AT&T gives Android users another reason to switch carriers

[lak611]

AT&T gives Android users another reason to switch carriers - Computerworld Blogs

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It's not really a valid complaint... Expect other carriers to follow...

[Mister Xiado]

This has been in the contract terms since at least 2007. Are people just illiterate? The contract text is written at a fourth-grade reading level, in one font, with no fine print anywhere. Unless you want to count the names of the cities on the coverage map.

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Also you might want to blame users in the first place for the cause as to why currently tiered data plans exist and carriers crack down on tethering...

[lak611]

Throttling the speeds of the devices seems shady.

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Expect that trend to continue as well. Tmobile has plans centric around data throttling.

[MobileMadness002]

I think cellular providers should just sell data based on usage. $10.00 per GB. Cellular usage, tether usage. Don't differentiate these. Data is data. The more you use, the more you pay. Calculate ALL data transferred and charge accordingly. The light user will pay 10 to 20 a month, the heavy user a lot more. It would be a win win. IMO at least.

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Originally Posted by MobileMadness002

I think cellular providers should just sell data based on usage. $10.00 per GB. Cellular usage, tether usage. Don't differentiate these. Data is data. The more you use, the more you pay. Calculate ALL data transferred and charge accordingly. The light user will pay 10 to 20 a month, the heavy user a lot more. It would be a win win. IMO at least.

In reality it's roughly the same cost as you suggest already though. Lite users use the cheap 200mb plan (mid range pays $25 for the 2gb plan). Heavy users use the higher tier plans, which doesn't deviate much from the prices you listed.. Overages are also basically already $10 per gb.

The reason tethering is not slapped on is because users are going to screw up bigtime... If you allow tethering on a 200mb plan at all you are asking for overage/CS nightmares... A single PC webpage can use 5mb.... Even on 2gb, you will hit that with no problems...

[MobileMadness002]

Personally, I still think the end user needs to be responsible for themselves. I know I know I know, why should the end user be responsible for themselves?

My idea would require buy-in from the carriers so I know it wont happen.

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The only problem is that if you leave the end users responsible (to be blunt, your average end user is a moron and they refuse to be responsible), it costs you CS time and money...

If it was free to let users be self-responsible, I agree it would be nice.

[techjunkieforlife]

Originally Posted by MobileMadness002

I think cellular providers should just sell data based on usage. $10.00 per GB. Cellular usage, tether usage. Don't differentiate these. Data is data. The more you use, the more you pay. Calculate ALL data transferred and charge accordingly. The light user will pay 10 to 20 a month, the heavy user a lot more. It would be a win win. IMO at least.

I agree that its bang out of order that I do not get to fully use the data that I have paid for. Why should it matter what device what it was consumed on? If I can not use my 2gb via my phone why can not use the balance on my iPad since its already paid for?

I can see a legal challenge coming at some point on this with increased tiered data plans and the extra charges to use what we have already paid for. It's not like they are not gonna charge you for the overages and thats fine.

[mikolina]

Originally Posted by techjunkieforlife

I agree that its bang out of order that I do not get to fully use the data that I have paid for. Why should it matter what device what it was consumed on? If I can not use my 2gb via my phone why can not use the balance on my iPad since its already paid for?

I can see a legal challenge coming at some point on this with increased tiered data plans and the extra charges to use what we have already paid for. It's not like they are not gonna charge you for the overages and thats fine.

Except you signed an agreement saying that you'd only use it on your phone... From my point of you, when they sell you 2GB of data, they sell you 2GB of data on your PHONE.

Sure, it might not seem fair. Sure, it might change in the future. But right now, I feel like that's what it is.