

Data Usage Chart from Validas  (Source: Consumer Reports)
Biggest iPhone users use over 1GB monthly





According to the data Validas provided 



Comments     Threshold


By Inkjammer on 2/11/2010 10:23:47 AM , Rating: 5
It's a sad day in Hell when 273MB of data per user over the course of a month is all it takes it take down a network.

RE: Oi
By StraightCashHomey on 2/11/2010 10:25:00 AM , Rating: 2
Heh, yeah that's what I was thinking. I can occasionally get up to 273MB per day without even trying on my desktop. I watch a lot of youtube videos.

Granted, that's the average, so there are some users that are downloading far more and some users that are downloading far less... but still, AT&T is bitching about that?

RE: Oi
By Screwballl on 2/11/2010 9:41:59 PM , Rating: 2
I just checked my DD-WRT data stats and I average around 1GB per day, and some days over 3GB (yes bytes, not bits) but I also work from home using VoIP and various other online/server connections.

RE: Oi
By reader1 on 2/11/10, Rating: -1
RE: Oi
By StraightCashHomey on 2/11/2010 10:34:14 AM , Rating: 2
That's on AT&T, not the customers.

RE: Oi
By Adonlude on 2/11/2010 4:31:38 PM , Rating: 5
Well the customers obviously didn't look close enough at the small print:

AT&T Unlimited Data Plan**

**Note: AT&T reserves the right to take-backs and erasies.

RE: Oi
By seamonkey79 on 2/11/2010 2:45:18 PM , Rating: 2
As I recall, the iPhone failed to meet initial estimates and sold under what they were saying it would for the first few months, so, bologna that nobody expected it to be this popular. The fact that AT&T didn't realize how much people would actually use their unlimited plans has little to nothing to do with the iPhone, it just shows the fact that their network is under par in stark relief.

RE: Oi
By eheia on 2/11/10, Rating: 0
RE: Oi
By inighthawki on 2/11/2010 10:42:20 AM , Rating: 3
When you multiply that by the millions of iphone users, you're in the thousands of terabytes per month, or several hundred terabytes per day, on a wireless connection. Not bad at all in my book... Then add in all the non-iphone users and I'm sure that number gets a lot bigger.

RE: Oi
By StraightCashHomey on 2/11/2010 11:07:50 AM , Rating: 5
Solution: Don't call your plan Unlimited if you cannot back it up.

RE: Oi


RE: Oi
By omnicronx on 2/11/2010 4:19:54 PM , Rating: 2
Its not really about being unlimited, its about not upgrading your network and adding more towers where they are needed.

If you happen to live in an area with towers that have little use, you should not have any problems. This is why some users report no problems and others report tons of problems and dropped calls.

This is why densely populated areas like New York are having problems, too many people accessing a particular tower at once causes the system to overload.

By nature a UTMS cell tower can only handle a certain amount of users, there is nothing AT&T can do to get around this. The only thing they can do is add more towers to alleviate the problem, or wait until the next gen service rolls out that supports more users/bandwidth per tower. Making matters worse, you can only have so many towers within a certain area, i.e they have to be spread out, you can't just put two towers beside each other and think it will double your throughput.

LTE will definately help out AT&T, but eventually they will be in the same position. With a faster connection comes more use of that connection.

RE: Oi
By corduroygt on 2/11/2010 12:45:06 PM , Rating: 3
When you multiply the $80 minimum phone bill by the millions of iphone users you get revenue close to 1 BILLION DOLLARS per month.

RE: Oi
By Hiawa23 on 2/11/2010 10:58:06 AM , Rating: 3
sounds like they want to charge you more...

RE: Oi
By omnicronx on 2/11/2010 11:20:43 AM , Rating: 2
You are thinking of a cellphone network in linear terms. Each tower has a certain amount of bandwidth. The entire network does not go down, but merely one slice when a tower(s) in a particular area become overloaded.

I'm not saying its an excuse, but you can't look at monthly usage and make such a claim. If a bunch of 50M monthly users happen to be using their connection at the same time in the same area, the tower may max out, the amount of monthly bandwidth is completely irrelevant.

RE: Oi

RE: Oi

RE: Oi
By invidious on 2/11/2010 2:04:40 PM , Rating: 2
Who said it ever took down the network? I dont recall any interuptions in my service.

It would also be a sad day if making nonsense posts on the internet caused the world to end, but again, that didnt happen either.

