81–90 of 108 posts
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.
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 wo…
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.
What was the thing you were trying to link to? Tinyurl has no idea what it is supposed to be (at least for me).
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.
Ah the free market at it's best. Allowing consumers to unwittingly screw themselves over and over. Steve Jobs approved.
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.
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!
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 wo…
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 wo…
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.
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I'm not suggesting that the iPad isn't an unlocked device. Just pointing out that there is "effective" lock-in in terms of high speed data service.
T-Mobile and AT&T 3G services require different antennae (and possibly chips). You can use the same device to access their GSM networks and get onto Edge, but when it comes to 3G a device either supports one or the other. To my knowledge there are no phones (or devices) on the market that support both AT&T and T-Mobile in the same device.
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 t…
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.
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.
Is this true? Nobody is offering any statistics. What is your current usage? What would drive you over 2Gb?
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.