AT&T's end of unlimited data and the iPhone

[famousringo]

superchunk said:

cmeese47 said:

Pandora streaming at work alone used 5 gigs not to mention the 8 movies i streamed while traveling and all the games and apps I used the internet for. I am glad that they can't take away my unlimited since I signed a contract but still for new adapters this is a bitch.  Sure I bet the 4g is more expensive but come on. Want to do people a favor have tiered pricing 0 use = 0 under 100 mbs = 5 100-250 mbs 10 250-500 mbs 15 500 mbs - 1 gig 20 1-2 gig 25 and 2 gig plus 30 pretty simple. 

However, AT&T's point is to make more money, thus they want people like you spending more than $30/mo.

There is another side to it besides revenues, and that's demand for data outstripping what AT&T can supply. It's no secret that demand for 3G network is crippling AT&T's quality of service in some key regions. If curbing the appetite of the hungriest consumers can prevent calls from dropping for the rest of AT&T's customers, it could be a net win for most users.

In other words, it might be worth pissing off 2% of their customers to retain the other 98%.

I think AT&T's biggest mistake was offering unlimited data when the truth is that cell bandwidth is far from unlimited. It sounds great when you're selling the plan to customers, but the customers turn pretty sour when their "unlimited" network keeps disconnecting them. Just another company caught with its pants down by the smartphone boom.