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nwin posted:Alright, I'm trying to wrap my head around att next and our plan in general. Download the MyATT app for better mins and data tracking. The only thing Next will do for you is make it easier to pay for a phone outright since it just gets paid off over 24 months. And it'll be tight on what plan is cheaper for you. Option A. Keep plan. $160 for plan. Discount goes off of $70, $30 data plan and $30 data plan. Every two years you get $450 off a phone, anything in between you have to buy a phone outright, get it repaired, whatever. I'm not recommending the partial upgrade (it's an upgrade but adds $250, so a $200 phone is $450) because it's just better to buy outright and use the upgrade next year. Option B: go to new plan. 10GB mobile share. If you did this option this assumes you switch her contract to a Next plan, which you could do. Plan is $130 a month, discount goes off of base plan which is the $100 part. You buy all phones outright, no more phone discounts. Edit: your discount is 15%. So let's sum it up better: Old plan: monthly $160 - $19.50 discount. So $140 a month. New plan: $130 a month, $15 discount. So $115 a month. You would save $25 a month on the bill, but also lose phone subsidies. That's about $20 a month a line IF you both always upgrade after two years. So the old plan makes sense if you buy phones every two years, the new plan would save you money if you kept the phones say, 2.5 years or longer. You should probably stick with your plan, and unfortunately with either plan you're looking at buying a phone outright for yourself, either on next or up front. Edit: hey, I managed to survive another iPhone launch. Had less customer meltdowns than I thought I would too. Duckman2008 fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Sep 29, 2014 |
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Sep 29, 2014 00:02
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Duckman2008 posted:The only thing Next will do for you is make it easier to pay for a phone outright since it just gets paid off over 24 months. And it'll be tight on what plan is cheaper for you. Gotcha...so we can pay $160/month and then pay about $200 each time we go for a phone, so every year (Since my wife and I upgrade each year separate from each other) our total cost is: 160*12+200=2120 Or with plan B we pay 130 a month+ however much our phone costs, correct? So, for the first year, we would pay 130*12=1560 in addition to whatever I pay for my phone in monthly costs, yeah? So if it's an extra $30/month for an iphone 6 for me, than that's an extra $360 for the year, which ends up being 1920 plus whatever tax. So we might save 200 the first year (2120 vs 1920), but then if she jumps on the next train, that's going to be another 360 on top of that, so we get a new phone every year, but we're paying (1560+360+360=2280). So now we get new phones every single year for an extra $160 total (2280-2180) plus whatever tax I pay on the phones each time...is that correct or am I loving up somewhere? The main thing I like about doing it every 2 years like we are now is after I sell the old phone on swappa/amazon/whatever, I usually end up paying nothing out of pocket for the new phone, so in reality each year we are only spending (consider we sell our old phone) 160*12=1920. Now to look at it like that, we spend 1920 a year, versus on next (if math is correct) 2280+taxes, so figure 2350, or an extra $430 a year for the luxury of us both getting a new phone every year. edit: Just saw your edit, that explains things better. We also routinely trade in phones at every iphone launch, so right at 2 years each time. nwin fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Sep 29, 2014 |
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Sep 29, 2014 00:13
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AT&T Next is a better deal if you're doing these gigantic family share plans and need to get multiple smartphones per househould, but for an average single line user the price differential over two years is, well, not there. People are more amenable to buying a couple of smartphones for the family if they don't have to put a big down payment at the store. If that fits you, great, go hog wild. But for a single line user, it's a lot cloudier. Even with the discount, a 10GB Share plan is $115/month (with the cost of the phone on top of that), which is ridiculous for one person with one phone. A 2GB plan is $65 after discount plus the cost of the phone. A 64GB 6 is $31.25 per month for 24 months with Next 18. $96.25 over 24 months is $2,310. Even with a Next 12 plan the cost over two years is still the same; you just get the privilege of upgrading a lot earlier if you want to. Next 18 lets you upgrade a few months early, but if you're beholden to iPhone release schedules, it won't be effective in practice. If you do a Next 12 plan and upgrade every year, assuming you stay with the same tier of phone and AT&T doesn't raise your rates, you'll have spent $2460 over the course of two years. If you want to spend that extra $150/year to always stay on top, go for it. It's probably less expensive than early upgrade penalties in the past, but I never did that, so I can't tell if it really is a big penalty or not. Granted, if you want a new phone year over year, AT&T Next 12 is the only way to go. But AT&T will still be getting your money, no matter what. On the other hand, a two year contract is $80 per month for the 2GB Share plan, plus the one-time $40 upgrade fee and the $300 up-front cost for a 64GB iPhone 6. Over the cost of two years, that amounts to about $2260 (not accounting whatever taxes/line fees your state charges). After the two years is up, you can get the "Bring your own phone" discounts just like the Next users do. But everybody's plan situation is different. I have the 450/month minutes and a grandfathered unlimited data plan (since the original EDGE iPhone) with no texting plan since I basically only use iMessage. I barely use my phone for calling people; I have rollover minutes out the wazoo. I get a 20% AT&T Premier discount through work. My cell phone bill is on average $63-70/month including taxes/fees and depending on if I get any non-iMessage texts. That's regardless of my contract status. With my data usage, I'd have to go to a 6GB plan to avoid overages. I upgraded to a 128GB 6. Even with my discount (which doesn't apply to Next phone payments, AFAIK), my phone bill would be around $119/month (plus taxes and fees). If I stick with my current plan and renew a contract, I pay $440 for my upfront cost plus upgrade fee. Spread that over two years, that's 18.33/month, on top of $63-70/m for service charges. Going Next with those share plans would cost me more money (either in overages or actual plan fees). Since the only way to get the discount on Next is to use those plans... The TL:DR is you need to do the math and see what's right for you.
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Sep 29, 2014 00:24
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Yeah those with the 450/unlimited data plans should never get rid of it or gently caress with it. Ever.
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Sep 29, 2014 03:12
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I moved us over to the "15GB is now 30GB" plan (previously on 10GB), what a nice feeling not having to be so concerned with data now. While I would still love to have unlimited with them, 30GB is better than 10GB for minimal cost increase.
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Sep 29, 2014 15:17
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:Yeah those with the 450/unlimited data plans should never get rid of it or gently caress with it. Ever. Does next mess with this or something? I have 450/Unlimited grandfathered account and I switched to Next-12 back in January and I still have unlimited data etc. Only difference is my monthly cost went from around $97 after taxes to $120 factoring the monthly phone cost or whatever.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:22
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mAlfunkti0n posted:I moved us over to the "15GB is now 30GB" plan (previously on 10GB), what a nice feeling not having to be so concerned with data now. While I would still love to have unlimited with them, 30GB is better than 10GB for minimal cost increase. I'm very surprised AT&T would even have a double data promotion like this, although I'd be surprised if it wasn't just a tactic to get people on the 6GB and below plans to move up to bigger data plans. Is there any throttling on the metered plans? I'm pretty excited about switching to the 30GB (previously 15GB) plan, currently on the 4GB plan with another person but I'm sick of having to hold back my data usage and I've gone into data overages a few times already, for only $20 more a month I can have peace of mind and actually have enough data to start using mobile hotspot again.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:40
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xilni posted:I'm very surprised AT&T would even have a double data promotion like this, although I'd be surprised if it wasn't just a tactic to get people on the 6GB and below plans to move up to bigger data plans. I get what they are doing but there has to be a way of pricing it that isn't so confusing, I was comparing my old 450 minute/4GB data plan with the Mobile Share plans and moving to a 6 GB plan looked like a meh deal but the $10 a month price break on the phone line at the 10GB level and the numbers made a lot more sense.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:44
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xilni posted:
I've not run into any throttling.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:45
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Three Olives posted:I get what they are doing but there has to be a way of pricing it that isn't so confusing, I was comparing my old 450 minute/4GB data plan with the Mobile Share plans and moving to a 6 GB plan looked like a meh deal but the $10 a month price break on the phone line at the 10GB level and the numbers made a lot more sense. Ya there's a point where you cross over tiers and go from $25 to $15 a device where the math takes an extra step but the plan comparison tool in myATT app was really helpful in this regard from comparison of benefits to an actual side by side breakdown of costs for the current vs new plan. I liked the app before when I merely used it to track usage but I'm really impressed now. mAlfunkti0n posted:I've not run into any throttling. Thank goodness, this seems like something they could have snuck into the fine print to ruin my day (probably is still in there just not used in practice).
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Sep 29, 2014 16:54
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Moved to the 30 gig plan as well. Gonna stream and tether like a motherfucker now. Was worth it since I get a 23% FAN.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:02
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hotsauce posted:Moved to the 30 gig plan as well. Gonna stream and tether like a motherfucker now. Was worth it since I get a 23% FAN. Same here. I currently have 20% but my wife gets 25% (smaller company by like 100X, not sure why the discount is better), so ill be moving us to her discount this week.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:11
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What exactly happens when you reach your cap? Does your data cut off, or does it charge you a buttload per how much you've gone over?
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Sep 29, 2014 17:27
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Raimondo posted:What exactly happens when you reach your cap? Does your data cut off, or does it charge you a buttload per how much you've gone over? You keep on going as if nothing had happened but you get an SMS notification from AT&T of the same likes that you get when you're approaching your cap except this one notifies you that you've gone over your cap and that they've added a GB to your plan for $15.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:34
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Raimondo posted:What exactly happens when you reach your cap? Does your data cut off, or does it charge you a buttload per how much you've gone over? quote:If usage exceeds data allowance during your billing period, you will be automatically provided 300MB for $20 on the 300MB plan, 500MB for $20 on the 1GB plan, or 1GB for $15 on all other plans.
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Sep 29, 2014 17:41
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Three Olives posted:I get what they are doing but there has to be a way of pricing it that isn't so confusing, I was comparing my old 450 minute/4GB data plan with the Mobile Share plans and moving to a 6 GB plan looked like a meh deal but the $10 a month price break on the phone line at the 10GB level and the numbers made a lot more sense. I will say the little plan comparison widget in the myAT&T app is really good. It gives a total price including all our phones and the corporate discount and our average overage charges for the last 3 months. It really would cost us more for the 6 GB plan then our current 10 GB one. Edit: I recognize this isn't exactly rocket science but usually the AT&T site ignores discounts entirely. smackfu fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Sep 29, 2014 |
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Sep 29, 2014 19:46
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So what's the deal with this new double data plan promotion? I just switched the wife and I off our old family share 450 / grandfathered unlimited data plans to NEXT 12 10gig/month plan, and now they say you can get 20gig/month for the same price? Is there any way to take advantage of this even though we just switched? We're both still waiting for our new iPhones to arrive, and according to AT&T they won't arrive until mid to late November? Is there anyway to hasten this process? It's loving ridiculous to have to wait over 2 months for new phones when the goddamn Apple stores have them in stock.
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Sep 29, 2014 20:29
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Huge_Midget posted:So what's the deal with this new double data plan promotion? I just switched the wife and I off our old family share 450 / grandfathered unlimited data plans to NEXT 12 10gig/month plan, and now they say you can get 20gig/month for the same price? Is there any way to take advantage of this even though we just switched? We're both still waiting for our new iPhones to arrive, and according to AT&T they won't arrive until mid to late November? Is there anyway to hasten this process? It's loving ridiculous to have to wait over 2 months for new phones when the goddamn Apple stores have them in stock. Blame Apple. Apple is selling 50% of all iPhone units through their stores and the other 50% is split amongst all the carriers and other retailers.
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Sep 29, 2014 20:50
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Huge_Midget posted:So what's the deal with this new double data plan promotion? I'm kind of torn, personally. It's a good deal and a limited offer, but we really don't go over 10 GB very often. Usually only if someone forgets to put their phone on wifi at home. smackfu fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Sep 29, 2014 |
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Sep 29, 2014 20:51
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smackfu posted:Only for the 15 GB / $130 per month and higher plans. This is us too. Right now I'm thinking that our data usage is only going to go up, not down. But then again prices are bound to go down in the future as our usage goes up. Bah, I don't know.
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Sep 29, 2014 21:08
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I switched and it's nice. I get 50% off everything, so the 40GB is only $25 more than the 10Gb plan.
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Sep 30, 2014 04:21
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Right now my family plan bill is a clusterfuck. I joined Cingular (lol) when the first iPhones came out, and have had unlimited data since. Of course they just crippled the gently caress out of it. There's two other iPhones on my plan, and we share minimal minutes but have no shared data plan. The other two iPhones are pretty light usage, likely never going over 5 GB each. There is also one more dumb phone on the plan, making 4 lines total. I have a pretty decent FAN discount and my bill still hovers around $200 monthly. Is this new promotion a good time to switch to shared data? I'd been holding off because Unlimited is great, but with this new throttling horseshit it's really no better than the 5 GB plan. Sharing 30 GB sounds fine with me, especially if it's cheaper. I am hesitant to call and figure it out that way, because I've experienced nothing but horrible pain trying to change/fix anything on my AT&T bill.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:01
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Do corporate stores have 2014 Moto X's on display to handle?
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Sep 30, 2014 18:03
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pzy posted:Right now my family plan bill is a clusterfuck. I joined Cingular (lol) when the first iPhones came out, and have had unlimited data since. Of course they just crippled the gently caress out of it. There's two other iPhones on my plan, and we share minimal minutes but have no shared data plan. The other two iPhones are pretty light usage, likely never going over 5 GB each. There is also one more dumb phone on the plan, making 4 lines total. I have a pretty decent FAN discount and my bill still hovers around $200 monthly. Is there a non-anecdotal source for this throttling? I haven't noticed anything on my gf'd unlimited plans.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:13
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ScarletBrother posted:Is there a non-anecdotal source for this throttling? I haven't noticed anything on my gf'd unlimited plans. From the horse's mouth: http://www.att.com/esupport/datausage.jsp?source=IZDUel1160000000U quote:As a result of the AT&T network management process, customers on a 3G or 4G smartphone with an unlimited data plan who have exceeded 3 gigabytes of data in a billing period may experience reduced speeds when using data services at times and in areas that are experiencing network congestion. Customers on a 4G LTE smartphone will experience reduced speeds once their usage in a billing cycle exceeds 5 gigabytes of data. All such customers can still use unlimited data without incurring overage charges, and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:27
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ScarletBrother posted:Is there a non-anecdotal source for this throttling? I haven't noticed anything on my gf'd unlimited plans. How about ATT.com? Note, this was #1 hit on google after searching "ATT Throttling." e:f,b
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Sep 30, 2014 18:29
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Thermopyle posted:Do corporate stores have 2014 Moto X's on display to handle? Yes. ScarletBrother posted:Is there a non-anecdotal source for this throttling? I haven't noticed anything on my gf'd unlimited plans. Throttling on unlimited is at 3GB for non LTE phones and 5GB for LTE phones. If you haven't been throttled at those levels you have either been very lucky or you just didn't notice.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:30
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pzy posted:Right now my family plan bill is a clusterfuck. I joined Cingular (lol) when the first iPhones came out, and have had unlimited data since. Of course they just crippled the gently caress out of it. There's two other iPhones on my plan, and we share minimal minutes but have no shared data plan. The other two iPhones are pretty light usage, likely never going over 5 GB each. There is also one more dumb phone on the plan, making 4 lines total. I have a pretty decent FAN discount and my bill still hovers around $200 monthly. I can't give you a full comparison without knowing what your actual plan and any potential discount is (around $200 a month doesn't help enough). The new plan is $130 for 30GB of data and $15 a line, so $175 to start. You buy phones outright, so you have to factor in paying $650+ for a phone whenever you next get a phone.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:34
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Any idea if the Z3 Compact is going to be available for at&t soon? i'm ready to get rid of verizon.
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Sep 30, 2014 19:07
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BraveUlysses posted:Any idea if the Z3 Compact is going to be available for at&t soon? i'm ready to get rid of verizon. No idea, but ATT hasn't carried a Sony phone in a while, so if you want it you may want to buy an unlocked version and just get the cheaper plan to balance it out.
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Oct 1, 2014 03:18
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Duckman2008 posted:Throttling on unlimited is at 3GB for non LTE phones and 5GB for LTE phones. If you haven't been throttled at those levels you have either been very lucky or you just didn't notice.
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Oct 1, 2014 06:16
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Dumb question, we have two family members who want to port their out of state numbers into my family plan (which I will bump up for lol double data) Is that going to be a problem, or does no one really care about area codes anymore? We live in Washington state, numbers are from Alaska, if that matters.
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Oct 1, 2014 07:03
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Actually porting from another carrier or just moving existing AT&T lines into your family plan?
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Oct 1, 2014 08:30
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Molten Llama posted:Actually porting from another carrier or just moving existing AT&T lines into your family plan? Porting from another carrier.
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Oct 1, 2014 08:50
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Maneki Neko posted:Dumb question, we have two family members who want to port their out of state numbers into my family plan (which I will bump up for lol double data) Is that going to be a problem, or does no one really care about area codes anymore? We live in Washington state, numbers are from Alaska, if that matters. On the new plans it does not matter at all.
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Oct 1, 2014 13:09
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Duckman2008 posted:On the new plans it does not matter at all. Yeah? On the old Mobile Share I had an impossible time porting numbers from other regions into our plan. Even just NJ to CT.
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Oct 1, 2014 13:24
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Josh Lyman posted:In this case, wouldn't it make sense for us to switch away from our unlimited plans? I think that is the idea. That's the first thing I thought after reading that they were throttling.
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Oct 1, 2014 14:01
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TJChap2840 posted:I think that is the idea. That's the first thing I thought after reading that they were throttling. Throttling sucks, but unlimited is hugely cheaper than a 6GB plan.
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Oct 1, 2014 15:10
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Josh Lyman posted:I went back and checked the post where I ran calculations on the current plans, and I'd need to get a 2GB plan to break even: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3538927&userid=152397#post434778160 It's not worth the same to all people. With my data usage as it is now I couldn't stand to stay in the throttled range of my old unlimited plan. Most people won't even come close to using as much as you need to get throttled on an unlimited plan so the plan is perfect for my parents for example. For others cost efficiency is the highest importance.
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Oct 1, 2014 15:23
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Regarding the throttling: I hit the 5GB soft-cap and get throttle every single month. For browsing (awful app), music streaming (iTunes radio) and directions (maps/waze) it is a non-issue and I've never seen the limited connection be an issue to/from work and home. I have wifi at work so I never "see" the throttle... ...until i try to update an app, download a big-ish attachment/sync goodreader or try to watch a youtube video. Youtube is the worst about it because while they do scale quality based on connection the ads before said video are not scaled at all so they take FOREVER to load if they load at all.
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Oct 1, 2014 15:48
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