When AT&T announced new plans the other day, they mentioned that 98% of unlimited plan users never went above 2GB of data. However, this was “smartphone users” and not iPad users. We suspect that the iPad has caught them off guard and that with the increasing availability of streaming applications they are probably getting concerned about how much data is being eaten up by iPad users… hence why they probably only reported on smartphone users keeping the iPad users secret.
What seems to be the main reason for the switch is the growing demand for streaming video content over 3G on the Apple iPad. When using an iPad to check email, browse websites and sync with Exchange you hardly use any data. My own iPad 3G is 9 days old now and I activated the microSIM late Sunday night. So far I’ve used about 40MB of data while on the move to check emails, browse the web and an hour or so of streaming video on YouTube… for my daily usage I probably wont go over the 2GB limit if I had that limit (I’m in the UK with different tariffs). But for many who travel on public transport, travel a lot and work away, streaming video could potentially get used a lot more.
Clicker decided to run some comparisons of the different streaming services. In a unique way they started the article with the conclusion and a warning that if you want to use streaming then run and order your 3G iPad now and grab that unlimited data plan now or you’ll regret it.
They then went on and showed some real life numbers with the ABC app capable of streaming just over 10 hours of video before depleting your 2GB data limit. Check out the full results over here and if you intend to stream then grab the $30 unlimited plan now before it closes down for good this coming Monday.
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