AT&T threatened to throttle.

Spectrum Abuser · Nov 21, 2011

Just wanted to say it. I received a text message this morning stating I'm in the top 5% of data users for the month and to switch to WiFi to avoid reduced speeds. If any are interested I received the message shortly after my phone hit 4.9GB of cellular usage.

soco · Nov 21, 2011

Cool. Good thing you signed a contract. Otherwise this might have been a cause for concern.

apollo1444 · Nov 21, 2011

not to troll or anything, but how can a single person download over 5gb of data on a cellphone... jeez no wonder they texted ya...

you download torrents on the iPhone? stream HD porn? wtf

soco · Nov 21, 2011

apollo1444 said:
not to troll or anything, but how can a single person download over 5gb of data on a cellphone... jeez no wonder they texted ya...

you download torrents on the iPhone? stream HD porn? wtf

Seriously?

Netflix, HBO Go, iTunes Match, rdio, Spotify, SiriusXM, YouTube, therestoftheinternet, Hulu, MacRumors?, etc. etc.

SandboxGeneral · Nov 21, 2011

apollo1444 said:
not to troll or anything, but how can a single person download over 5gb of data on a cellphone... jeez no wonder they texted ya...

you download torrents on the iPhone? stream HD porn? wtf

It's not hard to do at all. Just as Mr. Pink shared above, all those apps can easily get you to the 5GB mark.

Kyotoma · Nov 21, 2011

Not sure when my contract rolls over every month since I'm not the primary holder(family plan), but since I last reset my data counter in Settings>General>Usage, I've received 4 GB and sent 156 MB. No text messages yet but I'll repost to this thread if I notice anything when I hit 5GB later this month.

Oh, and to Apollo: Probably not. If he uses his iPhone similarly to me, you can reach 8+ GB a month streaming Netflix, Pandora, Slacker, and iHeartRadio fairly easily.

soco · Nov 21, 2011

I'll add that with all of that, I rack up to 11GB per month, every month.

No notices from Verizon yet but I may get throttled at some point. Oh well. My choice.

SandboxGeneral · Nov 21, 2011

Kyotoma said:
Not sure when my contract rolls over every month since I'm not the primary holder(family plan), but since I last reset my data counter in Settings>General>Usage, I've sent 4 GB and received 156 MB. No text messages yet but I'll repost to this thread if I notice anything when I hit 5GB later this month.

Oh, and to Apollo: Probably not. If he uses his iPhone similarly to me, you can reach 8+ GB a month streaming Netflix, Pandora, Slacker, and iHeartRadio fairly easily.

How do you send 4GB and only receive 156MB?

Kyotoma · Nov 21, 2011

SandboxGeneral said:
How do you send 4GB and only receive 156MB?

Oops. I meant the reverse of those. I'll fix my post.

Spectrum Abuser · Nov 21, 2011

apollo1444 said:
not to troll or anything, but how can a single person download over 5gb of data on a cellphone... jeez no wonder they texted ya...

you download torrents on the iPhone? stream HD porn? wtf

I watched a season of The Walking Dead. Keep in mind the season only had six episodes. And Besides that I stream Pandora for a few hours every day and do web browsing. No torrents, no HD porn and no tethering.

ZBoater · Nov 21, 2011

Mr. Pink said:
Seriously?

Netflix, HBO Go, iTunes Match, rdio, Spotify, SiriusXM, YouTube, therestoftheinternet, Hulu, MacRumors?, etc. etc.

Yeah, well, any expectation you can do this indefinitely over 3G without having to pay xtra or be throttled is unrealistic. Ever hear of wifi?

Kyotoma · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
Yeah, well, any expectation you can do this indefinitely over 3G without having to pay xtra or be throttled is unrealistic. Ever hear of wifi?

Some like myself have restrictive WiFi in the workplace that is either way too spotty of a connection to really do anything, therefor reverting back to 3G anyway, or all of their data activity is monitored. This also happens to be where I stream most of my content since I focus better when there is something on in the background.

ClutchThese · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
Yeah, well, any expectation you can do this indefinitely over 3G without having to pay xtra or be throttled is unrealistic. Ever hear of wifi?

I'm sorry, i have to disagree.

For anyone to reach 4Gb, or even 10Gb, it's not that hard. I typically travel quite often and would much rather use my own 3g network than hop on an open wifi network where anyone can sniff my traffic. I'll take my chances and use as much data as possible.

10Gb in a month is not hard to climb up to these days. With all the HD video, HULU, etc to watch, you can rack up some data in a hurry.

Heck, on my iPad i have a 2gb data plan and when i watch football on Sundays with the Sunday Ticket App, I run through at least 1GB of data for the day! So, in two weeks of watching football, i've burned all my data and that's watching football only... not even surfing the net!!

ZBoater · Nov 21, 2011

ClutchThese said:
I'm sorry, i have to disagree.

You disagree with it being unrealistic to expect unlimited bandwidth from 3G carriers without paying more or being throttled?

Ok...

----------

Kyotoma said:
Some like myself have restrictive WiFi in the workplace that is either way too spotty of a connection to really do anything, therefor reverting back to 3G anyway, or all of their data activity is monitored. This also happens to be where I stream most of my content since I focus better when there is something on in the background.

That's my point. If you are going to rely on streaming for your content, a metered 3G plan is not a very good idea...

ClutchThese · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
You disagree with it being unrealistic to expect unlimited bandwidth from 3G carriers without paying more or being throttled?

Ok...

Yes. I disagree.

I joined the carrier with Unlimited data as my plan... never have they mentioned throttling my data when i joined.

How do YOU think it's REASONABLE for them to change that for those of us who are grandfathered in?

I'm gald you're ok with being a puppet. good day

joeshmo2010 · Nov 21, 2011

I used 15.3GB on att Last month, no notice of throttling.

Jimbo47 · Nov 21, 2011

Mr. Pink said:
I'll add that with all of that, I rack up to 11GB per month, every month.

No notices from Verizon yet but I may get throttled at some point. Oh well. My choice.

Verizon also throttles the top 5%. Though they call it "Optimization" instead of "Throttling." Also, I don't think they notify customers that they are being throttled like AT&T does. They just do it.

hexonxonx · Nov 21, 2011

apollo1444 said:
not to troll or anything, but how can a single person download over 5gb of data on a cellphone... jeez no wonder they texted ya...

you download torrents on the iPhone? stream HD porn? wtf

I used 3GB last month just trying out iTunes match on my iPhone 4 for only a few days. Very easy to do these days.

When using my Sirius/XM app on 3G, I would use about .5GB just on one day alone.

soco · Nov 21, 2011

Jimbo47 said:
Verizon also throttles the top 5%. Though they call it "Optimization" instead of "Throttling." Also, I don't think they notify customers that they are being throttled like AT&T does. They just do it.

Right. I agreed to all of this via contract. If I were upset about it enough, I'd pay to leave that contract and go elsewhere.

ZBoater · Nov 21, 2011

ClutchThese said:
I'm gald you're ok with being a puppet. good day

No need to call me a puppet. It is precisely the people who abuse their 3G service and treat it like their personal fiber optic connection to the Internet that have ruined it for the rest of us. Our cellular networks are not built for this kind of abuse. So if you download 10 or more GB over 3G, that puts you in the top 5% of users. Why should the rest of us have to pay for your "unlimited" use? Pay $10 per GB or use wifi.

Yes, the carriers did advertise "unlimited", but carefully worded their contracts to protect themselves from heavy users. And that's what they are doing. You can disagree all you want, but unlimited, uncapped cellular bandwidth for $30 or $40 is just not realistic. You can get unlimited, uncapped bandwidth today, just be prepared to PAY for it.

kdarling · Nov 21, 2011

Jimbo47 said:
Verizon also throttles the top 5%. Though they call it "Optimization" instead of "Throttling." Also, I don't think they notify customers that they are being throttled like AT&T does. They just do it.

I don't know how AT&T does throttling when you've hit the magic 5% mark, but as I understand it, Verizon only does the throttling if/when it's necessary.

For example, if a cell site is fully loaded and someone's speed has to temporarily drop in order to let others stay online and transferring data, anyone on that cell at that moment who's in the top 5% is on the list of candidates to get throttled for however seconds or minutes is necessary.

After the need passes, the throttling ceases.

So, unless there's a temporary need, no throttling would take place even for the top users.

jca24 · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
No need to call me a puppet. It is precisely the people who abuse their 3G service and treat it like their personal fiber optic connection to the Internet that have ruined it for the rest of us. Our cellular networks are not built for this kind of abuse. So if you download 10 or more GB over 3G, that puts you in the top 5% of users. Why should the rest of us have to pay for your "unlimited" use? Pay $10 per GB or use wifi.

Yes, the carriers did advertise "unlimited", but carefully worded their contracts to protect themselves from heavy users. And that's what they are doing. You can disagree all you want, but unlimited, uncapped cellular bandwidth for $30 or $40 is just not realistic. You can get unlimited, uncapped bandwidth today, just be prepared to PAY for it.

Very well said.

All of you that use tons of data to watch tv, movies, football (really) and then complain about being throttled should really think about getting a life.

:apple:

dweezle3 · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
It is precisely the people who abuse their 3G service and treat it like their personal fiber optic connection to the Internet that have ruined it for the rest of us. Why should the rest of us have to pay for your "unlimited" use?

In what way is their increased data use detrimental to anyone else at all? 5% of all the users on the network using more data than you will not noticeably affect your data speed or how much you pay for it at all. They're paying for their unlimited plan and we're paying for our 2GB or so data plan. How could what they do with their plan or what they pay for it "ruin" the experience for you at all?

goosnarrggh · Nov 21, 2011

Mr. Pink said:
Cool. Good thing you signed a contract. Otherwise this might have been a cause for concern.

I don't quite understand your point here:

- Are you arguing that the OP signed a contract, and therefore AT&T can't really do anything, so there's no cause for concern because AT&T is just blowing smoke?

- Or are you subtly point out the fact that the OP's contract specifically states that AT&T has permission to modify the terms at any time, given adequate advance notice (thus providing you with an opportunity to dump the account if you don't like the change), and that AT&T is complying with their terms by giving you advance notice, and therefore there is no cause for concern because everything is being done by the book?

ClutchThese · Nov 21, 2011

ZBoater said:
No need to call me a puppet. It is precisely the people who abuse their 3G service and treat it like their personal fiber optic connection to the Internet that have ruined it for the rest of us. Our cellular networks are not built for this kind of abuse. So if you download 10 or more GB over 3G, that puts you in the top 5% of users. Why should the rest of us have to pay for your "unlimited" use? Pay $10 per GB or use wifi.

Yes, the carriers did advertise "unlimited", but carefully worded their contracts to protect themselves from heavy users. And that's what they are doing. You can disagree all you want, but unlimited, uncapped cellular bandwidth for $30 or $40 is just not realistic. You can get unlimited, uncapped bandwidth today, just be prepared to PAY for it.

Apparently you know everything.

You don't pay for my bill... i think i would know.

additionally, how is it i can pay my cable company 40 bucks a month for unlimited data 100% of the time [not to mention it's 25mb up/down] and it be acceptable, yet you whine and complain that i use 5-10Gb for the whole month and pay $30?

This isn't "Occupy MacRumors" go troll somewhere else.

AT&T threatened to throttle.

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