Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over iOS Wi-Fi Assist (appleinsider.com) 212
An anonymous reader writes: A class-action suit has been filed against Apple in U.S. District Court over Wi-Fi Assist being turned on by default in iOS 9. Wi-Fi Assist is designed to switch to cellular data when a user is trying to perform an action over the internet on a poor Wi-Fi signal. This has the natural side effect of using cellular data. Since iOS 9 turned it on for many users, they weren't necessarily expecting that extra use, causing some of them to exceed their data caps. A former Apple employee who was in a leadership position for Mac OS X Wi-Fi software has commented on the issue, saying that the Wi-Fi Assist mess was unavoidable given how Apple's management treats that part of the business.
Quoting :"[O]ne particular directorial edict which I pushed back against at the end of my tenure sticks out as not just particularly telling, but deeply misguided: 'Make it self-healing.' Self healing in this context meaning that the networking system, Wi-Fi in particular, should try to correct problems that caused the network to fail, which, if you have spent any time trying to diagnose networking issues is a clear misunderstanding of the issues involved. ... Asking the devices which connect to this vast complex network of networks to detect, and then transparently fix problems in the infrastructure without the permission of the administrators is, well, it's absolutely the pinnacle of buzzword driven product management. Real pointy-haired boss territory."
Quoting :"[O]ne particular directorial edict which I pushed back against at the end of my tenure sticks out as not just particularly telling, but deeply misguided: 'Make it self-healing.' Self healing in this context meaning that the networking system, Wi-Fi in particular, should try to correct problems that caused the network to fail, which, if you have spent any time trying to diagnose networking issues is a clear misunderstanding of the issues involved. ... Asking the devices which connect to this vast complex network of networks to detect, and then transparently fix problems in the infrastructure without the permission of the administrators is, well, it's absolutely the pinnacle of buzzword driven product management. Real pointy-haired boss territory."
It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by default (Score:5, Insightful)
I like the IDEA of Wi-Fi Assist, as it comes in handy when you're on a crummy WiFi connection like the kind that you'll find at a hotel or on a train.
It just shouldn't be turned on by default without prompting the user, though. Nobody likes surprises like that, especially if you're on a metered data plan like most of us are.
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:4, Insightful)
What I would like to see is an indicator on the iOS top bar ('status bar') that lets a user know how when cellular data is in use on a network connection, and by how much in assistance to a WiFi connection. Instead of adding a new symbol to the status bar, we could turn the WiFi radiating-lines icon red to indicate that cellular data is in use. If WiFi Assist is in use to supplement a wobbly WiFi connection, we could turn a pie wedge of the WiFi icon red to indicate the proportion of cellular assist. The size of the red sector compared to the icon as a whole would shift to indicate the percentage contribution of cellular, in the same way that the number of dark radiating lines in the icon describes the strength of the signal.
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:4, Informative)
When it flips to WiFi assist, the WiFi symbol in the status bar changes to 4G, 3G, LTE or whatever cellular network is being used.
AFAIK, it's not a matter of what percentage goes via WiFi and what percentage goes via cellular. It's more of a switch from one to the other.
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:4, Insightful)
Android just lets you set a threshold for how many GB (or MB) of cellular data you can use in your billing cycle. When you hit it, it warns you or automatically shuts off cellular data. Yes it's an extra step and requires you to know when you billing cycle starts and what your data cap is, so isn't as simple as "it just works.". But it seems to me it's a whole lot simpler than the convoluted colored pie wedge indicator icon idea you've come up with. What good is knowing what proportion of your current data use is cellular, if you don't know how close you are to your cap?
If you let yourself be pigeonholed by artificial absolute rules (e.g. "in the interest of simplicity, it must just work"), you needlessly limit the possible solutions. Which can result in the simplest solution compliant with your "simplicity" rule being a lot more complicated than the simplest solution which does not comply with your "simplicity" rule. The only absolute rule is that there are no absolute rules (except this one).
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Argumentum ad pomum: that the other buy is not a corporate shill, but is such a fanboi that $EVIL_CORPORATION doesn't even have to pay him.
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:5, Insightful)
Metered plan is such a nice term for what these providers do.
Why not something more accurate, like "data rape" or "wallet diddle" plan?
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:5, Insightful)
I think metering is fair on mobile wireless.
Well, OK, it's not fair, but it's more fair than not having any metering.
Mobile wireless is a limited and non-fungible resources. On any given cell at any given time, there's a limited amount of bandwidth to be shared around. If that cell has enough bandwidth to serve everyone using it, they should be able to fill their boots. If that cell is congested, you need some mechanism to prevent all the bandwidth being consumed by a few users. When I'm in a setting like a railway station with a thousand people all wanting some bandwidth, it makes me angry to see the people streaming video on their phone like their entertainment is more important than everyone else who wants their email and IM to work.
What we have now does not really work ; it's a pricing mechanism of deterring excessive use, but it doesn't assign prices correctly, it just bills your bandwidth use at a flat rate. Bandwidth that is uncontested should be cheap, or free. Bandwidth that is contested should cost more. What really needs to happen in these circumstances is a kind of Dutch auction, where every handset has a notion of what price it's prepared to pay for bandwidth, and the cell sets the price according to how congested it is. But this would be too complicated to sell to most people.
Unmetered wireless bandwidth is not fair, because it's only "too cheap to meter" when the cell has very few clients. Part of the drive for 5G is to push things to this point - 4G too (or else why would they provide such tiny caps with such huge bandwidth that you can burn through it all in minutes - it's not about giving your more bandwidth, it's about having enough bandwidth to serve more customers). As long as we keep up thinking of new media that consume more bandwidth, wireless will not be good enough to serve crowded cells.
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It also has zero shelf life. Data used in the middle of the night in some area where there are few other users has no impact on the rest of the network. Counting data over a month makes little sense in this context.
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And what makes you think your work is so much more important than someone else's entertainment? Seriously. Your work does not trump someone else's play simply because it's "work".
Besides, IM and email are low bandwidth activities. The streaming video should be rendered unwatchable by network congestion long before you have any difficulty wit
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On any given cell at any given time, there's a limited amount of bandwidth to be shared around. If that cell has enough bandwidth to serve everyone using it, they should be able to fill their boots. If that cell is congested, you need some mechanism to prevent all the bandwidth being consumed by a few users.
What you're describing is Quality of Service, not metering. Why should I be subject to exactly the same rules in a congested inner city cell as an almost empty suburban one? My data cap is a data cap regardless if I'm using it at peak hour or at 3am when the only other traffic on a cell is keep alive signals.
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What we have now does not really work ; it's a pricing mechanism of deterring excessive use, but it doesn't assign prices correctly, it just bills your bandwidth use at a flat rate.
This is why I prefer using pre-paid/pay as you go plans. They literally cant charge you more than what you've already paid.
Bandwidth that is uncontested should be cheap, or free. Bandwidth that is contested should cost more.
This would be a fairer and more accurate system but it will never happen because:
1. It's too complex to explain to the average iphone using simpleton.
2. It's too complex to explain to the average iphone using simpleton. I know this is technically only one point but it's big enough to mention twice.
3. It would require telco's to dynamically adjust pricing based on current bandwidth
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We, the ISP came up with the name. Not really, its what Cisco calls it in the the configs. It may make you mad you have to pay for data and the ISP has a meter just like the other utilities. I guess you wan't unlimited data,gas,electric and water to right. Since metering is evil.
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It makes sense to object to transfer metering. Gas, water, and electricity are metered based on what adds cost. There is no appreciable cost to transfer a byte of data. Maintaining the capacity to transfer data is what costs which is why non-consumer data is billed based on 95th percentile of the RATE.
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Metered plan is such a nice term for what these providers do.
Why not something more accurate, like "data rape" or "wallet diddle" plan?
Entitlement Complex Enrager plan?
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To be fair, I've never seen an "Unlimited" plan, well - not in a long time and I'm not sure if the one I saw before was "Unlimited." They've all been, "Unlimited*" and the asterisk is important. I make it a point to read the fine print. If i don't agree then I don't sign.
Re:It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defaul (Score:5, Interesting)
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Have you ever paid a utility bill? Both my electric and water bills have always had 4 tiers... At the high-end, you'll be paying more than double the rate of the lower allotments. A big reason why so many people are installing solar panels, is because shaving just a few percent off the top of their electric bill will save them a LOT o
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I called AT&T and asked how she could have used data when it was off. They said that it takes them four hours for them (and the app I used) to reflect our actual data usage. I asked them to set it up so that when her data goes over to just stop sending data when it's out. They said they cannot, their system was not set up that way. I told them that was bunk.
You need to move to a provider that isn't a prick. TMO (and Sprint I believe, though I'm not sure) both offer data plans that will result in little to no overage. I have not paid voice or data overage in 2 years on TMO. They do exactly what you said you want, but instead of stopping the data, you get throttled down to 128Kb/s (i.e., good 2G speeds).
I moved us over from AT&T and Verizon because both of them wanted us to pay overage once in a while, and randomly at that. You don't need to - there are
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Forfeiting mod points because I accidentally modded down while I meant "insightful".
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What's offensive is that when I exceed my limit, there is no notification, no automatic stop, no choice to spend more money. The provider simply reaches into my wallet and removes money at will.
You do realize that you signed a contract agreeing to those specific actions, right?
Do you also realize you can get plans that offer different data caps, or no cap at all?
I have unlimited data on my phone, for a flat rate that I find acceptable. I don't know why you are so upset about something you have complete control over.
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.... I don't know why you are so upset about something you have complete control over.
Nice little slip there. Complete? Really?
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Yes, complete. You decide which carrier to go with, or none at all. That is control. My carrier has an unlimited data plan for a very good price, which is what I chose to enroll with. In fact, I upgraded to that plan just this past spring after getting a newer smartphone.
The comment I responded to specifically said:
What's offensive is that when I exceed my limit, there is no notification, no automatic stop, no choice to spend more money.
There are multiple carriers with multiple plans that cover multiple styles of phones with multiple features. There are prepaid phones from independent providers that certainly let you limit your
Re: It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defa (Score:2)
"...of their spending" makes it very true. Without.... Eh. :)
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I'm not sure what point you are attempting to make with that comment.
Complete control over their spending, over which carrier they choose, over which phone they buy, over which data plan they sign up for, over which applications they use on their phone to tell them how much data they have used. And the ultimate complete control, not buying a smart phone with a data plan. Several people on this site have stated they use a "cell phone" instead of a "smart phone", for this very reason.
So, whatever usage of "co
Re: It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defa (Score:2)
Control of their network and the way they choose to handle voice and data, you being the one who fishy have a say in their back-end strategy? Yeah. That one.
Re: It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by def (Score:2)
Fishy = doesn't.
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Control of their network and the way they choose to handle voice and data, you being the one who doesn't have a say in their back-end strategy? Yeah. That one.
So, when you are losing an argument, you switch what the argument is about. I wish I could say that was a unique pattern.
The "complete control" is in regards to how much they bill me. That is the whole point of this topic. I don't have control of what brand of switch they use, or what color they use for their logo, or what the CEO is paid. But whatever choice they make for those various situations, I have a contract saying they will not charge me more than a set fee every month. Nothing else you are mention
Re: It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defa (Score:4, Insightful)
What in the hell does that have to do with complete control? You're talking about 'complete management of your own usage'.
Which is the exact topic I was responding to, because the AC stated: "What's offensive is that when I exceed my limit, there is no notification, no automatic stop, no choice to spend more money." We as consumers do have control over what phone we buy, what carrier we go with, and what features we require from both the phone and carrier.
I have complete control over the amount of money I give to my provider every month. I've had that same control for the last decade. It was the one criteria I had when I got a new phone after moving across the country for a job. So, yes, complete control.
Re: It's a good idea, but shouldn't be on by defa (Score:2)
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For them, having a variable cost they literally have no control over
That is literally the dumbest thing I have read today. Yes, your mobile phone usage is a random number selected from a hat each month by your wireless company and arbitrarily inserted into your bill for kicks, with no involvement from you.
think DDoS ... I'm just waiting for the first (desktop and/or server) malware that sends a steady stream of packets to random AT&T and Verizon mobile IPs
I'm not sure who your phone company is, but most wireless networks I know of assign dynamic non-routable IP addresses behind carrier grade NAT to their customers' mobile devices. So, you know, good luck with your DDoS there.
Think class-action, because you KNOW neither providers will block that traffic when they could bill for it instead.
Yes, wireless companies are just dying to have pe
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That is literally the dumbest thing I have read today.
And yet, you found it worthwhile enough to respond to.
Yes, your mobile phone usage is a random number selected from a hat each month by your wireless company and arbitrarily inserted into your bill for kicks, with no involvement from you.
Maybe read the rest of the sentence and realize that's not what I'm saying at all? Oh, look, you quoted the appropriate context even, so you clearly did read it.
I'm not sure who your phone company is, but most wireless networks I know of assign dynamic non-routable IP addresses behind carrier grade NAT to their customers' mobile devices. So, you know, good luck with your DDoS there.
Not only did you quote it, you replied to it as though you actually understood what I was saying; so, why did you still post the obvious misinterpretation of my words? Poorly constructed strawman, much? I do have to say, though, that you are absolutely correct about this, most carriers to use car
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I like that about once a month, someone responds to me to tell me I'm wrong, while proving with their own argument that I am right. You wrote:
To further my point, utility meters are regulated while there is no regulation or legally required metering mehodology for data, which only compounds the fact that someone else can just start firing unrequested packets in my direction and I'll get billed for them.
Well, I won't because I have unlimited data,
So, you state quite clearly that you have control over your monthly data plan pricing, because you pay for unlimited data. You have no overage, thanks to the plan that you chose, and pay for. You have complete control over your billing, just as I said.
Thanks for your response proving mine correct.
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They were born contractually bound to a carrier? They had one forced on them through the court system? Goons from Big Data kicked in their doors and forced them to sign the contract with their own blood?
I'm trying to figure out how people in your world have no control over which carrier they sign a contract with, before they sign the contract. You don't seem to understand I am stating that people choose which carrier to use, and which data plan to use. You yourself chose a plan from a national carrier that
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the other side of me says
....... its a cell phone...... its going to use cell data... you should pay attention to what your phone is doing, not blame the company for giving you options (even if you need to turn said option off)
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It's all a matter of perspective (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that what Apple is doing with WiFi Assist is hardly so cryptic. Transparently switching from one network to another (both of which the user has permission to access) in order to maintain a data connection is hardly "the pinnacle of buzzword driven product management". I would say that it is the sort of behavior that most people would expect in the modern mobile era.
Apple's mistake was not in creating the feature. Their mistake was in implementing the feature as being "on" by default without considering the ridiculously low data caps of many cellular contracts, and the ridiculously high overage fees of some of them. In the next iOS update WiFi Assist will be turned "off" by default, and this entire "controversy" will be filed on the shelf right next to Bendgate.
If Apple really wants to shake things up, they need to build their own cellular network with 100 GB or 200 GB data caps. Sprint looks like a good candidate to buy in the U.S. given its current financial situation. Do that, and people won't be bitching about WiFi Assist; they'll be praising it as the new normal.
Re: It's all a matter of perspective (Score:4, Informative)
Apple's mistake is not implementing something to allow users to know how much cellular bandwidth they've consumed and to prevent these device from going over preset limits.
Personally, I'm on T-Mobile (with Android), so I don't get billed for going over any caps, but if I were on AT&T I'd be wary of iPhones and watch data usage like a hawk.
It is trivial on Android to set cellular data limits -- iPhones expect everyone to have unlimited data plans.
Can smartphones know their data cap? (Score:4, Interesting)
It would seem to be pretty trivial to implement a feature where the phone is aware of the account's data plan details (used, available, etc).
The phone could then have some user configurable warning threshold when the plan's available data goes below that threshold.
Apps and features (like wifi-assist) could then have a setting that allow/prohibits them to use data when the threshold has been exceeded.
If there was some standardized method of obtaining and communicating this info, shared data plans could manage these settings on the carrier account page per device -- individual caps, thresholds relative to individual caps or total shared caps.
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Being able to see cellular data usage compared to plan limit in real time would be a great idea. Currently I have to keep going into a MyVerizon app to see where I stand in data usage.
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If they wanted to not be dicks they'd use the system I have here in Norway. At 80% of my quota I get a notification that I'm nearing my limit and a link to the web page where I can watch it and buy more. At 100% I get the same message and the connection is severely throttled. Since they know the IP they assigned to the phone, there's no login or anything like that it's a plain web page. And the "buy more" is basically just a drop down list of quotas and prices and a button, they already have all your billin
Re: Can smartphones know their data cap? (Score:2)
Trust me, there are a lot of subscriptions in Norway that don't do this.
I've been going over all of them over the past few months for a project I'm working on, and *a lot *of subscriptions has some kind of a "trap" that will lure some percentage of users into overage territory.
Re:Can smartphones know their data cap? (Score:4, Interesting)
The phone could then have some user configurable warning threshold when the plan's available data goes below that threshold.
Android phones already have this.
The rest of your idea sounds great. It would be awesome if the system could define priority levels for traffic so that some traffic cuts off (youtube etc) if you're in a "warning zone". I can already set it to automatically cut off when I exceed my limit however..... that depends entirely on the ISP metering the same way the phone does. Somehow they never agree.
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Apple's mistake is not implementing something to allow users to know how much cellular bandwidth they've consumed and to prevent these device from going over preset limits.
That wasn't a mistake, it was Apple doing it right. They knew their customers didn't want to deal with this shit. What happened was they arm-twisted AT&T to only offer unlimited plans so that the customers didn't need to worry about data usage. When Apple's contract with AT&T ended they were like "Oh look, now we can abuse our customers!"
The problem isn't that the phones don't make it glaringly obvious how much data you're using (actually they do provide several tools to manage that, although you'
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Please, not Sprint. I tried them briefly in San Francisco. Standing on Market Street, I barely got 1 Mbps. I went back to Verizon and got an order of magnitude better.
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Except that what Apple is doing with WiFi Assist is hardly so cryptic. Transparently switching from one network to another (both of which the user has permission to access) in order to maintain a data connection is hardly "the pinnacle of buzzword driven product management".
The problem is that Apple has made a lot of things so easy, users expect everything to be so easy. Apple has basically created this problem for itself. One solution that comes to mind is a nag-screen-like alert that warns users of a switch in network type. Make it red with a biohazard symbol to make sure nobody ignores it.
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One solution that comes to mind is a nag-screen-like alert
God that would be annoying. Maybe Apple should have made WiFi Assist opt-in rather than opt-out, but I really don't see the problem with this feature. It's limited to foreground applications, and respects settings that various apps (like Netflix) shouldn't use cellular data. The network status display also changes when the feature turns on.
On the other hand, I've had countless cases where I had to switch off WiFi to get off a weak or extremely slow network and switch to LTE, it always seemed stupid the O
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The only problem I can see is when the network status isn't visible, like when the "< Back to App" display is on, or when the app is fullscreen. Apple should probably make sure the network display shows up for a few seconds when the network switches for any reason.
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Why a data cap at all? There is no need for data caps besides greed. Data caps are not a response to any technical issue, data caps aren't even relevant in the industry of data communication.
An new case has to be filed be filed (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re:An new case has to be filed be filed (Score:5, Insightful)
In my opinion, the only company who does data caps in a fair way is T-Mobile. You still have a data limit, but rather than unexpected charges on your account you get a slowdown in speed. Now, it would be nice if they had more options for increasing the limit - even temporarily - but that is the only customer-friendly way to approach data caps. It is very easy to have an "oops" moment and exceed your data plan. You can blame people for being stupid, but even smart people make mistakes.
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I've been saying for years how happy I am with MetroPCS. I always had a flat rate for unlimited phone calls. Now I have a flat rate for unlimited data used on my phone.
The only cap is if I have my laptop tethered to my phone, or have the mobile hotspot active on my phone. Then it slows down to 3G speed after a couple GB of pass-thru data. Tethering and hotspot are very useful when needed, but I haven't come near the limit, since I only have to use it occasionally when on the road, and need to use the laptop
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Doesn't that just mean that you reliably get a message on around the 20th of each month? I mean, it's better than nothing, but they still rake you over the coals when you go over. Now, if the message said "reply to this message with 'more' to buy an additional 1 GB for $10" or something along those lines, it would be pretty good. Still not as good as a "soft cap", but better than a simple informational message.
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Sorry, what I meant was that - unless you are paying for more data than you need - you would be hitting your 65% limit pretty much every month. Yes, it's still useful if you get the warning unexpectedly early. But, no, it's not useful at all if you already hit 65% and then have your "oops" moment the next day.
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This is why Australia mandated that ISPs instantly alert people at 50% 75% and 100% of their data usage. This feature was very neat as I always had a bare minimum plan (constantly connected to wifi) but I always went over my limit when I travelled interstate (typically due to overuse of GPS). I can SMS a number with "200MB" "500MB" "1G" or "2G" to increase my cap and it automatically gets billed to my account, and I can even do it retrospectively. The only thing still dubious about the system is that I can'
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I don't actually normally even see my bill or anything but, due to a conversation here on /. recently, I got my username and password and logged in to see my data usage. I have 50 GB service and it appears, going through the history, that I have approached that limit twice. No, I have no idea what I was doing at the time and most of the time I use less than 1% of the data. I can only assume I was out of WiFi range and on the road somewhere.
Anyhow, the cellular company hasn't ever sent me an email, a text, o
Re:An new case has to be filed be filed (Score:5, Interesting)
That would mean losing about 90% of iPhone sales.
Remember, Apple has "strategic partnerships" with wireless providers. Do you really not think there was a discussion about this anywhere among the Apple executives and the brass from the telecoms?
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Dingdingding!
The cellular providers need to be dragged into this as well, as the scent of collusion is very strong in this case.
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I thought mobile bandwidth was limited due to equipment (physical and logical) limitations. I've always been encouraged, in mobile company literature, to reduce wireless usage as much as possible. Keep the bandwidth available for others. But it's okay for Apple customers to use that bandwidth to the n'th degree?
So... this is who we're supposed to keep the bandwidth available for? I think I just opened a can of worms, but please don't attack the 'opener'.
Amen to Khyber's response to this parent.. I smel
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Maybe there's an icon, but why add such a stupid feature in the first place? Do you think most users want to continuously monitor the top status bar or even know such a feature exists?
If the wifi connection is iffy, the user can always manually switch to the expensive cellular connection. Automatic switching is bad because it's expensive. Requiring users to hunt
a good feature is pointy-hair boss territory now? (Score:2, Interesting)
are you kidding me?
this is a pretty awesome feature, and very apple'y in that it does things under the hood without bothering the user with stupid prompts. as long as the user consented to it, there should absolutely be no problem with it. now since it seems they didn't request that user's consent, and since people were charged money because of that, looks like there may well be grounds for a lawsuit. but the quote from an employee presented doesn't mention that!
there *may* have been technical (and possibly
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The guy is the programmer of the iStumbler network monitoring app. An app of the type where the UI only makes sense to the programmer that created it. And for which the documentation does nothing to explain to someone who doesn't already understand it.
I'm on the PHBs side on this one. I'm not surprised Apple pushed him out.
WiFi Assist is the best feature of iOS9 for me. iStumbler is something I once downloaded, and regretted the time it took to look it over.
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That's the *best* feature? Really? Really? Not the ability to make a fucking phone call but WiFi Assist is the *best* feature "for me."
What's this? I don't even... Do you get paid to post that shit? I don't think I've ever accused anyone of being a shill (except for gangadude who invites it with his signature and then only in jest as a 'shill for the marijuana industry') but I am wondering if this might actually be a paid post. No, not the ability to make a phone call, that's not the best feature. The best
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That's the *best* feature? Really? Really? Not the ability to make a fucking phone call but WiFi Assist is the *best* feature "for me."
What's this? I don't even... Do you get paid to post that shit? I don't think I've ever accused anyone of being a shill (except for gangadude who invites it with his signature and then only in jest as a 'shill for the marijuana industry') but I am wondering if this might actually be a paid post. No, not the ability to make a phone call, that's not the best feature. The best feature is a wireless assist technology that, it appears, causes people to spend money they didn't know they were going to be obligated to pay.
Yup. That's the absolutely bestest fucking feature on the phone. I hope, for your sake, you're drunk or have the phone shoved up your ass so that you're able to get a little prostate massage from it. Want me to call so it vibrates?
Best feature... *sighs*
He said the "best feature of iOS9", as in "the best feature that was added with the update".
The phone already made calls. It wasn't a new feature added in the update to iOS9.
It seems like you've lost the ability to read and parse the English language as the red mist of apple hate has descended on you.
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No, he said the best feature of and not the best new feature of - seems like you're interjecting words because you think it's smart. It's not. I can read. Can you? Do you often run around inserting words into people's mouths? You're as retarded as they are, or so it seems. "He meant what he didn't say - can't you read!!!" Wow... Just, wow...
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As the other poster says, you don't understand how the English language works. By specifying iOS9, it means things that aren't in other version of iOS.
And you really have something lacking in your life to get so upset about what you thought someone said about a phone. Go outside, take a walk, smell the flowers, say hello to someone.
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Uh huh... If you meant that then you'd have said that. It's nice that you tried the same excuse that the AC used. You couldn't even come up with your own excuse. Pathetic. *snickers*
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The guy seems to be talking about some other crazy thing, where he says:
-- "fix problems in the infrastructure?" What? This is working around problems. The phone isn't being asked to reconfigure everyone e
Get your popcorn grandma, the Apple haters coming (Score:5, Funny)
It's good to see the first three posts are neutral to positive toward Apple. But, it won't last.
Just another article written specifically to say, "Apple does it wrong, and needs to do what I think they should do, so their non-customers will be as happy as their customers".
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And "constructive dialog" must be either neutral or positive towards Apple?
Maybe we have a different definition of "constructive dialog".
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Obviously. It's only constructive if it's misleading, off-topic, or in other ways prevents anything negative from being said. Just up the thread there was someone decrying this as THE BEST FEATURE! No, not the ability to make a fucking phone call but the wireless assist function was the BEST FEATURE!!!11eleventy!
It's constructive if it prevents actual constructive criticism. You know, not actually constructive. Alas, I'm preaching to the choir, I know. Ah well, karma to burn, baby. Karma to burn.
If Apple is being sued ... (Score:5, Interesting)
how about a class action against Microsoft which made millions of PCs download 3GB being MS Windows 10 -- just in case they wanted to upgrade. This pushed people over monthly broadband limits, sometimes at great expense. Apparently possible to disable, but the default was on.
While they are at it: another class action suit for spying on their users and exporting private data to the MS servers; again on by default and impossible to switch off completely.
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I have no hopes they'll ever release a version of Windows that I want to use but this would at least send them the message that they can't do whatever they want with out PCs and have no consequences.
Learn how to use your phone... (Score:2)
If you don't want an app to use cellular, go and turn it off. My 11 year old daughter knows how to do this since her pre-paid phone gives her about 300MB a month. For those that are on limited cell plans, you should have already been doing this before wifi assist existed.
I think wifi assist is a pretty awesome feature, no more Slack not working when I leave buildings (I travel between school buildings a lot during the day).
Somebody needs their butt kicked (Score:2)
I've noted this for a while, that even with a perfectly good WiFi connection ("good" = streaming video bandwidth) my iPad insists on using cellular data for some network functions. So I leave the cellular data turned off unless I actually need it.
The motivation when I bought it was that I could use cellular data to access flight planning and weather information if I land at an airport that has cell coverage but no WiFi. It has served this function just fine, but somebody at Apple needs their ass kicked ve
Can't you turn off mobile data? (Score:2)
Do iPhones not have a way to easily turn off mobile data? On Android it is right at the top.
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Do iPhones not have a way to easily turn off mobile data? On Android it is right at the top.
They do. It's in the settings near the top and is pretty granular (you can turn 4G on and off, and also control specific apps).
The problem with the new feature was that it was on by default and the setting to control it was at the bottom of the app list in the cellular settings.
"Self-healing" is expected (Score:2)
For many portable devices, "self-healing" is a standard behavior. They're supposed to detect the strongest available and accessible wi-fi link, to select it automatically, and to switch transparently to or from that channel as it improves or degrades, and to incorporate locally provided authentication credentials with no user involvements.
Since most of the network problems for portable devices are, in fact, local and local configuration issues, it is completely reasonable to expect a portable that costs a w
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Hi, my name is Frank and I am a Fanboys, and proud of it.
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You do realize that what you wrote isn't even coherent. . . .right?
You are presenting that because of pressure to, as you say it, "give data away for free," that the price it high. This would require me to accept that under other conditions, the price of data would be lower. However, you should recognize that never has been, and never will be "free markets."
Free markets are a theoretical structure. For Smith and Ricardian free markets to work, all actors need full knowledge of present and future conditions.
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"Things were working just fine without communist net neutrality."
You're ignoring the natural monopoly problem with cable and telecom services. Suppose your electric company was to negotiate a deal with Maytag to give you a discount on power consumed by its appliances, while charging everyone else a little more to make up the difference? That's why we make the electrical service in any given place a common carrier.
Hipster Buzzwords (Score:4, Funny)
You'd think the slobbering morons who append "-gate" after everything, like some sort of misguided hipster buzzword, would eventually get tired of it and stop. Apparently not.
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Unfortunately he's a judge, and therefore clueless about technology. That's the part of their life they leave to law clerks.
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I've got a gig of data. If I'm trying to watch a YouTube video and the WiFi is crappy, I don't switch over to cellular - I watch it later, when I have better WiFi. I sure as heck don't want to eat into my gig to watch the latest Star Wars Trailer supercut.
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So turn off WiFi Assist. Personally I get unlimited data for 20 UKP a month ($30), so WiFi Assist is a brilliant feature no matter what the data is that I'm accessing.
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This feature shuts off WiFi when the WiFi connection you're trying to use, has crappy throughput, and uses Cellular instead. Just like Every Person In The World with a smartphone would do, when the WiFi they're trying to use is crap. Maybe add a popup saying "Hey, your WiFi throughput is crap, we switched you over to Cell, data charges may apply, click here to say OK, click this other box to say "Yeah I get it, never show me this again", " would have been nice, but come on, a freaking class action lawsuit? Only people who benefit from that, are the lawyers.
Problem is that the default behaviour changed and people used up their cellular data when they absolutely did not want to do so - when they were at home, in range of their home WiFi and used data intensive apps (like watching movies, installing updates etc.) BECAUSE they were sure only WiFi would be used as long as they are in range of their WiFi access point. But WiFi assist means that the phone can switch to cellular data even while you are still in range of your own WiFi, which was never the case before
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well the device worked as intended and the network connection seemed self healing and 'just worked'. it just happened to cost a lot more than the user thought.
for the majority of american users that's the iphone in a nutshell anyways, "oh it was only a 200 dollar upgrade... ... and 800 more in fees over 2 years. but hey i do get 3 bucks worth of data for free!"