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AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

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Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#11

Post by Timothee »

Some specific points of the new pricing are really outrageous honestly. The fact that they do tiered-pricing is, while annoying, kind of their prerogative. It actually sounds like it could save me a few bucks.

However, paying $20 (!) to have access to tethering without extra bandwidth, is complete non-sense. I just can't find a reasonable explanation for this. As well as the price for extra data for DataPlus plan: $15 gives you 200MB, whereas $10 gives you 1GB if you are on the DataPro from the start. I also assume they won't have roll-over data: if you use less, you lose, if you use more, you lose.

Finally, having data caps impedes on the benefit from getting multi-tasking. Besides a faster switch between apps, the point is to have apps stay connected while you're doing something else. (think Pandora) If you start thinking about your data usage, you'll have to think about what's actually running. Exactly what Apple didn't want you to do.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#12

Post by delackner »

The japanese market pricing provides a sensible alternative: Scaled pricing with a reasonable limit.

You pay a minimum monthly price up to a certain cap, and any usage over that cap scales your total bill linearly up to a maximum total bill, beyond which your usage is effectively unlimited. The minimum is about $15 and the maximum is about $50. Not exactly going to break the bank, and totally reasonable.

Metered usage is not evil, people just need reasonable assurances that their bill has a safe ceiling.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#13

Post by snprbob86 »

gte910h wrote: post #6

I wonder if apple could use this to get out of the exclusive deal without penalties?

I'd be almost certain that this was discussed when renewing their exclusivity deal.

However, your phrasing implies that you think Apple is "stuck" and getting shafted by AT&T. Really, it is quite the opposite. Apple surely looooves the exclusivity deal because they can leverage it over AT&T to collect globs while AT&T eats the cost over the life of the subscription. The exclusivity deal is one of the key reasons that Apple is able to offer such fantastic hardware at their current price point.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#14

Post by martey »

In the short term, I am not sure that this is that big of a deal. My data use would be 3 to 4 times higher than it is now (and thus approaching the author's) were it not for the fact that most of the time I am using my phone on a day-to-day basis, it is in areas with wifi (since I live in Cambridge MA, it is conceivably possible that I have wifi coverage 90-100% of the time; to save battery, my radio is off unless I think I explicitly need it). I do not think that AT&T and Apple are trying to cause people to use their phones less, but rather to improve the cellular networks by causing people to use wifi - be it at home, work, or Starbucks - as opposed to AT&T's overwhelmed towers. I think there is plenty of evidence to support this, from the fact that the $15 200 MB plan explicitly allows you to temporarily switch to the $25 2 GB plan during months when you would experience overages, to the technical limitation of Apple's video calling only working over wifi.

Since I cannot tell the future, I have no idea if this will have a chilling effect on data-intensive apps or workflows yet to be developed or envisioned. If AT&T increases the amount of data included in its plans at some point in the near future (which would be reasonable, although possibly less profitable), this would be a moot point.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#15

Post by makecheck »

There is usage-based billing for utilities, so it is theoretically possible to do this fairly with other things. However, it requires the corresponding regulations: for gas and electricity, you have meters; you also have labeling requirements on the products you buy, so that you can tell what they're going to be using.

Apps don't have meters, and they don't have any mandate to tell you that they're hogs. Therefore, tiered bandwidth billing is unfair: it is simply not possible for a customer to know when they're buying something that will cost them dearly in terms of bandwidth usage, nor is it feasible to isolate which of 100 apps on their phone is responsible for their overage billing in a given month.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#17

Post by surlyadopter »

snprbob86 wrote: post #13
gte910h wrote: post #6

I wonder if apple could use this to get out of the exclusive deal without penalties?

I'd be almost certain that this was discussed when renewing their exclusivity deal. However, your phrasing implies that you think Apple is "stuck" and getting shafted by AT&T. Really, it is quite the opposite. Apple surely looooves the exclusivity deal because they can leverage it over AT&T to collect globs while AT&T eats the cost over the life of the subscription. The exclusivity deal is one of the key reasons that…

Yeah, apple is making out like a bandit while AT&T ponies up the cash and takes a reputation hit every 2 months.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#19

Post by detst »

delackner wrote: post #12

The japanese market pricing provides a sensible alternative: Scaled pricing with a reasonable limit. You pay a minimum monthly price up to a certain cap, and any usage over that cap scales your total bill linearly up to a maximum total bill, beyond which your usage is effectively unlimited. The minimum is about $15 and the maximum is about $50. Not exactly going to break the bank, and totally reasonable. Metered usag…

I'd be happy with that pricing if it didn't restrict tethering.

Verizon requires a $60 plan for tethering, even if you use very little and restricts it to 5GB (pay twice as much for less bandwidth). This scaled pricing would allow you to tether and pay little if you use little. Obviously, there are ways around this, if that's your thing.

Re: AT&T Learns Exactly the Wrong Lesson About Data Usage

#20

Post by batiudrami »

Here's the thing: tiered data usage makes sense. Otherwise people who hardly use much data are supporting the people who use a lot, and are paying more than they should.

This is like charging a flat price for petrol, say $50 a week, and expecting people who only drive occasionally to the shops to pay the same amount in fuel as people who make regular interstate trips.

For the 98% of people, their iPhone service just got cheaper, and for 65%, a reduction by half in their data bill.

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