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News & ArtsFriday, January 27, 2012
Teh Internets Data Hogs
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 8:01 AM
WSJ:
Im not on the run yet. But I've been warned. AT&T doesn't like what I'm doing.And how much data use does it take to be in AT&T's shit list?The mobile carrier sent me an email out of the blue last week. Apparently I had reached a milestone: I'm in the top 5% of the carrier's heaviest data users.
But there were no prizes. Repeat the feat, and I might be punished with slower service, the email said. Just in case I didn't get the message, AT&T followed up with a text reminding me to use Wi-Fi to help avoid pokey download speeds.
2.05 gigabytes sounds low to me. I easily reach 5 gigabytes—the point at which T-Mobile punishes me with the slow speed—days before the end of my billing cycle.By Jan. 18, about a week before my billing cycle ended, I had already used 2.05 gigabytes.
There isn't much agreement on what counts as normal data use. The average smartphone owner used 606 megabytes of data per month in the third quarter of 2011, according to Nielsen.
1
And now all ATT customers will enjoy the benefits of the breakup of T-Mobile buyout. Theyre jacking up the prices on all their data plans and the warning you got was probably more of a marketing ploy to nudge you into a higher data tier.
2
VIrgin Mobile let me know they'll start throttling now too, though it's still unlimited for $35 a month. The trigger was something like that level too, one I've never got near - I paid no notice since I've been using the smartphone data quite a bit less than I used to.
4
How is it possible to use that much data that quickly? Do you have to use your phone exclusively for your internet access? Leave certain apps running all the time? Because I'm certain I don't come halfway to my limit (2.5 GB IIRC).
6
"Top 5%" is a meaningless figure anyway. Even if they kicked everyone in the top 5% of data users off of their service, rest assured that they'd proceed to go after the next top 5%.
7
Virgin Mobile sent out a similar email.
The thing is, if I hadn't been sucked into downloading all these fantastic apps (oh, look, I can watch YouTube on a 3"x2" screen...wow!) I wouldn't use the thing except for text and calls...and I don't talk on the phone that much anyway.
8
I'm on AT&T and use my phone quite regularly for online access, since I'm out-and-about frequently, and don't see the need to lug a laptop with me everywhere I go, and yet I seldom use more than about 1.5 Gb per month. So, it seems like you'd have to be watching a lot of video (which I do only marginally), or downloading a lot of apps and/or files to top 2 Gb.
9
Comte, reading about 3,000 tech and news RSS entries daily works out to slightly over 5GB (no video, no music, no podcasts, no file downloads).
10
Point taken @9, but, aside from people in the tech industry, are there really THAT many average folk out there reading that much online documentation on a regular basis?
12
@1: "And now all ATT customers will enjoy the benefits of the breakup of T-Mobile buyout. Theyre jacking up the prices on all their data plans"
The same benefits they would have "enjoyed" after a successful T-Mobile buyout.
The same benefits they would have "enjoyed" after a successful T-Mobile buyout.
13
If you're downloading over 2 GB on your phone in a week, your service should be throttled. There's a finite amount of bandwidth, so your overuse of the network comes at the expense of the rest of us.
15
@13: "your overuse of the network comes at the expense of the rest of us."
This right here is the reason why America's nearly dead last when it comes to mobile & wired internet service.
Similarly smug defenses of the telcos' refusing to invest in infrastructure upgrades and charging us more for less.
This right here is the reason why America's nearly dead last when it comes to mobile & wired internet service.
Similarly smug defenses of the telcos' refusing to invest in infrastructure upgrades and charging us more for less.
18
The difference in cost between someone who uses 606 megs and someone who uses 2.05GB is minimal at best. Trying to calculate the electricity used between the 2 is negligible if you could even calculate it accurately considering all the factors that go into the electronics they use. Nine times out of ten the hardware already has to stay running to provide the service, so adding one or 2 more connections would barely add pennies to the cost overall. Sure it adds up, sure there can be priorities, but cutting someone off entirely from the internet for using 2.05GB on a connection that can go up to 100kbps is useless, it doesn't help everyone else's network connections, it reinforces the idea that they are the paymasters and you must only use the internet the way they want. The phone companies would hate for you to learn the truth, and would love for you to think there's a limited amount of internets we all have to fight for. This myth is insulting and I will never spend a dime (my dad paid for my phone when I was with them so technically I never did) with a company like ATT again. Any company focused on taking away services from their customers, even their most active, has a service they can't control, and they have no right to, you're with a service company that's having a problem providing a service. Capitalism is dead.
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