They’re putting a cap on Data?
For the last two years, unlimited data plans have given app-hungry smartphone users an all-you-can-eat buffet. But will customers react to AT&T’s new, limited menu by simply eating less?
Some software developers fear they will, and if that happens, the caps on data use that AT&T has imposed could also make consumers lose their appetite for the latest innovations. Some developers worry that customers will be reluctant to download and use the most bandwidth-intensive apps and that developers will cut back on innovative new features that would push customers over the new limits.
“What created this lively app world we are in was the iPhone on one hand, and unlimited data plans on the other,” said Noam Bardin, chief executive of Waze, which offers turn-by-turn driving directions. “If people start thinking about how big a file is, or how fast an application is refreshing, that will be a huge inhibitor.”
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AT&T and some developers say that the new data plans could have the opposite effect and increase data usage by making it more affordable for most people.
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Applications that stream high-bandwidth video and route phone calls and face-to-face video chats over the Internet could be seriously affected. Applications that constantly send a phone owner’s location — continually uploading and downloading data from the network — could also face challenges.
I can understand SMS and email, sans attachments. How many people out there are browsing and streaming video on a daily bases on a smart phone? Let those that want the bandwidth pay for it. Some of us don’t want to pay $30 a month to open a browser a few times a month, and download a few emails.
Does anyone believe this: “AT&T and some developers say that the new data plans could have the opposite effect and increase data usage by making it more affordable for most people.”
making it more affordable? Really?
Where have I heard this spin before?
Oh yeah… Obama and his health care fiasco.
I plan on buying an Android device (probably with an AT&T 3G connection) in July. Is there an app that logs data usage?
Awww man… really?
Ya REALLY went there?
That sorta pun oughta get you smacked. -grin-
#2
I’m pretty sure, like 100%, that per/Mb it’s actually more compared to their “unlimited data” plan? Plus, this is just the beginning. Now that phones are more multimedia friendly, you’ll most likely be downloading more (stream – radio, flash, videos, chat, etc.). By then, some will mostly likely pay ALOT more than the $15. That’s when I’ll begin to LMAO
I don’t know how Obama got inserted in there but ok, whatever floats your boat. I might as well make some random, pointless comment as well.
Damn those stupid polar bears! Chase those boats down and take your fishes back!
Hey, they ain’t dumb. AT&T has a monopoly on a very popular new device, the iPad. Apple promotes the iPad as a media consumption device. That means it will use a lot of bandwidth. So, a couple of months of it’s introduction, they cap the bandwidth. I think I heard the base cap will be 250 megabytes per month for $15. That’s about one TV show. The next step is $25 for 2 GB. And that’s a couple of low res movies. After that, it’s $10 per gig. A far cry from the previous $30/month all you can eat plan.
And does it strike anyone else that AT&T is just giving users a big FU on the eve of the debut of the iPhone that is supposed to be really media savvy?
Personally, I think it’s time the FTC started to regulate the telcos much more closely. I truly believe they have teams of lawyers figuring out just how close to the edge of illegal they can skate without getting the Justice Dept interested.
F**k you, pay me! ATT and Verizon couldn’t care less about what you like or don’t like as long as you pony up that monthly payment.
Kudos to AT&T for being the STUPIDEST carrier around!
Everyone see what’s coming next?
Every OTHER carrier offers unlimited data plans for anyone buying an ANDROID.
It’s like AT&T wants to shoot themselves in the head.
What is the problem? If one carrier charges too much, switch. Maricopa, you want the gov to ENFORCE free product for you? WTF?
WOW! iPhone 4 is here. real HG video is here. Video conferencing (via WiFi) is here.
I’d invest in CSCO or one of the other network companies…
The future is online!
People can still use wi-fi for intensively large data w/o the charges. Did anyone really think that all you can eat would last all that long?
a couple points, as we posted this a few days back in Cagematch.
There NEW rates,
200meg $15?
2 gig $25?
OK. figure the first one is for EMAIL ONLY.
Figure out 200 meg over 30 days.. I HOPE no one is sending you pictures. 6.7 megs per day.
2gig option? I hope you arent going to youtube.
2gig of watching Video is about 6 hours, NOT HIRES, unless they rehash it for the UNIT and use a smaller res, 6 hours is about ALL you will get.
I will also give you a great question.
COMPETITION. EACH company is REQUIRED to have competition, or its considered a monopoly.
ECA said, “EACH company is REQUIRED to have competition, or its considered a monopoly.”
Not per the Sherman anti trust act. What law are you quoting from?
* prohibiting agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between business. This includes in particular the repression of free trade caused by cartels.
* banning abusive behavior by a firm dominating a market, or anti-competitive practices that tend to lead to such a dominant position. Practices controlled in this way may include predatory pricing, tying, price gouging, refusal to deal, and many others.
* supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations, including some joint ventures. Transactions that are considered to threaten the competitive process can be prohibited altogether, or approved subject to “remedies” such as an obligation to divest part of the merged business or to offer licenses or access to facilities to enable other businesses to continue competing.
#14 None of what you posted backs up what you said. WHERE does it state (law), “EACH company is REQUIRED to have competition, or its considered a monopoly.”?
If that were true, every time a new company started up that made something no one else did the gov’t could file against them. Read some more before posting.
Fight them. Don’t let them get away with it.
In New Zealand you pay for every bit of data you use. You only have free data between, say 2AM and 7AM. More often than not, the data is throttled, so your speeds are deliberately limited, therefore your downloads are substantially slower.
Sure, they’re promising us faster speeds now, which they have been for years. It’s not faster speed that I need, it’s cheaper data.
In most of Europe they have unlimited cap on fixed lines (DSL & Cable) and even Mobile.
Fight it people!
Let me guess. The U.S. will be one of only a few countries where this is legal and will steadily decrease it’s internet spending and usage.
The internet will be a shopping store, and no more.
ISP data cap? You mean my dialup provider’s policies are affecting software makers? Oh my!
Oh wait, you are talking about a phone company.
Maybe they should try and sell phone service instead of these gadgets that are a waste of time.
Off topic, but how come if I try and load Dvorak’s PC Mag column, it will say page not found but if you reload the page once or twice, then it will work?
And after they’ve got people to accept paying by the bit on cell phones, they’ll do the same on dsl and cable.
MikeN:
I just went there and it worked fine for me.
Interesting to read a comment on Ars Technica, to the effect that it was background audio-streaming [Pandora?] which caused a user’s download rate to go up.
He looked-back at his usage, once he learned AT&T was placing the 2GB cap, and saw his usage take a jump from ~700k/month to ~2.3GB/month when he started using an audio-steaming app.
So beware that it is not just streaming video that will push you towards the cap, it is also audio streaming which will do it – if you listen during your commute each workday.
On my Iphone I use 3-7GB per month.
Mostly from streaming podcasts during the weekends and on long drives.
This move by ATT is fueled by their perceived bandwidth shortage. In other words, they bit off more than they could serve.
New FCC Rule: Any data carrier must acquiesce to renting bandwidth to competitors during instants of high data traffic.
The public, after all, is best served by the graceful flow of data.
In the end, after all the back-and-forth renting is tallied, more profit ensues for all. Unless they failed to buy enough bandwidth to begin with.
“But will customers react to AT&T’s new, limited menu by simply eating less?
Some software developers fear they will”
Software developers are really lazy bloat-ware developers. They expect newer and newer hardware will enable their bloat-ware to run fast.
Maybe, this will promote good practices in code and run speed efficiency; but unlikely. In comparison to hardware designers, programmers are some of the most lazy and intellectually dull people I know.
What AT&T is doing will make life harder for developers of new services, but this will not limit innovation. In fact, true innovation thrives in the face of constraints. Whatever the ground rules are, smart people will figure out how to deal with them.
# 26 noname – Maybe, this will promote good practices in code and run speed efficiency
Code runs on the machine. It has very little to do with downloading something and we’re talking about data being transferred to a device. It matters not at all to your bandwidth usage how long it take your fart app to make a noise.
# 1 RTaylor:
“… How many people out there are browsing and streaming video on a daily bases on a smart phone? …”
Let’s see — how many iPhones have been sold? About that many. Maybe a few more with all the Android phones and Blackberries.
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# 3 Improbus:
“… Is there an app that logs data usage?”
Now that is the question! As far as I know, Apple doesn’t offer one for the iPhone. When Leo Laporte went to China last year, he complained about that exact thing — he found an app from somewhere that supposedly kept track, he bought extra service, and according to the app he was under the limit. But according to AT&T he was 2 gigs over. Cost him HUNDREDS of dollars! He’s still sore about it and has to stop himself from ranting over it whenever the topic comes up.
Why should the phone companies (or Apple) promote or even allow such an app? After all, they make many MILLIONS of dollars from the overages!
When the question is “why do the telcos do things in some strange way?” the answer is almost always – follow the money. Take text messages: I’ve traveled in several countries and almost none charge for texts. Why should they? it costs them almost nothing to do texts. Yet, in the States it costs a quarter to send one and a quarter to receive one!
All I have to say is ATT is a freaking joke and the only reason I am on this network is due to the iPhone but limiting the data plan shows their infrastructure is just plain sad.