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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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In late July, AT&T announced that as of October 1st it would begin throttling data speeds for customers on unlimited data plans who registered in the top 5% of heaviest data users. While AT&T no longer offers unlimited data plans, customers who had signed up for such plans prior to their discontinuation, including many iPhone users, have been grandfathered in and allowed to keep their unlimited plans.

att_throttle_warning.jpg



Reddit user "TheReverendZ" yesterday reported (via 9to5Mac) that he had received a text message from AT&T warning him that he had fallen into that top 5% group and encouraging him to use Wi-Fi to help avoid throttling of his data speeds. TheReverendZ notes that he typically uses 10-12 GB of data per month, as he does not have home Internet service, while "skelatwork" reports that he received a similar notice when he had passed approximately 11 GB of data for the month.

AT&T has noted that it will provide multiple warnings and a grace period before beginning to throttle data speeds, and it now appears that the carrier has begun the warning process. Customers subject to throttling will retain access to unlimited data but will see their speeds reduced until the start of the next billing cycle.

Article Link: AT&T Begins Warning High-Volume Data Users of Upcoming Throttling
 

soco

macrumors 68030
Dec 14, 2009
2,840
119
Yardley, PA
And now I begin to live in fear of Verizon with my average 9GB of usage per month.

Help me LTE. You're my only hope.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Just do it. Those people are impacting network quality.

Seems reasonable to me, as much as I dislike AT&T. Every other ISP has fair use policies to prevent the select few from affecting everyone else.

Agree. You should see how some of these people boasted in the forum.
 

ppdix

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2001
617
171
Miami Beach
The reverend needs a life...

12GB per month? Streaming porn for sure...
Get off the internet, Reverend and try a social life... :rolleyes:
 

TBi

macrumors 68030
Jul 26, 2005
2,583
6
Ireland
Interesting, being in the top 5% is relative. If the top 5% reduce their internet consumption then the data limit for being in the top 5% reduces. So the more you reduce your consumption the lower the overall limit decreases.

So if everyone is downloading only 1kb per month, and someone downloads 2kb then they would be in the top 5%.

I wonder if they have a 'lower' limit?
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,651
6,937
Throttled access ≠ No access. And as always if you're dissatisfied, switch to Sprint. Voting with your wallet always works.

Forget it. If they advertise it as unlimited then that's what it should be. If they throttle it then it is no longer unlimited.
All ISPs should be prevented from using the term unlimited unless they specify up front clearly what they mean by it.

----------

Interesting, being in the top 5% is relative. If the top 5% reduce their internet consumption then the data limit for being in the top 5% reduces. So the more you reduce your consumption the lower the overall limit decreases.

So if everyone is downloading only 1kb per month, and someone downloads 2kb then they would be in the top 5%.

I wonder if they have a 'lower' limit?

Your siggy is pointed at those from the US no?
 

sidragon

macrumors newbie
Jun 30, 2007
14
0
It is not at all reasonable.

Every ISP has fair use policies to prevent the select few from affecting everyone else.

No. If your contract stipulates unlimited access, then you are entitled to it. Arbitrarily throttling your usage violates that.

Modern networks are not dump trucks—they do not become full and then stop taking more load. You get apportioned bandwidth based on availability. Period.

If he fully utilizes the network during low activity, why throttle him?
 

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,550
2,609
How is it possible to use 11-12GB/mo on a phone without stealing tethering service? I'm going to have to go with "reasonable" on this policy from AT&T.
 

rorschach

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2003
2,272
1,856
Throttled access ≠ No access. And as always if you're dissatisfied, switch to Sprint. Voting with your wallet always works.

If they throttle speeds down to, say, 10kbps, then I would say that is tantamount to cutting off access.

If they didn't want people using unlimited data, they should not have advertised it.
 

crazy4apple

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2010
127
0
London (UK)
No. If your contract stipulates unlimited access, then you are entitled to it. Arbitrarily throttling your usage violates that.

Modern networks are not dump trucks—they do not become full and then stop taking more load. You get apportioned bandwidth based on availability. Period.

If he fully utilizes the network during low activity, why throttle him?

look at the small print on the contract every contract in the uk says subject to fair useage policy
 

gigapocket1

macrumors 68020
Mar 15, 2009
2,246
1,733
12 gigs?? holy crap! How do u use that much? i understand u dont have home internet.. but 12 gigs on a mobile phone?? whaat are you doin lol?
 

litmag01

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2009
371
270
What the...

I'm torrenting every file ever shared on the internet right now,
all thanks to 3g.
 

danielchow

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2008
71
37
Philadelphia, PA
oh well, if they do that, i'll certainly have my eyes on Sprint's offering.

i think between 5 and 10 gigs is more reasonable than 2 to 3 gigs per month for the same monthly rate.
 

Ammo

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2009
205
0
10 GB of data? Good lord.

Throttling sounds reasonable in this case.

Most people who have unlimited don't really need it anyway. It's one of those psychological things.
 

rayyu882

macrumors member
Jan 18, 2010
95
3
You pay for unlimited access, but the speed of the connection isn't in the contract as far as I know.

Again, like a few have already mentioned, throttle speed is still unlimited data. You still getting unlimited data, just slower in speed.
 
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