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

mashable.com

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

#21

Post by starkfist »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #18
jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #9

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?

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.

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

#22

Post by rmc »

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.

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

#23

Post by buster »

jrwoodruff wrote: post #2

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?

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..

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

#24

Post by uptown »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #18
jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #9

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?

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.

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

#27

Post by jsz0 »

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.

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

#29

Post by bretpiatt »

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.

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

#30

Post by jeremymcanally »

bretpiatt wrote: post #29

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…

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.

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