By After upping their early termination fee for smartphones, AT&T has announced two new data plans for mobile users. For $15 a month you can get the DataPlus plan with 200MB of data, or for $25 a month you can get 2GB of bandwidth on the DataPro plan. Gone is any plan featuring unlimited data.
Instead, if you are a DataPlus user you will be charged an extra $15 a month for each 200MB over your limit. DataPro users will be charged $10 per 1GB extra used. And if you thought you’d get tethering included in those fees, think again. You will need to be a DataPro subscriber and fork over an additional $20 per month. So for $45 per month you’ll have the pleasure of dividing 2GB amongst your smartphone and whatever devices you choose to tether it with.
The new plans go into effect June 7th, but if you are a current subscriber with an unlimited plan you can carry it over. Just hold on to your contract as long as possible, because you probably won’t get to renew that unlimited data when your deal expires.
We all knew changes in data pricing were coming. Verizon will be shifting toward tiered data pricing as well with the advent of their 4G network. For some users it is a blessing, allowing those who do not eat up a ton of bandwidth to pay a little less. For many smartphone users it looks like overage charges will become the norm. What do you all think of AT&T’s new pricing plans? Love ’em or hate ’em?
I work in the telecommunications field and know first hand that AT&T sucks. From what I’ve seen, customer needs are no longer their priority. With smart phones becoming more data dependant, and carrier competitions at what they are now, this is a stupid business move. They may keep their current customers, but new sign-on’s will likely drop in volume.
It works for me. Now for my wife, who’s a light smartphone user, we can change to the $15/mo plan.
ive hads wm/android smartphones for about 2.5 years now and i could probably count on one hand the months i was UNDER 2gb in data. this just sucks, so glad im not on att and hoping the others dont follow soon
How do we know how much data our phones are using, when we aren’t using them? (Such as push and pull email…sms programs…MotoBlur autochecking Facebook and Twitter.)
@timmyjoe42, should be on your monthly statement. My last one was over 625 Mbs of total data usage.
Wow….. Wow….. Wow….. Did AT&T just tell you what they felt about you customers or what…. I’m reminded of Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo bay…. I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the jail scene…. I hope you like donunts.
This is really going to suck for Froyo users (whenever that happens on AT&T Androids). With Flash up and running, there is going to be a lot of movie/tv watching and tethering. Not to mention video calling. AT&T sees this coming and is terrified for their network failing even more than it is currently- at least until LTE is widespread in 2012.
I am definitely now stuck on AT&T for the foreseeable future – unless T-Mo or Sprint keep some sort of unlimited plan that is a reasonable price.
I was also thinking about dropping my wife’s data plan down to the 15/month, but I wonder if she will begin using more and more data with the new phones that will be available? I don’t want to get rid of her unlimited data now, and next year find out that she is using 2+ Gb per month.
Here in Canada there is so no such thing as unlimited, on any of our carriers!! At least you guys have a choice!
My God this is legal rape. It’s not like Smartphones are getting dumber, they are getting waaay smarter and ATT is acting like they want their kids to stay in the 9th grade never to reach their full potential. Welp, good thing I’m on T-mobile and have a truely UNLIMITED data plan including Tethering for a mere $25(old rate) WHICH will be that same price with FroYo tethering on HSPA+ by the end of the year. +1 for Tmo -1 for both ATT & Sprint.
Really great move AT&T, way to go from bad to worse.
The way the industry is moving this is a real hiccup. Remember when texting was limited? It was a joke and people were getting killed by it. People don’t live inside of limits, whether we use 2GB or more per month is not even the point.
Be a real leader, honor your customers and give them what they deserve. Your network is crap, unreliable and bogged down anyways, why make it worse by pissing your customers off more?
Who wants to buy an iPhone now? Your phone bills are going to be the size of a new car payment if you surf the average amount. (Watch how T-Mobile grows from this one, they’re adopting a better mindset slowly but surely, they will steal a chunk of these AT&T dropouts.)
OH boo hoo, cry me a river. Over 95% of people are going to pay less. Only people who consume more than their fair share are going to pay more, and honestly as one of those users, I think we deserve paying more. It sucks for us…but the light data users have needed this for a long time. The only complaint I have is the $20 for tethering…how does it cost them more if I use 2GB on 2 devices instead of 1?
With how long it took for AT&T to get into the Android arena, this is just more ammunition to jump ship to another carrier. These type of decisions have basically made them irrelevant. Amazing..given they are #2 in the US right now.
@Jeff J
This is correct. For NOW. Add in Flash traffic, HTML5 support, video conferencing and all the new bells and whistles coming out, and over 50% of those people will exceed 2Gigs a month. 2 Gigs isn’t much at all, AT&T knows this, and are hedging their bets to save their crumbling shitty network.
@Jeff – And I suppose 640k of RAM ought to be enough for 95% of people as well? Let’s not forget that broadband made things like YouTube possible. Who knows what mobile applications are on the horizon. This move by AT&T stifles innovation.
Sad news, dark future. Epic fail.
@Quixand & Geoffrey Lee
Point conceded that it will be unreasonable eventually. And maybe it will even be a lot sooner than I think…4G speeds and in-browser flash support could increase data consumption even more than I estimate. But right now my Brother sits at about 800MB per month with his Droid, and I’d call him a slightly above average consumer. I think that even with increased speeds he’ll come in well below the 2GB mark. And personally, I never got above 1.2GB until I started tethering. But obviously this deal isn’t going to work forever, but my point is that for right now, and probably for the next few years, this will save a majority of the customers money.
Dear AT&T, I hate you. After being with AT&T (Cell One, Cingular, AT&T) since 1995, I’m finally leaving because of this. Thanks for reading.
Wow..I really feel sorry you ATT’er…
4 of my friends and I do the Sprint Family plan for $40.00/per person/per month with unlimited data…I personally use 10 gigs a month….hope this isn’t the wave of the future throughout the industry…data is becoming exceedingly expensive…!
I actually like this. I’m gonna switch to the $15 a month plan and just use Wi-fi whenever I can. If I’m going over, I can always just switch to the $25 a month plan and apply it retroactively to the beginning of the month.
I don’t really see a big problem with this. I have Verizon but even with Pandora radio every time I get in the car, I still only use 150-450mb/mo (with HQ on). My mother on the other hand may occasionally check her email on her iPhone, and uses less than 10mb a month. It’s only fair for her to pay less… and tbh, if I was to enable Wi-Fi at home and at work, that usage would be cut in half.
I can already see data compression becoming more popular over cell networks though. If Google could pull off a way to force gzip compression in the Android browser (and provide a proxy for sites that don’t offer it, or at least a way to set your own) they would have yet another advantage to advertise for Android. Also, apk’s (installers for apps) use a form of zip compression, if they could switch to gzip or a similar compression method installers would be even smaller and use less transfer.
Seems reasonable. I’ll pay less myself.
A fine example of capitalism.. AT&T you have every right to set rates for your network… The flip side is I have every right to leave your dumbarsed Corporation for greener pastures. Good luck with your share price if the other big three don’t rush in right behind you with this.
anyone still complaining about $10/month extra from sprint for no data cap? didn’t think so..
crap.. i work for AT&T customer care and even tho you can keep the unlimited plan you are on now this is going to cause headaches..
time to look for a new job…
the big question is how much data does the heavy user use? I tether surf for what I thought easily would have been over a GB but it turned out that I barely used over 500MB on my last bill. Maybe $5 off the current unlimited plan and still not using all the Data givin could be worth it? BUT I dont know how much people are using nor what the upcoming data capabilities will bring.
wow at&t,
Just when i think you couldn’t possibly make me hate you anymore you pull something like this out of your orange a$$. I CAN’T WAIT TO LEAVE YOU!!!
AT&T has become like one of those girls that you’re dating that you grow to hate more than anything in this world, and you just have to stay with her for whatever reason for a little longer. Then once you get HER out of your life you’ll never be happier… I’m so looking forward to that day!!
Hey guys, I love it! Soon the Droid with Verizon will be almost equal to the iPhone! We are marching closer!
does anyone else find it funny it goes into effect the same day apple is going to be introducing the new iphone
I bet Verizon, Sprint, & T-Mobile are laughing about this all the way to the bank. AT&T’s churn rate is going to go through the roof! All those people downloading music, movies, podcast, & streaming through their iPhones or Android devices will SMASH through 2 GB’s like a hot knife through butter. Most of my podcast on the TWiT.tv network are 50 MB’s per episode. Multiply that times 10 episodes. 500 MB’s. My web browsing on my phone? 500 MB. That’s 1000 MB’s so far. Add in everything else in terms of app use of data, updates, streaming, etc… This adds up fast. All I can say is that every AT&T customer should cancel their contracts, tell them to eat the ETF, & do business elsewhere. No 3G, 3GS, or 4th Generation iPhone is worth exploitive data cost. This is just pure highway robbery.
You would think in these economic times you would lower prices , but then I dont expect a 10% increase in revenue every quarter to feed more billions in profit.
We the consumer dont need someone telling us what they want, we have the power to take down huge companies, our choices make the decisions, so dont choose to use this service and it will go away.
I understand offering an option to pay less for less data usage. But why take away unlimited data? Why couldn’t they just offer two limited-data options, and then an unlimited plan? I don’t see why it has to be one or the other.
2gigs ? Assuming that’s like an average of 65 megabytes a day, How easy would it be to use that? Assuming you don’t tether (they don’t want you too) . Maybe youtube and last.fm/Pandora are the most data intense applications. I heard before that there are a few heavy users (5 gig+ tethering) clogging the network for 95% of other people. What do you guys think?
at&t sucks even more now wow…. i mean $15 data plan sounds good for people who doesn’t use the web a lot but NO UNLIMITED PLAN?? now that’s just stupid idea… it would have been lot better if they had those two limited plans and have UNLIMITED DATA PLAN ALSO!!! thank god i don’t have at&t
This is AT&T’s way of not investing in their network capacity… When you use a lot of data on your smartphone it chews up cell site capacity. If they throttle the users they can save capital investment money in their network.
I love the move, I hope everyone leaves them and goes to another carrier.
Wow. This looks like a really dumb move for AT&T. And the $20 for tethering with the same data cap is a complete rip off. I’m hoping this is a good thing for the rest of us, as I think other carriers will think twice about such a move when they see the backlash on this- I think it’s going to be huge.
Wow.
Between Slacker, general web browsing, and podcast listening, I routinely use just over 2GB a month on my phone.
If I had been tempted at all by the iPhone 4… this has completely ended that temptation.
Thanks, AT&T, for giving me yet one more reason to never go back to your network.
@Jeff J
You’re an idiot.
“Only people who consume more than their fair share are going to pay more, and honestly as one of those users, I think we deserve paying more.”
Last I checked, if I pay $30 for 5 gb of data and someone else pays $30 for 5 gb of data, as long as I’m not exceeding 5gb of data I’m not consuming more than my fair share. I’m paying for 5gb and I can use up to 5gb. If someone else pays for 5gb, but only uses something as small as 1kb, that’s their fault for not getting their money’s worth.
Let’s we go to a restaurant and we both order a burger, fries, and a soda for $10.
I eat only my fries. You eat everything. You should pay more than me because I CHOSE not to eat everything?
If AT&T was really fair, they would have more tiered plans and KEEP the “unlimited” 5gb plan.
I don’t know what is stupider? This or the women getting hit by a car because she has no common sense and listened to Google Maps directions to walk on a highway…
The point I think all these companies are missing is this:
At current rates on existing plans it is almost a wash, similar to an insurance pool. They now are trying to boost profit and margins to make the investment of infastructure cost nothing. The problem is AT&T is going to drive the highend user away and that’s the one who brings in the best margin. Maybe they are trying to pay for their horrible U-Verse, maybe its to pay for their failing landline business, but one thing we know its not to make quick and impactful changes to their cell network. I think these carriers should. Offer a light plan for basic users, but there should also be a reasonable fee for heavy users that include an unlimited plan. It won’t be long before the is some issue raised to lawmakers after people start getting thousand dollar bills because they thought that it would be enough data for their kids based on what the sales rep told them when they went on that family plan. This is really all a joke, the big cell companies fought openess of US broadband networks to control their profits, but as usual once enough people complain and taxpayers put pressure on lawmakers it will change. All in all bad business move not Well thought out to accomadate bothe types of users.
LOL @ all those imbeciles criticizing Sprint for the 10$ extra fee in light of ATT’s monster greed!
Hope ATT loses millions of customers from hereon.
Iphone 4 isnt a big improvement either, people are getting bored with 1 man 1 vision 1 stupid OS.
this is a big cash-grab for all the dupes about to shell over hard-earned cash for the iphone v4. i bet steve jobs is really pissed about that 5 year exclusivity deal now.
AT&T is still cheaper than Verizon. i have a Verizon MiFi2200 with data only. 5GB a month costs me $60.
with AT&T, 5GB would cost me $55.
but, since i am already a customer, my AT&T data plan is 5GB for $30. i betcha that ‘grandfather’ clause only lasts for as long as you never ever call CS and request a change of any kind……
AT&T is dropping the monthly rates and putting the choice back in the hands of the consumer to choose which data plan they are on. The fact of the matter is that you dont have to use 2GB a month of data, you WANT to. So if you want curly fries, PAY for them or get the regular fries included in your happy meal. This enables you to be aware of how much data you are sucking down. With the new iphone on the way, the focus of the consumer will be. “how do I use wifi for skype, and browsing, etc.” not “ZOMG, I can’t watch buffy in high def on my friggin 4″ screen!!”
Now when you buy an iphone 4, you’ll get skype to skype over wifi (something you cant do with Verizon at this time) a lower monthly calling rate, higher ETF fees to ensure you’ll really think before jumping, and a data plan that allows you to choose just how much you want to spend on the network.
Face it, if your an iphone fan chances are your going for a new iphone, a new ipad, and anything else Apple is willing to put out.
How is that a bad deal or even a bad business move? if (and I say if), AT&T gets another iphone exclusive then no one except android fans will care about any of this.
Because those folks will get the iphone and be responsible enough to either cut down their data use (really how often must you check your facebook a day) or they’ll pay a premium.
@macjoubert; you are getting bored with apple. The world is lining up to buy the next Apple product. And as for the OS goes, pay attention; the new macOS is not the old macOS.
Heh, what I would want is a cheaper phone plan or none at all. I barely use the call plan at all usually less than 60 minutes a month. I usually have up to 1/2 GB of data a month. So I’m getting my monies worth for data and paying way too much for calling.
do all you whining about this have the unlimited minutes plan? No? Why Not? Oh wait because YOU SAVE MONEY WITHOUT IT. Duh. Maybe a handfull of you have unlimited minutes but most dont.
Supposedly 98% of users dont use 2GB. Their bills will go down. the other 2 percent- well the other 98% aren’t subsidizing you(us?) anymore.
and to the whiners who say ‘what about flash, html5, etc;’ creating more data use. Oh yeah- the price per minute hasn’t gone down on cellphones over the past 20 years. Maybe you all just graduated high-school last week, but the rest of us remember when calls were a dollar a minute and you got ZERO free minutes. Some on the bleeding edge will get hosed and be out in front of the masses use curve. But most people will pay less or around the same and get more and more data over time. It’s just how it’s always been.
The cost of land line telephone calls has dropped steadily for 100 years. The cost of mobile telephone calls has dropped steadily for the 25 years they have been around.
The cost of wireless data has dropped steadily since data came along too.
Unless there is some new paragigm the unit costs (and likely out of pocket costs) for data will continue to drop over time.
fact of the matter is unlimited anything benefits a very small percentage of users at the cost of most everyone else subsidizing them.
QUOTE “For some users it is a blessing, allowing those who do not eat up a ton of bandwidth to pay a little less.” REALLY??? Come on, do a little better than that, you sound like an AT&T representative spewing propaganda. Interestingly this ALSO comes after the so called AT&T plans to EXPAND their network bandwidth, maybe this pricing plan is the shadow attempt to CONTROL bandwidth and usage rather than install the infrastructure they should be. Well, no worries, it will just push more people away and onto other carriers. If some (Sprint) remain competitive with the ALL INCLUSIVE plans, they will reap many accounts from these price gouging moves! Shame AT&T… Damn Shame!
Ignorance…
Glad I’m with Big Red and my Droid. Hope they don’t follow these dopes.
Stupid move by AT&T. If they wanted to allow people who use less data to pay a lower rate they should have left the unlimited price where it was and had a flat rate for MB’s up until that point. Say $.10 a MB and once you pass the 200MB mark you pay just $10 more for all the data you use from that point on. So people who use less data pay less, but an unlimited data plan only costs your $30 a month if you do go over the 200MB limit.
I’m fine with the plans, after fuming for a bit. Overage charges go linearly with how much you use. If you go a GB over in the 2GB plan, you pay $10 more, etc. Pay to play sounds good to me. It is a step in the right direction, with one HUGE caveat:
Why the hell can’t we tether with the bandwidth we paid for? Of course us Android users will tether regardless. Score one for little green robots everywhere!
@Bri-
big red already said they were doing the same when they lunch LTE devices. Read the panic hysterical posts from a few days ago.
verizon didn’t include specifics though.
lets all breath and look up some real numbers so we can tell how “bad” this is going to be. I have 3 smartphones on my account (8 total). 2 of the 3 smartphones with 24/7 push exchange email along with all the other built in google stuff. I looked up the last 7 months of use online.
So I have 21 data points. Highest usage over that period for my small business is JUST 757 MB. Maybe my use is skewed way low- so what type of numbers do the rest of you have?
i want rollover data, thank you
This is really bad for mobile internet developers. The internet really took off when we moved from similar kinds of plans to the unlimited plans we have today.
The more I think about it, the better I think it is. I’ve got an unsubsidized N1 without a data plan. I’m thinking I might only need 200MB anyways to fill in the gaps between Wifi places. It would be great for voice to text and the occasional GPS use.
95% of the time I don’t miss having a data plan, but for $15 a month I would consider that.
If they allow free tethering on Froyo, I’ll have basically no problem with their plan. As long as they keep up with Verizon’s tiered plans, but I guess that is what competition is for.
I read more about it. Its going to allow more people to get smartphones (new iPhone 4) at lower monthly prices. 98% of users use less than 2gb so they’ll save. They also said “Data gluttons” are using 40% of their network.
This is the major point: data usage in the smart phone industry, business, and personal computer world is growing exponentially. At&t is just covering their bases with the latest iPhone release. If they assume they add an additional 10% customer base from the release, they will assume a 10% increase in Their data usage by these customers over a year. Now you factor in the data usage increase by customers in the next years to come. There network would be completely crippled. By requiring their customers to be responsible for tracking there own data usage, the customer is to blame and not at&t, this forces the customers to either lower there data usage or pay the cancellation fee. On the reverse side, the company could avoid the collapse in major cities since new customers will not over use their phone for data.. highly unlikely.
@phillypharm
idiot, huh? real nice :) So you think it’s fair for a someone to pay $30 for 100MB and someone else to pay $30 for 5GB….that it’s the 100MB users fault for not using more data? I’m with you if they had options and picked wrong…but people weren’t given the option. You say 5GB is your fair share? What I call fair is if you took the total number of MB AT&Ts network can handle, divided by the total number of users…and that is DEFINITELY not 5GB. But you can still have 5GB if you want to…but now you don’t have all those people who refuse to get their money’s worth helping you pay for it. Treating everyone the same regardless of differing needs is one of the worst tendencies of communism….I think we’ve been making that mistake long enough, eh? As far as the Unlimited or 5GB plan…I agree that they could use a higher tier with a lower per GB rate…and to get rid of that tethering fee…
I don’t think the issue is with AT&T introducing new data plans. It’s getting rid of the unlimited and forcing everyone to a set data cap that’s causing all of these complaints. Giving users that don’t want or need unlimited data is fine, but they should have kept the unlimited data plan for those that wanted it. This is all about nickel and diming their customers, especially the iphone users that may go over the 2gb limit. 98% of all users use less than 2gb a month? really? is that accurate?
Individual iPhone users will scream when they see their bill go from $82 a month to $160, especially for iPhone 4 users that sign up for the tethering option.
Let’s hope other carriers don’t buy into this “me too” disaster.
Sorry what good is the next iphone or any other device for new users if they can’t go over 2GB. It’s great that people can save money by lowering their data limit consumption but what about new customers who want unlimited or at least 5GB? ATT is droping the ball here, what happened to beefing up the network with all the success they have had over the past 3 years? Not to mention they are already overpriced and stick everyone with crazy overages when they can. Sprint has the right idea with the EVO. A well priced plan with a $10 add on for real unlimted data that compliments both 3G and 4G. With how we will be using these new phones starting with the EVO and how soon more 4G services wil be avilable, there is no way anybody is going to use less data. Next they will lose their exclusive Apple rights too then who knows.
Does anyone know if there is an app to keep track of how much data you use per month?
This could be a problem for android users as apps continue to get bigger and more and more apps have network features.
Between downloading new apps, browsing the internet, checking emails, and all the other reasons to use data I could see a lot of more active users going over these limits.
I was planning on switching from AT&T to Sprint on Friday anyways for the EVO, but this is all the more reason. AT&T sucks! I’d say 75% of my calls get dropped. Data caps? No thanks! Bye bye AT&T!
While I can see why they would do this, I would never go to AT&T now. It makes sense that they would want people to be wary of the data they use. For example, I listen to pandora all day at work on my phone…when I get up for a couple of minutes, I don’t stop my pandora stream because it makes no difference to me if I’m using data or not. But if I were on a plan like this I would definantly stop it. This will also make people always use Wifi if it is available.
With that said, I think there is also a greedy side to this. AT&T doesn’t want to spend the money to expand their network capacity, they just want you to use less..essentially they want you to be ABLE to get less for your money. And in the coming decade, bandwidth usage is going to boom, especially with things like sling boxes etc. Sure, for now only 5% of customers use alot of data, but believe me, more and more are going to discover the fantastic things they can do on their phones and they will start using it as well. Eventually AT&T is going to have to bite the bullet and spend some money to make their network half decent.
As a consumer though, regardless of if you/I think it is fair to more people or whatever, I am going to stay on verizon and essentially stay away from carrier than employers these kinds of plans. But then again, i’m in a major city and could probably go to Sprint or TMob and be ok.
Its all about personal preference and how much unlimited data is worth to you. To me, it is def worth staying with a carrier that offers it.
ATT fails…. miserably >.<
@Jeff J
We won’t agree on our point of view on that matter, but I think we can agree that the BIGGER ISSUE is this:
AT&T needs to increase their bandwidth. AT&T is crying b/c their network can’t handle the traffic and complains that no other network can handle the strain of the iPhone blah blah blah. BUT VZW and Sprint handle more data than AT&T with no problems.
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/04/13/verizon-and-sprint-handled-16bn-more-mb-of-data-than-att-in-2009/
Granted, their footprint is larger thus less data per square mile, but that shouldn’t matter.
If AT&T offers every user 5gb of data for $30, they should be able to honor that and not have speeds compromised. Right?
At least we can agree that they shouldn’t have removed the unlimited (5gb) plan.
BUT ONE LAST THING:
Lets say AT&T has 100 million users on unlimited data. 98% of them use less than 2gb according to them. That means 98 million people will go to the $25 plan. So AT&T loses $490 million ($5×98 mil). Now lets say the last 2% of users use 5gb of data, that means $25 for 2 gb and $30 for 3 gb so $55 (extra $25/user for 2 mil users) or $50 mil. So if my math does me correct, they’ll have a net loss of $440 mil!
In order to break even, those 2 mil users would have to consume enough data to generate $490 mil. Or about $245 extra per use, which equates to about 25 gb.
One last thing, this is assuming every data plan person goes to the $25 (2gb) plan. If they go to the $15 plan, AT&T loses out on even more $$$$.
Philly pharmacy just kicked Jeff in the nuts.
insult to injury, att is a bunch of db’s from top down it seems:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/atandt-warns-customer-that-emailing-the-ceo-will-result-in-a-cease/
Who cares about teathering just root and do it for FREE duh!
shut up and deal with it. the people complaining are the reason the data is slowwn really buy a laptop. it will save people money. swich companys and when they do the same thing in a year what are you going to do then. i have a great idea get internet through your cable and stop crying.
I currently have AT&T and because they can not give me a great Android device and because of these dumb plans I think that I am going to switch to Sprint and get the EVO 4G! WOOT WOOT!Not to mention the price differance!
@ Jeff J
what good is it to own an iPhone or any other smart phone if you can’t use it’s full potential? Yea these devices ate data hogs and that’s why the true users need unlimited. LOL at the people who buy these smart phones and use less than a GB of data a month…. why are theye buying these smart phones if they don’t need them? Is it just because it’s the “trendy” thing to do? hahahahaha morons!
You people are thinking about this way too black and white. This still makes AT&T a bunch of fascist pigs.. they aren’t doing this so “95% of customers” will spend less on data.. they are a failing, crumbling CORPORATION, and any action they take OBVIOUSLY is intended to make them money. Think a little bit.
They know what is on the horizon.. and they know that the phones, and the technology that runs them will continue to grow.. and they are hellbent that their NETWORK will not. If they had any concern for innovation, or for the respect of their clients, they would have implemented a third tier of internet in their pricing – for unlimited. You are all acting like all AT&T could do is keep it at unlimited, or drop it down to 2GB/mo, at the maximum. There will always be people using more than 2GB, especially looking out into the horizon of modern mobile technology, and the services that these phones run on should reflect that. I think the FCC should step in on this one.
Although, I’d love to see some of the smart phone community give ol’ AT&T the middle finger.. and continue upgrading hardware on your $30 unlimited plan (because tethering is only allowed on the $25 limited plan) and simply rooting the phone to tether. I want to see the look on Randall Stephenson’s face when a 1-2-3 root comes out for the average user and people start giving a shit. It isn’t even the fact that it is limited.. it’s these people the power to just give a press release and tell the world that something that is a part of their daily routine is about to change, whether they like it or not.
@PhillyPharm
I agree with everything in your last post and agree to disagree on the rest.
@luke
Really? after the “idiot” comment you though THAT was a kick in the nuts? :)
@Big Games James
You really think that people need to consume 2GB of data to realize the phone’s true potential? Why not 50GB? If you kept it busy all the time you probably download that much. If you aren’t using 50GB why even get a smartphone!? I guess I’m not getting the correlation between downloading that much data and realizing the potential of a smartphone. Potential should be measured in work done as opposed to bytes downloaded. I’m not saying you don’t have a point…I’m just saying telling people that consume less that 2GB that they are morons for getting a smartphone isn’t right. “true users”? Really? Sounds like a term the Church of Steve Jobs would use… :)
You can run through 1gb a day easy just with pandora/youtube hq.
Buti agree, most people who have smartphones only have them b/c they are trendy.
Lame. Curious to see how Verizon(my carrier) follows suit.
Maybe they won’t wait for LTE?
Thank you so much AT&T! Never will I second-guess my decision to stop using your services altogether.
I heard about this and called customer service and will be calling back but was told if you already have unlimited data with smartphone you will be able to upgrade to new smartphone and keep unlimited, at least for now. If you get a rep that tells you it applies to upgrades make them read further or get a supervisor on the phone. The first release in their briefing notes does say it applies to upgrades, make them read further upgrade from dumb to smartphone. Currently you are stuck with the system you have, WM/Android, blackberry, or iphone. if you change the type of device among those three you are on the new plans, at least the way it was explained to me by a rep and supervisor.
As for what do I think about them doing this, it sucks. I would cancel them now but i need them. the data and voice at the same time is a good feature but I travel to many rural areas and the only service that seems to work is at&t.
Maybe you remember the birth of Cable TV with no commercials and cheap, 15 dollars a month. How much are they charging us now, with commercials?
Similarly, AT&T gives us PR crap. Because of their MONOPOLY service tied to the iPhone, we are forced to use their service. And, as soon as they get us all conditioned under their thumb, the low rates won’t be low anymore. Do we look stupid, or what to AT&T?
Hopefully, Apple has a new option for us on Monday. Just wishing. Whenever they get it right I’ll invest in an iPhone with another carrier. NOT NOW!
If AT&T wanted to, they could upgrade their equipment to carry the extra data. Not GREEDY AT&T. They would rather stifle our economy even more by taking jobs away from the internet industry, this resulting from…….. I don’t have to say this. We all already know who will lose as AT&T profits, the same as they did with their basic phone MONOPOLY many years, ago.
I have boycott AT&T for many years, and I will do so until I leave this Earth.
I wish I could just do wifi only, nut with AT&T they say you have to have a data plan, my work and my home has wifi, I really don’t need to spend $30 a month.
I hope we could choose none of the above
Man at&t is getting worst and worst next thing you knw they’ll be out of business…. oh well at least I got to cheat them 10 dollars a month of unlimited data on my unlock Nokia n97 for wifi hotspot and blackberry bold for 9 months… it wasn’t until I bought my nexus one the ten dollar data unlimited wasn’t cutting it for nexus everything was slow… so they told me to put 30 dollar unlimited plan…… I’m just gonna ride out the next year till contract expires den switching to sprint forget att such a lame azz
It’s sad that I can’t ask my carrier these questions because I’m afraid they will change my terms without my “permission”, but I appreciate anyone’s comments.
1) I have a basic AT&T flip phone with unlimited data / unlimited text. My phone has web capabilities but i rarely use them today. If I buy an unlocked Nexus One and put my SIM card in, will it work without any notification to AT&T?
2) How do I avoid AT&T changing my plan to these ridiculous ones? My contract ends in August but I have no plans to renew or change it.
3) Can I tether with these “grandfather” plans?
Wow this is HORRIBLE!!! I use about 5G a month if not more! I am a student and live on a college budget so paying for internet per month plus my iphone just doesn’t happen… it’s one or the other and I personally like my 3G on the go. I can look up anything I want at anytime I want and I frequently do. Being able to use the internet as much as I want for a set price is what I need as a student. It has helped me so much. This is so disappointing! We are in an information and social networking age limiting our use for either of those is pointless (except for the purpose of having overage fees) and just plain stupid! I have been with AT&T since 2002 and have never had any complaints with their products and plans until now. Oh and JSK…It costs me MORE to have internet thru my cable company that my portion of my phone bill costs me AND I can take my internet with me in my back pocket WHEREVER 3G is covered unlike my laptop that will only work where my cable-provided internet reaches and slow free wifi spots. Some of you who are saying to cry about it or shut up about it are not being open minded to how this is affected a good majority of AT&T customers. This really sucks :(
Data compression will not help end-users to save data. Compressing data is used by cellular providers to optimize network traffic and doesn’t necessarily mean less data is used. Remember, cellular providers DO NOT provide a new feature to be nice. Its a cleaver marketing trick that just in the end benefits them and not he end user. do this for a test. Stream Pandora for one entire day on your air-card or tethering with compression on and then do one day without. You will see very little change in data usage.