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Anyone else see dominoes coming? You create data caps, heavy users go to another network, that network sees a massive spike in data usage, puts in caps.... and so forth.
Anyone else see dominoes coming? You create data caps, heavy users go to another network, that network sees a massive spike in data usage, puts in caps.... and so forth.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-930037-100x100.png\")
So instead of upgrading its network to handle the increased load that it caused by offering a phone which, as a significant feature, offers a lot of data-intensive applications, AT&T decides that it just needs to make those users, who already pay them nearly $100 per month on the lowest iPhone plan, stop using their phones so much.
Also, de la Vega seems to think that customers are actually concerned about their data usage. No one gives a damn what represents a megabyte, largely due in part to the fact that AT&T doesn't charge by the megabyte. The service is \"unlimited,\" so what do I give a damn how much data I use? Even if I can \"Track\" how much I'm using, I'm not going to look at the stats and say, \"Wow, I used 400mb last month. I better dial it back, because, well, even though I could have used 4000 for the same price, and even if I only use 5 my bill won't go down, it just seems like 400 is too much. I'll try and stay below 100 next month, just for the hell of it.\"
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A very small minority of Internet users remember a time when that attitude would have gotten you flamed. There was a time when people actually scheduled large file transfers to happen overnight, not because of cost but because they didn't want to affect other users.
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Meh. I wrote a script to play MajorMUD 24 hours a day. The Sysop eventually made us add a command that would check on the number of users and hang up if all lines were full.
I always schedule my large downloads at night so that they would have hours and hours of time to work and not worry about tying up the phone lines. Circa '94 ala Prodigy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-743193-100x100.png\")
*sigh* Prodigy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-103034-100x100.png\")
Sure, back before TCP/IP and the time of dialup modems and dial-in analog lines. But by definition TCP/IP will accomodate people so if user A is downloading a large file and using 100% available bandwidth, and then user B starts downloading a file, user's a bandwidth usage will drop to 50% and user B will have 50% as well.
AT&T needs to upgrade their network and stop trying to pass the buck to the end-user. Either that or advertise their iphone plans as not unlimited (which I'm sure goes counter to their marketing arm).
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-377742-100x100.png\")
XM is at most 128kbps. Streaming that even 24/7 would not be too much usage.
VOIP would run around 128kbps also.
What are these losers smoking????
All it seems like these ISPs want to do is stop people from using 3rd party video and audio.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1224812-100x100.png\")
Thats 1.28 gigabytes a day, about 40 gigabytes a month. Thats quite a bit for a phone to push in my book.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1523472-100x100.png\")
They'll all go to a multi-tier system eventually. Pay X dollars and you have unlimited use of the bandwidth. Pay Y dollars and you're limited to some number of Gb. Pay Z dollars and it's pay as you go.
Educating the customer means charging more because AT&T just doesn't have the network to support the phones they're attaching to that network.
So true, so true...
You need to educate the consumers that represent the top 3% most familiar with the internet (and that phone) on what a megabyte means? Stop with the patronising already, yeesh! What's next, you're going to educate the top 3% in car sales of GM dealerships on just how much 1 litre/gallon of gas is?
And the old saw that 3% of your users are using 40% of your capacity is specious. That means the other 97% will use 100% of the capacity when you boot that 3%. And, I'm betting, you'll find the top 3% of that 97% uses 40% of that 100% again.
Attacking internet radio as the issue? You have to be shitting me. I use that on my blackberry. It's set to 24 kbits. It's low enough that I would have to leave it streaming for at least 4 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY to break even 1 GB. Plus, again, you're going after the users NOT causing you congestion. If someone does leave their streaming on all day, are you going to tell me they're causing congestion between 7 pm and 7 AM? That's already half of their usage that causes no problems.
It is so FRUSTRATING to see ISPs not understand their own business. The admins behind the scenes must cry every time they read a press release like this, knowing that the true problems are all the people at work surfing sites on their phones because the company doesn't let them surf on their computers.
I would like to be edumacated as to why the U.S. has the most expensive mobile service in the world and yet mobile companies couldn't get their greedy shit together enough to agree on one technology, so that if I want to eventually jump to Verizon, I have to buy a new iPhone. Perhaps Ralph can put together a seminar about *that*. Jackass.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-157386-100x100.png\")
This switchover is happening soon. It's called LTE. Sprint might use WiMax instead though so who knows....
I don't remember Verizon or Sprint having this kind of problem.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-804913-100x100.png\")
You don't remember Verizon pre-2000, then.
It seems to me that the top 3% of the data users would be corporate IT guys, who probably have huge contracts with their phone carriers for all their employees - so why piss them off?
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As much as I hate AT&T (what with being an iPhone user in an area with terrible coverage), I doubt they would introduce something like this without a strong mutual understanding that, say, Verizon would implement the same thing concurrently.
The question now is whether AT&T will adopt a foot-in-the-door technique or a door-in-the-face technique when it comes to limiting/metering bandwidth.
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Legally, i don't think they can get together and decide what to charge. I'm not sure of the conditions but I think that would be price fixing and is against the law.
That does not mean that can't or won't do it just that they won't tell anybody and be willing to accept the fine.
AT&T's biggest bandwidth hogs are iPhone users. Can't use the iPhone on Verizon.
Nope, sure can't.
Anyone who knows anything about wireless communications knows that available bandwidth is limited by physics, not by the carrier's desire to offer more bandwidth. Carriers are allocated a pretty small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. With a wired network you can expand your bandwidth limitless by just adding more lines; you can't do that with a wireless network.
I figurd it would only be a matter of time before this happened. When the iPhone first came out AT&T did the smart thing and limited what people could do to abuse bandwidth. Apps like Pandora only worked over wifi. Of course that didn't stop people from jailbreaking their phones and using those apps.
This doesn't really bother me, because I've only used about 1 GB on my iPhone in a year. Most users have nothing to worry about.
Why don't Verizon and Sprint have this problem? They don't have the iPhone.
I have no problems with usage caps. I have been living with usage caps on my home ISP for years with no problems. I do have a problem about being sold an unlimited plan and then being told I'm using too much. AT&T needs to educate itself on the meaning of unlimited.
Also, if caps are going to be implemented, there must be a rock solid, up to the minute way of determining exactly what your usage is. I would also want the ability to have the service just stop working when I reach my limit so I cannot accidentally incur overage charges. My current ISP does all of these things.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-151751-100x100.png\")
It's no secret that building out a cell network is expensive. Putting up towers is an involved process, and feeding capacity to those towers either via landline or microwave links is no picnic either. However, it CAN be done. It's true that cell phone providers are allocated a limited amount of spectrum, but spectrum is not the reason that AT&T's network sucks. It's a dearth of towers, and of capacity to existing towers.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-22777-100x100.png\")
Do these people -want- the FCC asking more questions? Are they stupid?
Huh? Usage-based pricing is not unusual or illegal. It's nothing the FCC would care about.
It wasn't too long ago that the only two data plans Verizon offered were $50 for unlimited and $25 for 10 MB
...$25 for 10MB? Inbound roaming usage from other countries is cheaper. NTT docomo (Japan; docomo Guam users don't get this deal) has a deal where you get to use something like 15MB for US$20 in America; China Unicom only charges US$1.00-something per MB.
There's nothing illegal about a lot of things the government has been looking into with cell phone companies, yet they are still asking questions.
What do you say when everyone keeps complaining that you can't handle traffic on your network? If you're AT&T, you say \" THERES A BILL FOR THAT!\"
ATT you sux no matter how hard you try... Cingular was better PERIOD!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-541151-100x100.png\")
As if we iPhone users need any more reasons to jump the AT&T ship when the exclusivity agreement expires.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-26176-100x100.png\")
Agreed.
I think that a big piece of the problem is people ignoring wireless access at home/work. I use wifi all the time and my data usage is a small portion of what my wife uses and she only goes over the cellular network.
Cant_stop_the_rock ,
I do know a little about mobile communications, and I'm going to have to disagree with you. While the actual amount of wireless spectrum a carrier owns does impact the amount of data that can be transferred in a particular cell it's the size of the cell that determines how many users are sharing that bandwidth. If you have one tower that serves a 2 mile radius it only has half the bandwidth of 2 towers serving that same area. At&t's problem isn't that they don't own enough spectrum, but that their network doesn't have enough cells in the highly populated areas to handle all the traffic. This also leads to a high number of dead zones in large cities, or in rough terrain.. Since these signals are line-of-sight a single tower's signal may get blocked by large buildings or other obstacles. Multiple towers strategically placed around a city will cover a particular area more effectively and give you a lower number of devices per cell. They can fix it, they're just too worried about profits to put the money into their network.
Go ahead at&t, start charging me for usage based data. Heres what's going to happen once you do;
1. I'm going to make a nice little call to your costumer service.
2. I'm going to cancel my account, pay the ETF (Gladly)
3. Jailbreak my iPhone
4. Call T-Mobile or better Verizon
5. Sign up for a REAL cell phone plan
Once that's all said and done I'm going to rejoice knowing you f**ks arent getting one single cent of mine anymore.
You can't bring your iPhone to Verizon, and if you have an iPhone 3G, you'll be stuck on EDGE on t-mobile, as it uses a different 3G spectrum than ATT
Material change to your contract, there should be no ETF.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6171-100x100.png\")
Well, AT&T could help with that. Every business DSL account they have should be given the crappy 2wire gateway so that they can broadcast wirelessly and post a sign \"Free Wi-Fi access provided by AT&T\" in the window.
I live in a town where every incoming freshman to one of the Universities is given an iPhone, yet we just got 3g on the south side of town and there are very few businesses with wi-fi.
Last month, I used .5GB on my iPhone. It checks my email every three hours, I use maps a bunch, and not a lot else. The \"push\" feature they added recently is probably not helping with data usage. And I want tethering.
You've used a half-gig on your iPhone in one MONTH? I've used less than two gigs in FIFTEEN MONTHS. And my iPhone is my primary email device. I do use Pandora/Last.FM on occasion, and occasionally watch Youtube videos on the phone. I also download apps to the phone rather than to iTunes, as I don't sync the phone that often.
You're doing more than \"email and some maps\" if you're using a half-gig a MONTH.
Your town must have streets paved with gold if they just give new students an iPhone on admission.
Isn't this potentially good news? Those who don't use a lot of data, ideally, could be offered a lower rate plan instead of \"catch all\" data plans meant to cover high-end users...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-17562-100x100.png\")
Yeah, because AT&T is certainly going to allow a large chunk of their most profitable users to suddenly pay less... that's definitely going to happen.
/sarcasm
Like when they started offering messaging packages and unlimited messaging for one price instead of the per-message pricing?
Or unlimited talk/text on pre-paid for $60?
way to go AT&T. you can either upgrade your already slow network and/or expand your nonexistant 3g coverage...or...you can start charging per usage. great job choosing the one your customers definitely don't want.
seriously though, all the ISP's are going to do this sooner or later..even dedicated connections at home. i hope it never happens because it will kill all internet related business, startups and online innovations
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1298983-100x100.png\")
I love that picture!
AT&T reminds me of Rogers, here in Canada... Same type of idiocy, regarding billing. Baaaaad customer service.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1523141-100x100.png\")
internet audio streaming doesn't consume that much data.
I'd be interested in seeing a time study done of use.
Weekends? Nights? Evenings?
the problem will fix itself. As soon as AT&T puts the new terms and conditions into effect, everyone who wanted to jump ship will leave AT&T for a better network. No more traffic problems... but not quite in the way AT&T hopes.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-60345-100x100.png\")
FU AT&T. I will buy out my contract and not only dump my two smartphones I will also call Charter and replace every service in my house. Unless you plan on charging all of us who use the service LESS than the average user LESS than you charge us now.
This is BS. I'm an AT&T iPhone user. We pay for an \"unlimited\" data account. My feelings are if I am using my iPhone on a service plan with unlimited data, AT&T should man-up and just build out their network. It is not like they could not see this coming. Provide more services, more access and people will use it. It is just like roads. Build bigger roads, more cars will clog it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1524828-100x100.png\")
Me thinks the all you can eat buffet is not all you can eat
So let me get this straight, AT&T forces iPhone customers to pay for unlimited data plans to use their phones on the network and then complains when (GASP) the customers actually use their unlimited data plans...
AT&T shouldnt advertise for things they cant handle on their network. Maybe limit the sales of iPhones in those areas, and stop offering \"Unlimited\" data to new customers.
The problem is that to get an iPhone (or I'd suspect any AT&T smartphone) you don't have any option other than an \"unlimited\" data plan... I wouldn't really consider that to be offered.
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Ralph must be directing the inaccuracies in their recent commercial push against Verizon too.
His thought process used in determining how deep to dig your hole and then jump in and cover your head with the dirt is reminiscent of Enron.
How about ATT try upgrading their network with the billions they spend in false advertisement and political lobbying?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1523124-100x100.png\")
Economics 101
1. You have a demand for a product/service
2. Instead of supplying demand you try to reduce demand by educating the customer
3. Profit?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-312976-100x100.png\")
I'm confused. AT&T promoted the heck out of a phone based on its ability to do everything including making a latte and now they want users to pay more because they are actually using the phone as designed and promoted?
AT&T, I hate Verizon, but you're making their commericals for them at this point.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-59988-100x100.png\")
\"Wow, only 3 percent of smartphone users are really taking advantage of the unlimited data plans we're gouging everyone for! Imagine if 100% of smartphone users consumed data all the way up to the 5GB/mo limit? We'd be so screwed!\"
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Gawd I miss my Cingular. I have been with Cingular/ATT(sucks ass) for 10 years and the service aint bad until you have to call them.............then just fry your mind and wait for the 504 seconds until the CSR hands you off to another (or just drops your call completely) Yeah ATT, you got the iPhone, its all fun and games until people use it, if it is Unlimited, grow a pair and tell us if it is or not. Ever since I went to Europe/Asia/Africa i miss their cell plans. ATT, Sprint finally grew a pair and works at customer service. Now it's your turn..........oh screw it, it aint gonna happen.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-22998-100x100.png\")
Dear AT&T,
This is your hint that if you pull this lame ass stunt I'm going to use it as a \"material change\" to my contract to get out of my ETF.
Sincerely, your friend...
-Ax
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-376262-100x100.png\")
I love my iPhone, but if they mess with my pricing I'm switching to Cricket or some other cheap-assed carrier. I'm sick of paying a forture for shoddy service and dropped calls. Seriously? I live in a major metropolitan (Denver) area and I've NEVER had so many dropped calls in my life.
Don't stub your toe on my soapbox.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-33861-100x100.png\")
They aren't data hogs at all. They are merely doing what all the 3G TV advertisements say you can do with you smartphone. Its AT&T's fault their network is so puny. For anything data intensive I try to find a hotspot for my phone.
This kind of reminds me of the time...when my isp sent my dad an email in capslock saying that Unlimited internet does not mean you can run it 24hrs.
This was in the good days of dialup ^_^
Nice, my dad's ISP at the time just instituted an automatic cutoff after 4 hours. You had to dial back in to continue. This was in the days before you could pause and resume downloads.