What are your thoughts about AT&T crippling unlimited data customers going over a specified limit (iirc 3GB)?
I can see how others may be misled by that marketing, though, so it’s no super great. No reason to get angry, just reason for concern. Some German carriers are much more upfront about that (they might say “1GB of data, throttled to GPRS speeds above that”) and I obviously prefer that kind of marketing. It’s less confusing and more honest.
I'm pretty sure no carrier in the US offers a better deal than $10/GB.
My problem isn't about "you know what you're getting, it's clearly communicated"
My anger is because THERE IS NO FUCKING UNLIMITED PLAN AT ALL
We are on HN, I have been on the internet DAILY for 15 years now. EVERY SINGLE DAY for many hours.
As a travelling consultant, I rely heavily on mobile access to the internet.
The fact that I had an unlimited account in the past - but now that speeds are getting acceptable, they are crippling them by cost.
It is corporate greed and it is bullshit.
That is a load of horseshit.
Thank you.
- unlimited data plans were doled out when network operators knew full well that people couldn't actually use enough data to cause a crisis.
- Data usage spiked because people found new uses for phones which demanded more and more data (e.g. streaming shows)
- Operators found themselves underdeveloped with no prospect of demand tapering off
- At these levels, it maximizes the operator's profits to push people into rate-limited plans.
But, thanks for the insults. This place is really friendly!
Are you kidding me?
We went from simple networks to 3G to 4G --which requires new infrastructure deployments every few years.
We went from the mobile web being almost nothing to hundreds of millions of very capable mobile web devices in the past ten years (iPhone/iPad/Android...).
Network usage increased exponentially with the newer, more useful devices. People were buying "unlimited" plans and used 100-300MB per month, not they can easily go to over several GBs.
It's like you have a "unlimited free refills" soda fountain. When everyone has 2-3 drinks it's ok. When everyone starts having 10-20 sodas, well, you start putting some limit to those "unlimited refills".