AT&T Wireless Offers "Unlimited PDA Plan"

[David McNamee]

Six months after becoming the first North American carrier to offer a Windows Powered Smartphone, AT&T Wireless in now offering an unlimited data access plan for less than $50.00 per month. Qualifying voice plans can receive unlimited data access for $44.99. Otherwise, the plan is $49.99. See the letter posted at <a href="http://www.mpx200.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1242&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">Mobile Gadget News</a> for more details.<br /><br />I'm very happy to see AT&T bring their data plan pricing closer to Earth. Someone correct me, but I believe this brings their pricing in line with Verizon. It's still more than what T-Mobile customers will pay, though. It seems to me that mobile data access plans are still viewed as something for business customers and are priced accordingly. Consumers pay $50 or less for broadband Internet access at home, I don't think paying that much for mobile data will prove very popular.

[Kris Kumar]

I wonder if this "Unlimited Plan" allows you to use the phone as a modem. I mean connect a laptop to your phone to access the net.

I was told Verizon's $40 something plan does not allow you to do that. You have to pay $80 something.

Wonder what AT&T is thinking.

Also assuming that AT&T will allow data roaming also, just like the recently announced voice roaming plan.

Kris

PS: Waiting eagerly for the MPx220, and I hope its quad band. Then no matter what people are saying I am going to swtich to AT&T and give GSM a second chance.

[possmann]

$50 a month! :lol:

You have got to be kidding! If I'm going to pay that much I better be getting a ton more speed than what I get now - geesh!

I do not agree that an unlimited wireless plan from ANY vendor should cost as much as a cable plan for your home PC - that's just nuts. :roll:

IMHO :wink:

[Jon Westfall]

AT&T Unlimited Data: $50
T-Mobile Unlimited Data: $30 (or $20 on voice plan).

Hmm.

I must be psychic or something - about 3 days ago I posted that AT&T needed an unlimited data plan...

[possmann]

I must be psychic or something - about 3 days ago I posted that AT&T needed an unlimited data plan...

How about taking a guess at the lottery numbers? :lol:

[Kris Kumar]

I must be psychic or something - about 3 days ago I posted that AT&T needed an unlimited data plan...

Do you see MPx220 in T-Mobile or AT&T's future :?:


:-)

[ajmaonline]

What good is an unlimited plan if coverage sucks. I can barely get signal in some places outside in the middle of the city.... and I'm in Redmond (AT&T's home city).

[Khufu1]

The plan details they told me was that if you go over 100MB two months in a row, they bump you to the $80 unlimited plan. I guess that's what makes it a PDA plan.

-Khufu1

[Jon Westfall]

I must be psychic or something - about 3 days ago I posted that AT&T needed an unlimited data plan...

How about taking a guess at the lottery numbers? :lol:

Well, I don't publicize it much, but I do have a 100% accuracy rating on my List of Winning Pick 4 Numbers (http://www.bugjr.org/lottery.php). Feel free to check them out and pick one off the list to try. I assure you that every night, one of them on the list wins. I'm quite proud of it ;)

[aristoBrat]

I wonder if this "Unlimited Plan" allows you to use the phone as a modem. I mean connect a laptop to your phone to access the net.

Click on the link in the OP and scroll down a reply or two after the scanned AT&T letter

MOBILE INTERNET $49.99 UNLIMITED PDA DATA PLAN - ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The AT&T Wireless Mobile Internet Unlimited PDA Plan may be used with the following wireless devices; PalmOne Tungsten W, PalmOne Treo, Siemens SX56, the Motorola MPx200, or similar AT&T Wireless certified devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) e-mail; (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, e-mail and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force and field service automation). The Plan may not be used with server devices, with host computer applications or while tethering. Such prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, web camera posts or broadcasts, continuous jpeg file transfers, automatic data feeds, telemetry applications, automated functions or any other machine-to-machine applications. Data sessions cannot be used as a substitute for private lines or frame relay connections. AT&T Wireless reserves the right to deny or terminate service, without notice, to any person that uses the AT&T Wireless network in any manner prohibited above or when AT&T Wireless deems that subscriber's usage to be excessive thus potentially adversely impacting the AT&T Wireless network or service levels. AT&T Wireless further reserves the right to move a subscriber from the Mobile Internet Unlimited PDA Plan to the standard $79.99 monthly unlimited Mobile Internet Data Plan, without notice, if the subscriber uses more than 100 megabytes of data in each of two consecutive months.

[deavod]

MOBILE INTERNET $49.99 UNLIMITED PDA DATA PLAN - ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The AT&T Wireless Mobile Internet Unlimited PDA Plan may be used with the following wireless devices; PalmOne Tungsten W, PalmOne Treo, Siemens SX56, the Motorola MPx200, or similar AT&T Wireless certified devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) e-mail; (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, e-mail and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force and field service automation). The Plan may not be used with server devices, with host computer applications or while tethering. Such prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, web camera posts or broadcasts, continuous jpeg file transfers, automatic data feeds, telemetry applications, automated functions or any other machine-to-machine applications. Data sessions cannot be used as a substitute for private lines or frame relay connections. AT&T Wireless reserves the right to deny or terminate service, without notice, to any person that uses the AT&T Wireless network in any manner prohibited above or when AT&T Wireless deems that subscriber's usage to be excessive thus potentially adversely impacting the AT&T Wireless network or service levels. AT&T Wireless further reserves the right to move a subscriber from the Mobile Internet Unlimited PDA Plan to the standard $79.99 monthly unlimited Mobile Internet Data Plan, without notice, if the subscriber uses more than 100 megabytes of data in each of two consecutive months.

You forgot the best part.


...AT&T Wireless further reserves the right to move a subscriber from the Mobile Internet Unlimited PDA Plan to the standard $79.99 monthly unlimited Mobile Internet Data Plan, without notice, if the subscriber uses more than 100 megabytes of data in each of two consecutive months.

So really this isn't an unlimited data plan. It's a 100MB/month data plan.

[encece]

Negatively redefines the word UNLIMITED, doesnt it.
That's like ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT SHRIMP at Red Lobster, but you can't eat more than 12 or you have to pay more. (and when you get there, you find that they weren't shrimp at all, but sea monkeys!) :D :evil:

Rediculous.

I have the $19.99 8MB Plan...I wont pay more until it's equal to T-Mobile's plan.

Blame Verizon for this. They have a similarly priced plan. If you're going to lobby for lower prices, lobby both companies.

(did I spell lobby correctly?)

[swbuehler]

I'm very happy to see AT&T bring their data plan pricing closer to Earth. Someone correct me, but I believe this brings their pricing in line with Verizon. It's still more than what T-Mobile customers will pay, though. It seems to me that mobile data access plans are still viewed as something for business customers and are priced accordingly. Consumers pay $50 or less for broadband Internet access at home, I don't think paying that much for mobile data will prove very popular.

This new plan has basically the same restrictions as the legacy PocketNet, but for over twice the price (PocketNet was $19.99/month for "unlimited use", and you could tether for 5 cents/KB *IF* your PocketNet phone wasn't crippled at the factory by AT&T to not support tethered connections like my Ericsson 289LX was). AT&T already has another $49.99/month plan that offers 50MB of bandwidth, so relatively speaking for AT&T Wireless customers stuck under a contract it is a good deal.

Some immediate benefits I could see for this would be increased bandwidth to actually be able to use Windows Media's mobile web site and the ability to use SmartIRC more often. The other benefit I'm seeing here is that they are doing away with the data roaming charge on this plan (it's 2 cents/kb on the regular mMode plans).

The only way I'd see someone exceeding 100MB per month is if they're tethering to a laptop.

[deavod]

The only way I'd see someone exceeding 100MB per month is if they're tethering to a laptop.

That's one way. Lots of streaming audio / video could eat that 100MB in a heartbeat. You can do the math pretty quick. Maybe someone can check my math here and see if I’m off. I think you can work back from 100MB and figure out your listening time to a 32Kb/sec audio stream. Here’s my try:

32Kb audio stream is 32,000 bits/second. Divided by 8 gives me 4000 Bytes/second

100MB is 100 * 1,048,576 = 104,857,600 Bytes

So if my math is correct you can divide 100 MB by 4000 Bytes/second to come up with your total listening time

104,857,600 / 4000 = 26214 seconds
Or 436 Minutes
Or 7 ½ hours listening time

So you can listen to that 32Kb/sec audio stream 7 1/2 hours before going over your "unlimited" data plan. I think it's entirely reasonable that someone could listen to an audio stream for 8 hours per month if they really thought the plan was unlimited. Listen to a half hour of NPR news every working day and you would go over. (20 day * .5 hours = 10 hours)

[swbuehler]

That's one way. Lots of streaming audio / video could eat that 100MB in a heartbeat. You can do the math pretty quick. Maybe someone can check my math here and see if I’m off. I think you can work back from 100MB and figure out your listening time to a 32Kb/sec audio stream.
You must have really good connectivity on the GPRS network in your area if you're able to receive a 32Kbps stream consistently. I would like to be able to listen to the Bloomberg audio feed (which is 28.8Kbps), but they use the ACELP codec which SmartPhone 2002 doesn't support.

There was a service listed in mMode (don't know where it went now) where you could listen to audio feeds over the phone using your airtime minutes (which when you've got unlimited nights/weekends is convenient) ... It's listed on the mMode web site as "Hear It @ MYIA", but it doesn't seem to be avialable online in mMode.

I did upgrade my mMode plan over the weekend, but from the 4MB MAX plan to the 8MB ULTRA one, not to this $50/month nonsense.

If you looked at Sprint's "Vision PCS" data service fine print (even though they advertised it as unlimited); it said when I last read it that they had the right to charge you for usage over 2 MB per month.

BTW, I did notice looking at the plans this past week that AT&T Wireless quietly did away with the 2-cent-per-KB U.S. data roaming charge (they still charge roaming in Canada and Internationally). This is useful to me since I tend to get bumped onto T-Mobile's network in the Brandon, FL area when I'm out there.