At&t’s New Data Rate Plans – Something To Talk About
Most of our visitors are CDMA users, mainly Sprint and Verizon, but what one carrier does, more might follow. At&t has just announced new smartphone data plans that are going into effect June 7th. With At&t launching the new iPhone and more Android devices, they know their network will take an even bigger hit when it comes to data. We've already seen with with every version of the iPhone, and there's been plenty of people complaining about their network, all due to data usage. Now you have the option of a 200Mb plan or a 2Gb plan, and that's it.
According to At&t, 65% of their users use less than 200Mb of data per month and 98% of their users use less than 2Gb, so their theory is that these new plans could save you some money. If their stats are right though, it will probably anger those that use more than 2Gb.
You have two options now, for $15, you can get 200Mb of data per month. If you go over this 200Mb, you can get another 200Mb for another $15. The other option is 2Gb for $25. If you go over this, you will get 1Gb extra for $10. For you iPhone users out there, if you subscribe to the DataPro plan, you can now tether for an additional $20/month.
- DataPlus. Provides 200 megabytes (MB) of data – for example, enough to send/receive 1,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 150 emails with attachments, plus view 400 Web pages, plus post 50 photos on social media sites, plus watch 20 minutes of streaming video – for just $15 per month.** This plan, which can save customers up to 50 percent off their wireless data charges, is designed for people who primarily like to surf the web, send email and use social networking apps. If customers exceed 200 MB in a monthly billing cycle, they will receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15 for use in the cycle. Currently, 65 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB of data per month on average.
- DataPro. Provides 2 gigabytes (GB) of data – for example, enough to send/receive 10,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 1,500 emails with attachments, plus view 4,000 Web pages, plus post 500 photos to social media sites, plus watch 200 minutes of streaming video – for $25 per month.** Should a customer exceed 2 GB during a billing cycle, they will receive an additional 1 GB of data for $10 for use in the cycle. Currently, 98 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB of data a month on average.
- Tethering. Smartphone customers – including iPhone customers – who choose the DataPro plan have the option to add tethering for an additional $20 per month. Tethering lets customers use their smartphones as a modem to provide a broadband connection for laptop computers, netbooks or other computing devices. Tethering for iPhones will be available when Apple releases iPhone OS 4 this summer.
There are quite a few users out there that have also cheated the system and are on the $15/month "dumbphone" MEdiaNet plan even though they have a smartphone. Will At&t start cracking down on these users?
What are your thoughts? With more and more companies using invisible caps on "unlimited" data plans, the plus side of this is at least you know your limits and you have options.
I have the Nexus One on At&t and I use WiFi while I'm at work, at home, and anywhere else I can. My data usage is usually 200Mb-300Mb/month for those times I'm away from WiFi. In my opinion, they should take their highly popular Rollover motto and apply it to their data plans. If they're going to give set limits like they do voice, then why not offer Rollover for data? If I pay for 200Mb but only use 50Mb, then I should get 150Mb that Rollover every month for up to a year like they do voice. It only seems fair and it would go in line with their voice plans.
They've also said that smartphone users won't be forced to change their current plan, so if you're on the $30 unlimited smartphone data plan, you can keep that if you want.
There's no mention of what happens if you go over your additional allotted data. If you're on the DataPro plan and go over the 2Gb, then you get the extra 1Gb, what happens when you go over the 3Gb? Can you keep adding 1Gb for $10?
What are your thoughts? With 5Gb caps being the popular thing nowadays, and Sprint's infamous $10 Premium Data charge for the Evo 4G, how does this compare?
© 2010, mindfrost82. All rights reserved.
they want to compliment their dropped calls and weak coverage with a data cap and charge more money now?
that data rollover idea is the way to go.
frosty you should put a patent on the roll over data idea so if they use it you can sue them and get PAID
@pzztgotbagz – you misspelled IPAD*
I’ll take the Sprint $10 Evo Padding over these 200M/2G/5G limits. I regularly use over 2G of 3G data on my phone all the time.
Kinda Funny I just emailed the CEO of sprint last night asking for a explination on the 10 dollar extra charge a month, Now I feel bad waking up and reading this, when will the phone companies get it?
“We know our network can’t handle the usage from Iphones right now, so we’re going to charge you more for it” LMAO!
Another good reason that I am glad to have left AT&T. These companies raise their prices and limit their data plans all the time and constantly complain that their customers hog up the network. They should stop complaining and invest more in their infrastructure to meet the needs of their customers. If their network couldnt handle or meet needs of its users then they should of thought of that before signing up so many subcribers. The result is the customer being screwed and having to settle for solutions that only benefit the provider.
just my thoughts.
AT&T and the nickel and diming. This is a mess. I’m with Sprint and on average I use 11GB of data per month. I’m glad Sprint hasn’t done anything this asinine.
Another reason I can suggest to my friends with ATT smartphones to go to Sprint. Better coverage (in my area) and faster data.
Do average consumers really only use 200MB of data a month? I’m citing this article on cnet which claims 98% of consumers use less than 200MB:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20006659-266.html
200 MB just doesn’t seem like a lot of data. I average 2-3 GB a month with sprint but that’s because I stream live radio 5 days a week. I also do a lot of surfing and upload a lot of pictures. I can see a lot of people going over the 200MB on a regular basis and getting stuck with the extra charges. I’m curios to see what the data usages are like for an average user around here. Course a lot of people here aren’t your “average consumers” so the results may be skewed.
Every company is selling smart phones now, and people are buying them. The demand for data usage isn’t going to go down as more and more people buy phones with data hogging apps pre-installed. If it were only 2% of users slowing down the network, those people would have to use a serious amount of data, much more than 2gb a month.
This is kind of like when the music companies shut down Napster, then said, “Now that that’s taken care of, nobody will ever download a song again. We can go back to selling cds at Wal Mart”. The idea that stifling progress will lower demand for this technology only comes as a result of this industry being deregulated to the point that they don’t have to operate in a competitive environment anymore. Every telecom company might be able to keep most of their markets using slow DSL speeds and small data plans in this country, but we’ll quickly fall behind a lot of other developed nations in this regard.
hahaha and to think i was about to leave Sprint to go to AT&T this coming Wednesday. haha i have used 7.4GB of data and i still have a week and a half till the moth is over. I can almost guaranty that i could hit 8GB by then. Of course i used my TP2 as a modem and share it with 3 laptops in my house.
I think I’m just going to sale my TP2 to pay the early cancellation fee on my current account and open a new one and get the EVO.
Er, unhindered economies are by default, competitive. Competition is what is going to nuke AT&T in regards to this new data pricing structure. A regulated structure is what would allow companies to lobby for regulations that hinder consumer choice (like AT&T did back during the rise of the telephone… they lobbied state and local governments to restrict competitors from putting up telephone networks so that it would not ‘confuse’ consumers.
).
I don’t want my telcos regulated. I want them to face the harsh reality of making stupid decisions in a competitive marketplace. Just sit back and watch as their competitors make marketing hay out of AT&T’s policy shift. It isn’t going to be pretty for AT&T.
I am amazed Sprint does not have more customers. I pay peanuts for unlimited data and free tethering compared to VZN or Att. But then again, its better to keep Sprint smaller and have the network fast all the time like it currently is.
Seems to me that ATT isnt addressing one particular question. I would like to know-If their network were better, would their users use data more in the first place? Seems to me that their data use is so low because the data network has issues. So I wonder would 98% of their customers really be under 2 gigs of use in the first place if the network were as robust as vz or sprint? I go through way more than 2 gig of usage with Sprint. So I couldnt leave for a metered plan, personally.
Att and verizon are just famous for thier charges… I will take the $10 extra evo charge any day