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A Look at AT&T's Throttling for High-Use Unlimited iPhone Data Customers

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momiller said:
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I just got throttled on my 4S, and instead of getting my usual 4-7 MBPS I am now getting 0.11 (according the SpeedTest.net app). It is virtually impossible to use any site except for mobile ones.
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To clarify: At the time when I got throttled I was slightly over 2 GB.

A friend suggested me an idea that data should only be counted against when using it in peaked hours, and when you do get throttled it should only be during those peak hours. For instance: if your using your data at 2am on a Tuesday night you should have regular speed irrelevant of your current usage. Since the throttling is just because of over usage on the network I think this makes a lot of sense.
 
Stop throttling or stop requiring data package add on

Data package add ons are junk. Most phones can live with wi-fi and get by fine. I would estimate that only the top 5% of smartphone data plan hostages (users) actually need any over the air data plans.

My iPod Touch and iPad work fine for everything but on the road directions, email, and calendars. There is no reason for the iPhone to be anything different. Visual voice mail is not an important enough reason to have a required data add on.

The FCC should target an investigation as to why many smartphones work perfectly fine without data but still require a data plan. As soon as most people drop unnecessary data plans, capacity is no longer an issue and the top 5% when recalculated will be closer to a real use number.

There is something wrong about forcing purchase of a useless product.
 
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I disagree completely. I don't know what you do or where you live where you have consistent wifi, but I use my data plan to the fullest. My office doesn't provide wifi, so email, Pandora, and occasional news checking are all done on 3G. Plus, I use my phone as a radio for my car, as I can access tons of different radio stations. Not to mention road trips and the need for quick directions or information while out and about. Data packages are essential for the iPhone and I'm sure more than the 5% you refer too use it just as often, if not more than I do.
 
glutenenvy said:
Data package add ons are junk. Most phones can live with wi-fi and get by fine. I would estimate that only the top 5% of smartphone data plan hostages (users) actually need any over the air data plans.

My iPod Touch and iPad work fine for everything but on the road directions, email, and calendars. There is no reason for the iPhone to be anything different. Visual voice mail is not an important enough reason to have a required data add on.

The FCC should target an investigation as to why many smartphones work perfectly fine without data but still require a data plan. As soon as most people drop unnecessary data plans, capacity is no longer an issue and the top 5% when recalculated will be closer to a real use number.

There is something wrong about forcing purchase of a useless product.
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Because the entire world lives in the same block as you.

I use WIFI 95% of the time and the throttling issue still erks me.
 
I don't have an issue with throttling because I have wifi at home, wifi at work, wifi at most my relatives houses when I visit family. so the times i'm not on wifi i'm just checking twitter or listening to pandora a few car trips a month for about an hour. my data usually hits 2gb or less every month.

my g/f however gets screwed, she has been throttled since october every month and at an earlier date each month. this past month she started getting throttled only 6 days into her new billing cycle.

basically its because she doesnt have wifi at work and she listens to pandora most the day and checks emails on her phone. the same thing she has done for 2 years on her phone but now she is being throttled for it. so for most of the month now when she is not on wifi the phone is so slow its almost unusable.
 
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So as people get throttled means the next month they will use less which therefore means the top 5% will now be even lower than 2GB?? So unlimited data users will start getting throttled at 1 Gb if that means your in the top 5%??
That's some serious bull.
I did 4.4 GB on sprint this past month and no throttling and speeds averaging about 1.2mb/sec with occasional spikes up to 2.25 according to speedtest app.
I thought about getting an AT&T 4S but they no longer had unlimited and their plans were way too expensive for what I was getting!! Good luck to all you att'ers
 
SPRINT SUCKS - Someone please sue them already!!!

Those speeds on the throttled device look very similar, if not, even higher than the speeds on my Sprint iPhone 4S.
 
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impulse462 said:
r2fa3l said:
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In other words, once the iPhone gets throttled we get Sprint 3G speeds!!!!!

I honestly don't know why people fuss about data, most networks sell 1GB for $10 - it's not that bad.
Click to expand...

Not AT&T.
Click to expand...

Yes they do. It is 25 for 2 gigs and 10 for each additional gig. AT&T was first with that kind of pricing.

The solution is easy, pay for the data you use and there is no throttling
 
I've now gotten my 2nd throttle notice in as many months. Last month when it happened, I immediately looked at my "cellular usage" counter in the iPhone. It registered only 1.3 gigs. AT&T was accusing me of 2.4 gigs of use. This sparked a trip to the Apple store, a chat with a Genius, and several other Geniuses. Then it got the Business Manager involved and finally resulted in a call to Applecare while in the store.

The Genius took note of the date my usage counter was reset (I reset it on the first day of billing). I do that to track what data the iPhone sees. With it that far off in usage (AT&T stating nearly double the data), there was cause for concern. The Genius checked the iPhone and everything was determined to be working perfectly. Another Genius took a quick look at the phone and accused me of jailbreaking it - I nearly went ballistic on him for being an ignorant ass. The other Genius who checked the phone told him it wasn't jailbroken.

In talking to Applecare it was an exercise in futility with the first representative who then put a manager on. The manager said there is nothing wrong with the iPhone 4s. Then he got AT&T on the phone. When Jeremy, from Apple, came back on the line he said the AT&T rep claimed there was an issue with their service and it was their fault. When I actually spoke to the AT&T rep, Antone, he said he never said that. Thus Apple's rep lied flat out.

I've spoken to AT&T at length to several managers and "executives", none of whom can answer a simple question - how does the network count it's data. The most common answer - "The network tells us what you use." It's like talking to a brick wall. The specialist - Antone & his manager Peter, never returned my call as promised. In fact no actual executive has ever returned a call from the AT&T side.

Apple decided to replace my iPhone with another. In an effort to see if that changed anything. It hasn't. However, I've now found out 2 things that are disconcerting and worthy of a class action suit. One against Apple. One against AT&T. At this point, I can verify problems on both ends and I've found 4 others in different states doing the same thing.

Apparently if the same issue occurs across state lines it becomes a Federal Court matter. While I'm not litigious, I'm collecting data to spearhead both class action suits.

1. With Apple, they're not clean in that the iPhone actually erases data use on the cellular usage counter. It happens under a repeatable circumstance in that if you sync your iPhone to iTunes and then do a hard reset of the phone... Poof - the Cellular Usage counter will revert to an older smaller amount of data.

2. AT&T actually nearly doubles data usage with phantom data. I tracked streaming a single song that was 3.8 meg in data. I chose a time a night when I knew I wouldn't be using any other data and nothing would need to be tracked otherwise. The iPhone tracked the amount of data at 3.9 megs. So that's close enough to be correct. AT&T tracked that same stream at 7 megs of data. That's nearly double the amount of data than what it really was.

Thus the problem is two fold. Apple's device actually has a bug in the system software. AT&T is verifiably creating phantom data to inflate use to then throttle an unlimited data user.

Chances are you're not using as much data as you think you are if you're going by AT&T's network and it's magical data numbers. If you're willing to track your data to verify it's happening to you as well, let me know because the more we have, the stronger the case.
 
seinman said:
Building "larger data pipes" is only an option when the wireless spectrum itself isn't saturated like it is in many areas. It's physically impossible to create more spectrum, and the FCC decides who gets to use which portions of it in which areas. It's not like they can just say "yay more bandwidth!" and have it magically happen.
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This is not quite true, and misunderstands how "cell" phones work. There has always been a limit on bandwidth. The miracle of the cell phone has been two fold. One, decrease the amount of bandwidth each phone needs. This was the core of the digital revolution in phones. But the primary one, was that as phone density went up (saturation), cells are supposed to get smaller, this allows ever more phones and bandwidth.

And sure enough, in places like Seattle, this is what AT&T did. Now it may be that the number of cells was very small in Seattle when the iPhone came out, and there were also network inconsistency issues that caused IP failures when moving from tower to tower (Montlake on 520 was famous for that), ATT has dramatically improved cell capacity in the area. There are still some bizarre behaviors (like no voice mail for a day, and then they all show up when you drive to a different part of town), but the density issue has been largely solve.

The solution described is somewhat odd, as it will not improve overall density. Just during certain times of the month, at certain times of the day, after certain caps have been met.

I personally think that there are some good answers in certain types of data shaping, and some of this ought to be done in coordination with the carrier. For instance, Pandora. There are ought to be a way to negotiate x amount of bandwidth in a certain amount of time, so the song gets there when it needs to be, at the best amount that the entire network needs. There are also other types of apps that could behave much better over a network. And there are also some certain other apps, that should be much better behaved in a congested network and are just horrible. Facebook is one, and OKC is particularly horrible, even the with friends apps are pretty bad, and mail is sort of bizarre and doesn't retrieve mails for hours at a time for some reason.
 
unlimited = unlimited

Unlimited = Unlimited

From Dictionary.com:

un·lim·it·ed   [uhn-lim-i-tid]
adjective
1. not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
2. boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
3. without any qualification or exception; unconditional.

That's pretty clear to me.

If I received some limitation on my UNLIMITED data plan, I'd take that all the way to the bank. No class action, just me vs. AT&T, and while I'd hire an attorney, I'd instruct him to keep the defense simple: Define "unlimited," and show that it is not "unlimited."

Stand up for yourselves.
 
Absolute bull feces that they are allowed to do this. The technology certainly exists for ISPers to provide seamless unlimited usage for EVERYONE. Just look at South Korea. Unfortunately now you bring in the word 'capital' and 'investment' and the American companies start coming up with reasons as to why they cannot do it.

Look at Youtube/Google. 24-32 hours of video uploaded every MINUTE. The quality doesn't matter as majority of the videos these days are 720P+. Thats Petabytes worth of data every single day. Does Google throttle the server bandwidth to allow more uploads at slower speeds? No. They continuously buy more overhead to support and cushion the demand.
 
I called AT&T today regarding this very issue and could not get a straight answer from them about 3G data throttling.

I explained that I had unlimited iPhone data since first owning my original iPhone and was grandfathered in after upgrading to my iPhone 4. Since owning my iPhone 4, I would normally and easily use between 6-10GB of 3G data per billing cycle.

The main reason why I called is the fact that I received a message from AT&T while I was out of town, which was also within the first five days of my current billing cycle, to tell me that I was among the top 5% of users. I did not have WiFi readily available to me and I had to rely on 3G for all of my data uses.

During the call, I inquired as to what number AT&T considers "high 3G data usage" and separates users into the 5% pile. I initially did not get a straight answer and after asking the question in as many ways I could think of the best answer I received is

"That exact number is unknown but once someone on an unlimited plan is deemed to be using a high amount of data, that is when they are considered a top 5% user and could see a reduction in speed."
Click to expand...

After seeing this report and watching the video showing the example of data throttling, I am even more upset at AT&T for doing this. Seriously, why call it "unlimited data" if it truly isn't? And since they are throttling, why not give users the exact number that they begin throttling?
 
Not sure if 4G will solve this problem...AT&T has the iPhone 4S as a 4G phone :rolleyes: why only the iPhone how come they don't target androids theres so many of them:rolleyes: we need to let FCC take care of this..I have unlimited data I been using about 3/5 GB a month and nothing..I'm going to push my 3G usage and see..I been using wifi at work the past month so i can save battery time to bring my charger..:D after the cycle bill I'm going to abuse it like no other.. bring it AT&T ;)

When iPhone 5/4GS let's see if they play this game again
 
I still use over 5gb a month.. like usually 10. Never throttles. Its honestly all dependent upon location. areas that have less backhaul and are more easily congested are the ones where throttling will occur.
 
If this is only about people on unlimited plans, then AT&T's idea may be:

(1) Make unlimited plan annoying for people in "top 5% data usage group" (by throttling)
so
(2) Some people in "top 5% data usage group" change from the unlimited plan, or reduce data use
so
(3) The "top 5% data usage group" now uses less data than in the past
so
(4) Throttling occurs earlier, and earlier, and earlier
so
(5) More people are motivated away from the unlimited plan

Does that make sense?
 
k1121j said:
incorrect
has nothing to do with the number of people the way AT&T is doing this will put the top 5% at lower and lower numbers do the math. hence the started slowing people down at 10 GB month and now down to 2GB don't know how accurate that is but no matter how you look at it and no matter how much data you use the top 5% will always be the top 5% if 100 people were using ATT and 95 of those people used 100MB a month and 5 used 200 MB a month those using the 200MB would be the ones slowed down to those almost 56K speeds then over time that top 5% would be less than 200MB and be throttled.

also another possible reason that t 2GB people are being throttled back when att publicly announced that they were dropping the unlimited plans they said then "98% of people use less than 2GB per month" there for 2.1 GB according to there own words would put you in the top 5%
Click to expand...

You've got it all wrong!!!! The Top 5% is NOT a fixed number. The numbers vary and it wouldn't be the Top 5% use twice as much data as the 95%. There are many who use over 10gb. The AT&T reps would get calls from those people up to two months ago. Now they said they are getting calls at 2gb. It's impossible that 2gb would put you in the Top 5%. If everyone over 2gb is throttled they they are manipulating the numbers to create an artificial Top 5%, but in fact they end up throttling 95% so that they change their plans.
 
i envision that some day cellular data would replace home internet. i think at&t smelled this a mile away and didn't want cellular data to cannibalize their other stream of income
 
It looks like a bunch of you are finally starting to see the issue that AT&T is forcing upon us. Hopefully this trend continues so we can put some pressure on AT&T to correct these "questionable" business practices instead of them putting pressure on us...
 
The FCC really should investigate.

What we have here is a user buying a VW car through a local dealer, and then the dealer and maker getting paid commission whenever you get fined for hitting the advertised speed limit(s).
 
j-dubya said:
...However, I've now found out 2 things that are disconcerting and worthy of a class action suit. One against Apple.
...

1. With Apple, they're not clean in that the iPhone actually erases data use on the cellular usage counter. It happens under a repeatable circumstance in that if you sync your iPhone to iTunes and then do a hard reset of the phone... Poof - the Cellular Usage counter will revert to an older smaller amount of data.
Click to expand...

So, you're wanting to start a class action suit because if you do a fricking hard reset, some data counter doesn't get restored exactly as it was.

Sounds like fun. I'll go get some popcorn.
 
ive been throttled the last 2 months and have never hit 3gb. i average about 2.5gb per month. for those of you that havent been throttled YET, whats the most data you have used in a month?

----------

also, has anyone been able to call and get the reduction removed?
 
I just moved back to an iPhone 4s yesterday. I had been using a Skyrocket. My usage has been this below with NO Throttle. From Oct 17-Jan 17 it was with an Android device.

July 9-Aug 9
DATA ACCESS 3,165,177
Aug 8-Sept 9
DATA ACCESS 1,494,639
Sept 9-Oct 8
DATA ACCESS 1,471,418
Oct 9-Nov 8
DATA ACCESS 2,521,220
Nov 9-Dec 8
Data Access 1,278,020
Dec 9-Jan 8
DATA ACCESS-2,353,283

Average usage is 2,047,292 per month. I wonder if they are taking averages and then throttling.
 
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