Slashdot Mirror
AT&T Caps Netflix Streaming Costs At $68K/Yr
theodp writes "What would you say if you went to join a gym and were told that it could cost you anywhere from $360 a year to $68,000 a year for the exact same usage? Don't be ridiculous, right? Well, that's really not so different from what the potential costs of streaming video on an AT&T smartphone are. According to AT&T's Data Usage Calculator, 1,440 minutes worth of streaming video consumes 2.81GB, which — if you manage to keep Netflix fired up all day and night — would result in a $360 annual bill under the grandfathered $30-monthly-unlimited-data plan, or $68,376 under the new $20-monthly-300MB plan. Still, that didn't stop a spokesman from characterizing the new AT&T data plans as 'a great value' for customers."
...it become our God-given right to stream Netflix 24-7? And to get outraged that there is a bulk discount? AT&T has many, many issues already, so do you really need to contrive a completely unrealistic one to make a point?
Utilities and the like seem to like to do crazy things with billing based on usage. My gas/electric company reads the meter every other month and estimates for the months they don't read based on past usage. I've had a number of months in the past year estimated gas use so high that they mark it as 0 use the next month when they read the meter (which means I'm still paying for gas I don't use because I really doubt it comes to exactly even every time). However, even on months where they bill me for 0 gas use, I still get a nice plump "delivery charge". Isn't this like FedEx sending you a bill because they could have delivered a package even though they didn't?
Yes, because it's entirely reasonable that someone would sign up for the lowest possible data plan, and then use as much bandwidth as possible for every second of every day. Obviously, that plan is designed for people who intend to use streaming very little, if at all, and it is a very good value for those people. No, not as good a value as the old $30 unlimited, but that was obviously not sustainable as phone bandwidth usage increased massively. Remember when the $30 unlimited plan was created, Netflix for the phone didn't exist, and most phones struggled to stream very low res video.
3GB data for $30 a month
article is FUD
AT&T offers larger chunks of data for less per megabyte. So if you're expecting to stream 3GB, buy 3GB.
You wouldn't be a complete moron and buy the smallest data plan and then let it up-charge you over and over again.
It's just the usual 'I used to get everything for FREE' rant that ignores the fact that the company has costs and unlimited plans were doomed from the start. They are so massively unfair to 90% of the users that I'm surprised there aren't more people clamoring for cheaper, metered plans.
I say this while I'm in the top 5%, if not the top 1%. When I was in highschool, back in the dialup days, I was "#1 abuser" at my local ISP. Yes, they told me that directly. I was part of the reason they ended their 'unlimited' dialup plan. (They nearly went out of business soon after and ended up selling out to an ISP that still had an unlimited plan.)
The problem is that the word 'unlimited' is very attractive to us, even if we're paying more than we should. At the moment, I have unlimited internet bandwidth, cell minutes, cell texts, cell bandwidth and probably other things I've forgotten. With my usage, it probably makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that the entire rest of my family (not living near me) has most of the same unlimited things, and they'd probably be better off with metered service. But they've got this 'don't want to pay overages' mentality that makes them keep paying too much. Notice that I said, "probably makes sense" for me. I haven't done the math! I could very well save some money if I examined it, but I feel a resistance to even doing that.
tl;dr - It's a psychological thing that overrides logic.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
You don't calculate your water bill based on if you leave all the faucets in your house on for 24/7.
I don't see the big deal as long as AT&T notifies the customer of overages when they occur.
"How much *profit* should they be allowed..."
As much as the market will pay. And comparing DSL to cellular is comparing apples to oranges.
It's still way overpriced. It should be $1 for 1GB. We just need competition and the market will correct itself.
Well, I think that your plan is overpriced. It should be $0.01 for 1GB.
See how pointless it is when you make up numbers just to make yourself happy?
Ha, yeah right. I know exactly what you are thinking and I do agree. However the problem is that when a new competitor is able to get into the market, they are bought out by the larger businesses. Alltel was the first to really start offering decent services and a reasonable way before the 4-goons ever did/have. When they sold-out to Verizon the services were grandfathered in but after that the rates and services ceased to exist even for those grandfathered in.
The max cost need to be in there, and having to pay $70000 just because you forgot to turn off your phone is not a good thing. This is important because people do not see this problem, and tend to laugh at "losers" affected by it. Pressure should be on the Telcos to have fair pricing, not on the customers.
So no it's not alarmist, it's trying to expose telcos for what they are, and hopefully change them.
If you "forget" about your phone the battery will die after about 45 minutes of this kind of usage, so, not to worry! And for what it's worth this has been going on ever since the invention of long distance; you have always been able to dig a real deep hole for yourself. Say you call your aunt in Armenia and you both forget to put the phone totally back on the hook; one month later you will have an $86,000 phone bill. Think that's changed any? You can opt to purchase more affordable plans, which is no different than in this scenario, but if you choose to be completely dumb about it yes you can find yourself owing a LOT of money. That's the price of being a grownup.
They should prompt you for buying a new data allowance when your expires. And, ideally, they should charge you for Mb, not simply shove another 300Mb/1Gb down your throat. Sometimes you run into your cap on the last few days of the month and would rather simply wait for the refresh instead of paying 100% more for 10% more data.
It's also cellular data that they're talking about. Anybody who would watch Netflix 24/7 in high definition over a cellular connection needs to have their head examined. (you did notice that the link to the "data usage calculator" was for the wireless calculator, right?)
Over a wired connection, the rate is significantly more reasonable. But it wouldn't make as interesting a sensationalist headline.
Wrong. These are regulated monopolies; we trust them with our very limited spectrum with the understanding that they will provide services that are in our best interest. This includes in terms of price.
The gradual lessening of service per dollar is a genuine concern.