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A Look at AT&T's Throttling for High-Use Unlimited iPhone Data Customers
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Just got my letter today
Unlimited - 2081.51 used
I'm barely even over the 2gig mark.
Funny because about 6 months ago I had 3.3GB used for the month, nothing from them about me being over the limit.
Unlimited - 2081.51 used
I'm barely even over the 2gig mark.Funny because about 6 months ago I had 3.3GB used for the month, nothing from them about me being over the limit.
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This is bullsh#t
If there was a donation fund to start a lawsuit proceedings, I'd rather donate to that instead of giving any money to At&t.
My phone throttled (crippled) is utterly useless, and there is no way I've used as much data as they say I have....
If there was a donation fund to start a lawsuit proceedings, I'd rather donate to that instead of giving any money to At&t.
My phone throttled (crippled) is utterly useless, and there is no way I've used as much data as they say I have....
I've had iPhones for the last several years with the unlimited data. Just received the top 5% message for the first time ever, so I decided to check my usage...2068.93 MB of unlimited . I am day 14 of 31 days in the billing cycle.
Just a matter of time...and the unlimited plans will go away one way or another.
Just a matter of time...and the unlimited plans will go away one way or another.
run netflix at night
AT&T pissed me off with the throttling. I was doing a east coast drive and got throttled around 2gb, pandora was skipping. Since my phone is basically unusable after it is throttled I stream ever night when I go to bed just to run up the bandwidth. It seems if enough people did this it would push the top 5% up a little bit.
AT&T pissed me off with the throttling. I was doing a east coast drive and got throttled around 2gb, pandora was skipping. Since my phone is basically unusable after it is throttled I stream ever night when I go to bed just to run up the bandwidth. It seems if enough people did this it would push the top 5% up a little bit.
They particularly won't remove the unlimited plan from grandfathered users, but they will send the "Top 5%" messages and throttle you. They would lose A LOT of customers if they forced people to one of their new plans. If they force people to their new plans, that is breaking their original agreement and would give the option to the customer to cancel service free of charge I believe. I don't think it would apply to me as I'm out of my agreement that I signed and have been eligible for an upgrade since I started with AT&T.
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I don't think they will change the limit if people started doing that, it's more than likely a set amount that AT&T has put, but won't state what the limit is, 2GB is a joke, I agree, it should be what their highest GB offered in the Data plan which is 3GB without being throttled, if not more. What happens with people who have the 3GB plan? Do they get throttled at around 2GB?
The way I have gotten most of my usage was from an app called "TuneIn Radio" and stream something, usually Kevin and Bean is 100MB-150MB per episode to stream entirely. I could go through 1GB in less than an hour.
You don't have to pay it but just remember, it will affect your credit rating.
This is the exact underhanded method this company is using. I'm seriously considering switching to a competitor soon.
At&t lies
Just got a text message from them this morning saying that my data usage it approaching the top 5%. My data usage was 1.5 gig. REALLY. I have 10 days left in my billing cycle and I am in the top 5% of users. I called to complain and was told it's a computer generated message and it's done by users/market/time of the month. Since when was market a part of this, the message says "OF USERS" be more specific. They are trying to get us "UNLIMITED" users off the plans. They just SUCK. What they are going to do is get us "UNLIMITED" users of AT&T.
LIARS.
Just got a text message from them this morning saying that my data usage it approaching the top 5%. My data usage was 1.5 gig. REALLY. I have 10 days left in my billing cycle and I am in the top 5% of users. I called to complain and was told it's a computer generated message and it's done by users/market/time of the month. Since when was market a part of this, the message says "OF USERS" be more specific. They are trying to get us "UNLIMITED" users off the plans. They just SUCK. What they are going to do is get us "UNLIMITED" users of AT&T.
LIARS.
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I believe that AT&T has already safe-guarded themselves by disallowing law suits as a condition of contract subscription. Instead, an independent arbitrator will likely hear the case. The best resolve for now is to file a complaint with the FCC. See the thread on this forum entitled "AT&T Bandwidth Throttling" for information on this issue.
I believe that AT&T has already safe-guarded themselves by disallowing law suits as a condition of contract subscription. Instead, an independent arbitrator will likely hear the case. The best resolve for now is to file a complaint with the FCC. See the thread on this forum entitled "AT&T Bandwidth Throttling" for information on this issue.
Not going to play chicken with AT&T.
Out of curiosity I checked my monthly data usage last night. I am up to 1.5GB with two weeks left in my billing cycle. I never gave a second thought to how much data I used until I started reading through this thread. However lately I have been stareaming Pandora fairly frequently in the car while driving.
Going to be very interesting if I get the message. However as a longtime AT&T customer (10+ years), iPhone user since day one (unlimited plan of course) and being almost out of contract...if they pull this crap on me I will happily tell them to pound sand and take my $150/month family plan to another carrier.
Out of curiosity I checked my monthly data usage last night. I am up to 1.5GB with two weeks left in my billing cycle. I never gave a second thought to how much data I used until I started reading through this thread. However lately I have been stareaming Pandora fairly frequently in the car while driving.
Going to be very interesting if I get the message. However as a longtime AT&T customer (10+ years), iPhone user since day one (unlimited plan of course) and being almost out of contract...if they pull this crap on me I will happily tell them to pound sand and take my $150/month family plan to another carrier.
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I got the text on Sunday with just over 2gb. I'm now being throttled and testmyiphone shows I'm getting 31 kB/s. Very few pages load before they timeout and forget watching any videos. I'm posting constantly on AT&T FB page. May not do any good - but helps me vent. I have 10 days left in this cycle and my phone is a paperweight.
I got the text on Sunday with just over 2gb. I'm now being throttled and testmyiphone shows I'm getting 31 kB/s. Very few pages load before they timeout and forget watching any videos. I'm posting constantly on AT&T FB page. May not do any good - but helps me vent. I have 10 days left in this cycle and my phone is a paperweight.
my last billing cycle was 26.3 GB
wow!
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unlimited = unlimited right?
un·lim·it·ed /ʌnˈlɪmɪtɪd/ Show Spelled[uhn-lim-i-tid] Show IPA
adjective
1. not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
2. boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
3. without any qualification or exception; unconditional.
wow!
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unlimited = unlimited right?
un·lim·it·ed /ʌnˈlɪmɪtɪd/ Show Spelled[uhn-lim-i-tid] Show IPA
adjective
1. not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
2. boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
3. without any qualification or exception; unconditional.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
Just spoke to Lakeisha at AT&T and was told that this is how it will now be. They have to throttle unlimited plans to help manage network congestion.
She had no answer for how they plan to support the new 3-5GB tiers if they can't handle 5% of their users hitting more than 2.
Just spoke to Lakeisha at AT&T and was told that this is how it will now be. They have to throttle unlimited plans to help manage network congestion.
She had no answer for how they plan to support the new 3-5GB tiers if they can't handle 5% of their users hitting more than 2.
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Lakeisha at AT&T just told me to basically get used to throttling. She also thanked me for being a loyal customer and told me they appreciated my business. Bwahahahahaha.
Lakeisha at AT&T just told me to basically get used to throttling. She also thanked me for being a loyal customer and told me they appreciated my business. Bwahahahahaha.
While I won't deny that network congestion is an issue, the claim of Unlimited users being the sole blame is complete horse crap, especially at the 2GB threshold. This is nothing more than a BS fix to a BS problem, and the only reason it exists is to try to push unlimited customers onto a more profitable plan.
No offense and I am not trying to flame you, but YOU are the type of customer that should be getting throttled...not the folks only using 2-3GB's. Not saying I condone the throttling for anyone on the unlimited plan, but if they're going to do it they should at least be fair about it.
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They shouldn't worry about throttling until someone is north of 5GB. If you're going to offer 3-5GB tiers then an unlimited plan should be allowed to exceed both. Hence the use of the term "unlimited".
I said yesterday that AT&T might be the only ones who could actually define a limit for the concept of "infinity". "At AT&T infinity means SIX!!!"
For some reason I always picture the boss in the Dilbert cartoons when I think of AT&T.
They shouldn't worry about throttling until someone is north of 5GB. If you're going to offer 3-5GB tiers then an unlimited plan should be allowed to exceed both. Hence the use of the term "unlimited".
I said yesterday that AT&T might be the only ones who could actually define a limit for the concept of "infinity". "At AT&T infinity means SIX!!!"
For some reason I always picture the boss in the Dilbert cartoons when I think of AT&T.
rubbish!
my story is like all the rest, starting this past november i have been received 2 warning texts a month about being in the "top 5%" of data users, and finally on january 30th i got the 3rd message telling me i am now being throttled. i found this strange as i received the first message in november after using only 1.24GB with the second warning coming 10 days later at 1.89GB of use. the same pattern followed in december with slightly lower numbers. and finally this january i began being throttled after using 2.24GB.
for those who are being throttled, they take your data speed down below 0.25MB which renders the phone virtually useless when not on WIFI.
i spent 2 hours on the phone last night with a customer service representative who offered no resolution other than to switch to the 3GB/month for $30 plan and forever losing my "unlimited data plan" forever.
the representative did let slip a few bits of information on accident;
1. the 5% is calculated based on usage of other "unlimited iphone data users" by your regional market (though she would not say what area that covered)
2. the warnings, and actual throttling is handled by an automated system based on the parameters they have given it
3. she has seen warning go out to users for as little as 300MB 4 days into a billing cycle
I feel this is a blatant underhanded tactic by ATT to force "unlimited" data users onto tiered plans, and by being intentionally extremely vague on how they come up with the "5%" numbers they are getting away with it.
my story is like all the rest, starting this past november i have been received 2 warning texts a month about being in the "top 5%" of data users, and finally on january 30th i got the 3rd message telling me i am now being throttled. i found this strange as i received the first message in november after using only 1.24GB with the second warning coming 10 days later at 1.89GB of use. the same pattern followed in december with slightly lower numbers. and finally this january i began being throttled after using 2.24GB.
for those who are being throttled, they take your data speed down below 0.25MB which renders the phone virtually useless when not on WIFI.
i spent 2 hours on the phone last night with a customer service representative who offered no resolution other than to switch to the 3GB/month for $30 plan and forever losing my "unlimited data plan" forever.
the representative did let slip a few bits of information on accident;
1. the 5% is calculated based on usage of other "unlimited iphone data users" by your regional market (though she would not say what area that covered)
2. the warnings, and actual throttling is handled by an automated system based on the parameters they have given it
3. she has seen warning go out to users for as little as 300MB 4 days into a billing cycle
I feel this is a blatant underhanded tactic by ATT to force "unlimited" data users onto tiered plans, and by being intentionally extremely vague on how they come up with the "5%" numbers they are getting away with it.
AT&T throttling...
Get this gents and ladies AT&T is throttling everybody with unlimited plans and this is how. After you hit the top 5% they slow your data so much it's pretty much impossible to use it right. Giving the person right behind you to hit 5% the next day. Eventually everyone hits it and everyone gets throttled because they dot release you until the end of your billing cycle. This is outrageous and they are braking terms of service if they are throttling more than the top 5% not to mention its not even national. They brake it up to your town to your day of cycle. So your are competing with very few people which makes it easy as hell to hit top 5 percent if you have no one in your small group using data. And if you all are using data you will all get throttled. And when you ask AT&T to show you the avg. usage in your town they have no idea because te network decides. So they can't tell me how it works I can't look at it all I can do is read there terms. Where the **** is the legal team so we can sue this company and get what's rightfully ours unlimited data with no throttling.
Get this gents and ladies AT&T is throttling everybody with unlimited plans and this is how. After you hit the top 5% they slow your data so much it's pretty much impossible to use it right. Giving the person right behind you to hit 5% the next day. Eventually everyone hits it and everyone gets throttled because they dot release you until the end of your billing cycle. This is outrageous and they are braking terms of service if they are throttling more than the top 5% not to mention its not even national. They brake it up to your town to your day of cycle. So your are competing with very few people which makes it easy as hell to hit top 5 percent if you have no one in your small group using data. And if you all are using data you will all get throttled. And when you ask AT&T to show you the avg. usage in your town they have no idea because te network decides. So they can't tell me how it works I can't look at it all I can do is read there terms. Where the **** is the legal team so we can sue this company and get what's rightfully ours unlimited data with no throttling.
Obviously they want to get rid of the unlimited accounts, but what I don't get is why they don't treat them the same as the other people who pay $30/mo.
If they start throttling unlimited users at 2GB, but I could switch to 3GB for the same price, why do they care if I am unlimited or 3GB for $30?
It would have saved them a ton of bad PR to just throttle people at the same level as the $30 tier.
I still think that stinks for some people (5GB seems more reasonable limit to me, but whatever). Most of the comments seem to come from the fact that some people are now effectively getting less data on unlimited than the people paying the same amount for $3GB...
it doesn't make sense that $30 UNLIMITED gets less data then $30 for 3GB...
THAT is where they screwed up...
If they start throttling unlimited users at 2GB, but I could switch to 3GB for the same price, why do they care if I am unlimited or 3GB for $30?
It would have saved them a ton of bad PR to just throttle people at the same level as the $30 tier.
I still think that stinks for some people (5GB seems more reasonable limit to me, but whatever). Most of the comments seem to come from the fact that some people are now effectively getting less data on unlimited than the people paying the same amount for $3GB...
it doesn't make sense that $30 UNLIMITED gets less data then $30 for 3GB...
THAT is where they screwed up...
The last AT&T rep I spoke with actually agreed with me when I said the same thing. I said, "How can Joe Blow walk in today and pay the same amount a 4+ year customer can and get better service? To me it sounds like you are treating your loyal customers worse than your new ones."
I've been getting throttled anywhere from 2-3 GBs without even getting a notice. Today I can't even open a link from within Mail without Safari timing out.
Section 6.2 or your contract says hello.
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Since there is no outside oversight, and since there seems to be far more than 5 percent of users getting notices, it appears, as many experts have said, that there is no "top 5 percent." AT&T is throttling up to 50% of its "unlimited" customers in order to force them onto tiered plans. There is no Top 5 percent.
Since there is no outside oversight, and since there seems to be far more than 5 percent of users getting notices, it appears, as many experts have said, that there is no "top 5 percent." AT&T is throttling up to 50% of its "unlimited" customers in order to force them onto tiered plans. There is no Top 5 percent.