While there's speculation out there that it's a due to a problem with the SIM design, or AT&T is losing money from people who bought locked phones but then used a ST SIM, or ..., it seems that something else is going on.
ST is part of the same company that owns Net10. Net10 says - https://net10data.com/ (which of course is an image so I can't extract the text). Here - http://androidheadli...ited-anymore.html
Many of you out there are using Straight Talk, Net10, or a number of other MVNOÂs that operate on AT&T or T-MobileÂs network. Well today we have some interesting information for you. It appears that users on Straight Talk using an AT&T SIM card will no longer have unlimited data as of March 1st. Instead, itÂll be capped at 1.5GB and then throttled down to EDGE or 2G speeds. But we kinda knew AT&T would do this since Straight TalkÂs market share is going through the roof. Especially with the Nexus 4 being so cheap unlocked. Straight Talk has been taking customers away from AT&TÂs prepaid GoPhone service.
Now this doesnÂt affect T-Mobile SIM cards for Straight Talk, just AT&T ones. HereÂs the full statement from Net10 as well as Tracfone. Tracfone owns Straight Talk and Net10.
[...]
So, it looks like I have to go with T-Mobile for the Nexus4 if I want reasonable data access unless I go directly with AT&T. T claims I have "Good" coverage outside my home, which probably means 3G when conditions are optimum. Bah. Their plans are $60/month for up to 2.5 GB 4G, $70/month for "unlimited" 4G. Or $30/month for 100 minutes with up to 5GB 4G. If J ends up using it a lot, 100 minutes won't be nearly enough.
Our iPad v1 works well enough on 3G inside on AT&T. Their prepaid coverage map also shows "Good" while their standard data plan map shows "Excellent" (which probably means they have 4G planned here but aren't guaranteeing anything).
AT&T's prepaid data/voice plan is $65/mo for 1 GB (presumably plus taxes). Extra GBs are $50 each?!? ($0.05/MB * 1000 MB/GB = $50.). Zooks! Their "Mobile Share" plan with 4 GB of data per month is $110 for 1 phone or $150 for 2 phones (plus taxes and fees).
This is insane. But it looks like the AT&T MVNOs are being killed off - I wouldn't be surprised if the others end up in the same boatt.
Gotta keep pondering what to do... :-(
Cheers,
Scott.