Guy Tests “Unlimited” iPad 3G Data Plan, Pumps 31GB Of Data So Far

Unlimited wireless data plans usually have invisible quotes around them. Although you’d be forgiven if, like Noah Webster, you thought that “unlimited” meant “not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity or extent,” mobile carriers usually define it as meaning less than 5GB of data per month. Does AT&T’s unlimited iPad 3G data plan have a similarly illogical definition of “unlimited?”

Not so far, according to Zach Epstein over at Know Your Cell. He’s pumped 31GB of data over AT&T’s network over the past few days, trying to see at what point Ma Bell will cut him off. They haven’t yet.

“If I can hit 100GB without being shut off by AT&T, I think it will be safe to say that users can consider the $29.99 iPad data plan to be “unlimited”. Considering I’m currently at six times the 5GB soft cap placed on smartphone data plans after just two days of usage, things are looking good,” writes Epstein.

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I don’t know about that: it’s just this sort of data usage that is going to cause AT&T to clamp down on their iPad data plan. Still, for now, at least, rest assured that your iPad 3G can be used to pump a truly sick volume of data.

12 comments »

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John Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in iPad, News |

Cave Dog
Of course Zach could be in for a rude surprise when he receives an additional 4-figure charge on his credit card from AT&T accompanied by a 200-page bill detailing every connection made and data bit downloaded. I guess then he’ll be in the news for another reason, so it’s a win-win!
http://ihbs.co.uk Ben
They never cut you off, they just charge you an obscene amount when the bill is due. This guy is in for a shock!
Jeremy
I’m pretty sure (correct me if I’m wrong) that the iPad data works differently than the smartphone plans, in the respect that it warns you when you have 20%, then 10%, and then when you run out of data instead of just billing you absurd amounts of money (assuming your’e on the 250MB plan). If there really is a cap on the ‘unlimited data’ plan, then I would suspect AT&T would send some sort of pop-up to the device just like the do with the limited plan, warning you to stop all the downloading.
This guy getting past 30GB without such a warning is definitely impressive, given that 30 gigs is FAR more than the average consumer would ever pull down over 3G in a single month.
charli
@Jeremy. Don’t make that assumption. You could be wrong
on the plus side, the guy has the ‘unlimited’ with which he can go to this credit card company and have the charge reversed, provided that there is nothing that says that the unlimited is really X amount and this is the charge over it.
And/or then he can sue ATT for false advertising. And I wish someone would. Seriously. This game of saying unlimited when you mean really X amount is bogus. If it’s $30 for 5GB a month you should have to say that. If it’s unlimited but after a certain point you are throttled down they should have to say that .
Baco
I don’t know how you can even consume 30GB of data in only a few days. It’s not like there is a bit torrent client for the iPad.
http://philoserf.com/ Mark Ayers
One users experience today may not be equal to anyone elses tomorrow. The contract is for the 30 days. Who knows what the next contract will say? For that matter, who knows what a legal interpretation of the current contract means?
http://anitek.org jetrois
Its quite easy to rack up such. I go through about as much data as that and I dont get charged for it. Although I do tether I pull about 60gig a mo. But people do have a point if id been given the option to have tethering Id pay for it with out blinking. but that option isn’t there. Plus the advertising unlimted and telling you there is a cap or throttling is bad business the ol bait and switch.
Besides I foresee Att will have to keep up with the competition anyway verizons offering a wifi hotspot within the palm pre
Neal
Some day soon, iPhone and iPad users will discover their AT&T plans have been modified by what will commonly be referred to as the “Epstein clause”.
4phun
A-holes like this is what ruins a good thing for normal people.
Get an Android and go screw Verizon.
Brian
I think the whole point of a ‘soft cap’ is to basically say, look don’t abuse above a reasonable amount if you can help it — but if you do, AT&T won’t worry nor bother you about it. Just don’t be a data hog.
Fun to see, sure. Do I want everyone to ruin it before I can afford one? No way! The same thing happened with iPhones (at least in the U.S.). $20 for data on the first version, then $30 on further versions (oh, and then text became an extra cost!).
If Zach is ‘pumping data’ to just prove a point all he could really be doing is giving AT&T a reason to rethink the plans they offer (Verizon and everyone else also) because he is just showing how easily he can increase their costs. Any sane person knows that 30gb is alot right now. lol
http://michaelgorman.net Michael Gorman
And this is why we can’t have nice things…
Lee
This is why I keep losing my 3G connection…