

AT&T To Curb Smartphone Data Use - dschobel
http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222001355&subSection=News

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bradgessler
Changing their ridiculous per-month pricing on femtocells would be a great
start:

    
    
      • $20 For customers who only have AT&T Wireless
    
      • $10 For customers who have AT&T Wireless and either AT&T Internet or a landline.
    
      • Nothing if you've got AT&T Wireless, AT&T Internet, and a landline.
    
      From http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Femtocell-Website-Comes-Online-104559
    

Why would I have to pay for your bandwidth again if only Comcast is available
in my area?

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fnid
The information super highway is every bit as important to the future of our
nation as vehicle highways were in the 1950's.

For the most part, you don't have to pay to drive on Interstates. There are
exceptions in and around some major cities like Chicago, but imagine where we
would be today if it cost money to drive on every road.

We couldn't leave a project like the highway system in the hands of a private
corporation. Imagine what we could build with investment from an organization
with a vision of decades rather than months.

~~~
dantheman
>>We couldn't leave a project like the highway system in the hands of a
private corporation.

I have to completely disagree with you, I believe you take too much on faith.
We don't know what would've happened, but it's very possible that a better
alternative could exist.

1\. How much richer would everyone be if they were able to keep there tax
dollars. 2\. Without subsidizing cars, perhaps trains would still be a viable
option. 3\. Traffic may not be as much of a problem; maximum speeds would not
be so ridiculously low. 4\. We might see less urban sprawl.

~~~
chrischen
Imagine if we had multiple companies building separate highways alongside each
other, competing for traffic.

~~~
locopati
We don't have to imagine too hard - see NYC and the building the of the subway
system. Three companies (IRT, BRT, IND) building lines somewhat independently,
leaving some areas covered by multiple lines and some areas underserved.

~~~
chrischen
New York has multiple subway lines? What a waste. Sorry, I've never been to
New York City.

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jsm386
_De la Vega said that 3% of smartphone users are using 40% of data traffic._

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dschobel
It's akin to the argument Comcast trotted out when they claimed a similar
disparity where a few (bittorrenting) users were consuming most of the
bandwidth.

I guess AT&T can always start traffic shaping, but I'm wondering what exactly
those 3% of people are doing since there's no real need to download massive
files to the iphone and there's only so much streaming media you can watch /
websites you want to refresh.

~~~
kqr2
Keep in mind that some people use their iphone as a wireless tether for their
computer.

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skalpelis
So "AT&T To Curb AT&T Use" then?

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stcredzero
Not really news. The biggest concern for me to go from Verizon to the iPhone
was AT&T. And I was _right_.

AT&T is its own worst enemy. I think Droid is as much psychological pressure
as anything else. If Verizon plays it crafty, they can just watch while AT&T
self destructs.

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jsz0
AT&T's cellular data plans are already capped at 5GB. Are they actually
purposing to punish users who consume less than 5GB/month? Personally I have
no problems with reasonable caps but I have a _major_ problem with a
previously established cap being lowered mid-contract. I can't see how it's
even legally possible for AT&T to do this. It's straight out fraud, breach of
contract, bait & switch advertising.

If they absolutely need to change the terms they will probably have to offer
all currently contracted AT&T cellular data customers a penalty free contract
opt out or at least grandfather in anyone who signed up for a 2 year contract
with the terms of $30/month @ 5GB cap.

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bshep
Usually if they change terms mid-contract you can cancel without penalty...
now if only you could use your phone on another network without having to hack
it then a lot of people would do that.

As it stands if you leave AT&T your iPhone becomes an iPod...

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cstejerean
As far as I can tell it's pretty straight forward to unlock your iPhone to use
it on T-Mobile.

~~~
jsz0
You lose 3G though. T-Mobile uses different radio frequencies for 3G. iPhone +
Mifi is really viable though.

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karzeem
My own kneejerk reaction is to fear a $/MB system, but that's _only_ because I
trust AT&T about as far as I can throw them, and it would be reasonable to
predict extortionate pricing for whatever plan they come up with. (Side note:
why does it have to be that you never hear someone say, "I love my
cable/phone/internet company, you should sign up with them."?)

If the bandwidth market resembled those of pretty much everything else we buy,
most of us paying the requisite $30/month for unlimited data on the iPhone
would save money under a $/MB plan.

~~~
pyre
> _(Side note: why does it have to be that you never hear someone say, "I love
> my cable/phone/internet company, you should sign up with them."?)_

I've heard that about TekSavvy DSL in Canada, but they are reliant on Bell
which controls the last-mile copper and started throttling even 3rd-party
providers 1.5+ years ago. I never got to try them because I moved away around
the time that I was considering moving over.

~~~
nzmsv
TekSavvy is amazing. Set-up is fast, they deal with Bell's screwups when they
happen (this is a when, not an if), and when you call them, a person answers,
with no music-on-hold.

They will also set up a workaround for Bell's throttling if you ask them (it
involves a fake multilink PPP login, without the second line).

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bprater
I don't think a future where bandwidth is capped is going to work. We need
more bandwidth in our homes. We will eventually need more bandwidth to our
phones.

It smells of a limited-vision knee-jerk reaction. And my reaction is to bail
on AT&T, jailbreak my phone and find a carrier that is wise enough not to play
the bandwidth game.

~~~
whatusername
Because the magical broadband fairy is going to put up all of those towers and
lay all of those cables for free?

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nfnaaron
You'd bail from ATT because ATT did not lay in the network capacity for the
devices which they were/are selling.

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chrischen
They just have to block access to porn sites. Done, network congestion solved.

