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[rcjordan]

ATT just announced new rate plan.  I see it a game-changer in a positive way for ieverythings.

"the pair of plans work with any smartphone AT&T sells, including the iPhone. The low-end plan, DataPlus, includes 200MB of data for $15 a month. If the 200MBs are exceeded, another 200 are added on for another $15. This keeps going as much as used.

The high-end plan, DataPro, includes 2GB of data--ten times more than DataPlus--for $25. When the 2GB threshold is reached, another 1GB can be tacked on for $10. Each 1GB after that is $10, as much as is used. That's far better than the old overage rate of $100 per GB, or 10 cents per MB.

New iPad customers, who buy an iPad 3G after June 7th, can get the same $25 per month 2GB plan as iPhone users. Unlike iPhone users, iPad customers will still prepay for their wireless data plan with no contract. Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2GB of data."


http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006534-1.html

[perkiset]

Hmmm a reasonable pay as you go plan. Not bad, i think I agree with you RC. There will be some gnashing of teeth from people that were abusing the unlimited plan, but this might get AT&T back into a place where they have enough revenue and balanced enough usage to provide a better service.

One can hope anyway 

[Phaëton]

I beat up my 3g -> bluetooth hotspot for 2 years on unlimited data
with youtube playlists, utorrent and netflix and never heard a squeak...

Im curious to hear reports of a speed test from the ipad 3g ....

like a bandwidthplace[period]com up and down actual data transferred speed test.

round here from iphone its a steady 200k up and down.

[rcjordan]

>There will be some gnashing of teeth

I think there are a good number of us who have access to the internet via fixed points for about 95% of the day. A solid, pay-as-you-go dataplan with a reasonable monthly threshold like $15 would cover the other 5% of the time.

[rcjordan]

the natives are restless. 'course, gizmodo stirred them up with the headline. i'm guessing all but one or two in the comment stream were planning to continuously stream vids and mp3s 24/7.

http://gizmodo.com/5553139/say-goodbye-to-unlimited-data-on-the-ipad-3g

[perkiset]

@ fixed point access - spot on RC. The amount of time that I actually require the 3G is minuscule, or specific to testing. Were I torrenting unauth movies I might have a different opinion.

Phae I think you're right as well ... Even listening to terrestrial radio via 3G streaming every morning and using it whenever I need connection where there's no wifi, I've not hit my max in the last 18 months.

Someone moved my cheese. I'm really pissed off. It's not that ever really use all that bandwidth, I just need to shout on the general principal that I deserve it. Meh. Whatever. 

[kurdt]

the natives are restless. 'course, gizmodo stirred them up with the headline. i'm guessing all but one or two in the comment stream were planning to continuously stream vids and mp3s 24/7.

http://gizmodo.com/5553139/say-goodbye-to-unlimited-data-on-the-ipad-3g

Those comments are really funny to read. So many people act like Apple owns at&t and that it's somehow in Apple's control or decision to change at&t's plans & pricing

[Phaëton]

realistically a steady 56k is expected from 3g..

constantly streaming 56k

56 x 1024 = 57344 bits per second

57344 * 60 = 3440640 bits per minute

3440640 * 60 = 206438400 bits per hour

206438400 * 60 = 4954521600 bits per day

4954521600 / 1024 = 4,838,400 kb per day

4838400 / 1024 = 4725 mb per day

4725 / 1024 = 4.61425 gigs per day..

damn, that 30 $ a month was a sweet deal if you can get grandfathered in
by june 7th

[rcjordan]

> get grandfathered in

Yeah, I thought about grabbing an ipad but read that the dataplan requires no contract.  People seldom think about the negatives of not being under contract but this means that ~other than negative PR, and perhaps running afoul of (weak) truth-in-advertising laws~ providers can change the terms at their discretion. Effectively, you're on a month-to-month plan.

>So many people act like Apple owns at&t and that it's somehow in Apple's control or decision to change at&t's plans & pricing

It is funny in a sad sort of way.  BTW, I read elsewhere yesterday that AT&T says approximately 2% of their users are data hogs.

[perkiset]

Read similar. 2% responsible for over 40% of bandwidth usage.

Stop it NB!

[daviator]

I use my iPhone constantly - though I don't download lots of video, one of the biggest bandwidth hogs.  Nevertheless, I was surprised when I went to AT&T's site yesterday to look at my data usage over the past 6 months.  I discovered that my typical usage is only around 200-250 MB per month, with a peak month at 300 MB.  (Note that AT&T doesn't allow you to go back more than 6 months, so I can't see the usage back during the period when I was able to enable tethering on the iPhone, it was undoubtedly higher then.)

So I think for me, this change by AT&T is no big deal.  If I want to save $5 a month, I could drop back to the 2GB plan and still have far more than I'll ever be likely to use.  I could even drop back to the 200 MB plan and just pay the overage from time to time.

I suspect that the 2GB plan will cover me easily even if I'm using MyWi with my notebook or iPad.

I think that 2 GB/month is a LOT of data i/o and I'm all for charging extra to those who use that much of the shared capacity of AT&T's network.

[nop_90]

It is a lot fairer/better system, charging by usage.
Ages ago I used to have a cell plan in PH.
XX minutes per month or so many SMS.
If u exceed the XX minutes the rate is like 2x load price.

For iphone an similar devices they charge for bandwidth by "time".
It is 5 peso (~$0.10) for every 15 minutes.
It is 50 centavos for SMS if it is to same network, for other network it is 1 peso.
Voice I am not sure how much it costs.
When u buy a 300 peso load card u get like 50 SMS free.
The load can be used for what ever u want, voice, sms, data etc.

I usually just keep a spare load card in my wallet.
You can somehow hook ur phone up to ur bank account. So when u run out of load, u just text ur bank, and automatically it transfers more load to ur phone.

Anyway i just found that many times my XX minutes per month where being "wasted".
While other times I ended up having to pay rates that where much higher then load.
Also here there are many places that have free wifi, so u can just use that.

[Phaëton]

I think there is an even bigger issue here,  charging data on a meter
for these thin clients in a cloud based environment will be the new gas...

soon all your data will be on the fat host and youll have to pay to look
at it.  Your thin client will just be a peephole to the place where the
real computers are and youll have to pay per minute or byte or both
just to read your own notes.

[isthisthingon]

Your thin client will just be a peephole to the place where the real computers are and youll have to pay per minute or byte or both just to read your own notes.

This brings up a very interesting point.  Your concern is totally valid and frankly this flies in the face of cloud computing as being a "good" direction for people to go.  Cloud computing only became financially feasible when the cost of bandwidth crossed the chasm of cost effectiveness.  Assuming this impending ROI tipping point, cloud computing was a forgone conclusion considering the cost, hassle, expertise required and everything else related to managing a data center just to be in some completely non-tech related business. 

But again, all of this is entirely contingent on the cost of bandwidth remaining at least consistent and ideally dropping indefinitely.  I believe pay-as-you-go is a dying breed in many ways and will remain a luxury tax on those with little concern for the bill (like gasoline to the rich) and others who have limited need for this service.  An airport is a great example of pay-as-you-go since for 9.99 you realize the airport will close and you'll be forced to "go."

But I think the real problem is this.  Who is really even planning on doing full time cloud computing where a wifi is impossible to reach, for any length of time?  I see this as similar to your cell bill when you return from vacation overseas.  If you really planned to stay there, you'd get a local cellphone 

AT&T and others will continue to try, but they will rely on vendor lock-in and parings like Apple & AT&T to siphon these costs from the consumer.  Any talk about "some will win and some will lose" is a load of crap.  This move is nothing but a money grab and a disgusting thing to impose on those who, for example, already purchased an iPag 3G with completely different ideas about how they will be charged for their planned use 

[Phaëton]

I just think that over time devices like the iPad that old school aol
deliver the internet to you could slowly make the sheeple fall into
not realizing their computers are only rented views of the real
deal...look, its already started!  operating system as an online service: