instead of infrastructures expanding they are just funneling end users.

but then again you get what you paid for. for 25 bux 10 meg connections are kinda of funny, then compete with prices of like t1 where there is no usage limits and priced at 400 a month.

Abusing a common resource?!?! WTF that’s a bit extreame

There is only so much bandwidth available. We all need to share it. You simply can not put up a new cell tower at will.

I don’t believe it to be extreme at all.

This same problem has bedeviled dial-up, and cable modem systems. When .5% of users use 98% of resources, its abusive no matter how you slice it.

with fiber backbones, etc our data usage is what 1% traffic?

Its nothing to do with the backbones.

This is a last-mile problem. From the tower to you is where things are getting saturated.

And you are correct, the US pays some of the highest Cell bills in the world.

We have no government subsidy, no government mandated Cell tower site availability, and No Government run Telco, and no mandatory roaming policy, and absurd roaming rates charged by one carriers other other carrier.

We are often compared to little countries like France and Britian, or heavily subsidized countries like Canada and Brazil, where some or all of these things exist.

A better comparison might be Australia or Russia, but those countries don’t have our cell coverage areas, or our customer loading.

Still our prices are way too high. Not the least of our problem is the ridiculous license fees for bandwidth paid to the government, and the fees demanded by state and local governments to put up a cell tower.

Our carriers aren’t exactly getting rich either. Some are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. We are still building out our systems. Some times rebuild for the third time. Whereas small countries have every square inch within range of three towers, there are still places in the US where there is no cell signal.

Its a bit of a mess. And its gotten totally out of hand.

But it is what it is, and its not getting fixed any time soon.

the US is the most expensive mobile country in the world.

with fiber backbones, etc our data usage is what 1% traffic?

give me a break, they cant pay out a few billions to the ceo as a bonus check.

I hope they don’t alter the plans, I’m not overly happy with AT&T as a whole, but I love my iPhone, and as long as they keep it the way it is, I’ll be content, but if they crap it up, I’ll probably just go back to Verizon where you can actually make phone calls when you want.

Btw I don’t teather and I’ll be at around 5 gb. I use maps constantly (just moved to NYC). I watch video sometimes on NBC.com. I use the Internet whenever on a break from work or on the bus. It’s mostly Internet use!

I’d prefer to see that top tier MUCH MUCH more punitive. 4 Gig = $100. 6 Gig = $200.

I’m not worried about ATT losing money trying to build towers to accommodate these bandwidth hogs.

The idea isn’t to recover more money from these hogs. The idea is to make it too expensive for them to continue abusing a common resource.

Its the Tragedy of the Commons all over again.

So I ask… how on god’s green earth are there people using 5 times that much? Have you found some way to use a torrent on the iPhone or something? Crazy.

So in the examples you’ve cited, the TOS was already broken by your “friend”. The way I see it, he has no cause for complaint. He IS the problem.

You’ve provided one more nugget of evidence for my pet theory that it is impossible to pull 5Gig per month AND honor your end of the contract.

Of course, the worry is that AT&T will keep prices the same and then charge the high users more, which just brings in more revenue for them, but doesn’t really benefit customers.

If bandwidth is scarce, incentivize the use properly and also use the revenue to improve the bandwidth.

So take for example tipb.com. On everyother device this site might be 90k. On the iPhone it will poll down 1 Meg.

Since the browser on an iPhone is actually usable to do stuff. iPhone owners actually use the Internet unlike other smart phones which are used as a last resort.

I can see why at&t is crying. The don’t want to change from low bandwith phones on there network to better more richer experiance on the phone. Which devices like iPhone, android. And the new nokia n900 bring to the market

Spelling is important

this the reason why then dont want to bring another webkit browser phone on the market and rejecting an android device?

One of my friends is a bandwidth hog and he runs Torrentula in the background. ~1GB movies are easily downloaded when your not sitting there staring at them. Plus he downloads huge sized App Store apps like Tiger Woods and Navigon over 3G using Unrestrictor. A couple months ago he hit 5GB in 2 weeks.

Check your bill, NOT the use statistics.

And fess up, state whether you tether or not.

At the speed of 3G, Im not convinced there are enough hours in the day to pull 5gig per month and still hane a life.

Thats a lot of surfing. lol. I use my iphone to download itunes songs, download apps, and surf.. I’m never over 500meg.. I don’t use streaming music because I prefer itunes to that. I do have a wifi connection in my home though.. so I’m sure that makes a difference.

BTW, I average less than 20MG on my phone, mostly because we DON’T even have 3G in my area. I use wi-fi almost exclusively. AT&T has not delivered premium service for the premium price I am paying. Aside from the few calls I make and the texts I send, what are they giving to someone like me, who works the iPhone more like a Touch?

The iphone is just that much more web friendly.

Like some other posters it is hard for me to understand how usage could be higher.

For those who say they don’t know how much they use, it is broken by phone number in summary and detail form on your bill.

I don’t know what new hell AT&Tis brewing in the death star, but I suspect my data usage won’t be nearly high enough to trigger it. And I suspect that the vast majority f us won’t be either. Just a lot of FUD as a scapegoat for a poorly operating data network, if you ask me.

The higest I’ve ever been on my laptop connect was a gig and I stream sling over that too occasionally. I don’t see how you can use over 5gb a month on an iphone or laptop connect unless you stream 24/7.

ATT have lost there mind, they are just try to get more money out of us.

They do not want to give anything, to get the free call on any network. You have to has 1400 anytime minutes on a family package. If you gave 1400 anytime minutes. If you have 1400 anytime min. why would you need free network on any network. ATT do anything to ge more money out of us.

I do no care how much data I’m using, my data plan is UNLIN. I’m going to use it like it not a tomorrow.

ATT CAN GO TO HELL!!