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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

#101

Post by Tamerlin »

pyre wrote: post #57
acqq wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. The truth is, there's simply not enough bandwidth, especially not to stimulate "unlimited" data use and motivating people to become "data hogs." And it's not easy at all to increase the resources. There are real physical and technical limitations for providing more bandwidth which are hard to overcome in many areas. The unlimited data plan was designed for much less devices in the wild.

> The unlimited data plan was designed for much less devices in the wild. The unlimited plan is and always was a marketing ploy to make the plan look like a deal. It's just too bad that AT&T (or at least one of the other major telcos) haven't been brought to task for their deceptive marketing practices.

That's probably because they use their extra revenue to bribe the people whose job it is to take them to task for their deception, rather than investing that money in infrastructure upgrades.

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

#102

Post by Legion »

sethg wrote: post #71
Legion wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. If you're AT&T, when households are looking at their bills for stuff to cut, you don't want them looking at their data plan and saying, "well, I guess I don't use it very much..." You want the gym membership to get the axe.

But most AT&T customers are locked into long-term contracts, so they can’t just up and decide “I’ll cut the data plan”. My startup was recently bought by Nokia, and unsurprisingly, one of the fringe benefits of working for Nokia is getting a free smartphone (GSM 3G) with an unlimited data plan (T-Mobile, thank God). My wife and I looked into cancelling our Verizon family plan and moving to just one line for her, but…

That doesn't significantly change the issue.

Whether one can cut the bill immediately or in X months time, the point is that the last thing AT&T should want is people saying, "why am I paying $X when I hardly use it?"

They should want to have mobile data usage so ingrained in their customers' lives that people wouldn't dream of cutting it when their contracts run up.

AT&T has sold a lot of data plans by making them required for iPhone purchases, and plenty of people wanted the fancy new toy. What happens when smartphones aren't the fancy new toy? How many AT&T iPhone customers, if they had to drop their iPhone and get another phone, would still buy a data plan if it was simply an option rather than a requirement?

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

#103

Post by wooster »

kragen wrote: post #99
URSpider94 wrote: post #89

Hey entrepreneurs: pretend for a moment that AT&T is YOUR company. You have a hit on your hands (the iPhone), but one that has crippled your network in major metro areas like San Francisco and New York. Investing in new cell towers means not just millions in capital expenses, but also years spent arguing with NIMBY neighborhood associations who don't want to see any more of your ugly towers. And, you have a way to re…

What would you do? Announce a US$50 per month femtocell subsidy for anyone who installs an AT&T femtocell in their house in targeted neighborhoods.

The femtocell range is extremely short. It wouldn't do your neighbors any good. (I have one.)

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

#104

Post by CamperBob »

navyrain wrote: post #25

The author really hasn't considered it from AT&T's perspective. On one end, they're hearing complaints about their terrible network, and on the other end, they're facing large costs to improve their infrastructure to support people with unlimited accounts. Aside from the comparatively small increase in subscriptions they'll get for their improvements, they'll see no income for their investment. However, if AT&T were…

On one end, they're hearing complaints about their terrible network, and on the other end, they're facing large costs to improve their infrastructure to support people with unlimited accounts

Of course, there's never any shortage of money in the kitty at AT&T to buy advertising to tell the world how great their network is.

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

#105

Post by phreanix »

steveklabnik wrote: post #82
ergo98 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've never understood the argument that capping data plans will improve the "experience" for the non-heavy users. It isn't a difficult concept. A very small number of people contribute significantly to the network load. Yeah, ideally there's more capacity than anyone can ever use, but back here in reality that would be remarkably expensive to fulfill. It's the same thing with crime, btw: A very, very small percentag…

> It's the same thing with crime, btw: A very, very small percentage of people are responsible for the overwhelming bulk of crime. Is there a study that shows this? Intuitively, it makes sense, but I'm curious. Of course, we must be talking about serious crimes, as pretty much everyone breaks some sort of law almost every day.

Slippery slope. What profiles do you break it down to? Race? Age? Education?

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

#106

Post by pacemkr »

sounddust wrote: post #97
elblanco wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offered tiered pricing. $5/mo for 100MB, $10/mo for 250MB, $20/mo for 1GB, $30/mo for unlimited.

That's what they're doing, although not with the exact tiers you mentioned. As for the $30/mo unlimited, I believe part of the reason why AT&T removed the unlimited option in the first place is because a disproportional amount of bandwidth is spent by people who jailbroke their iPhone and use 100+GB/month using it as a 3G modem.

As if anyone can actually get a good enough signal to pull 100GB off the AT&T network. You have to be masochistic to use a AT&T 3G exclusively.

Also, you don't need to jailbreak to tether. I forget the details, but basically you go to a web address and install a new carrier profile and thats it.

If AT&T want to be the big boys on the block they have to invest in their network, end of story. The reason they got rid of the unlimited option is because they want to make all the money and not do a thing to improve their network.

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

#107

Post by URSpider94 »

orangecat wrote: post #98
URSpider94 wrote: post #89

Hey entrepreneurs: pretend for a moment that AT&T is YOUR company. You have a hit on your hands (the iPhone), but one that has crippled your network in major metro areas like San Francisco and New York. Investing in new cell towers means not just millions in capital expenses, but also years spent arguing with NIMBY neighborhood associations who don't want to see any more of your ugly towers. And, you have a way to re…

As to those who are wondering why they have to pay extra for tethering, are you really surprised that a company would charge more for a service that you value, which will result in heavier usage of their resources? If it results in heavier use, they should just charge for the use directly, not micromanage how I use the service. In the freemium scenario, it would be like charging extra to be able to access the website…

"If it results in heavier use, they should just charge for the use directly, not micromanage how I use the service."

When you sign up for a 2GB per month plan with AT&T, they are counting on the fact that you won't actually use that 2GB, because for most users, it's just too hard to suck down that much data through your smartphone (especially if, like me, you're roaming onto a WiFi network at home and the office). When you use tethering, you're pretty much guaranteed to use more of that 2GB.

When you go to an "all-you-can-eat" restaurant, you do know that they don't actually expect you to eat until you get sick, right? If every customer did that, they'd probably have to raise their prices.

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

#108

Post by jonny_noog »

URSpider94 wrote: post #107
orangecat wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As to those who are wondering why they have to pay extra for tethering, are you really surprised that a company would charge more for a service that you value, which will result in heavier usage of their resources? If it results in heavier use, they should just charge for the use directly, not micromanage how I use the service. In the freemium scenario, it would be like charging extra to be able to access the website…

"If it results in heavier use, they should just charge for the use directly, not micromanage how I use the service." When you sign up for a 2GB per month plan with AT&T, they are counting on the fact that you won't actually use that 2GB, because for most users, it's just too hard to suck down that much data through your smartphone (especially if, like me, you're roaming onto a WiFi network at home and the office). Wh…

When you sign up for a 2GB per month plan with AT&T, they are counting on the fact that you won't actually use that 2GB

Maybe people just don't like being lied to?

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

#109

Post by all_elements »

tensafefrogs wrote: post #26
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #22

I am a data pig. I average between 1.5 and 2 gigabytes a month over the last 6 months. AT&T hates me, apparently, though they are happy to take my money. I'm not sure how that helps the point the author is trying to make, as he/she will actually be paying less now than they were before, even as a self-proclaimed "data hog". A few more random points that I thought were misguided: 1. Not everyone should be attached to…

I think you are missing the key point: Apple wants people to use their fancy devices more , not less. You spend this money on this awesome device that does awesome things, Apple makes money when you use it (via iAds, via google searches, via many things) and AT&T is saying to their customers "don't use your device too much!" I'm betting Steve is totally pissed off at AT&T right now.

Exactly.

A lot of startup activity is centered around the internet. Limiting internet usage that will mean that people won't be able to use our web services just because their monthly bandwidth quota is up. This is a barrier to the web-centric view that Google/Facebook/Twitter/etc have been propounding. This is not a step in the right direction.

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

#110

Post by delackner »

bluedanieru wrote: post #27
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…

With Docomo the amount of data you need to consume to hit that max is quite low, however. Less than 100MB. I assume it's the same for Softbank. The pricing is geared toward customers that use the network for email and browsing shitty iMode sites like Mixi on a tiny screen. Docomo and Google have done very little to promote Android here, by the way. In one year I've seen one device other than my own, and it was the sa…

Yikes, I looked up the specific values involved for softbank (as they are the exclusive iPhone carrier) and the $10 usage is roughly 1.5 mb. The max-ed out usage is.... 8.5mb.

The current values in the scale are clearly a bit antiquated, but the concept seems like a good one.

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