PSA: AT&T Doing away with $35 iPad Unlimited.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

I can explain but my last few posts go into much more detail.

A quick summary - carriers are moving to VoLTE.

They also want 100% utilization of theirs towers but to make money they heavily oversubscribe hoping everyone stays within an estimate (breakage)

Internet data plans mess around with breakage - due to oligopolies, wired internet providers don't price their service near cost, so a good (10Mbps+ symmetric) internet provider can charge ~$50/mo.

Oligopolies made Google Fiber so regulatory expensive and harassing, Google just gave up.

These carriers too sell spare utilization of their towers ~$50/mo which is a very similar price point just to be competitive.

Spare utilization is fleeting because to a typical person, wireless is more valuable than wired.

People love wireless, as now they can move their internet where they go so they move their wired internet to the carriers.

Unfortunately, now the breakage is violated.

To maintain QoS, the carrier has to now urgently cut out customers who violate the breakage which are majority of customers (most households use 7GB/day in their normal course of work and life without even gaming/torrent/voice sharing) because their VoLTE traffic is now impacted and people are having trouble making phone calls which is a deal breaker for a phone carrier.

T-Mobile had to do this in our community. We ran our local WISPs out of business and satellite and LTE are our only options.

Carriers are learning from their mistakes and tying down their wireless service by means of GPS locking or external antennas mounted outside and prohibiting customers from moving their external antennas by contracts and monitoring if the account moves from the nearby towers. This is still a bandaid measure because it still does not address the root cause of breakage

[LteHaks9]

2. Tmobile

Tmobile unlimited prepaid $60/mo, 100Mbps speeds, 40ms latency, deprioritized after 50GB
Tmobile based MetroPCS $50/mo, 100Mbps speeds, 40ms latency, deprioritized during congestion
Tmobile based SimpleMobile $50/mo, 100Mbps speeds, 40ms latency, deprioritized during congestion

Note: Must be used in a router with the TTL set to 64 or 65 such as the WE826, WG3526, or any OpenWRT flashable router like an Asus or Netgear, it will not work in others like the Netgear M1 Nighthawk, LB112x modem, etc. MetroPCS requires registration of the modem's IMEI/SIM by calling their customer service which may or may not work. None of the other carriers require IMEI registration.

If I go with T-Mobile unlimited prepaid $50 plan with unlimited data on the handset and set the TTL to 64 using an OpenWRT based router; would that work? Or must I sign up for the $60 plan?

[BillA]

If I go with T-Mobile unlimited prepaid $50 plan with unlimited data on the handset and set the TTL to 64 using an OpenWRT based router; would that work? Or must I sign up for the $60 plan?

It should, but first try TTL 65, and if the internet stops after a while then change it to 64.

[thejohnfist]

Just another update -- I'm still using the iPad plan, so it certainly does seem like only high data users are getting kicked.

To be fair, did you really expect to not be booted for using north of 400GB a month?

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

Just another update -- I'm still using the iPad plan, so it certainly does seem like only high data users are getting kicked.

To be fair, did you really expect to not be booted for using north of 400GB a month?

I would not assume most people to read "unlimited" as "keep it below 100GB a month".

ATT has now become even more aggressive and wants to price LTE @ $13/GB, which means that this iPad plan has a high chance of getting axed, regardless, for those exceeding 3GB a month.

For us, extremely rare people who know about these things, we read "unlimited iPad plan" as "3GB iPad plan" but I wish ATT atleast mentioned that in the fine print.

I could see people booted off this plan complaining to the FCC and getting a valid claim but I am no lawyer.

[BillA]

Just another update -- I'm still using the iPad plan, so it certainly does seem like only high data users are getting kicked.

To be fair, did you really expect to not be booted for using north of 400GB a month?

If carriers claim unlimited, then it should be truly unlimited (like Tmobile/SimpleMobile) not some half assed plan.
Here's the thing, they are quick to ax people who use a "lot" (whatever that means), BUT they would never refund 90% of your monthly payment just because you have only used 3gigs out of 30, now would they?! Hmm...
90% of customers use fairly low amounts of data, so if you average out the low and high users, it's still a relatively low usage. Network overloaded? No problem, let them put up more towers from all the billion$ they rake in every year.
I've read in rcrwireless.com (a US wireless carrier magazine), that the carrier's cost of a completely unlimited line is around $10/month (averaged in low and high users), so when they're selling it at $50-80/month, they're making plenty of profits. And now with the ultra wideband 5G that cost becomes even lower.
So, F*CK 'em... end of rant! lol

[MattB29]

Problem is BillA is they often have conditions attached to the so called unlimited plans. In the case of this AT&T unlimited iPad plan (tablet) the plan was not authorized for other usage. At&T allowed it though for quite sometime. That the carriers make a lot of money is immaterial to someone violating their Terms of Service. The huge DATA users simply caused the plan to get yanked.

Now all that said I would wish the 3 main carriers had more liberal plans that were meant for DATA usage and not voice service. It slays me that a MVNO can offered a better and cheaper plan that the underlying carrier does.

[lawnmowerman]

I put the sim directly into the router with the MC7455 and it activated immediately. Then used the messenger in the router to activate my account online and talk to them on the phone when I had issues.

Do you know if this is something I could do with the mofi? When I get the sim, I want to just put it in the router to activate it like you said. In order to setup online account, T-Mobile texts verification code to the sim number, so is there a way to get that txt when the sim is in the mofi?

[gscheb]

Do you know if this is something I could do with the mofi? When I get the sim, I want to just put it in the router to activate it like you said. In order to setup online account, T-Mobile texts verification code to the sim number, so is there a way to get that txt when the sim is in the mofi?

Not sure how and if you can on mofi. Look for SMS it might be called in the menus

[lawnmowerman]

Not sure how and if you can on mofi. Look for SMS it might be called in the menus

Yeah searched high and low in the menus, didn’t find anything. Sent mofi a tech support question, haven’t heard back yet, not sure how responsive they are.
I can put the sim into a phone to setup the online account, just don’t want to do that and then the sim not work in the router or something. Not sure if that’s a real risk or not though! I can never make sense of when and why some phone sims work in the router and others don’t....

[thojohns]

Finally got booted off our $35 plan a couple weeks ago - not surprising, we were using 400-600GB a month and the sim card had been stuck in an old Velocity hotspot for the last year.

I see AT&T has the $75 prepaid 'unlimited' plan discounted down to $50 and taxes if we set up autopay, but would I be correct in assuming that the block on modems would extend to hotspot devices like the Velocity? Otherwise, I've got an unlocked Android 9 phone or two I can root and set up as a hotspot or tethering host, but until I can grab an openWRT router and manually set the ttl is there any simple way to avoid AT&T seeing what I'm trying to do and slapping me down?

[gscheb]

Yeah searched high and low in the menus, didn’t find anything. Sent mofi a tech support question, haven’t heard back yet, not sure how responsive they are.
I can put the sim into a phone to setup the online account, just don’t want to do that and then the sim not work in the router or something. Not sure if that’s a real risk or not though! I can never make sense of when and why some phone sims work in the router and others don’t....

With T-Mobile shouldn't be any issue switching from phone to router and back and fourth. They don't try to fight router use like Verizon does.
Reason I like to get messages and activate in router so it stays a whole sim card never broken down to smaller sim. Sometimes those sim card adapters can be goofy. Like my T-Mobile card. It is broken down to a nano size. Can't just put that in adapter go right to standard size. It won't connect! Have to first piece old sim card pieces make it a micro size. Then put into standard size adapter and it will work Everytime.

[lawnmowerman]

With T-Mobile shouldn't be any issue switching from phone to router and back and fourth. They don't try to fight router use like Verizon does.
Reason I like to get messages and activate in router so it stays a whole sim card never broken down to smaller sim. Sometimes those sim card adapters can be goofy. Like my T-Mobile card. It is broken down to a nano size. Can't just put that in adapter go right to standard size. It won't connect! Have to first piece old sim card pieces make it a micro size. Then put into standard size adapter and it will work Everytime.

Cool, thanks for the info, good to know!

[shwaba]

I was in one of my prepaid ipad accounts and noticed under the plans that the $34.99 unlimited option is back.
Not sure if this is available for existing customers or everyone. Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere so I thought I'd share.

2020-07-28 18_12_19-Add_Edit Domestic Data Plans.png

[Madgoathaz]

Looks Like ATT dropped me on my Unlimited Auto Renew plan as well. No warning or communication, just no mobile data connection. I do see the 34.99 plan is on the add / change plan section. Currently trying to identify my next options.

[Danster5]

Hello everyone.
Looking for some guidance on what my best option is.

I am currently on the iPad $35/month plan that has been cancled. I currently have the sim card in a NightHawk M1 and use a little less than 300GB/month. I know i am floating on thin ice and anytime my internet may be out. Im looking for the best alternative and cheapest route. From my reading there are a few questions I have.

1) I heard that if AT&T does a sweep and ping my IMEI # for my nighthawk that i will more than likley not be able to use that Nighthawk on any AT&T plan again essentialy making it a very expensive paperweight, is that correct?

2) I have seen the T-Mobil plan for $50 that looks very promising. Wondering what all i would need to do to get up and running with that. I know i would probably have to purchase a router and LTE Card. Are the best recommendations still the mc7455 and WG3526? Does this plan allow for 4K streaming or just HD Streaming? Or No HD Streaming?

Basically looking to find a good backup incase everything goes down on me one day and would rather have everything ready than trying to scramble with no internet at home. Thanks

[gscheb]

You activated with the MC7455 IMEI or a different one? Their website seems to think the MC7455 isn't compatible with their network

Hello Swwifty,
My parents finally lost their AT&T reseller plan and they said they get get another one. So switched them to T-mobile post pay 55+ with plus up data add on to add HD streaming.
So we called them said that we needed a sim card and said not sure what phone would use her son had a box of them going to let her use one. They mailed the card out.
Stuck it in a WE826 that has a Quectel EP06 modem in it and bam it connected immediately and have internet.
Remember to make an account and turn on HD streaming if you have it : https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=579

[billyjacko]

Here's the thing, they are quick to ax people who use a "lot" (whatever that means), BUT they would never refund 90% of your monthly payment just because you have only used 3gigs out of 30, now would they?! And now with the ultra wideband 5G that cost becomes even lower.
So, F*CK 'em... end of rant! lol

First off, BillA, Thank you so much for the work around here. I only found this place a few days ago and what a well of information. I had two Tablet plans at our rural property and one of them got cancelled. The other is still rockin' but I'm prepping for the inevitable. Note, the one that got cancelled was the more recently purchased one. The one still working was activated back in June of '19 and averages 300-500 GB. I wonder if they are cancelling more recent ones first?

After reading through the tutorials on this awesome site, and seeing the availability of hardware is pretty limited in the Rona era. I decided to buy one of these rigs pre-built off Ebay for my first test run into this world of firmware flashing and changing TTL (What the hell does TTL mean btw?) The device I got and plan;

-WE826-T2 router
-EM7455-modem
-Upgraded antennas and power supply
-$75/$50 prepaid AT&T (I like this option because it allows you to turn off the Stream Saver on video)

I'm sure I overpaid, but I figure the $50 is worth seeing proof of concept without the headache/learning curve of building one. I'm going to need 3 rigs set up on the property (RV and two trailers at the compound), so I can try to get more sophisticated/powerful with time. I also plan on getting directional antennas up on the pole I currently have my boosters on. Baby steps.

Wish me luck, and I'm sure I'll be back here with questions after all the hardware comes in the mail.

[rashadpls]

I’m terribly late here, but I have a question. I purchased a SimpleMobile SIM to use with a ZTE MF288 (that I’d previously used with the AT&T iPad plan), activated it and everything worked just fine for the first couple hours. Didn’t need to edit any settings. However, my internet connection seems to be gone now. Nothing will load for me, even though my router shows connection and traffic when I log into it. Have I been kicked off the network? I have no idea how to edit TTL values or if it’s even possible with my modem, but I have it connected to an Asus router.

[BearSesame]

oh man i hope this doesn't happen for real. I have a bunch of customers on this, and they are gonna be pissssed, if it gets canceled on them.

Aren't we all getting it

[thejohnfist]

I’m terribly late here, but I have a question. I purchased a SimpleMobile SIM to use with a ZTE MF288 (that I’d previously used with the AT&T iPad plan), activated it and everything worked just fine for the first couple hours. Didn’t need to edit any settings. However, my internet connection seems to be gone now. Nothing will load for me, even though my router shows connection and traffic when I log into it. Have I been kicked off the network? I have no idea how to edit TTL values or if it’s even possible with my modem, but I have it connected to an Asus router.

Is simple mobile T-Mo? Because yes, you'd need to edit settings.

[Didneywhorl]

I’m terribly late here, but I have a question. I purchased a SimpleMobile SIM to use with a ZTE MF288 (that I’d previously used with the AT&T iPad plan), activated it and everything worked just fine for the first couple hours. Didn’t need to edit any settings. However, my internet connection seems to be gone now. Nothing will load for me, even though my router shows connection and traffic when I log into it. Have I been kicked off the network? I have no idea how to edit TTL values or if it’s even possible with my modem, but I have it connected to an Asus router.

Sounds like you went over the hotspot limit and were throttled. TTL is the only way I know of to currently get around this.

You can use another router capable of TTL changes and pass traffic through it.

[BillA]

I’m terribly late here, but I have a question. I purchased a SimpleMobile SIM to use with a ZTE MF288 (that I’d previously used with the AT&T iPad plan), activated it and everything worked just fine for the first couple hours. Didn’t need to edit any settings. However, my internet connection seems to be gone now. Nothing will load for me, even though my router shows connection and traffic when I log into it. Have I been kicked off the network? I have no idea how to edit TTL values or if it’s even possible with my modem, but I have it connected to an Asus router.

Just about all mobile phone services have a set amount of hotspot limit (5GB on SimpleMobile). As others have suggested, you need to edit the TTL to mask it (sometimes other parameters too). Unfortunately there's no OpenWRT support for your ZTE MF288 router, therefore I would recommend getting a real mobile router from thewirelesshaven.com or the like.

[mcol2512]

According to reports, the ATT iPad/tablet, and $65/$75 prepaid plans are not working in mobile routers due to ATT blocking modems by their IMEI.

Are you referring to the iPad prepaid plans being blocked by ATT, or the postpaid (or both)?

[BillA]

Are you referring to the iPad prepaid plans being blocked by ATT, or the postpaid (or both)?

The ATT $35 prepaid iPad plan is no longer available for new users. The postpaid iPad plan should work in a router, however some have received a warning email about excessive usage (over 200gigs/month), and some have experienced random network disconnections.

[shagndixie]

I have the data connect pass ipad unlimited for 35 a month. A few days ago it stopped working. I logged I to the router under modem and status and it said connecting. Never connected. Tried for a couple of days,. I put my sim back in my ipad before contacting att to check if it was the sierra modem going out. Ipad not working either. Anywho, after contacting rep, he said to restart ipad and it worked. I asked what was the problem. He said my account had been suspended. He reactivated it no questions asked. I average a few hundred gb's a month netflix YouTube etc. Figure now that they may permanently ban my accout if I pop it back in the router and start streaming again. Meanwhile. I have a tmobile home internet setup on the way so I might as well try it ban or not.

[Didneywhorl]

Prepaid?

IMEI trickery?

[shagndixie]

Imei trickery, no. Not sure about prepaid. I believe it is.

[Didneywhorl]

The prepaid ipad plans have been getting axed on all devices that dont match the imei to the registered imei on the account. AKA if it isn't an ipad or tablet imei, its likely getting axed.

The Post Paid plans do not seem to have this problem.

[mtl26637]

The prepaid ipad plans have been getting axed on all devices that dont match the imei to the registered imei on the account. AKA if it isn't an ipad or tablet imei, its likely getting axed.

The Post Paid plans do not seem to have this problem.

I think the initial 'flag' is the data usage, then when an actual person looks at the account they may pitch a fit about matching IMEI. As far as I know, there are basically 2 types of ATT unlimited tablet plans. The original being the 'buyasession' unlimited tablet plan for 35/mo., and the 2nd plan being the newer postpaid tablet plan through ATT's normal account portal for $20/mo. From everything I've seen it looks like the original buyasession accounts get flagged around 200GB and up. I've stayed under that limit and no issues for year and a half or so. I'll update if I do end up getting cut however. On both plans I think the 'hostspot' usage is based on a combination of TTL and ports. I see no hotspot usage on 5 separate lines. 1 ATT 'buyasession' tablet, 2 ATT postpaid tablet, 1 ATT prepaid unlimited 5G, 1 VZW unlimited prepaid.

[Didneywhorl]

I think your probably correct.

On another note...
I don't even think ATT uses TTL/HL. I think they just use the "broadband" APN for all hotspot/tablet data.

[HisokaXFreecs]

Which number can i call and how can i get the reps to understand which department im looking for? Any input would be nice. They just blacklisted me. But if their is any hope of getting it turned back on i would like to try. Thanks

[synamrao]

Anyone else notice that the post paid unlimited IPAD account with ATT called "$20 a month" is closer to $40 once all the fees are baked in?

AT&T Unlimited Tablet $20.00/mo
AT&T Fees and Surcharges $9.xx/mo
Government Fees and Taxes $8.xx/mo
---------------------------------
TOTAL $38.xx/mo

I'm not complaining per se since it is still the best deal going for my needs, but I find it ironic that they manage to almost double the price with fees.

[synamrao]

And I suppose it's worth noting that if on device data exceeds 20g, they are allegedly throttling it to death?

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/att-en ... let-plans/

But I can't see how they are determining this. I assume it is via TTL?

[gscheb]

Anyone else notice that the post paid unlimited IPAD account with ATT called "$20 a month" is closer to $40 once all the fees are baked in?

AT&T Unlimited Tablet $20.00/mo
AT&T Fees and Surcharges $9.xx/mo
Government Fees and Taxes $8.xx/mo
---------------------------------
TOTAL $38.xx/mo

I'm not complaining per se since it is still the best deal going for my needs, but I find it ironic that they manage to almost double the price with fees.

So mine rounds up to less than $25 a month. Far as the hotspot data. Think they talking about hitting the hot spot function on the tablet itself. At one time that was being unlimited too. Not as part of the plan but just worked.

[gscheb]

Also at&t don't require ttl. Just apn and ready to go.

[captbob544]

Hey BillA,

I am currently on the ATT $35 plan, and am looking into possible alternatives for when/if it ends up being cancelled. I use about 500-600GB a month. When looking at T-Mobile, I see there are two plans. The $60 "Unlimited Plus" and the $50 "Unlimited". The only difference being the Plus has 10GB of mobile hotspot. Am I right to assume the $50 plan is the one I should get? Plan on using it in a WE826-T2 with a Sierra Wireless EM7565 that I put together. With MetroPCS and SimpleMobile it sounds like they get deprioritized to level even lower than T-Mobile customers, so I would prefer to just deal with them directly. Unless there is another reason to consider them besides the cost. Thanks for your help.

Does the VZW Unlimited 70 Plan Activate with router?

[synamrao]

Yeah, I was wrong / quoted the wrong numbers. On the tablet it does appear to round to about 25.

I don't know why their print out gave me those crazy numbers. Now that some billing has happened, I see that it is as it should be.