The AT&T rate change, which took effect Wednesday, has been criticized by most of the so-called ‘data hogs’; while some other iPhone users opine that the death of the unlimited data plan will hardly effect their lives.

The usage-based pricing offers two options to the iPhone users – the 2GB plan for $25 per month, and the 200MB plan for $15 per month. Users, surpassing the given limits, will have to shell out an additional $10 per extra GB and an extra $15 in units of 200 MB respectively.

To gauge the effect of the AT&T rate change on the users, Wired. com conducted a poll of 11,000 people on Wednesday; and found that 73 percent of the respondents use data under 2GB; while only 27 percent reported data usage in excess of 2 GB.

With the AT&T’s tiered pricing policy - a move that AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega cautioned about last year - largely dealing with data hogs, users surpassing the 2GB limit of the $25 plan will end up paying at least $35 a month, with extra charges further adding up with the consumption of each additional GB.

In fact, the users who have expressed frustration over the AT&T rate change are the customers of the late-April-launched 3G iPad, which came with the option of buying unlimited data, sans any contract commitment, for only $30 per month.