AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

http://mashable.com/2010/06/02/att-kills-ipad-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

by jrwoodruff • 16 years ago

121 103 16 years ago

mashable.com

jrwoodruff2• 16 years ago

Barely a month and they kill this plan? This was a large part of the reason I decided to buy a 3G iPad. Isn't it past time for Apple to dump ATT?

buster3• 16 years ago

I bet Steve would want to for a long time. But it's an exclusive deal, so AT&T has the upper hand here, i think. If the rumours are true, AT&T has a 5-year-exclusive contract with Apple. That's still a lot time left. Ironically, this exclusiveness is some sort of lock in (from at&t's side) and here it's widely considered harmful :)

Meanwhile androids infiltrate all other major networks..

stanleydrew5• 16 years ago

If things get bad enough, can't Apple buy out the rest of the contract ahead of time?

Derbasti• 16 years ago

Could anyone tell me the problem here? The iPad is not bound to AT&T, so just pop out your current SIM, get a new one from a different provider and you are good to go.

gte910h4• 16 years ago

The sign up any time you want unlimited plan is why I waited a month for the 3G to be available and why I paid a 130 dollar premium... This is completely untenable for apple to allow this to happen not even six months later. As a matter of fact, the announcement is VERY suspiciously timed exactly 1 month and 1day after the sale of the 3G ipads, making them unreturnable!!!

jodrellblank2• 16 years ago

Existing iPad customers, who already have the $29.99 unlimited monthly plan can choose to keep it

mtinkerhess• 16 years ago

Right, but one of the very appealing things about the iPad data plan is that you can start or stop service whenever you like. But now, if you stop your unlimited plan (or hadn't started it yet) the unlimited option ceases to be available to you.

lanaer• 16 years ago

Right, but if you bought the iPad, with the intent of getting service only when you needed it, and haven't yet needed it…

gte910h4• 16 years ago

Yes, the issue is most of us don't wish to use the unlimited plan every day of the year. We want to use it the 2 months we travel somewhere and don't want to worry about internet access. That's $360 a yr vs $60 a year.

chaosmachine• 16 years ago

If you bought it from a big box store (rather than directly from Apple), you can probably still return it. Most stores will give you 2 or 3 extra days past the "30 day" limit, you just need to ask a manager.

Terretta3• 16 years ago

BestBuy iPads came with a yellow sticker limiting to 14 days, not 30.

nopal• 16 years ago

As of now, Apple still has not updated their product page: http://www.apple.com/ipad/3g/

melling• 16 years ago

I bought the 3G iPad but I only plan on buying an AT&T plan when I know that I'm going to be somewhere without wifi for an extended period of time. I keep "marking the spot" on my iPhone. Yet my service seems to be getting worse.

jasonlbaptiste• 16 years ago

Whoa, you're kidding me right? I know it's still available for existing customers. Thing is, that's a VERY small portion of long term iPad customers. 2gb a month will not cut it. This is a huge detriment to the iPad. Apple needs to cut them out ASAP. I can get past the service problems, taking on the iPhones sudden influx of traffic is more difficult than they think. Capping data at a measly TWO GB? That's absurd.

JoeAltmaier• 16 years ago

Is this true? Nobody is offering any statistics. What is your current usage? What would drive you over 2Gb?

tptacek• 16 years ago

Watching 4 episodes of "Breaking Bad".

starkfist• 16 years ago

The only thing I use my iPad for is watching TV shows and university lectures I downloaded from iTunes store. I'd be WAY over 2GB. Then again, I'm not sure if you can download this content over 3G as I don't have that model of the iPad.

uptown• 16 years ago

Video content is the primary culprit. A few episodes of any substantive-length video podcast pushes you over the cap before you even use your device for anything else. Take "This Week in Startups" for example. The last episode was 700mb. So 1:40 worth of video content would consume 35% of your available data.

watmough2• 16 years ago

I just peeked at my iPhone cellular data usage. 650 Megs.

And I wouldn't perceive myself as using it that much. I mainly surf the web, and play games on it.

Maybe someone can put up a poll for iPhone/iPad users.

empire29• 16 years ago

wow - talk about a bait and switch. if i was on the road and used my ipad anything like i do at home on my wifi, i would burn through 2GB/month more often than not.

if apple ever starts supporting streaming media via the ipod app to the ipad, this would seriously cripple it.

furtivefelon• 16 years ago

Well apple website still advertises unlimited plan: http://www.apple.com/ipad/3g/

josefresco2• 16 years ago

So if I bought an iPad a few days ago am I grandfathered? Or does it need to be delivered and activated before I'm a 'customer'?

I feel like I was bamboozled. I bought something for a certain price, and by the time it arrives the terms have changed and suddenly I'm getting a lot less data for slightly less money.

ben10403• 16 years ago

>Or does it need to be delivered and activated before I'm a 'customer'?

This: you'd need to have the iPad in hand and activated with AT&T, and should you ever cancel it there's no going back.

jonknee2• 16 years ago

Seems amazing Apple didn't have the current price tier as a guarantee for at least some period of time. They based a lot of the push for the 3G model in the US around the 3G pricing.

00joe• 16 years ago

Whats the big deal, its not like you have flash on these things anyway. The only decent site you can get content from is Itunes. 2G of Itunes product is a lot of $. A little extra for the bandwidth is no big deal.

ben10403• 16 years ago

The big deal is the CEO of Apple stood on a stage and talked about the crazy new price structure they negotiated with ATT. Sign up whenever you wanted, cancel whenever you wanted.

Because of the way it was announced, a lot of people bought the 3G model just as a hedge that when they might need data they were covered. For example when on vacation they could switch on the $30 unlimited data plan just for the duration of their trip, because that would be cheaper than buying wifi in airports and hotels.

Now this is is not possible and Apple and ATT are going to have some explaining to do.

jonhohle2• 16 years ago

I just bought an iPad 3G last night for my in-laws for this exact purpose. They frequently spend time in their cabin which does not have an active internet connection. $15->$30 for the occasion when they needed the internet seemed like a fantastic solution for them.

I never imagined the pricing would change so drastically merely a month after the iPad 3G began shipping. At least in the US, you can't even order the 3G version and hope to have it in time to get the deal advertised on Apple's site anymore (estimated delivery is 7 to 10 days).

If nothing else this seems like a huge breach of trust between Apple and their customers, even if it is AT&T's fault.

yanowitz• 16 years ago

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for the screaming matches between AT&T and Apple. This must be a prelude to AT&T losing exclusivity on the iPhone and punishing Apple for it. With all the data intensive iPad apps (e.g., Netflix) and the video conferencing coming in the next OS, this is a brutal move by AT&T. Factor in the dynamics of Android competition and we are in for some interesting telco moves in the coming months. Short term though, this is gonna suck for the consumer.

[edited to fix iPhone-induced ironic typo]

ajg19772• 16 years ago

If this is a prelude to AT&T losing their exclusivity then it's an odd move - the standard "unlimited data" cap on Verizon is 5GB. I'm not sure why AT&T would charge more for less compared to a competitor who was about to offer an alternative for their customers.

I wonder when we'll see the famed Jobs reality distortion field try and sell us on 2GB being enough data for anyone.

This also exposes the ridiculousness of mobile data pricing - the excess charges are $10 per extra 1GB, but the base plan is $15 for 250MB? Hmm.

fuzzythinker• 16 years ago

My feeling is ATT plans to offer ~5GB at ~$35 later. They probably don't want to announce it now since it will immediately be visible that they are charging more for less data. I foresee a rush of ipad 3G purchases from now to June7.

ajg19772• 16 years ago

Further thoughts:

1) This is mostly AT&T putting a stake in the ground now to be able to charge more in the future. Yes, 98% of subscribers currently use less than 2GB of data but that won't be true in 2-3 years. Instead of increasing those 200MB/2GB limits carriers will offer additional plans and reshape/abolish existing ones to nudge people into upper tiers. As happened with minutes and SMS, you'll pay more for less as time goes on, even as the cost to carriers plummets.

2) I don't know what sort of bandwidth VOIP uses, but I bet it's a lot less attractive as an alternative to regular calling with a 2GB limit.

3) Tethering is also a lot less attractive there's a 2GB data limit. Note that extra $20 doesn't buy you any more data, it just allows you to use your existing data in a different way. That really really stinks.

4) The overage charges also stink. On the $25 plan you pay $10 for an extra GB, on the $15 you pay $15 for an extra 200MB. That's just nasty.

rmc• 16 years ago

While I sympathise with people who feel mislead, we all know there is no such thing as "unlimited data". No teleco can honestly provide "unlimited data", it's just not possible or econonically viable. It's common for telecos to actually have a hidden limit on their unlimited plan. At least now they are being (more) honest about what you get.

jonhohle2• 16 years ago

Then perhaps they shouldn't have used that word.

jokermatt999• 16 years ago

Indeed. How can they advertise "unlimited" when it clearly is not? How have telcos not been sued for this bs?

nocman• 16 years ago

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LpHBnvsI )

Seriously, though, this has irritated me since the days where dialup internet access was all a normal person could get. All these plans were "unlimited", but in the TOS they made it clear that if you tried to use the service too much, or tried to stay connected too long, you're account would be suspended or closed.

Something is either unlimited or it isn't. If there's a cap it isn't unlimited. I guess I might cut them some slack if they described it as "effectively unlimited" (meaning that there was more bandwidth than an everyday person could expect to use). Of course, on many services that have been labeled "unlimited", even that would be arguable.

Of course, I don't expect most people in advertising to be honest about anything (goods/services are usually described as a hundred times better than they could possibly be), but that doesn't mean I'm not still annoyed by it.

OrangeGuutan• 16 years ago

I don't understand why you are being downvoted. You didn't say you liked that the new plans offer very low data / dollar or that you have to pay more to tether (despite the fact that we are now being charged per bucket), you simply stated (correctly) that there is no such thing as "unlimited." More companies ought to outright state the limits to their plans / services (e.g., Gmail and its exact storage amount versus Yahoo Mail and its "unlimited storage").

elblanco• 16 years ago

aaaaaand that's why I'm moving my plan to Verizon this week.

S_A_P• 16 years ago

sigh- I suppose I really may have to dump my iPhone. Tethering was a promised feature in the 3gs.

jsz0• 16 years ago

I hope Apple gets hit hard on this. Either they didn't sign a contract with AT&T and got blindsided, in which case they're guilting of creating a carrier-locked device that enabled this to happen, or they were fully aware of the upcoming changes and decided to misrepresent the product back in February. Would this have happened if the iPad was T-Mobile 3G compatible? I really doubt it.

bshep2• 16 years ago

iPad is NOT carrier locked

stanleydrew5• 16 years ago

You can't get 3G speed on T-mobile with an iPad though can you?

Legion• 16 years ago

It's especially egregious given that the presentation slide for the unveiling read: "BREAKTHROUGH DEAL WITH AT&T": http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/01/apple-...

So the "deal" was "epic bait-and-switch"?

mcav• 16 years ago

Also mentioned:

- iPhone tethering will cost $20/month. And it only works if you have the 2GB/month DataPro plan already.

- This is set to take effect on the same day as Jobs's WWDC keynote, June 7th.

bretpiatt• 16 years ago

For some perspective on how low 2GB is, this isn't just about video, it is audio streaming too...

Pandora uses 64 kbps for normal quality and 128 kbps for high quality.

   64 kilobits (Kb) = 8 kilobytes (KB)
   8 kilobytes = 0.008 megabytes (MB)
   0.008 MB per second * 60 seconds = 0.48 MB per minute
   0.48 MB per minute * 60 minutes = 28.8 MB per hour
   28.8 MB per hour * 8 hours = 230.4 MB per work day
   230.4 MB per day * 23 work days in a month (max) = 5,299.2 MB
   5,299.2 MB = ~5.3 GB

Double that if you are listing to the high quality stream.

jeremymcanally• 16 years ago

But who's using Pandora over 3G 40 hours a week? I would imagine that's a nearly infinitesimal number of people (i.e., not worth investing the money in a plan just for them).

Get on wi-fi, or pay the extra $30 a month and get over it.

stanleydrew5• 16 years ago

The parent is demonstrating how low 2GB actually is. It's not meant to describe a situation in which a user is actually likely to exceed the 2GB cap.

jonknee2• 16 years ago

True, but if you're at work it can just go over WiFi (or just use Pandora on your computer). I think it's a bum deal because the terms changed just a month in, but as an iPad owner I'd have to try hard to use 2GB per month outside the range of WiFi.

jrwoodruff2• 16 years ago

Not where I work. We have approved devices and insanely secure wi-fi that, even when you are connected, has surf-block implemented. Which is why I bought an iPad with an unlimited plan.

Terretta3• 16 years ago

Quite a lot of folks use 3G at work to avoid monitoring and/or the corporate firewall.

kalid• 16 years ago

8 kilobytes / second in hours until 2 gigabytes = 73 (http://tinyurl.com/3yrdjq)

Basically you get 3 days of streaming music per month. Wow, that's pretty low.

blhack• 16 years ago

This is a perfect example of why tinyurl (or anything like it) is a completely worthless, harmful service.

What was the thing you were trying to link to? Tinyurl has no idea what it is supposed to be (at least for me).

what2• 16 years ago

Let's not forget about magazine apps either. There was a recent submission about Wired's app being 500MB for one issue. If all of the magazine apps end up being the same size, you could only get 4 mags per month and nothing else.

muerdeme• 16 years ago

You can't get 500MB downloads over 3G. The App Store forces you to wait for wifi.

stcredzero• 16 years ago

I was going to sell my WiFi iPad and switch to the 3G, but now I'm going to stay put. I have a mobile hotspot with a true unlimited plan from Millenicom, which I use for all devices. I would have liked the GPS and the 3G, but AT&T just lost a customer. (It's also not attractive to get one for my Dad either, for his month-long stints in Florida.)

tjmaxal• 16 years ago

I hate to say this because it just makes me angry but it's all our fault.

If we didn't buy so many ipads with practically criminal TOSes then we wouldn't be stuck with a device that is tied to one of the worst cell phone providers in the world.

If more people demanded open network selection, and refused to buy an ipad until it was available on any network then we would have the features we want.

josefresco2• 16 years ago

Ah the free market at it's best. Allowing consumers to unwittingly screw themselves over and over. Steve Jobs approved.

evo_9• 16 years ago

I'm sure Jobs was as against this change as the rest of us - do you really think this is something Jobs would willing do and 'approve'. Seriously?

There is no way this is a good for Apple and conversely, it's unlikely Jobs had any control over this change. Remember, this is ATT's move, not Apple's.

Terretta3• 16 years ago

You can use other GSM providers with the iPad, it's not locked to AT&T.

Carcarius• 16 years ago

I think the 2GB isn't so bad if they charged half the original price instead of only $4 less. If it cost $15 for 2GB/month this may not be as big a deal.

This does look to me like bait and switch. People should not stand for this and show their displeasure by keeping their money in their pockets.

zephjc• 16 years ago

Well its not in effect yet, because I just now signed up for the 29.99 unlimited plan via my iPad (I've been meaning to for about a week). AT&T having a large bureaucracy, there is probably a sizable delay between this announcement and its actual rollout.

bbatsell• 16 years ago

June 7th, as clearly stated in the initial press release. Also just so happens to be the first day of WWDC.

rogupta• 16 years ago

As of right now, if you're an existing iPad user, you can still sign up for the unlimited plan (I just tried it).

watmough2• 16 years ago

Ahhh crap, my iPad isn't scheduled for delivery until June 15th.

Damn you accursed AT&T.

andrewljohnson• 16 years ago

Bait and switch. The unlimited, on/offable 3GS was a big selling point for the iPad. I wonder when the first class-action suit will break out.

gregcmartin• 16 years ago

This is garbage, I am so mad at AT&T... Why do the consumers always lose

korch• 16 years ago

Wow! AT&T has to be one of the dumbest fucking corporations in the world.

I'm sure Steve is thrilled that AT&T just took a crap on his lap by significantly changing the way the average person can use their iPad. It's even better that they sneak this in 1 month after the iPad launch, after Steve has fully demoed the iPad to the public, showing the most common uses as bandwidth intensive. It's almost like AT&T wants to lose Apple, and finally resorted to personally embarrassing Steve. (Golden Rule: You can never undo what you have demoed.) If this doesn't break the deal between Apple and AT&T, then nothing will!

mgkimsal• 16 years ago

I seem to remember some pundit stating they believed the reason AT&T agreed to the initial pricing in the first place was that they didn't think many people would be using 3G on the ipad, preferring wifi instead.

Can anyone find that quote or story? I'm drawing a blank, but it seemed to be one of the stupidest things I'd read in a while at that point.

My guess is that people have been using so much 3G data that AT&T realizes they'll be in a horrible situation as the iPad adoption grows - could be 4-5 million 3G devices with long battery life basically in an 'always on' state, using up far more bandwidth than anyone predicted.

That said, I just can not figure out why people can't seem to predict this. Most active users (the early adopters) can easily use 5-10 gig on a ipad as part of their 'always on' lifestyle. This isn't rocket science.

cwp3• 16 years ago

Finally! I've been hoping AT&T would ditch the unlimited plans for a long time. Although it sounds good, unlimited plans are a real problem, because they distort the incentives for just about everybody.

For users, there's no cost-benefit balance for using bandwidth, only benefit. This leads to inefficient use of what is, at the end of the day, a limited resource. For the carrier, there's every incentive to minimize the amount of network activity, so they can squeeze more users onto the network. It's hard to know how this affects Apple, but is there any doubt that the fragility of the exclusive carrier in their primary market has affected their development schedules and priorities? App developers don't care about bandwidth, except to the extent that they can get their app banned by the carrier if they use too much of it.

Unlimited data plans are not the only factor, but it's no coincidence that AT&T has such poor network performance, doesn't allow tethering etc. This even affects iPhone users in other countries - would the iPhone have supported tethering earlier, if AT&T could make more money from the increased network activity? What about downloading music over the air? Skype?

With a pay-for-what-you-use pricing scheme, the interests of the user and the carrier are more closely aligned. The ideal would be something like Amazon's S3 pricing: based on usage, metered in small increments, and cheap!

jmatt• 16 years ago

I remember all these same arguments circa 1989-1994 about internet access. You could pay hourly or per data. Needless to say... we all know how that ended up. And we all know how it's going to end up in the near future with telecoms. The same pricing scheme as high speed internet. You'll pay for reliability and minimum performance guarantees. Those that don't care about reliability or performance will have cheaper unlimited access. In the meanwhile they are going to milk the old system for every cent of profit that they can.

Similar behavior was seen when telecoms had to give up on long distance phone charges. And again with text messages. This is just more of the same. And I will tell you why customers won't put up with it - it's very hard for an average person to know how much data they are consuming. They don't want to know either, it's just another thing to worry about.

cwp3• 16 years ago

The "unlimited" access that you have with high-speed internet isn't really unlimited. The limits are just measured differently. Whether it's 2GB/month or 30Mb/s, you're still limited to some amount of data over some amount of time. On top of that many (all?) ISPs will cut you off if you "abuse" you're "unlimited" dataplan.

The point here is that cellular bandwidth is scarce. Apple and Google jump through all sorts of hoops to use less of it, while still providing a good user experience. If consumers don't feel some of the pain of that it leads to real problems. I can tell you that I have much better service here in Canada, with tiered data plans, than AT&T customers do.

As for consumers putting up with it, we'll see. People never had problems understanding how long-distance worked. And charging by the minute seems to be working well for Skype.

Today it's hard to see how much data you've downloaded, but it doesn't have to be that way. I see two causes for this: 1) It's hard to present an itemized bill for data usage the way telecoms have traditionally done for calls. 2) There aren't many tools for monitoring and managing data usage because right now it doesn't matter. Everyone (int the US) has unlimited data plans, so why bother? But these are solvable problems.

Encosia• 16 years ago

On the other hand, what if mobile data is more like "unlimited" web hosting than dial-up or long distance?

bradgessler• 16 years ago

If I notice improvements on reliability and coverage in the SF area for this, its totally worth it. I just want coverage that works, if this solves it, awesome.

dnsworks2• 16 years ago

Reporter asking AT&T's CEO: What is it that you, AT&T, does?

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!

RAPE RAPE RAPE!

RAPE RAPE RUH RUH RAPE RUH RAPE RRrrrrrrrrrRAPE!"

Reporter: "What do you mean?"

AT&T CEO: "RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE STEVE JOBS' BITCH RAPE RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE RAPE".

AT&T is just further proof that the Sherman Anti-Trust Laws have been a joke played against the public ever since Microsoft was given a light tap on their posterior as punishment for their crimes against the nation.

$15/month for 200MB is equivalent to paying $22,500/Mbps.

As a soon to be ex-at&t and iphone user, every single interaction with at&t and apple makes my anus hurt. But at least the call quality is second to none. Wait, is none really the word I mean to use?

awa• 16 years ago

I might be totally wrong, but the date (June 7) and the fact that this is being announced just after a month of iPad launch might mean Apple might have dropped a bomb on AT&T internally (like no more exclusivity) which would be announced in WWDC and AT&T is retaliating.

IPPlanMan2• 16 years ago

File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC is empowered by law to investigate and address deceptive marketing practices such as these by Apple and AT&T.

It’s easy and takes only a few minutes to file a complaint.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Here’s the company info to make filling out the forms easier:

Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 408-996-1010

AT&T 175 East Houston Street Dallas, TX 78205-2255 210-821-4105.

I believe that the key points are: Apple touted and advertised the $29.99 data plan as a major inducement to buy the iPad 3g. Apple described it as a “breakthrough deal” with AT&T, leading consumers to believe that Apple had locked in the terms and price. A key, heavily advertised, feature was the ability to jump between plans or have no 3G plan as dictated by needs and budget. The “grandfathering” announced by AT&T forces customers to either keep an unlimited plan continuously active in order to not lose it. The change in the plans has significant impact on the value of the device and the manner in which it can be used. We want AT&T and Apple to honor the advertised deal, not give us money, a coupon, a refund, free service for a month, etc. (That’s what I want, anyway.)

If you’re one of the people cheering because your bill got cut by $5 per month, don’t bother with replying to this. This is a legal issue related to FTC rules and regulations on false and deceptive advertising, not whether you like the new plans better because you don’t happen to move more than 2GB per month.

IPPlanMan2• 16 years ago

You can also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau

http://www.bbb.org/us/

AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

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