How bitterly should I cling to my unlimited data plan?

The AT&T "unlimited" plan is a scam; it's no longer unlimited, AT&T http://www.cultofmac.com/144639/att-is-now-throttling-unlimited-customers-using-more-than-2gb-of-data/ if you go over a couple of gigs a month. In obscure cities like New York and San Francisco all of AT&T's service is terrible; it's so unreliable as to be unusable. I switched to Verizon and now have an iPhone that can actually make phone calls and load web pages reliably. I don't know the situation in Madison; I'd pick the carrier that has the most reliable service over small details of plan terms. You should be able to look at your AT&T bill online and see how much data usage they think they delivered to you in past months. That will give you an idea of what you really need. For me with my iPhone 4S, 2GB/month is plenty. Tethering is an interesting option but if you don't have it now, do you need to get it? Verizon sells tethering bundled with an upgrade from 2GB to 4GB/month.

As someone who is currently grandfathered into an unlimited data plan with AT&T, I would advise you strongly to ditch AT&T. Not only has the reception been way worse than anyone I know who's with Verizon, but the "unlimited" plan is nothing but a joke! As soon as you hit 3GB for the month, your connection gets throttled to laughable speeds—I'm talking slower than 56K dialup. Here is the warning message they sent me:ATT Free Msg: Your data usage is near 3GB this month. Exceeding 3GB during this or future billing cycles will result in reduced data speeds, though you'll still be able to email & surf the web. Wi-Fi helps you avoid reduced speeds. Visit www.att.com/datainfo or call 866-344-7584 for more info.I used to think I was "lucky" to have been grandfathered in, and that it's some kind of privilege for being a long-time customer, but it's nothing but a hook to keep you paying for an inferior network. I'm an AT&T customer since 2005 and have 3 lines with them, and I'll be switching away this year despite the hassle. Go with any other network and you'll thank yourself.

If you're considering switching and Sprint has good coverage in your area, i'd go with sprint. They have actual unlimited data no hidden cap. I stream spotify a lot. I used to have verizon and i was always going over the limit.

I use under 1GB/month, and probably a lot of that is streaming music. I recently lost my unlimited data (Verizon won't let you keep it when you upgrade), so my dad and I now share 2GB/month and that's a good amount for us. If you have WiFi at home/work, hook your phone up to that -- it's generally faster, and doesn't use your data. I switched from an older (but high-end) Droid to an iPhone 4S almost a month ago. Despite using my phone on WiFi most of the time, my data usage is only reduced by maybe .1 GB. We could probably get away with 1GB/month, but 2GB is more comfortable and allows for random extra usage. The most I ever used was 3GB in a month, and that's because I was on a road trip and using my phone as a GPS for 2 weeks. For tethering -- that will increase your data usage a lot, so it's something else to think about.

The new AT&T shared data plans make no sense until you have at least about 4 people on the account, and even then it's really pushing it. Now that the top-end tiered data and the unlimited data are the same price, there is NO REASON to drop the unlimited. I was about to do this a couple months ago when we upgraded. With a more capable phone, you WILL use more data. What I like about unlimited data is that I don't have to wait for wifi to download things like podcasts, app updates, etc. I don't have to worry about flipping my wifi on at home, or running my tasker task to do it for me. Our current setup is a SGSIII and an HTC One X. My sgsIII has unlimited data, I've rooted and rom'd the phone, and I tether it whenever necessary. My fiancee's OneX has the 300Mb plan, but I have her running http://www.onavo.com/apps/iphone, which is currently saving her ~80% bandwidth a month with no noticeable speed difference. If we go on trips, I can always turn on my tethering and let her hop on, which we have done before. It's not uncommon that my phone will have tethering on, and the nexus7 tablet and her phone are mooching bandwidth. I should add that AT&T isn't ok with this. It's also worth looking into whether or not AT&T may have employer discounts for either of you. About 4 years ago I worked for a grocery store, haven't worked there since, but I still get the 20% monthly discount associated with that chain.

To be honest, the few times that I bumped over 3 gigs of transfer in a month (due to how AT&T only counts packets transmitted from the tower, not packets received by the phone, my heavily congested office means my data availability is shaky at best), having my 3G signal rate limited to edge means that the "unlimited" plan is sort of a sham, and I wouldn't worry too much about going anywhere else as long as their answer to overages isn't to send you a $7000 bill.

I've found that AT&T seems to throttle even the unlimited grandfathered plan. There were a few times near the end of the month that all the streaming I'd done during the month (office work, no access to wi-fi) that I must have hit their unofficial cap. Needless to say, I found that annoying. I do wish I could tether, though I'm usually within Wi-fi range.

I needed tethering in a bad way so I switched about a year ago. Before, with the unlimited plan, I was never even nearing the 200M mark each month. Now that I tether I usually hit near 3G each month. If I haven't used my 5G allotment, I also feel compelled to push it right up there in the last few days. My point is tethering will dramatically increase your data usage. It's also terrific and lets me wander freely and without fear of crappy coffee shop wifi. I've also used it at home if my regular internet service is busy with a large download. You may want to think about getting a http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?&item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneOverviewByDevice&deviceCategoryId=13&cmp=KNC-58100000008502117http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/sierrawireless/att-mobile-hotspot-elevate-4g-aircard-754s-black.html#fbid=lYPMjfUyLlO http://www.wirefly.com/eCommerce/SpecialOffer.aspx?cid=36210_420bd4b5488941b7b50a7aea9b230f90http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com/best-mifi-plans.html instead. It might be cheaper for you but you'll need to do that calculus yourself. No commitment MiFi devices are pretty cheap and it might be a more flexible way to go.

By the way, my vision of tethering is not that so much that I'd use my laptop through the phone as if I were in wi-fi range, but rather that I'd tether for a couple of minutes in order to get the e-mail onto my laptop, compose all answers and put them in the outbound queue, then re-tether to let all the e-mail out. But is that an unrealistic vision of what my actual usage would be?