AT&T family of 4 w/data hoggers thinking about switching

[JasW]

I've been on AT&T for about 12 years. I coughed up the grandfathered unlimited data plan I'd been on a few years ago when it no longer became possible for third-party apps (e.g., FoxFi) to get my phone to work as a mobile hotspot.

My family of 4 has since been on a 30GB Mobile Share program. It's $130 a month, plus $15 per line, for a total of $190 a month.

My two kids are the data hogs in the family, particularly my son. I've put 12GB in-device caps on each of my kids' phones, technically leaving my wife and I with 3GB apiece. My son, however, regularly hits his 12GB cap about halfway through the month. He apparently turns wifi off at various times and sometimes forgets to turn it back on at home, and is continuously streaming YouTube videos regardless of where he is.

All four of our phones are off contract, so with nothing preventing me from leaving AT&T, I've been thinking about switching to the T-Mobile One plan, which from what I gather would run us $160 a month, or $30 a month less than what we're paying now, and give us unlimited LTE data to boot.

My main concern, though, is the fine print in the unlimited LTE data portion of the plan. It says: "On all plans, during congestion the top 3% of data users (>28GB/mo.) may notice reduced speeds until next bill cycle." I can see my son, going nuts with unlimited data, bringing us to that 28GB soft cap before the end of the month. Has anyone had experience hitting that cap, and what it means for connection quality/video quality etc.?

As to overall video quality itself, one piece of fine print says: "Video typically streams on smartphone/tablet at DVD quality (480p)." Another more detailed piece of fine print says: "Detectable video typically streams at DVD quality (480p or better) with Binge On unless video provider opts-out. You may disable Binge On at any time, but will lose Binge On benefits."

What "video" are they talking about? Since I've heard that Netflix doesn't count against unlimited data, I presume it's by default viewed with the 480p "Binge On" limitation, correct? What other video providers (like YouTube) have opted in to Binge On, and can it be disabled on individual phones, or is it a plan-wide option?

Thanks in advance or answering any or all of these questions.

 

[raino]

-28GB "de-prioritization" cap is per line, not per account. AT&T has such a cap as well on their unlimited plan(s).

I have seen TMO customer screenshots of being "de-prioritized" to speeds as low as 0.01mbps.

-Binge On does not apply to the ONE/One Plus plans. The ONE plan throttles video--downloaded or streamed--to 1.5mbps. This can force a scaling down to 480p. TMO calls this "optimization." If you want better quality video on this plan, TMO wants you to cough up $3/day for HD Day Passes, or upgrade to the One PLUS plan for $25/month, where you still have to request (free) HD Day Passes.

Binge On is free, on the plans it's available for and is supposed to be turned off and on a per-line basis.

 

[Almeuit]

-28GB "de-prioritization" cap is per line, not per account. AT&T has such a cap as well on their unlimited plan(s).

I have seen TMO customer screenshots of being "de-prioritized" to speeds as low as 0.01mbps.

-Binge On does not apply to the ONE/One Plus plans. The ONE plan throttles video--downloaded or streamed--to 1.5mbps. This can force a scaling down to 480p. TMO calls this "optimization." If you want better quality video on this plan, TMO wants you to cough up $3/day for HD Day Passes, or upgrade to the One PLUS plan for $25/month, where you still have to request (free) HD Day Passes.

Binge On is free, on the plans it's available for and is supposed to be turned off and on a per-line basis.

De-prioritization isn't so bad if you aren't on a crowded tower but if you are it def. can suck. As Raino said they all have this type of limitation but everything else he said is correct.

If you have DirecTV or U-Verse I would look into the unlimited AT&T plan if you want to keep their coverage and speeds.

 

[JasW]

-28GB "de-prioritization" cap is per line, not per account. AT&T has such a cap as well on their unlimited plan(s).

I have seen TMO customer screenshots of being "de-prioritized" to speeds as low as 0.01mbps.

-Binge On does not apply to the ONE/One Plus plans. The ONE plan throttles video--downloaded or streamed--to 1.5mbps. This can force a scaling down to 480p. TMO calls this "optimization." If you want better quality video on this plan, TMO wants you to cough up $3/day for HD Day Passes, or upgrade to the One PLUS plan for $25/month, where you still have to request (free) HD Day Passes.

Binge On is free, on the plans it's available for and is supposed to be turned off and on a per-line basis.

De-prioritization isn't so bad if you aren't on a crowded tower but if you are it def. can suck. As Raino said they all have this type of limitation but everything else he said is correct.

If you have DirecTV or U-Verse I would look into the unlimited AT&T plan if you want to keep their coverage and speeds.

Interesting, thanks, both of you. The kids would have no problem with 480p. Actually, I'm not sure I would on a phone screen for that matter -- I'm not a big streaming video consumer on my phone, maybe watching part of a game while out and about or occasional YouTube videos. Still, just on principle, I'm not sure I like the idea of never being able to watch video in 720p or better if I wanted to.

The 28GB "de-prioritization" would likely only affect my son, so that's not a big deal for me. What is, though, is what I just read about mobile hotspot being throttled down to 2G/3G on One. I only seriously need hotspot once or twice a month, but when I need it I can't have it at those speeds.

So I guess I would have to add One Plus to my line, with the the other three in the family staying on One. Suddenly, it's $185 a month vs. $190 for AT&T. Not sure it's worth it since the original motivation was giving my son more data and saving $30 a month. (I've got a great deal with Xfinity for cable, internet, and voice that I've been quite happy with, so getting DirecTV or U-Verse is out of the question.)

 

[raino]

So I guess I would have to add One Plus to my line, with the the other three in the family staying on One. Suddenly, it's $185 a month vs. $190 for AT&T. Not sure it's worth it since the original motivation was giving my son more data and saving $30 a month. (I've got a great deal with Xfinity for cable, internet, and voice that I've been quite happy with, so getting DirecTV or U-Verse is out of the question.)

At $95, One Plus is terrible for a single line, not to mention the $140 you'd be paying for a three-line ONE family plan.

I would recommend you also look at Cricket. They offer service on the AT&T network and have an unlimited data plan as well, but unfortunately it does not allow any hotspot (some of their tiered plans do.) They don't have a "de-prioritization" cap but speeds are limited to 8mbps for everything. Also, they are one of the few prepaid carriers that offers a family plan of sorts where lines 2-? are discounted. Plus you may not have to get your phones unlocked either.

 

[JasW]

At $95, One Plus is terrible for a single line, not to mention the $140 you'd be paying for a three-line ONE family plan.

I would recommend you also look at Cricket. They offer service on the AT&T network and have an unlimited data plan as well, but unfortunately it does not allow any hotspot (some of their tiered plans do.) They don't have a "de-prioritization" cap but speeds are limited to 8mbps for everything. Also, they are one of the few prepaid carriers that offers a family plan of sorts where lines 2-? are discounted. Plus you may not have to get your phones unlocked either.

I need that hotspot -- that was the main reason for moving from AT&T's old unlimited data plan. Interestingly, I just found out that AT&T is about to roll out Stream Saver, a somewhat crappier version of Binge On (crappier in that the throttled video data still counts against your data usage). I will opt out of that, but will leave it on for the kids. I'll probably also toggle the stream-HD-video-only-on-wifi on my son's YouTube app. And I'll try to get him into the habit of rigorously checking that he's on wifi when at home.

 

[LeoRex]

What are the current promos? T-Mobiles going nutty trying to get family plans to switch.

 

[mike568]

I've been on AT&T for about 12 years. I coughed up the grandfathered unlimited data plan I'd been on a few years ago when it no longer became possible for third-party apps (e.g., FoxFi) to get my phone to work as a mobile hotspot.

My family of 4 has since been on a 30GB Mobile Share program. It's $130 a month, plus $15 per line, for a total of $190 a month.

My two kids are the data hogs in the family, particularly my son. I've put 12GB in-device caps on each of my kids' phones, technically leaving my wife and I with 3GB apiece. My son, however, regularly hits his 12GB cap about halfway through the month. He apparently turns wifi off at various times and sometimes forgets to turn it back on at home, and is continuously streaming YouTube videos regardless of where he is.

All four of our phones are off contract, so with nothing preventing me from leaving AT&T, I've been thinking about switching to the T-Mobile One plan, which from what I gather would run us $160 a month, or $30 a month less than what we're paying now, and give us unlimited LTE data to boot.

My main concern, though, is the fine print in the unlimited LTE data portion of the plan. It says: "On all plans, during congestion the top 3% of data users (>28GB/mo.) may notice reduced speeds until next bill cycle." I can see my son, going nuts with unlimited data, bringing us to that 28GB soft cap before the end of the month. Has anyone had experience hitting that cap, and what it means for connection quality/video quality etc.?

As to overall video quality itself, one piece of fine print says: "Video typically streams on smartphone/tablet at DVD quality (480p)." Another more detailed piece of fine print says: "Detectable video typically streams at DVD quality (480p or better) with Binge On unless video provider opts-out. You may disable Binge On at any time, but will lose Binge On benefits."

What "video" are they talking about? Since I've heard that Netflix doesn't count against unlimited data, I presume it's by default viewed with the 480p "Binge On" limitation, correct? What other video providers (like YouTube) have opted in to Binge On, and can it be disabled on individual phones, or is it a plan-wide option?

Thanks in advance or answering any or all of these questions.

I have a old granfarthered unlimited data plan and hotspot works when I put my sim card in a rooted Android phone hotspot works. I have been using it years. I mainly use if my home internet goes out (rare since Charter encrepted all tv channels) and if I am at work and want to watch NFL so I have to use my personal iPad and hotspot phone. You can blame the NFL for signing an exclusive right for Verizon phones for NFL games.