AT&T: Tighter Control of Cell Data Usage Ahead

InorganicMatter said:
How on earth do you guys use so much data?

I consider myself a very heavy user of my iPhone's data connection, and I've used a total of 2GB since July, which works out to roughly 500MB/month. :eek:
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Simple, stream video to your phone for 12 hours a day while only listening to the music.
 
I really wish someone would make a good data leech app. Something that would download extremely large files and delete them as soon as they're done downloading, with the singular purpose of sucking as much bandwidth as possible.

Anyone game for making an app like this?
 
the 3% are probably internet tethering the phone to their home computers so they don't have to pay for home broadband. that's more than likely what's killing it.
 
phide said:
I really wish someone would make a good data leech app. Something that would download extremely large files and delete them as soon as they're done downloading, with the singular purpose of sucking as much bandwidth as possible.

Anyone game for making an app like this?
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Just start downloading large video files from youtube. Besides, you'd never get a bandwidth sucking app through the vette process of the app store.
 
vengence said:
Just start downloading large video files from youtube.
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I want something that would work overnight, as I'm sleeping and the phone is charging. I think perhaps even a clever-enough PHP or ASP script hosted on a server might be able to handle it, but the trick would be clearing the browser cache. I'll use my own server's bandwidth if I have to.

vengence said:
Besides, you'd never get a bandwidth sucking app through the vette process of the app store.
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Who said anything about the App Store? ;)
 
I was tethering like mad (using the iPhone's own built in tethering software) when my 3GS was active. I never did torrents or any heavy downloading but I pretty much used it for everything else.
 
inorganic- people (we) tether our phones to our laptops and car computers.... and a good 3g connection is fast enough to watch hulu or wmc internet tv so... well as you could imagine it doesnt take long to soak up 5gb+ a month.

i think the cellular providers are more pissed off that people are doing this when they are supposed to buy the expensive tethering plan, and they just have no other way to enforce a tether plan. there is no way for them to know if your phone is actually using that data or if its being passed off onto another device... which i argue shouldn't matter. if this is what people want to do, then provide technology that can do it (sprint's 4g!)
 
phide said:
I really wish someone would make a good data leech app. Something that would download extremely large files and delete them as soon as they're done downloading, with the singular purpose of sucking as much bandwidth as possible.

Anyone game for making an app like this?
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Make a Winamp Remote playlist on your home computer and use your iPhone to listen to your music collection. That's what I usually do.
 
BravO))) said:
Looks like I might have to opt out of my contract and pay the fee to have a better provider.
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This from a Telecom provider, One of the ways you can get out of a contract. If you are promised a service that is not being kept by the Telecom, such as they can't provide their service in a certain area that you need the service in, you have a right to cancel, because the Telecom can't hold up their end of the contract. Someone might want to check about dropped calls and how that affects your contract.
 
Crap like this is why I'm happy to be running my iPhone on T-Mobile.

/Unlimited Web, and no grief
 
topslop1 said:
the 3% are probably internet tethering the phone to their home computers so they don't have to pay for home broadband. that's more than likely what's killing it.
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and I use it for my laptop at school to go around the blocked websites.
 
I love this. Before the iPhone, you couldn't GET an unlimited data plan on AT&T for a reasonable price. AT&T lowered the price premium over a regular plan to just $20 for the iPhone ($60/mo), then stepped-up to $30 for the 3G ($70/mo). And now they can't seem to make ends meet?

I guess nothing has changed. Its the same old worthless AT&T beneath the fancy clothes.
 
phide said:
Cool. I can do that.
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I also convert a few of my DVDs into mp4 so I can watch movies on my iPhone through Winamp Remote during my train rides to and from work.

Winamp Remote is a godsend.
 
You are all complaining about something that you don't even know the details of yet. They've already stated they're not going to charge more. They're going to DISCOUNT you for using less.

What is the "cap" going to be? 5GB/month? 10GB? I use my iphone all the time for streaming radio and have yet to go over more than 1GB or so for a single billing period.

When they say cap, they are talking about EXTREME data users.

Just like the 250GB/month Comcast high speed "cap". Who goes above that every month? According to Comcast its only 0.1% of their users....
 
but either way people are going to be upset simply due to the fact that they're not able to provide users with unlimited data usage as stated in said contract.
 
i just switched from att to verizon and couldnt be happier. ATT sucks donkey ballz...they brag about having the best 3g experience, yet offer hardly any 3G coverage anywhere in KY. WHere they do offer it i rarely got any faster than 1mb/s downloads, With verizon i average between 1.5mb/s and 1.9 mb/s and 3G is available nearly everywhere i go. In ky if you not in lexington or louisville you get no 3G coverage just slow ass edge that isnt worth $30 per month
 
Its not surprising, these guys live for money. They are telecoms. They would ransom your family if it was legal.
 
Steve said:
AT&T is putting all you bandwidth hogging iPhone users on notice, changes are coming and you might not like them very much. I'm no expert but I thought most people bought an iPhone for the bandwidth intensive features like browsing the internet, YouTube, downloading apps, music and videos. Changing to a usage-based system now would suck.
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It's just a different verse of the same song. 10 years ago all the providers were reeling everyone into "unlimited high speed" broadband products, now that everyone has broadband internet, carriers figure out how to limit and charge for every incremental increase of data transfer usage.

It's the same thing that's happening on mobile phones. They reel everyone into mobile internet use, while giving you the option of a premium "unlimited" plan, and now that everyone has an internet capable phone they cream you by re-designing the market structure.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
I sense a drastic increase in jailbroken iphones coming, as well as a crapton showing up on ebay and craigslist.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
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I felt a great disturbance in the iPhone, as if millions of apps suddenly cried out in terror and were silenced.
 
It's really hard for me to believe this. They charge ridiculous amounts of money to iPhone users, but it's still not enough? I'm thinking about getting my family to switch to verizon.
 
who cares about ATT? there are other companies that enjoy when people use their networks, mainly verizon and sprint.
 
Powerage said:
It's really hard for me to believe this. They charge ridiculous amounts of money to iPhone users, but it's still not enough? I'm thinking about getting my family to switch to verizon.
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why is it hard to believe? att has been a money hoarding 'enron' like company for decades now....
 
gravityparade said:
It's just a different verse of the same song. 10 years ago all the providers were reeling everyone into "unlimited high speed" broadband products, now that everyone has broadband internet, carriers figure out how to limit and charge for every incremental increase of data transfer usage.

It's the same thing that's happening on mobile phones. They reel everyone into mobile internet use, while giving you the option of a premium "unlimited" plan, and now that everyone has an internet capable phone they cream you by re-designing the market structure.
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true, but all the cell phone companies are not in bed with eachother... far from it really. sprints 4g is going to change the game when it goes nationwide. att will be crying rivers of tears when the masses realize their cellphone internet can replace their cable internet....
 
Not trying to defend AT&T (I hate them) but its sad that it really is a tiny % of users using 90%+ of the bandwidth, and that a vast majority of average customers suffer. That type of thing would really piss me off if I was a carrier.

But then again... look at what an unlimited mobile data plan costs compared to home broadband. Basically the same.
 
hardware_failure said:
Not trying to defend AT&T (I hate them) but its sad that it really is a tiny % of users using 90%+ of the bandwidth, and that a vast majority of average customers suffer. That type of thing would really piss me off if I was a carrier.

But then again... look at what an unlimited mobile data plan costs compared to home broadband. Basically the same.
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why though?? you cant make your own internet go faster, all you can do is use it unlimited. and none of us even do that, 5gb a month is nothing. its the telecoms fault for not providing the infrastructure needed.. if they cant even support 10% of their users at full capacity then what does that say about their business model?
 
I think the biggest abusers are those using their iPhone tethered.

That's the only way I could see that kind of usage. I use mine all the time, constantly sending pictures, downloading apps (most the time it'll require wifi due to size.)

I just don't see how normal usage maxes that much without the above mentioned.
 
I called up AT&T today to ask about my bill. I just have Internet (best available) and phone service (worst available while still having a landline). They're so clueless and literally transferred me 4 times, literally full circle. So frustrating. :mad:
 
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