Posted on 06/02/2010 8:36:10 AM PDT by Clint Williams
_KiTA_ writes
"AT&T announced today that the iPhone will gain tethering, finally, at an extra $20 a month, but only for people on a new 2GB a month plan. They also quietly announced at the same time the real news — that the $30 Unlimited Data plan on the iPad 3G will be axed in lieu of the same data plan. Yes, this would be the same 'revolutionary data plan' that Steve Jobs was so proud of during the iPad unveiling — it lasted just a month after the 3G model was delayed to May 7. People feeling vibes of previous Apple iDevice releases are not alone. Existing accounts will be allowed to grandfather in, although Apple has removed the ability to purchase the iPad from the online store at this time, and AT&T has a history of changing its plans without warning. Finally, there is no word on what happens if you ever let your Unlimited plan lapse for a month at this time."
“...because the infrastructure is denser and cheaper, you just don’t notice...”
This is my point. It is actually cheaper to cover a given area with wireless than it is a physical cable infrastructure. A $100K of equipment will cover 10K homes even in a rural area like Pahrump. That is nothing compared to the cost of actually stringing cable to each home on each street. Cable modem data usage is unlimited and that is who they need to compete with when it comes to users that want unlimited 3G/4G. You say “mobile” but that isn’t really the issue, is it ? Unlimited data is not going to be an issue when people are actually on the move. It is the tethered use while people are at home or at their office that they are afraid needs caps on usage.
“No, the analogy is a good one because mobile bandwidth is a shared resource.”
But that is not why water and electricity are metered. Those are metered because it actually costs money to provide each unit consumed, and this is in addition to the money it costs them to deliver each unit even after the infrastructure is in place. Internet providers only have the infrastructure fixed costs and they don’t increase with the volume of data moving over it. The carriers are not paying for every gig of data moved over their backbones, and they are not actually producing the content so there is no unit cost.
The effort to cap usage is just a way to slow growth so the existing infrastructure will last longer while they make more money back on their capital investment. A flat rate would pay for the water and electric distribution infrastructure because they have fixed initial costs and fixed maintenance costs — just as wireless infrastructure does — the difference is that each unit of water actually costs the provider money to purchase and deliver while gigabytes of data cost the carrier nothing.
What does your Sprint plan cost and is it truly unlimited data usage ? Articles are suggesting that even those plans calling themselves “unlimited” are really capped at 5GB/month.
I average about 20GB/mo at home over my 3Mb/s DSL, so I’ve thought a 3G/4G tethered phone was not really a viable substitute. I’d love it if it was, because between cellphone and DSL Verizon is costing me $85/mo.
Yes, the problem is mobile users, both the sheer number of them as well as their data demand growth. Think about what's next on the horizon. Every vehicle with mobile IP constantly exchanging data. Pandora radio in the front seat while the kids stream Netflix movies in the back. Video chat everywhere as texting is viewed as something akin to Morse code by the young. That's where we're heading and all of this is technically doable today--except for the lack of sufficient mobile bandwidth which needs to grow at a furious rate to keep pace. Metered usage is what will help fund this growth.
Bandwidth is no different from water or electricity as far as infrastructure build and maintenance costs go. The real difference is in the demand curves. You probably don't need 10x the amount of water or electricity currently being delivered to your house, but you'd certainly be able to use 10x (or more) of the bandwidth.
If you think "gigabytes of data cost the carrier nothing" then feel free to open your own ISP and price your services that way and see how well you do.
It’s amazing how much confusion there is about a term that you so clearly and simply explained in very few words. Bravo.
“If you think “gigabytes of data cost the carrier nothing” then feel free to open your own ISP and price your services that way and see how well you do. “
I’ve considered it and researched it, and that’s why I know what the numbers are. You’d be surprised how little bandwidth cable companies have on their backhauls. A single T3 at 45Mbs usually, or at most an OC3 at 155MBs. Cost to a business in most metro areas for a T3 is now under $5K/month, an OC3 under $50K/month. And that is the backhaul for a cable plant supporting 20k households with unlimited data usage plans. The monthly cost per user is small. It is the distribution infrastructure and maintenance of it that costs money. And those costs are so much lower for wireless than cable, that wireless operators trying to meter while cable operators do not is a recipe for failure.
“Pandora radio in the front seat while the kids stream Netflix movies in the back.”
That is a good point. I tend to forget about video in vehicles. A few hundred vehicles within range of any given POP could put a congestion load on a T3, I suppose. Although why would somebody rely on a wireless connection for streaming realtime video in a moving vehicle rather than downloading ahead of time and just playback when driving ? Kids typically watch the same movie over and over again, after all.
Order today before 11:59pm at the Apple online store and they say they’ll honor the old plan pricing. (from apple.com: “ the Unlimited* $29.99
* Available if ordering iPad from the Apple Online Store by June 6”)
Thanks, I actually got an email from Apple on Friday that my iPad was in and ready to be picked up!! I was able to activate my unlimited cellular plan, after a 1.25 hour phone call bouncing between Apple & AT&T (reps from both companies couldn’t have been more helpful, BTW).
It really made my weekend much more productive, considering I was stuck out in the boonies with no wifi available, but was strumming along on my 3g. Life is good!!
Congrats on your new toy! I ended waiting to see what was going on at the WWDC today. Ugh, there’s too many choices and a limited discretionary cash flow here.
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