Unlimited Data plan and Mobile Hotspot?

@eric17au This is the thing. Cellular services are not required to fill in the gap where landline providers neglect to provide service. This is more of an issue with your local and state governments who allow local monopolies for phone and cable providers. Cellular will never be a replacement for wired, in-home internet anytime soon. The landline services at AT&T is a different entity than mobility.

@eric17au I think "trampled on" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's really not AT&T's issue for everyone who lives in a rural area! Imagine what it would be like if they didn't have a tower out there? (They're not obligated to do that either).

And (just to make sure) you do know you can't tether (hotspot) a laptop or tablet via the Unlimited Plan, right?

I don't think AT&T really wants customers on the unlimited plan, I think they want them paying for the TV plan. I think the fact that they don't offer an unlimited cellular line for $200 a month speaks volumes, they only want to let you use it, IF you commit to TV for 2 years.

If I could move out to a nice rural spot that didn't have coverage and insist they let me affordable high speed internet I'd be all about it. 🙂

I think where it gets "fuzzy" is some of these areas where copper was "bought out", and people were told that they would get ceullular, to replace it.

Which probably worked, until AT&T bought out their local cellular, and then they couldn't tether for their home use, at which time they were totally cut off.

I get that it's expensive, but that's why it was regulated before, so rural people didn't get cut off completely.  I really wonder though, what cost-percentage those people are, vs those that just want unlimited in the city, to avoid paying for high-speed, I bet it's really, really small.  
There ought to be a solution for those people who lost their copper in these buyouts, and then got stuck, and now are really stuck.  Maybe they just need a "special device", like a connected-car, that's also excluded. Or maybe, they just need to shop for a cheap, connected-car, instead, and park it close and repeat ;-]

This is different for those who go build a house way off the grid, but want new connectivity, IMHO.

@pgrey Well, I've got a bridge to sell them 🙂

Seriously, I've never heard anyone say that cellular would replace it or if I did I probalby just discounted it and forgot all about it. All I ever hear here is cellular is not a replacement.

With that, if they aren't planning something, I'm not sure why they keep trying to increase cellular speeds if they don't want us using it! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 14Gbps (something I read about 5G Trials) if they don't want me to use it at my home. Or what kind of data plan are they going to offer me with a plan that I can eat up my 20GB allotment in minutes?

I don't know much (anything) about copper being bought out and then gone dark, so I can't speak to that so I'll go now...

But if folks can demand unlimited cellular for their rural homes, I better be able to get it for my deserted island!

@Gary LHere's an example, there are tons of articles like this out there, on relatively reputable news sites:

http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/at-t-testing-rural-wireless-broadband-alabama-3-free-months-service-plus-100

In this case, they were part of this trial, for exactly that, the carrier wants to be able to remove the copper dependancy, probably after taking over service and agreeing to continue it, if I had to guess...

The deserted island is a totally different deal, if you go build someplace in the middle of nowhere, well, you chose that.  

If you had copper service though, and were bought out by a company telling you they would either continue it, or replace it with cellular, and then told "oops", well, ....

This seems a bit "sneaky".

For a long time these were regulated, because we thought it was good for everyone to have connectivity, and maybe that's changed, I don't know.  I will tell you, there are also some more legal looking documents out there, on government websites (like the SEC), against several companies, for this as well.

And yeah, I brought up the 5G (or even faster LTE) with @lizdance40 awhile ago, I think another thread, and said we'd make people's heads explode, they were just trying to keep up with 4G/LTE, and comprehend that (maybe not an exact quote, but close ;-]).

It's spot-on though, having a device that can drain your 20-30GB plan in a few minutes is a problem that will need to be addressed, at some point, probably sooner than most of the carriers want to.

That's where the competition will (likely) be a great thing, since as soon as one bring on the new tech (some places in AU are trialing now), others will have to follow to "keep up" and then the limits factor will be an "interesting" side-effect ;-]

BTW, I did notice that MetroPCS has a 26GB (and then de-prioritiezed) deal now, for a pretty reasonable price.  It's TMo rebranded, so certainly not my solution (their coverage in WA state is pretty bad), but maybe this would help some of those folks.

It seems like 26 is a quite a bit of data, if you're reasonable about things and watch shows on 480 instead of 4k (or 1080), you could almost use this as a replacement.

What kills you is if you want to download the new Minecraft or something, like my daughter did the other day, the story-mode deal, which was about 16GB, not a big deal for our fiber, but it'd nuke the above, you'd have to carefully plan stuff like this, or go "visit a coffee shop" or something...

@pgrey Cable used to be more regulated and was generally a monopoly in most communities around here (SE Michigan) and we had a few benefits for education. But when the communities let U-verse start providing TV it all went a little crazy (and maybe it was just timing), and we lost some of the benefits (we had free internet and TV, we lost the internet, can't recall about the TV) because the cable companies said it was violating their exclusivity contract (which it seemed like it was) even though it technically wasn't cable.

It's been great for pricing and competition, but I don't think schools got some of the benefits back. 

Clear was trying to provide internet with WiMax and there have been other things too. But they can't turn the copper off until they get it going!!!! (Well, I guess thay can).

I'm speaking specifically SE Michigan and my experiences (working in tech at the schools at the time as our free internet went away).

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@Gary L wrote:

 

Clear was trying to provide internet with WiMax and there have been other things too. But they can't turn the copper off until they get it going!!!! (Well, I guess thay can).

 

I'm speaking specifically SE Michigan and my experiences (working in tech at the schools at the time as our free internet went away).

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Exactly, they can if they say they're going to provide another solution, a (temporary) suspension of copper is usually green-lighted.

But then they sell, to another company, who doesn't like the deal, and it gets buried under a pile of other deals, and poof, those people who had good copper connections are now stranded, and no real way to fight it.

I found one filing with about 13 million subscribers who were part of the deal.

Again, not me going and building way off the grid, but in a place that had adequate connectivity, just aging, and expensive to maintain, hence the regulation part...

@pgrey. 

I have read a couple articles on the future of cellular, 5G speeds being tested near the Samsung lab in NJ and NY.   Blows my mind.  It's the main reason I'm hanging on to my 30 gig plan.  I know I have a weakness for smartphones.  When new devices come out, I won't be able to keep my hands off.

Note the date is 2013.  https://www.technologyreview.com/s/514931/what-5g-will-be-crazy-fast-wireless-tested-in-new-york-city/

Yeah, well even at 50mbps (which is slow, compared to the incoming stuff), it's possible to pull about 22 GB/hr (okay, probably not real-world, but you can pull a LOT of data, watching something like 4K video or similar).

It's easy to see why things don't scale.

I'm eager for the tech too, and hoping things will (eventually anyway) keep pace, here's a more recent article: http://www.cnet.com/news/5g-wireless-wifi-mobile-network-fast-internet-high-speed-broadband/

At 377 times your typical LTE connection, be careful what you click on, you could use that entire 30GB, in a few seconds, literally... ;-]