I’m not talking about those grandfathered on Verizon or ATT, but I’m talking before that when data was in it’s infancy and you used it via cable to connect to a laptop or had a very basic set of web apps or email on your semi-smartphone.
My plan back then treated data as minutes, with unlimited nights and weekends. It was not well advertised, sort of ‘additional features’ in the fine print that no one used and many didn’t; even know about.
I used those unlimited nights and weekends to it’s full capability on AOL at the blazing speed of 14.4 kbs, which was better then my static-y land line could connect at. Towards the end IIRC it looked like I could get unlimited voice which looked like it would also mean unlimited data.
I ‘upgraded’ to the current grandfathered unlimited data when I got the iP4, and still have that plan, though a upgraded phone, to this day.
The iPhone seemed to usher in the unlimited data era, but wondering if anyone still has one of those creaky old plans that also has unlimited data when it was a only novelty and long before any iPhone hit the market.
If some of those ancient plans remain how are they working for you?
I don’t think this is what you’re looking for, but I’ll mention it anyway; Until 2014 I had unlimited 3G on my T-Mobile plan. Of course, I stupidly upgraded my phone in a moment of shiny magpie induced insanity, and found myself at the point of no return. For, since T-Mobile merged with EE, even if I cancelled my new contract and reinstated my old plan, it would no longer be unlimited and instead capped at 20gb…
…apparently. They were probably lying to me, but still… as I use my phone as a wireless router to my laptop… I really wish I had kept the old plan.
4G is fast… but in real world terms, waiting an extra 20 minutes to download a movie compared to 3G is hardly a life changer.
Our oldest got an unlimited plan (from Sprint, I think) when they were first offered and “guaranteed for life” - this was the 3G era and even 24/365 data just didn’t add up to that much. As Sprint worked mightily to get people off of these plans, our kid walked tightropes and jumped burning chasms to hang onto it well into the 4G era, missing every trip point and gotcha for years.
As he now lives overseas, I believe Sprint won out in the end.
Most unlimited plans now offered have absolutely no guarantees of continuance and I believe most start throttling somewhere around 10-15GB. Not the same as the original “unlimited forever!” come-ons.
I have one of those ancient unlimited AT&T plans. Probably 15 years old now, and was designed for unlimited on 2G flip phones most likely if I remember. It doesn’t even exist in most of their systems, and shows as “$:Undefined data plan” on the website. I’ve never had any issue with it, but the kinda stupid thing is I don’t really use that much data, and probably don’t need unlimited network data at all. I’m on WI-FI 95% of the time on using any data, and the rest is something like a quick traffic map download when I’m stuck in traffic. I doubt I use close to the limit of data in the cheapest plan nowadays.
I have this one as well. Every time they offer me anything, my first question is “Will it change my plan in any way?”. I like my unlimited, unthrottled data and they will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
[sub]Anybody seen any Sprint assassin squads around? ::Glancing over shoulder nervously::[/sub]