"Unlimited" data usage is just a gimmick, and it's too early to say Wi-Fi is obsolete

According to arsTECHNICA, a foreign technology media, AT&T's "truly unlimited" data usage is just a gimmick, and there are still restrictions such as the inability to enable hotspot sharing of data. The following is the details of the report:

AT&T on Friday promised "truly unlimited data" to its prepaid phone customers, but new restrictions have emerged on that plan, including limited streaming quality, 3Mbps speeds and a ban on using mobile hotspots for data sharing.

GoPhone (AT&T's prepaid plan) costs $60 per month. It is this plan that provides services without traditional data caps and traffic overage fees. "We are pleased to provide our GoPhone customers with truly unlimited data usage plans," said Bob Bickerstaff, vice president of AT&T, in the announcement. However, this so-called "truly unlimited" business is limited to a 3Mbps upper limit speed and a video viewing speed of 1.5Mbps (about 480p). For users who are not registered for automatic payment, the monthly fee will increase slightly to $65.

The service is essentially similar to what AT&T recently launched for postpaid customers. However, compared to AT&T's only "unlimited data" service option for prepaid customers, AT&T postpaid customers can also choose to pay $90 per month for another "unlimited data" plan to remove the 3Mbps speed cap.

The $90 postpaid plan also includes 10GB of high-speed data per month, which allows users to watch high-definition videos online. Network speeds vary by location, but according to crowdsourced data collected by data company OpenSignal last year, AT&T's average 4G download speed is 13.86Mbps.

Like AT&T's other "unlimited data" services, GoPhone unlimited data users will be limited to 30GB of data if they have used more than 22GB of data for the rest of the month. If users are not in a congested area, they can receive speeds up to 3Mbps. This is similar to other operators, but another US operator, T-Mobile USA, sets its network speed throttling point at 30GB.

AT&T prepaid customers can also choose a 6GB per month service with an uncapped speed of 3Mbps. By default, the speed limit for video playback is 1.5Mbps within 6GB of traffic. But users can use more data traffic to watch high-definition videos. After using 6GB in the month, there will be no overage fees, but the speed will slow down to 128kbps. The 6GB service costs $40 per month, and if automatic deduction is not enabled, the monthly fee is $45.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.