AT&T Unlimited Data $ Increase

I hate to say this as I will probably jinx myself but I have not seen the VERIZON INCREASE yet. I have grandfathered unlimited DATA on my older DROID phone plan. I was expecting to see a 40 dollar monthly rate increase since two of my DROIDS here are using the unlimited data plans...

So far my monthly charge is staying the same as it has been for the past several years...

Roy Ken

Am I the only one being overcharged for data?! I pay $35 for 3GB then an additional $15/GB once the data is used! I've had many problems with AT&T so far and I can't believed I signed a contract with them! I've only been with them since April of this year and I've already almost-canceled 3 times! Their customer service is terrible.

But back to the main question, am I getting overcharged!?

They have many different plans, so it is hard to tell. In my case I signed up for unlimited data with my first iPhone & it was $30.00 per month added to the lowest phone plan ($45.00 per month). I get a discount as a Red Cross Volunteer, so I am paying around $68.00 for voice & data (no texting).

Overall it is a good deal, however as I mentioned in the first post, if you go over 22GB in a month they slow you down to dial up speeds, and if you want to tether, you must drop the unlimited data & change to one of their limited plans.

Since I use a Verizon hotspot for most of my computer data ($100.00 per month for 20GB - moved from the Millenicom service when Verizon killed it) the AT&T service on the iPhone is mostly used for internet radio & Pandora. I generally use around 8GB - 10GB per month.

We're with Verizon, and have been for over 10 years, we have two phones and their hotspot with 12GB per month. It's cost us $190 a month. Some months we need to really cut down the data use are we run over, but what get's me is the months we leave 1-3KG on the table. Sure wish they had rollover, I've called them, but have been told they have no plans to offer rollover.

We've got to look for a different plan.

Why is anyone (everyone) surprised when prices go up? Unless you are selling electronics made in China the only way prices go is up!

long_hauler wrote:
Am I the only one being overcharged for data?! I pay $35 for 3GB then an additional $15/GB once the data is used! I've had many problems with AT&T so far and I can't believed I signed a contract with them! I've only been with them since April of this year and I've already almost-canceled 3 times! Their customer service is terrible.

But back to the main question, am I getting overcharged!?

AT&T doesn't offer unlimited anymore. If you have it, as long as you stay with it, you can keep it. Your $35/3GB I believe is one of the current plans, so no, you are not being over-charged.

My son's phone (on my plan) is grandfathered into the unlimited, and he got hit today with the increase. My wife's phone (the other phone on the plan), we have a 5GB plan... don't recall off top of my head what Im paying for that, but I upped it from 3GB so I could use the phone as a hot spot. Gotta be abov 3GB plan to use phone as hotspot.

Mike

vermilye wrote:

Overall it is a good deal, however as I mentioned in the first post, if you go over 22GB in a month they slow you down to dial up speeds, and if you want to tether, you must drop the unlimited data & change to one of their limited plans.

You can tether using a 3rd party program such as EasyTether. We do. 95% of the time, it is faster than campground wifi.

Can someone explain "tethering" in detail, to a non-techie ... not the tech part, just how you do it, and what you need, and how it impacts your monthly billing.

Currently, we a Verizon phone ($32 mo) and Verizon HotSpot $50 (5G) -- that was fine for several years. We haven't changes our use much (web surf, email, and occasional download of updates - NO movie, NO video, nothing moving.

The past three or four months we went from under 5g, to three or four "overage' charges of $10 per gig ... so, we notice lots of video **** comes on in FB etc, although we don't turn it on, we shut it off right away.

But our billing has literally doubled in the past few months and we don't do anything different. We have one independent Verizon phone - with 4g of data ... we also have one older style phone with just phone and text.

Does it make sense to upgrade old phone to a new style, with the 4g data and tether it to the laptop as well ... if we stay separate, we will then get 4g each phone, and maybe solve the problem. Now, our combined phone/data expense is $150 per month - and with the extra data overage - $225 or so. With two new phones, we'd get 4g each, and ability to tether (if that is the best way to get hotspot too)

What is the best option here, and does the Phone data/hotspot work as well and as fast as the Verizon hotspot? thanks

Thanks Monkey....I wanted to ask the same thing.

"Tether" has come in general use to mean WiFi hotspot

a corruption of the term
originally tether meant using a cable to connect phone and PC
the phone companies confuse the issue, by interchanging the terms

IF you pay your phone company for "tether" that also includes wifi, unless specially spelled out as NOT included, in that case you have to use a cable
but it almost always means wifi use

the fact that phone telcos now sell stand alone hotspot devices and services
has lead them to use wifi and tether both, to describe sharing the phone data
goto face book and turn off videos
or install NoScript in firefox and make all videos a "request" that has to be approved,