

AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan - jrwoodruff
http://mashable.com/2010/06/02/att-kills-ipad-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

======
gte910h
The sign up any time you want unlimited plan is why I waited a month for the
3G to be available and why I paid a 130 dollar premium... This is completely
untenable for apple to allow this to happen not even six months later. As a
matter of fact, the announcement is VERY suspiciously timed exactly 1 month
and 1day after the sale of the 3G ipads, making them unreturnable!!!

~~~
jodrellblank
_Existing iPad customers, who already have the $29.99 unlimited monthly plan
can choose to keep it_

~~~
mtinkerhess
Right, but one of the very appealing things about the iPad data plan is that
you can start or stop service whenever you like. But now, if you stop your
unlimited plan (or hadn't started it yet) the unlimited option ceases to be
available to you.

~~~
gte910h
Here is my FTC complaint. You too can file one!

[https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=e...](https://www.FTCComplaintAssistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en)

Apple computer advertised 2 different models of the iPad: one at $500 with
wifi only Internet capability, and one with wifi and 3G coverage for $14.95
for 250 MB of data per month, or $30 a month for unlimited data (provided by
AT&T)

This 3G was a no contract plan, requiring no longterm committment from
consumers and was a Major buying factor for a large number of buyers, myself
included. The fact one could upgrade to a reasonably priced unlimited plan at
any time for a single month enticed us to purchase the more expensive unit.

Now AT&T, 32 days after the huge initial rush of iPad with 3G models were
sold, and 1-5 days after they became ineligible for returns to Apple, AT&T
announces effective June 7, 2010, they are completely changing the two iPad
data plans to:

200 mb a month for $15 with $10 for every 200 MB thereafter Or 2 GB a month
for $25 with $10 for every GB after

I view this rate hike and significant change to the costs of ownership of the
iPad 3G to be a material change to the functionality of the device. While AT&T
is offering to grandfather subscribers to the unlimited data plan , I
purchased a device I was supposed to only have to pay for 3G coverage in the
months I needed it. As it is, I will have to either give up the unlimited
plan, or pay $360 a year to maintain it or lose it forever, effectively
placing me under contract

Either Apple Computer should be forced to refund the difference or portion
thereof of the iPad vs iPad 3G difference, or AT&T should be forced to offer
continued a la cart per month unlimited plans for all people who purchased the
iPad 3G before their announced price change, for at least 365 days from the
American release of the device April 30, 2010, Or apple computer should be
forced to accept returns of all iPad 3G models purchased before the AT&t plan
change announcement for an additional 90 days with no restocking fee and no
requirement the consumer also returns the box.

No cellular provider in the US is an alternative to AT&T coverage in the US
market.

~~~
illumin8
Good letter. I have a feeling the class action attorneys are going to have a
field day with this one.

~~~
dnsworks
My understanding is few companies have as many class action lawsuits against
it as Apple. Perhaps Microsoft is the only one who has more. An old customer
of mine is a lawyer specializing in class-action lawsuits, last time I talked
to him about it he had filed suit against Apple seven times.

------
yanowitz
I'd love to be a fly on the wall for the screaming matches between AT&T and
Apple. This must be a prelude to AT&T losing exclusivity on the iPhone and
punishing Apple for it. With all the data intensive iPad apps (e.g., Netflix)
and the video conferencing coming in the next OS, this is a brutal move by
AT&T. Factor in the dynamics of Android competition and we are in for some
interesting telco moves in the coming months. Short term though, this is gonna
suck for the consumer.

[edited to fix iPhone-induced ironic typo]

~~~
ajg1977
If this is a prelude to AT&T losing their exclusivity then it's an odd move -
the standard "unlimited data" cap on Verizon is 5GB. I'm not sure why AT&T
would charge more for less compared to a competitor who was about to offer an
alternative for their customers.

I wonder when we'll see the famed Jobs reality distortion field try and sell
us on 2GB being enough data for anyone.

This also exposes the ridiculousness of mobile data pricing - the excess
charges are $10 per extra 1GB, but the base plan is $15 for 250MB? Hmm.

~~~
fuzzythinker
My feeling is ATT plans to offer ~5GB at ~$35 later. They probably don't want
to announce it now since it will immediately be visible that they are charging
more for less data. I foresee a rush of ipad 3G purchases from now to June7.

~~~
jonah
Elsewhere it was noted that iPad orders are now being placed on hold until the
7th... :(

------
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.

~~~
jonknee
True, but if you're at work it can just go over WiFi (or just use Pandora on
your computer). I think it's a bum deal because the terms changed just a month
in, but as an iPad owner I'd have to try hard to use 2GB per month outside the
range of WiFi.

~~~
jrwoodruff
Not where I work. We have approved devices and insanely secure wi-fi that,
even when you are connected, has surf-block implemented. Which is why I bought
an iPad with an unlimited plan.

------
tjmaxal
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.

~~~
josefresco
Ah the free market at it's best. Allowing consumers to unwittingly screw
themselves over and over. Steve Jobs approved.

~~~
evo_9
I'm sure Jobs was as against this change as the rest of us - do you really
think this is something Jobs would willing do and 'approve'. Seriously?

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.

------
jrwoodruff
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?

~~~
buster
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..

~~~
stanleydrew
If things get bad enough, can't Apple buy out the rest of the contract ahead
of time?

~~~
gte910h
They can ignore it and pay damages if there is no cancellation clause. It is
highly unlikely a court would enjoin them from doing some as pro consumer as
opening their platform to another US provider.

~~~
buster
It doesn't make sense to work out such a contract without a cancellation
clause. They could as well just make a verbal promise without signing
something. Penalties are usually very, very high if one side doesn't fulfill
its part of the contract. By high i mean high enough so that Steve still
sticks to AT&T ;)

------
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.

~~~
bshep
iPad is NOT carrier locked

~~~
stanleydrew
You can't get 3G speed on T-mobile with an iPad though can you?

~~~
bshep
Not sure, but carrier lock means that you cannot use a SIM that is not from
the carrier that it is locked to ( like the iPhone ).

Carrier unlocked does not mean that it will work well with other US carriers,
just that i can work with any SIM.

Point is you can take it anywhere in the world there is 3G coverage (at the
right frequencies) stick a SIM in it and it will work. Not so with the iPhone
(unless you bought an unlocked one, which is not possible in the US).

~~~
stanleydrew
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.

~~~
pyre
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.

~~~
stanleydrew
Correct. That's why it's "effective" lock-in. I can't see any technical reason
not to support all 3G frequencies, but until these kinds of devices do we'll
have this effective lock-in problem.

~~~
pyre
For smaller devices (i.e. phones), the issue may just be space, since you may
need to include yet another antenna, as well as possibly another chip needing
to be included.

------
cwp
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 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!

~~~
jmatt
I remember all these same arguments circa 1989-1994 about internet access. You
could pay hourly or per data. Needless to say... we all know how that ended
up. And we all know how it's going to end up in the near future with telecoms.
The same pricing scheme as high speed internet. You'll pay for reliability and
minimum performance guarantees. Those that don't care about reliability or
performance will have cheaper unlimited access. In the meanwhile they are
going to milk the old system for every cent of profit that they can.

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.

~~~
cwp
The "unlimited" access that you have with high-speed internet isn't really
unlimited. The limits are just measured differently. Whether it's 2GB/month or
30Mb/s, you're still limited to some amount of data over some amount of time.
On top of that many (all?) ISPs will cut you off if you "abuse" you're
"unlimited" dataplan.

The point here is that cellular bandwidth is scarce. Apple and Google jump
through all sorts of hoops to use less of it, while still providing a good
user experience. If consumers don't feel some of the pain of that it leads to
real problems. I can tell you that I have much better service here in Canada,
with tiered data plans, than AT&T customers do.

As for consumers putting up with it, we'll see. People never had problems
understanding how long-distance worked. And charging by the minute seems to be
working well for Skype.

Today it's hard to see how much data you've downloaded, but it doesn't have to
be that way. I see two causes for this: 1) It's hard to present an itemized
bill for data usage the way telecoms have traditionally done for calls. 2)
There aren't many tools for monitoring and managing data usage because right
now it doesn't matter. Everyone (int the US) has unlimited data plans, so why
bother? But these are solvable problems.

~~~
ben1040
_As for consumers putting up with it, we'll see. People never had problems
understanding how long-distance worked. And charging by the minute seems to be
working well for Skype._

That's because a minute of usage for both Skype or long distance calling is
easily quantifiable. If I talk on the phone for 10 minutes at a long distance
rate of 10 cents a minute, easy, that's a buck.

Heck, it was easy 10 years ago when we had WAP phones that used circuit
switched data, because a minute of browsing the web meant a minute of airtime.

But how do you tell an unsophisticated user that given the bit rate and
duration of a video on Youtube or song on Pandora, he'll use X amount of data?
What is the best way to explain how many web pages or Google maps driving
directions they can access before he bumps into the limit? How much data is
behind a Foursquare checkin?

Edit: ATT puts per-session data usage on detailed bills (meaning my data bill
would be 30 pages long if printed), but its altogether useless at trying to
match back to what you were doing when you generated those data usage records.

~~~
cwp
You've just restated my points 1) and 2). But it's not as much a problem as
you think. Long distance charges usually aren't predictable in advance: you
know you're being billed by the minute, but you don't know how long the
conversation will be, and you probably don't know the per-minute rate. What's
the rate when calling an Irish cell phone? Or a landline in Guayaquil,
Ecuador? You can probably look it up, but it's not simple.

On the flip side, even as a "sophisticated" user, I can't tell how much
bandwidth a given video will use, or how long I can afford to stream Pandora
to my phone. But it doesn't mater. My carrier provides an app that I can use
to check my usage, and I can see how much I've used as a percentage of my
limit. It's easy to get a sense of "been watching a lot of video lately, gotta
ease up on that," or, "oops, downloading that ISO over tethering wasn't a good
idea." It's not long before you have an intuitive sense of what things cost,
in terms of bandwidth. I find I don't have to pay much attention unless I use
tethering, but my data plan has 6GB cap.

------
empire29
wow - talk about a bait and switch. if i was on the road and used my ipad
anything like i do at home on my wifi, i would burn through 2GB/month more
often than not.

if apple ever starts supporting streaming media via the ipod app to the ipad,
this would seriously cripple it.

------
furtivefelon
Well apple website still advertises unlimited plan:
<http://www.apple.com/ipad/3g/>

~~~
josefresco
So if I bought an iPad a few days ago am I grandfathered? Or does it need to
be delivered and activated before I'm a 'customer'?

I feel like I was bamboozled. I bought something for a certain price, and by
the time it arrives the terms have changed and suddenly I'm getting a lot less
data for slightly less money.

~~~
ben1040
>Or does it need to be delivered and activated before I'm a 'customer'?

This: you'd need to have the iPad in hand and activated with AT&T, and should
you ever cancel it there's no going back.

------
mcav
Also mentioned:

\- iPhone tethering will cost $20/month. And it only works if you have the
2GB/month DataPro plan already.

\- This is set to take effect on the same day as Jobs's WWDC keynote, June
7th.

------
jasonlbaptiste
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.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Is this true? Nobody is offering any statistics. What is your current usage?
What would drive you over 2Gb?

~~~
uptown
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.

------
jonknee
Seems amazing Apple didn't have the current price tier as a guarantee for at
least some period of time. They based a lot of the push for the 3G model in
the US around the 3G pricing.

------
mgkimsal
I seem to remember some pundit stating they believed the reason AT&T agreed to
the initial pricing in the first place was that they didn't think many people
would be using 3G on the ipad, preferring wifi instead.

Can anyone find that quote or story? I'm drawing a blank, but it _seemed_ to
be one of the stupidest things I'd read in a while at that point.

My guess is that people have been using _so much_ 3G data that AT&T realizes
they'll be in a horrible situation as the iPad adoption grows - could be 4-5
million 3G devices with _long_ battery life basically in an 'always on' state,
using up far more bandwidth than anyone predicted.

That said, I just can _not_ figure out why people can't seem to predict this.
Most active users (the early adopters) can easily use 5-10 gig on a ipad as
part of their 'always on' lifestyle. This isn't rocket science.

------
IPPlanMan
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC is empowered
by law to investigate and address deceptive marketing practices such as these
by Apple and AT&T.

It’s easy and takes only a few minutes to file a complaint.

<https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/>

Here’s the company info to make filling out the forms easier:

Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 408-996-1010

AT&T 175 East Houston Street Dallas, TX 78205-2255 210-821-4105.

I believe that the key points are: Apple touted and advertised the $29.99 data
plan as a major inducement to buy the iPad 3g. Apple described it as a
“breakthrough deal” with AT&T, leading consumers to believe that Apple had
locked in the terms and price. A key, heavily advertised, feature was the
ability to jump between plans or have no 3G plan as dictated by needs and
budget. The “grandfathering” announced by AT&T forces customers to either keep
an unlimited plan continuously active in order to not lose it. The change in
the plans has significant impact on the value of the device and the manner in
which it can be used. We want AT&T and Apple to honor the advertised deal, not
give us money, a coupon, a refund, free service for a month, etc. (That’s what
I want, anyway.)

If you’re one of the people cheering because your bill got cut by $5 per
month, don’t bother with replying to this. This is a legal issue related to
FTC rules and regulations on false and deceptive advertising, not whether you
like the new plans better because you don’t happen to move more than 2GB per
month.

~~~
IPPlanMan
You can also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau

<http://www.bbb.org/us/>

------
andrewljohnson
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.

------
stcredzero
I was going to sell my WiFi iPad and switch to the 3G, but now I'm going to
stay put. I have a mobile hotspot with a true unlimited plan from Millenicom,
which I use for all devices. I would have liked the GPS and the 3G, but AT&T
just lost a customer. (It's also not attractive to get one for my Dad either,
for his month-long stints in Florida.)

------
rogupta
As of right now, if you're an existing iPad user, you can still sign up for
the unlimited plan (I just tried it).

~~~
watmough
Ahhh crap, my iPad isn't scheduled for delivery until June 15th.

Damn you accursed AT&T.

------
Carcarius
I think the 2GB isn't so bad if they charged half the original price instead
of only $4 less. If it cost $15 for 2GB/month this may not be as big a deal.

This does look to me like bait and switch. People should not stand for this
and show their displeasure by keeping their money in their pockets.

------
awa
I might be totally wrong, but the date (June 7) and the fact that this is
being announced just after a month of iPad launch might mean Apple might have
dropped a bomb on AT&T internally (like no more exclusivity) which would be
announced in WWDC and AT&T is retaliating.

------
zephjc
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.

~~~
bbatsell
June 7th, as clearly stated in the initial press release. Also just so happens
to be the first day of WWDC.

------
melling
I bought the 3G iPad but I only plan on buying an AT&T plan when I know that
I'm going to be somewhere without wifi for an extended period of time. I keep
"marking the spot" on my iPhone. Yet my service seems to be getting worse.

------
bradgessler
If I notice improvements on reliability and coverage in the SF area for this,
its totally worth it. I just want coverage that works, if this solves it,
awesome.

------
elblanco
aaaaaand that's why I'm moving my plan to Verizon this week.

------
S_A_P
sigh- I suppose I really may have to dump my iPhone. Tethering was a promised
feature in the 3gs.

------
gregcmartin
This is garbage, I am so mad at AT&T... Why do the consumers always lose

------
korch
Wow! AT&T has to be one of the dumbest fucking corporations in the world.

I'm sure Steve is thrilled that AT&T just took a crap on his lap by
significantly changing the way the average person can use their iPad. It's
even better that they sneak this in 1 month after the iPad launch, after Steve
has fully demoed the iPad to the public, showing the most common uses as
bandwidth intensive. It's almost like AT&T wants to lose Apple, and finally
resorted to personally embarrassing Steve. (Golden Rule: You can never undo
what you have demoed.) If this doesn't break the deal between Apple and AT&T,
then nothing will!

------
dnsworks
Reporter asking AT&T's CEO: What is it that you, AT&T, does?

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!

RAPE RAPE RAPE!

RAPE RAPE RUH RUH RAPE RUH RAPE RRrrrrrrrrrRAPE!"

Reporter: "What do you mean?"

AT&T CEO: "RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE STEVE JOBS' BITCH RAPE
RAPE RAPE PROFIT RAPE RAPE".

AT&T is just further proof that the Sherman Anti-Trust Laws have been a joke
played against the public ever since Microsoft was given a light tap on their
posterior as punishment for their crimes against the nation.

$15/month for 200MB is equivalent to paying $22,500/Mbps.

As a soon to be ex-at&t and iphone user, every single interaction with at&t
and apple makes my anus hurt. But at least the call quality is second to none.
Wait, is none really the word I mean to use?

------
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.

~~~
jonhohle
Then perhaps they shouldn't have used that word.

~~~
nocman
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LpHBnvsI> )

Seriously, though, this has irritated me since the days where dialup internet
access was all a normal person could get. All these plans were "unlimited",
but in the TOS they made it clear that if you tried to use the service too
much, or tried to stay connected too long, you're account would be suspended
or closed.

Something is either unlimited or it isn't. If there's a cap it _isn't_
unlimited. I guess I might cut them some slack if they described it as
"effectively unlimited" (meaning that there was more bandwidth than an
everyday person could expect to use). Of course, on many services that have
been labeled "unlimited", even that would be arguable.

Of course, I don't expect most people in advertising to be honest about
anything (goods/services are usually described as a hundred times better than
they could possibly be), but that doesn't mean I'm not still annoyed by it.

------
00joe
Whats the big deal, its not like you have flash on these things anyway. The
only decent site you can get content from is Itunes. 2G of Itunes product is a
lot of $. A little extra for the bandwidth is no big deal.

~~~
ben1040
The big deal is the CEO of Apple stood on a stage and talked about the crazy
new price structure they negotiated with ATT. Sign up whenever you wanted,
cancel whenever you wanted.

Because of the way it was announced, a lot of people bought the 3G model just
as a hedge that when they _might_ need data they were covered. For example
when on vacation they could switch on the $30 unlimited data plan just for the
duration of their trip, because that would be cheaper than buying wifi in
airports and hotels.

Now this is is not possible and Apple and ATT are going to have some
explaining to do.

~~~
jonhohle
I just bought an iPad 3G last night for my in-laws for this exact purpose.
They frequently spend time in their cabin which does not have an active
internet connection. $15->$30 for the occasion when they needed the internet
seemed like a fantastic solution for them.

I never imagined the pricing would change so drastically merely a month after
the iPad 3G began shipping. At least in the US, you can't even order the 3G
version and hope to have it in time to get the deal advertised on Apple's site
anymore (estimated delivery is 7 to 10 days).

If nothing else this seems like a huge breach of trust between Apple and their
customers, even if it is AT&T's fault.

~~~
pyre
> _If nothing else this seems like a huge breach of trust between Apple and
> their customers, even if it is AT &T's fault._

Exactly. Apple should have had some sort of contract with AT&T to maintain
their pricing for at least a reasonable period of time (e.g. 1yr) rather than
changing the pricing structure immediately after launch.

