AT&T Radically Changes Data Plans
PrintAT&T has announced today that they are making some fairly big changes in the way they sell data. Gone are the $30 "unlimited" plans with the soft 5GB bandwidth cap. The changes affect smartphones as well as the iPad. Now mobile data will be sold in two packages. The DataPlus plan will cost $15 and offer 200MB of data a month. The DataPro plan will come with 2GB of data and run $25 per month.
The carrier is also changing how overages work, and this part of the plan actually sounds pretty reasonable. On the DataPlus plan, each additional 200MB block will run you $15, and each extra GB on the DataPro plan will be $10. The traditional overage fee amounted to $50 per GB of overage. AT&T also plans to finally offer tethering, but it will only be available on the DataPro plan. It will cost an extra $20 per month and it shares the same 2GB data allotment as the phone.
Users currently on the $30 plan are allowed to stay with it, but can move to the new plans at any time. These options may save money for most people, but some users may find themselves increasingly coming up against the caps. AT&T is currently only selling one Android phone directly, but these plans could be a problem for Google's mobile OS. Unlike the iPhone, Android based phones do a massive amount of background syncing of data. How do you feel about the changes? Would you end up saving of racking up overages?
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QUINTIX256
June 03, 2010 at 7:47am
IIRC verizon already berid of their "unlimited" plans, and at&t is simply following suit.
This is simply the reality of what the telecoms are doing. Voice is aggressively compressed and takes up maybe 4 to 6kbps per user. With modern modulations like GSM and CDMA the telecoms can stuff a number of those in a band no wider than a FM radio broadcast.
The same cannot be said for data. Giving the telecoms all the available air bandwidth and having everything from broadcast TV to AM radio go over their networks would not be enough. All this talk of "spectrum management" is meaningless. The telecoms need better spatial multiplexing, and I don't mean more of those essentially omni-directional femto-cells.
You can have your recession. I'm not participating.
TechJunkie
June 03, 2010 at 4:27am
I'll stick with Sprint thank you. Oh and AT&T, please...please...use some lube before you send out the first bill to new subscribers. Or will you charge another $10 a month for digital preperation H?
amiguito123
June 02, 2010 at 7:48pm
I'm unwilling to pay more money to make the Association of Thieves and Thugs (AT&T) richer.
As soon as my contract with them ends in September, I'm ditching my iPhone and getting a simple phone with their lowest calling plan.
BrandNewJesus
June 02, 2010 at 7:12pm
I am surprised that no one has bitched about the extreme difference between the data cap in the 15 and 25 dollar tiers. 200MB for $15 is fucking bullshit. WHY! why not $13 per GB, that would make more sense. then 26for 2 GB and I wouldn't be so upset that they are fucking everyone by charging more for less. But $15 for 200MB is a blatant fuck you to the customers. PEOPLE, vote with your wallets! see how fast they backpedal.
God I can't wait to hear Gordon on this. RAGE!
:edit....rage on...
AND, all these fucking news sites saying, O, its really not that bad, most people don't even use that much. spinning it as: yay, you will save money! ARHHH
Did apple renew the iphone contract with att, because I can't see them having the balls to do this without some assurance that half their customer base won't flee.
EricX2
June 02, 2010 at 6:39pm
Where I live I actually get real good 3g speeds on my iPhone and I use rhapsody to stream music everywhere... on day 16 of 31 I've already used over 450mb, and that doesn't count any data at work or home cause I use wifi both places.
I see 200mb being a huge issue if they start pushing that on people. The 'unlimited' plan was all they offered when I got my phone.
Techrocket9
June 02, 2010 at 4:13pm
I'll start laughing on Friday, when I get my EVO 4G with "true unlimited" data. (As opposed to every other Sprint phone with a 5GB soft limit) If they go back on that after charging $80.00/mo for data, I think that there will be a lawsuit.
BTW, unrelated question:
If I use Google Voice (I have an account) on my soon to be EVO, does it eat into my almost-nonexistent voice minuets? Thanks!
_____________________________________________________
An army of pacifists can be defeated by one man with the will to fight.
themohawkadmin
June 03, 2010 at 7:04am
Google Voice will in fact use your voice minutes on your phone. However, all SMS messages are free.
sotoa
June 02, 2010 at 2:52pm
Screw this!! I bet Verizon will follow next.
The podcasts I download alone would put me close to 2GB/mo using Google Listen on my Droid. Then add in the Youtube I watch at lunch, the Pandora I stream, the emails, the syncing, WTH?? Oh lord!! There goes my hopes for Skype.
Force me to find a WiFI? Screw you!
If Verizon follows, then go to H3LL!
Charge me MORE (flat feet) and give me unlimited everything... tethering, internet, text, email, LTE(4G), personal hotspot, everything. Stop milking everyone for data.
Eventually just get rid of "cell" and go 100% data. Isn't that were we're heading anyway?
mkarias1
June 02, 2010 at 5:10pm
I agree. Why bother with a cell phone? It may make sense to get one of the tablet computers ("ipad") and just pay for the data plan. Connect via WiFi where available to keep cost down.
Cell phone companies are the biggest thieves. I have Verizon. They charge a $9.99/mo data plan fee for a "media" phone. Smartphones require $30 data plan which I do not agree with but understand. But a "media" phone. WTF? I bought a media phone for my daughter. All she wants it for is texting but i have to pay this stupid $10 data plan fee.
Torqumada286
June 02, 2010 at 2:40pm
Consumer Reports found that the average iPhone owner uses 273mb of data a month. Other smartphone users use around 150. This will probably mean that half people with the iPhone will have a good chance of getting overages every month if they choose to use the lower tiered plan. That's probably what AT&T is looking for.
Edit: Transposed a number.
Warmachine2030
June 02, 2010 at 2:24pm
I currently have AT&T as a provider and I have the unlimited data plan for the $30 a month. On that plan I am always over the new limits they are going to put in place. And to charge that much for tethering, they need to get their heads on straight and start offering a unlimited everything plan like other companies offer. I am dropping AT&T right away, I will not support their poor decisions.
popstop785
June 02, 2010 at 2:16pm
So if I am currently in a contract with unlimited data... are they going to alter the contract? Or does it hold until it is up?
Why are all data services trying to put caps? ISPs, Cell services, etc. It's almost as if we are progressing backward in the tech data way of things. Who is going to want the 4G iPhone when they have to worry about caps? Yeah faster data speeds to further screw us over?
F these data services.. what is next.. TV? Paying for how many hors watched and channels changed instead of an unlimited monthly data fee?
i7_DOMINATION
June 02, 2010 at 1:49pm
2gb?? really?? ATT is fucking its users without them realizing it. The old "unlimited" 5gb plan now costs $55 per month instead of $30. 2GB is NOTHING!! It's just a few movie downloads, some music, and a couple of facebook checks then BAM! all gone.
ATT needs to get their dicks out of their asses and offer a decent unlimited plan, that many of us power user techies will be interested in..
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FIX THE GODDAMN SPAM FILTER!! IT'S WORSE THAN FUCKING OUTLOOK.
Peanut Fox
June 02, 2010 at 1:56pm
If your doing all that on a cell phone with AT&T's 3G network then I have to commend you for at the very least being able to find a signal.
As broad band speeds increase and we find ourselves more and more reliant on the internet to deliver entertainment and conduct business. It's increasingly frustrating how broadband providers are finding new ways to deliver less, and charge more. Cable and broadband are the only technologies that get more expensive as they progress.
i7_DOMINATION
June 02, 2010 at 2:01pm
AT&T is becoming a superpower, and is taking advantage of the situation. Broadband, along with lots of other technologies, is supposed to get cheaper as the years go by. With the extremely large profits that ATT receives, they should at least take some of it and invest it in decent towers that broadcast faster, more reliable wireless coverage. Instead, ATT is cutting corners by charging more money for less data, and making bullshit statements that "most people do not exceed XXXGB of data".
Sites are getting more and more content-heavy, and eventually, when internet gets faster, the 2gb cap will be exceeded by even the "mainstream" user.
burntjuggalas
June 02, 2010 at 1:48pm
where does that leave us Blackberry unlimited internet users!?
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