3G iPad?s ?Unlimited? Data Plan Survives Torture Test

Data hogs, rejoice: The 3G iPad’s unlimited data plan appears to be truly unlimited. A tech blogger put AT&T’s network through a “torture test” by downloading a huge amount of data, and he faced zero obstacles.

Know Your Cell blogger Zach Epstein used an app called Download Lite to download test files to suck up a whopping 31GB of data in just two days with the iPad over AT&T’s 3G connection.

“Unlimited is obviously a word that carriers have tossed around for a long time without actually meaning unlimited,” Epstein told Wired.com. “My first thought was that if this iPad 3G data plan was actually going to be unlimited, it was something I definitely needed to publicly trial.”

Many internet users have questioned the definition of “unlimited” with regard to data usage for quite some time. In the past, Comcast advertised its broadband package as “unlimited,” but some customers reported that their service was cut off after exceeding a limit. Later, Comcast informed customers that it was imposing a 250-GB bandwidth cap to mitigate network overload.

AT&T’s smartphone plans are advertised as unlimited, and the company has not officially imposed a limit to the amount of data that can be downloaded. However, any carrier that offers an unlimited plan bakes in restrictions to its terms-of-service in regard to how data can be used. For example, with the iPhone and the iPad, users can only download files as large as 20 MB while connected to the 3G network. (The cap was previously 10 MB.) Files larger than 20 MB must be downloaded over Wi-Fi. So the definition of “unlimited” is still up for debate.

In response to Epstein’s test, an AT&T spokesman said AT&T smartphones plans are already unlimited, and the story is no different with the iPad.

AT&T offers two data plans for 3G iPad customers: $15 a month for 250 MB and $30 per month for unlimited data usage. The plans do not require commitment to a contract.

“What’s odd is that unlimited data plans are not new — all of our smartphone plans are,” the representative said. “So, why this one?”

Epstein said his torture test is finished, as 31 GB is more than enough for even the biggest data hogs (31 GB would be equivalent to downloading roughly 15 standard-definition movies or 9,400 songs). Epstein also discouraged others from trying similar tests.

“I’ve advised people not to try and mirror this test in any way,” Epstein said. “My intentions were to publicly trial AT&T’s claim of unlimited. I think too many people were looking for ways to abuse it, so I tried to put a stop to that as best I could.”

Even though for the time being, AT&T smartphone data usage appears to be unlimited, there’s a possibility that could change in the future. AT&T in December 2009 suggested the company would find ways to persuade heavy users to reduce their activity and that caps on data usage could be imminent.

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