Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the last time you rode Amtrak, Phil Hughes rocking it tonight, or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County brought to you by Disney, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
The mobile world is a-changin’: AT&T has moved to a tiered data system, Verizon is launching its tiered pricing soon, and T-Mobile will unleash a strange hybrid of tiered plans complemented by throttled “unlimited” plans. The days of truly unlimited mobile data are coming to a close. Which scheme is worse? Tiered data plans with hard caps or throttling data after a certain number is hit?
On one hand, a lot of consumers — ones that use less data than they think — can save money in a tiered system. A lot of iPhone and iPad users don’t come anywhere close to the 2GB limit that comes with the $25 data plan. (Yes, some of these people are hipster lamers that never download apps.) Data hogs and those that want less restrictions will be happy with T-Mobile’s data rates…until they hit 5GBs of data and the company can throttle down bandwidth.
Both pricing schemes suck and stifle the future of mobile computing. Developers are limited in what they can do with mobile apps because they don’t want to create a brilliant program that consumers will avoid because it hits the Internet for too much data. Consumers won’t use the devices they have as much as they would if data were truly unlimited. Unfortunately, data caps and data throttling are here to stay. Which one do you think is worse?
[poll id=”80″]
sprint is the only plan that i can use, cause id go broke on a tiered plan
They both suck. TMo throttles you down to 64kbps…so just imagine you are enjoying that HSPA+ and then after 3 weeks you can't even open an email faster than a 56k modem could. Ridiculous huh?
LTE tiered data is even more ridiculous. Seidenberg even admitted (Verizon) that LTE offers considerably more bandwidth and is cheaper to operate per user than their EVDO network yet it has to be capped and tiered….and more expensive. The expensive part is fine, they need to pay for upgrade but to limit your "new" tech to the shackles of the old tech is just plain disingenuous.
As for me I'm grandfathered in on ATT unlimited. I use about 5gig per month. I stream podcasts of a morning radio show that I like everyday during my commute or at work. That's close to 150mb per day. The rest of the data is used by web surfing, pulling down apps, etc. No tethering.
I don't know how I would feel if I were subjected to any of that. I am so used to getting as much internet as I want for a fixed price. AT&T keeps telling me how much money I can save by going to the tiered plans up until they see my data usage (new personal best last month 7.5ish Gb).
I guess throttling is the lesser of 2 evils though, at least you still have some kind of access. I prefer the way AT&T does it, if you go over they just charge you more, that way if you really really need it you can pay for it and not just be without.
They both suck but I have Tmo. How can you check your data usage? I've only had an internet capable phone for about 4 months now.
I know at&t has the at&T account management app where you can check. they also have it when you go view your account throught their site, maybe TMo has the same thing.
I miss the days when I used to be able to simply use minutes to go online with my phone. That was just so much more simple than being screwed over by all of these phone companies.
Throttling, to me, is worse since it is deceptive. At least in a tiered pricing plan, you know how much you will be charged and how much data you can consume for each tiered price. But if a company advertises 6.0 Mb/s download and I get that (or near that) for several months of service and then all of a sudden I'm at 3.5 Mb/s, well that's just bull s- . Especially if they give me the run-around after I talk dozens of times to customer service and don't ever increase the speed.
The proper way to resolve that situation is to give the customer half their money back, or whatever is proportional to the decrease in advertised speed. Of course, that won't happen if there aren't more competitors out in the market.
-M
i'm glad to see i wasnt the only one who voted for i don't care, iphone 4.
On an Amtrak train to Anaheim for Blizzcon. Haven't been on an Amtrak for years.Possibly a decade.
hey! did you get on the Amtrak station by the old Spanish Mission and chinatown?
Yes. Isn't that the only Amtrak station in town?
By you probably , I think there's another one but i haven't use the Cali Amtrak system in years. i belive there is another Amtrak station that goes from LA to Anaheim but i could be wrong. The reason i asked that because that's my favorite Amtrak station. i like the way the station looks on the outside, the inside isn't as impressive.
I saw Leahy in the press room. I wanted to film him and provide commentary on how much he looks like an eggplant. Unfortunately he had to run to a meeting. Hopefully tomorrow.
Haha…
Eggplanticus Leahyicus.
My feet are tired and my knee is sore…but I should have some fun content, Diablo 3 is super fun, and I filmed Leahy while he wasn\’t looking. Time to rest, watch the Yankee game, and prepare for a night out with gaming industry people.
if you film you guys drunk, it wont be much different than the old "reset" days
Texas!!!!
Hell yeah! Go walker texas rangers!
Sadly, I'm filming everything myself, so I won't be on camera (drunk). Hopefully in the future I can get someone to film (preferably a cute 18-year old).
Or some hot blonde, 29 year old newly single mom who happens to sing on the side.
She'll do!
christina aguilera is TWENTY NINE???
(gasp)
my life……
Anyone have any thoughts on the hot rumor of the day that George Lucas is secretly working on the next Star Wars Trilogy?
He always said he planned it to be 9 parts. All the actors that portrayed han leia and luke are older now amd would kinda match up where eu story picks up 20 years after the events of rotj. I would watch them.
I would love to watch them, and like Tokz said it was always planned to be 9 parts so it would be cool to see them actually made.
My legs are tired, but it's not nearly as bad as the first day at Blizzcon. It's much easier walking around with a monopod than a tripod. It's also more fun to shoot. I really don't like tripod shots. You have more freedome with a monopod. The thing is, I'm not that good a shooter and often have Michel Gondry/Spike Jonez ideas in my head — not a good combination.
Also, Diablo III is awesome.
Also also, it's not as crowded as previous Blizzcons. Methinks it's the economy. That said, I love the vibe here. A lot of people — particularly WoW players — feel like this is a place where everyone understands them. It's very cool and comfortable.