what exactly IS a good Data Plan?

[RudyWixon]

I feel that they should have the ones they have now and the choice of unlimited. There are big business men that dont really use there phone off the internet, even tho there company probably pays it, its still not fair that they cant have that choice of unlimited.

My story tho, i have the BB Torch (first one). I got a BB Playbook around christmas time and i called about tethering the devices and i have the 2GB plan. They wanted me to pay another 40 dollars a month. There is no way im gonna do that, its ridiculous if you ask me. Ill stick to wifi only.

[yoga.flame]

Originally Posted by The_Kills

The thing is though... fair pricing is not on their agenda. they want you to struggle and figure out which plan is suited for you. The low tier that you might go over sometimes, or the upper tier that you dont come close to reaching, that then makes you feel like your over paying.

This is why I wonder how much of the data plans are used for recouping a smartphone subsidy. It's entirely possible the profits on the 200MB data pack is super low.

For example, say that $13 of the $15 data plan is used to recoup the subsidy, and that's the reason there appears to be such a large markup on the 200MB data plan when compared to the 2GB data plan. At first glance, it looks like you get 10x's the data for a 40% price increase (The natural question then is, "How is it that AT&T can offer me 10x's the data for such a small price increase if they aren't ripping me off with the 200MB plan?"). When in reality, AT&T is only receiving $2 for the 200MB and $12 for the 2GB data plan. The the jump in cost from the 200MB data plan to the 2GB data plan makes perfect sense since the network costs are nearly fixed.

[augidog]

myself, i've been wondering...is the confusing arrangement contrived by design, or simply mistakes and growing pains? only AT&T can tell us, either through dialogue or lack of dialogue.

so, is the good data plan evolving towards a universal monthly fee for the data connection itself, and then the user chooses a quantity-plan? the power user is offered a bulk discount? (i'd still want one-month rollover)

Dylan, to make the stats on-topic...i just did another (tethered) speedtest.net, peak hours, 3G (H+) connection: 2.17Mbps down, 0.76Mbps up. to me, it looks like the new plans do receive premium bussing.

[yoga.flame]

Not what I had in mind:

The new smartphone plans include:

AT&T Data Plus 300MB: $20 for 300MB
AT&T Data Pro 3GB: $30 for 3GB
AT&T Data Pro 5GB: $50 for 5GB, with mobile hotspot / tethering

Oh well.

[crackcookie]

They clearly want you to use around 5Gigs but pay for such use, I think this is good that they are implementing change and overtime Verizon will counter, or already did in a sense since they offer 4 gigs I am not sure.

Either way, it is good they took initiative to change, the bad is, things became more expensive and they still won't let us do what we want with our data, why must I pay 5 Gigs to use my mobile hotspot feature, why can't I use that with 300mb or 3 gigs?

[augidog]

Cookie: i've never complained about paying for what i want or need (it's really just want) but it's getting old never knowing how much that's gonna be. what i'm resenting about the large block i had to buy in order to be "allowed" to tether is that i can't keep track of it accurately enough to make the plan worth the money...last month, through no fault of my own, but because of faulty reporting by AT&T software, i learned after the fact that i'd "forfeited" about a GB of data...that's $10 i sure could have used elsewhere in my meager budget.

They're gonna price me out a bit at a time.

again, rollover (with a one-month expiration to be fair) is the only thing that would make me comfortable with these $10 GB's. and again, tethering & hotspotting shouldn't be an issue if we're buying data by the block, no matter what size plan we start with.

imo of course.

[augidog]

the heck with "plans" i guess.

following my own OP, i'll sum up & stay on-topic.

i think that this blackberry (at a 2-year price) & all it's related AT&T services, with un-fettered technology and hassle-free billing, would be fairly priced (under contract) at a steady $80 a month...with insurance and taxes i'd be good with laying out a c-note (max) for a month of not worrying about anything.

[augidog]

after some heated but civil discussion elsewhere, i have decided (again) that i would totally buy an unlimited-but-throttled data plan.

the "smartphone basics" plan: pick a reasonable fixed-speed, bundle it similarly to the competition ie one-click/all-included/simple-billing, and i'll take it. tether/hotspot at customer discretion, but same fixed-speed, impossible to abuse. i'd gladly do $100/month (total) for that.

anyone who wants premium speeds pays the $10/GB and i'll stay out of your way with my basic plan.