not even know about the announcement, twilling me it was speculation ( although I did inform them that it was off of AT&Ts page directly.
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http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30854

there is the press release from the AT&T website.

For new iPad customers, the $25 per month 2 GB plan will replace the existing $29.99 unlimited plan. iPad customers will continue to pre-pay for their wireless data plan and no contract is required. Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2 GB of data.
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I was going to get an ipad 3G at the end of the summer but now I am very glad that I did not already get it. I use LOTS of data. I am now just going to get the wifi edition. I hate at&t. They should make an ipad with verizion.
 
TraceyS/FL said:
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30854

there is the press release from the AT&T website.
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thanks! I had read something different, I appreciate the link.

Too bad AT&T (NOR APPLE) has no idea what their new plans are!

I agree this is a bait & switch. I've already used over 1G on my ipad, and I still have 15 days left in my plan.

Its ridiculous that I have to hold onto unlimited every month just to keep it. In essence that is a contract, not at all like I agreed to when I got my ipad.
 
You can still grandfather your $30 unlimited data plan in case you guys didn't notice. This only affects new sign up people.
 
That's when it's really going to piss me off..when iAds start coming about and they start sucking up my limited data plan.....
 
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