Altice Mobile just launched with a tempting offer. Altice’s only plan, its “unlimited everything” plan, is only $30 per line each month.1 A lot of technology websites have been writing about the new offering, and most of them aren’t mentioning how many limits Altice places on its subscribers.
(Added 2/26/2020: Since this post came out, Altice Mobile’s price has changed to $40 per month for most people and $30 per month for Optimum and Suddenlink customers.)
Limits
In my previous post, I was critical of Total Wireless for marketing one of its plans as an “unlimited” plan, even though it involved a significant limitation:
Total Wireless is at least is transparent in letting customers know that limits exist despite the plan’s unlimited label. Altice Mobile doesn’t put a disclaimer or an asterisk next to its claims:
Altice’s press release is even more misleading:2
- unlimited data, text, and talk nationwide,
- unlimited mobile hotspot,
- unlimited video streaming,
- unlimited international text and talk from the U.S. to more than 35 countries, including Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Israel, most of Europe, and more, and
- unlimited data, text and talk while traveling abroad in those same countries.
Potential customers wanting to understand Altice Mobile’s limitations need to find their way to a web page full of legalese titled Broadband Disclosure Information.3 As it turns out, Altice has lots of limitations:
- Mobile hotspot is typically throttled to a maximum of 600Kbps (a fairly slow speed).4
- Video is typically throttled to a maximum of 480p.5
- After 50GB of use in a month, video traffic and hotspot traffic are throttled to 128Kbps.6
- Roaming data is throttled to 128Kbps.7
As I discussed in my last post, it’s silly to call a service unlimited while throttling to sluggish speeds. The claim in the press release that Altice offers “unlimited video streaming” is particularly misleading. 128Kbps can’t even support stable streaming of low-resolution video.8 Turns out the claim of unlimited international data in 35 countries is also misleading. International data after the first gigabyte is throttled to 128Kbps.9
Despite the limitations, there’s a lot that’s exciting about Altice Mobile. The service has a competitive price. It might be a good option for people who live in the regions where it’s available.
I hope we’ll see Altice move towards being more transparent with consumers.
Footnotes
- The rate comes down to $20 per line if you’re already an Optimum or Suddenlink customer. Both the $30 per month and $20 per month rates include a discount for using automatic payments. Taxes and fees will push the actual amounts paid each month a bit higher.
- From the press release on Altice USA’s website. An archived copy from 9/6/2019 is available here.
- I wasn’t able to archive this page using the web-based archiving tools I usually use. I did save a PDF of the page on September 6, 2019. I’m happy to share it in the event anyone would like to view it.
- “Performance with Altice’s ‘Unlimited’ plan. The ‘Unlimited’ data option provides unlimited data usage at a regular monthly rate per line (promotional rates may vary). Speeds for video streaming over LTE and hotspot tethering will be reduced to 2G (e.g., 128 Kbps) after 50 gigabytes (GB) of data usage in a month for the remainder of the billing period after the allotment is exceeded. Subject to this allotment policy, use of your device as a WiFi hotspot will be unlimited at 600 Kbps speeds, and streaming video will be at DVD quality (480p).”
- See the excerpt in the previous footnote.
- “Performance with Altice’s “Unlimited” plan. The “Unlimited” data option provides unlimited data usage at a regular monthly rate per line (promotional rates may vary). Speeds for video streaming over LTE and hotspot tethering will be reduced to 2G (e.g., 128 Kbps) after 50 gigabytes (GB) of data usage in a month for the remainder of the billing period after the allotment is exceeded.”
- “While an Altice customer’s mobile device is connected to another provider’s mobile network (“off-network” or “domestic roaming”) speeds will be up to 2G.”
- Google lists the bitrate range for 240p as 300-700Kbps.
- Altice is a bit more transparent about this limit than the other ones. The following disclaimer is visible after expanding details about international coverage on Altice’s Plan page: “International data use after 1GB of use is throttled to 128Kbps.”
What about the price? Is it really $30 and $20 or does it have taxes and fees tacked on?
When I started going through the checkout process, it looked like I’d have to pay a small amount beyond the base price in taxes and/or fees, but it was pretty modest.
My first bill was $20.57
is the service any good?
Not really. Data while “unlimited” is painfully slow. Not useful for streaming or downloading movies, etc. Looking at going back to ATT.
No not at all. Vwry bad coverage and slow sloooow soeed after 1 gig of use. Your throttled
Has the question of contract liability or negligence possibly bait and switch entered any lawful minds? Imagine if you will that a concept of new technologies emerge with digital infrastructure. This infrastructure has to be born/built initially. Can u see that a few number of digital transfer antennas were birthed in the infancy. This is only logical as they say. Now what if the creators of this technology bit off more than they could chew. contracting beyond the capability of the antenna network. That would look like creators F Rod. A lawful individual could reign hell upon this scenario likely forcing the creators into bankruptcy. This ponderous post is made more malicious when the facts of consumer consumption of this product were as follows 93.7% of the total infrastructure capability was consumed by only 5% of its customers initially. Anyone remember blackouts? Needless to say that the greedy creators summoned legal counsel and together a manifestation of the next G was contracted. Now with legal fine print and more towers a beast is born. Lawful minds shall take action to protect the laymen from the greed of this ever consuming Beast system.
Altice mobile is great for people traveling to Europe, while “high speed data is limited to 1GB you can purchase more, and for $20 for cable customers, what more can you ask for?
It has taxes and fees, as does any other service you subscribe to. In my case the fees and taxes totaled $2.21.
I have Cricket, never one penny of taxes or fees, just the 35.00 per month.
taxes and fees come on after. My “30$ unlimited plan” was 45$ per month after all the fees and with supposedly “a 5$ discount for automatic payments.” Also, you’re required to allow automatic payments and can’t ever remove your credit card. As well, the service actually just doesnt work in a lot of places. It would drop my phone calls while I was just sitting in my house and sometimes tell me I had 3-4 bars and not be able to send a text or make a phone call. I would recommend literally any service besides altice mobile
How does it switch between Sprint and AT&T? Does it try to stay on Sprint even if the signal is poor? When on AT&T are you roaming with data restricted to “2G” speeds? I live in an area with a Sprint signal, but data speeds are unusable many times.
Hi Chuck,
Unfortunately, I’m not sure. My best guess is that Altice generally tries to use Sprint’s network if it’s available, even when the connection is weak.
Based on my initial reading of stuff published by Altice, I thought that roaming on AT&T’s network would be restricted to 2G speeds. However, there was some discussion on Reddit where other people suggested that Altice may not limit AT&T roaming to 2G speeds. I’m not sure what to think. You could try reaching out to Altice with this question, but it may not be easy to get a clear answer.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
T-Mobile has bought Sprint which allows Atlice the benifits of being able to operate on 2 different network platforms.
While Altice is headed in that direction, I don’t think this is really the case yet.
Hey there, Altice one mobile customer here. Switched from Sprint to this (yeah I know…). Before I swapped over, sprint failed to get service to my phone inside my office. On altice mobile, I get reliable service at my desk. The throttle is annoying, very annoying. But the service range is impeccable. I don’t lose phone service at the lake anymore like I did with just purely sprint. If you are on a call, it won’t swap towers from sprint to att. If you happen to try and make a call while swapping towers, you’ll get an error when you attempt the call. It usually doesn’t last long, like 5 seconds and it starts working again.
Is AT&T better? Hell yeah, but for a realistic 20 bucks a month, it’s hard to pass up. I didn’t pass it up and I’m happy with my service, especially after coming over from sprint. Service quality is AT&T > Altice Mobile > Sprint.
What do you mean by throttle? My father in law lives by the lake sprint won’t work out there AT&T does. My husband has AT&T, ihave TMobile I refuse to pay AT&T prices. Was thinking about switching to altice.
Hi Heather,
A throttle is a speed cap (i.e., a maximum speed) that a carrier imposes on a customer. I explain throttling in a bit more detail here. Some of Altice’s throttling-related policies are discussed in this post.
I have Cricket that uses AT&T. Been with them a year, no problems, no taxes or fees. Just 35.00 a month.
Thanks for this info. Was getting fed up on losing service on Sprint while using the gps.
I just switched over from AT&T to Altice (I’m a Suddenlink customer already). On AT&T, I had 22gb of high speed data before being throttled, and no mobile hotspot, so for 1/3 of the price (I was on prepaid), I’m very happy so far. The hotspot is slow, for sure, but it’s usable for light stuff.
i used a Huawei phone. and it is not compatible with altice mobile
I tried to switch from ATT to Altice with my iPhone 6 Plus for $20, as I’m an Optimum customer. Despite trying 3 or different SIM cards, they could never get me connected, & the customer service is strictly IM’s, so it was hours of effort to no avail. Anyone out have this issue? Or know how to get my phone working on their system?
IS your phone unlocked?
Is your iPhone 6 or newer. I know it doesn’t work with iphone 5. If you provided your IMEI and it showed compatible I can’t imagine why it’s not working. I’m sure you already tried turning the phone off putting in sim and turning back on. I haven’t had any problems but early on with another line we had some problems and customer service is miserable because they are talking to multiple people at one time.also make sure your previous carrier definitely unlocked your phone
Hi,
Did your sim finally work on your iPhone 6? I just ordered the Altice sim card and have an iPhone 6 as well.
Thanks,
Renee
I am a old guy 69 I use a tracfone and Speakout in Canada. I don’t text or take pictures with my phone. I just use it to make calls. Will I be able to call the USA from Canada without extra charges? I spend 5 months in Prince Edward Island in the summer. Thank you
The answer to your question is yes. You can read more about it on the alticemobile website under the international tab.
I am an AT&T customer forever and get 6GB before throttle. I travel all over the North East, MidWest and South East does anyone know how this performs in any areas other then the North East?
I have just swapped over from AT&T, I usually always had phone service, I was actually excited about unlimited everything. So far after 3 days, our internet service is so extremely slow, I cannot load anything, and we have had to turn our phones off and on at some point everyday to get it to work.
“Performance with Altice’s ‘Unlimited’ plan. The ‘Unlimited’ data option provides unlimited data usage at a regular monthly rate per line (promotional rates may vary). Speeds for video streaming over LTE and hotspot tethering will be reduced to 2G (e.g., 128 Kbps) after 50 gigabytes (GB) of data usage in a month for the remainder of the billing period after the allotment is exceeded. Subject to this allotment policy, use of your device as a WiFi hotspot will be unlimited at 600 Kbps speeds, and streaming video will be at DVD quality (480p).”
Does each line receive 50gb of streaming? My mom, father, brother and I have T-Mobile. Individually, we use around 15GB of data per month each. That is 60GB that month on one Altice account. Would our data be reduced to 2G if ve collectivel reach the 500GB mark? Or will we receive 50GB of fast data each–totaling 200GB used by our account which will have 4 lines?
“If you use an in-home WiFi network along with a broadband service with a consumption allowance plan, use of the in- home WiFi network will apply toward any applicable bandwidth consumption allowance.”
So using in home wifi will be deducted toward monthly broadband 20gb throttling?! That’s crazy. Am I reading this wrong???
You are misinterpreting the information.
They are stating that if you use wifi that is using broadband service(AKA, your ISP) with a data cap, any data used would count towards that data cap. Not your 20gb mobile data cap with your mobile carrier(Altice in this example), as they wouldn’t be your ISP if you’re using Wifi.
When setting up service the company asked what kind of phone I had (I assume to check compatibility). I told them my model and explained that it was dual-band and unlocked. They charged me for a SIM card and sent it in the mail. It turned out my phone is not compatible with their service. After trying to sell me overpriced phones through their website they agreed to cancel my service, but they would not refund the SIM card they erroneously charged me for. I can’t comment on their service because I was never able to use it. But I can comment on their unfair policies and dishonest/opportunistic operating procedures. Going forward I will avoid this company, I suggest others do the same.
Do I have to be an Optimum customer to receive the $30 unlimited price?
Yeah, customers with Optimum or Suddenlink can get the $30/mo price. For everyone else, it’ll be $40/mo.
I’ve just signed up for Altice. I’m an Optimum customer so have taken advantage of the $20 monthly rate.
What I’d like to know is if AlticeWiFi is a secure network when you are out and about or does one have to turn off their WIF iand use airplane mode to secure that you will not be hacked. I don’t see the option of “ask to join network” and question of entering a password, so I’m concerned.