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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

#21

Post by neilc »

heresy wrote: post #4

Pray that this mindset does not infect your ISPs and tempt them to introduce traffic caps. Having your users be paranoid that they're going to go over their cap and get absolutely reamed for overage charges is not exactly how you build an advanced, high-bandwidth content delivery system. Even less are going to be "data pigs" that use a trivial 1.5GB after such a change, high prices guarantee that. Silly buggers.

Pray that this mindset does not infect your ISPs and tempt them to introduce traffic caps.

I don't think this would be such a bad thing -- just as you pay on a per-unit basis for the water and energy you use, paying per unit of bandwidth consumed seems entirely reasonable. In an unlimited plan, typical users effectively subsidize a small minority of heavy users.

Of course, the real problem is the outrageous charges for when the bandwidth cap is exceeded, as well as the lack of proper notification for when you run over your limit.

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

#22

Post by ryanwaggoner »

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 their phone like many of us are. Perhaps Apple and AT&T have done some market research and concluded that some people just aren't going to pay more than $15 / month for data, because they just wouldn't use it much. Better to offer those people a path to becoming customers than mindlessly trying to turn them into consumers of a service they don't want or need (expensive unlimited bandwidth).

2. It will apparently be possible to retroactively upgrade from the 250 MB plan to the 2 GB plan if you're going to be over, so the fears of forgetting that you left Pandora running and paying hundreds seem to be a bit unfounded.

3. The part where the author rants about how the entire wireless infrastructure should be overhauled so he/she can avoid paying for metered bandwidth really goes off the deep end. Like this gem:

And yes I know the wireless protocols are not super-amenable to this sort of thing, the way a wired router or switch might be, but that is again just your poor engineering. Fix it already.

What?

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

#23

Post by chc »

martey wrote: post #14

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…

Your suggestion that people need to curb their 3G usage to help AT&T's poor towers is precisely the logic they're employing. It isn't valid, though. The capacity of AT&T's network is not a finite resource. They can make more. In fact, the government gave them money to improve their network, but they just pocketed it and opted to create artificial scarcity instead.

In other words, AT&T's towers are overwhelmed because AT&T didn't build enough capacity. That's not my fault and I shouldn't be paying for it.

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

#24

Post by TeHCrAzY »

heresy wrote: post #4

Pray that this mindset does not infect your ISPs and tempt them to introduce traffic caps. Having your users be paranoid that they're going to go over their cap and get absolutely reamed for overage charges is not exactly how you build an advanced, high-bandwidth content delivery system. Even less are going to be "data pigs" that use a trivial 1.5GB after such a change, high prices guarantee that. Silly buggers.

It doesn't have to work that way. Internode, an ISP in Australia (for consumer connections) will monitor your usage, send you notices on how close to the cap you are, and then shape you back to slightly faster than dial-up speeds. YOu then have the option of checking your email (slowly) and maybe chatting, or purchasing a datablock and becoming unshaped within the hour. (I semi-regularly purchase blocks during months of high usage when getting close to 90% of the cap to avoid slowness). It's fair, and everyone pays for what they use.

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

#25

Post by navyrain »

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 to force out the unlimited data pricing model and replace it with per GB pricing, they'll be able to fund the scaling their infrastructure up as the usage increases. Similar preferences for per-GB models have been voiced by other telcos as well, claiming "unlimited data is dead" (I don't know where I read this). Frankly, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some collusion amongst the big telcos regarding this.

I'm not saying I'm happy about this, but I think the scenario I describe is much closer to reality.

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

#26

Post by tensafefrogs »

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.

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

#27

Post by bluedanieru »

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 same model (the HTC Magic, one of the few models you can get).

Great network here for voice and especially data, but it mostly goes to waste.

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

#28

Post by bradgessler »

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…

I'd really appreciate it if AT&T would just come out and say this, but they're not. Unfortunately I fear they'll put this pricing into effect and still offer the same shitty service.

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

#29

Post by chc »

neilc wrote: post #21
heresy wrote: post #4

Pray that this mindset does not infect your ISPs and tempt them to introduce traffic caps. Having your users be paranoid that they're going to go over their cap and get absolutely reamed for overage charges is not exactly how you build an advanced, high-bandwidth content delivery system. Even less are going to be "data pigs" that use a trivial 1.5GB after such a change, high prices guarantee that. Silly buggers.

Pray that this mindset does not infect your ISPs and tempt them to introduce traffic caps. I don't think this would be such a bad thing -- just as you pay on a per-unit basis for the water and energy you use, paying per unit of bandwidth consumed seems entirely reasonable. In an unlimited plan, typical users effectively subsidize a small minority of heavy users. Of course, the real problem is the outrageous charges f…

Metered usage would be fine as long as the price weren't usurious. $5/GB with tethering? Sure, meter my usage. But AT&T is charging $20 for literally nothing all — they don't provide anything extra for the tethering option — and that's on top of already high prices ($1/15MB with DataPlus). Metering should not be an excuse for gouging.

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

#30

Post by josh33 »

chc wrote: post #23
martey wrote: post #14

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…

Your suggestion that people need to curb their 3G usage to help AT&T's poor towers is precisely the logic they're employing. It isn't valid, though. The capacity of AT&T's network is not a finite resource. They can make more. In fact, the government gave them money to improve their network, but they just pocketed it and opted to create artificial scarcity instead. In other words, AT&T's towers are overwhelmed because…

Please link to something about how AT&T got money from the government.
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