Apple Hit With Class Action Lawsuit for New Wi-Fi Assist Feature

[RedBear]

The lawsuit is fair, but requesting $5 million discredits this as anything more than an attempt to make money.

You people really don't seem to understand class action lawsuits. The large dollar amount is to get the attention of a giant corporation that otherwise won't bother to respond, for one thing. For another thing, since there may be thousands or tens of thousands of qualifying plaintiffs most people that are part of a class action lawsuit typically end up with a compensatory check for anywhere from 99c to $15. Class action lawsuits are not money-making schemes. Except for the lawyers, but they make money on anything, on either side.

Anyone who doesn't think that it was stupid of Apple to turn this on by default has obviously never had to pay the ridiculously expensive overage fees most cellular companies are still charging. I got screwed out of my unlimited data because someone at AT&T made a mistake years ago and I didn't catch it in time, so I try to keep my cellular data usage to a minimum. So I'm not happy this feature has been enabled without my knowledge. Plus, I read most of the feature announcements with each new version of iOS but I still didn't realize this even existed. I can see how a lot of people might be extremely unhappy about getting unexpectedly high phone bills the last month or so, when they are otherwise careful to avoid using too much cellular data.

This is one thing that it was not wise of Apple to enable by default. Not cool.

 

[ineedamac]

Wow. You want to sue because you may have to pay a little more this month? The sue the carrier for a hard data limit.

 

[JXShine]

Just another day in 'murica

 

[sbailey4]

Real world example. I camp a lot (RV type camping) and the wifi at the place we frequent has the worst wifi ever. It connects BUT cant seem to transfer any data in a reasonable period of time a lot of the time. Half the time we end up turning wifi off for a second or so to get the stupid email or web page we were trying to see to actually load up then switch it back on. This feature will be idea for these types of instances (if it works as it states) and be simpler than the current way. The alternative for me in this case is to just leave wifi off all the time and use the cellular LTE 100%. So I had much rather it "assist" the wifi if need be and any cellular bits I can save from using all the better!

 

[dannyyankou]

Not exactly true. As stated in the Apples document the cellular data signal appears when it makes the switch. Not seeing how its really all that different for folks other than "assisting" during any moment. Currently (before iOS9) you are somewhere doing something and the wifi sux so you disconnect it (or it gets so bad it does it for you) and you keep doing whatever it was you were doing. Lets be realistic here, I am sure most folks with a smart phone didnt get it to make phone calls . Just some BS law suit for the lawyers and the today's society of entitlement wanting some of Apples cash.

Do me a favor. Open safari, use it in landscape, and tell me if you see a wifi or cellular signal in the status bar. The answer is you don't because apple hides the status bar in landscape. So unless you're using it in portrait, the cellular signal doesn't appear.

 

[AppleFan91]

So since I'm an Apple fanboy who happens to have a brain and doesn't m defend Apple about everything...

These people have a fair point. It's a feature that turns wifi off and eats data, and it's turned on automatically with no warning when you update to iOS 9. I could see it being a problem for people who have weak wifi connection.

You don't need to have the condescending first paragraph. It discredits your opinion. While I mostly agree with it, just for the sake of playing devils advocate, how does this differ from the iPhone 5 having "Enable LTE" turned on by default. People had tiered data plans then and LTE loads data quicker which will cause people to consume more. (Not technically more, but consume it quicker, thus making it easier for more)

 

[AtheistP3ace]

Saw this coming a mile away.

 

[naeS1Sean]

Just learn how to semi-use your phone and turn iit off if it's a problem. Bunch of babies. I love the feature.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Apple has documented the feature and has made it known that it is set to on by default. Apple should not be responsible for lazy people who expect to have their electronic butts wiped for them. Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

 

[mariusignorello]

Have they ever heard of release notes? People should read those more often. They're always presented at the time of update, no excuses.

 

[Porco]

IMHO Wifi Assist shouldn't be on by default for numerous reasons, but this is just absolutely crazy.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

To make sure I understand this...

$5,000,000 for the class and there are, like 50,000,000 iPhones in the US, covered by this suit (I'm just playing with numbers, folks...) means there is (with no lawyer fees) $0.10 for each class member.

What am I missing?

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

These people have a fair point. It's a feature that turns wifi off and eats data, and it's turned on automatically with no warning when you update to iOS 9. I could see it being a problem for people who have weak wifi connection.

But honestly what's the difference between this feature and when you lose Wi-Fi and switch over to cellular anyway (besides the indication on the screen)?

 

[dmarkman]

I think this problem existed in the later versions of ios 8 as I had many occasions where my iPhone 6 switched from my 3-arc time capsule signal to a 2-dot 3G cell connection. This has cost me hundreds of dollars in overage costs.

hundreds of dollars, yeah, I believe you, even better, it has cost you thousands of named dollars ;-)

 

[Tubamajuba]

Why don't we just address the root issue- carriers that still charge for overages?

 

[macfoxpro]

These people. Good grief...

 

[DoctorKrabs]

Have they ever heard of release notes? People should read those more often. They're always presented at the time of update, no excuses.

I'll tell my dad this when he complains about going over data.

 

[mariusignorello]

I'll tell my dad this when he complains about going over data.

Please do. The feature is clearly listed under Other improvements.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

Please do. The feature is clearly listed under Other improvements.

Should he read the agreement too? I sure hope you read it if you think there are "no excuses".

 

[mariusignorello]

Should he read the agreement too? I sure hope you read it if you think there are "no excuses".

You would think people would want to read the release notes to see what's new.

I read all release notes, especially the beta and SDK release notes (developer).

When is society going to learn that nobody needs to hold your hand when you're in danger?? This is pathetic.

 

[tennisproha]

how petty can some people be. it's meant to help you browse ****ing faster for crying out loud! so you can shut up whining about your slow ass wifi signal. there's just no pleasing some people.

and the argument that it doesn't 'warn' you is unwarranted b/c it shows "4G" instead of "wifi" on the status bar when it switches. just learn to use your phone dammit.

 

[ardent73]

Just learn how to semi-use your phone and turn iit off if it's a problem. Bunch of babies. I love the feature.

If people learned how to use their phones, iOS would only be on version 5. Apple keeps adding features like this "assist" so "it just works". Apple has no one but themselves to blame for keeping the iDevice user base as ignorant as possible.

 

[69Mustang]

You would think people would want to read the release notes to see what's new.

I read all release notes, especially the beta and SDK release notes (developer).

When is society going to learn that nobody needs to hold your hand when you're in danger?? This is pathetic.

You need a bit more realism in your thoughts. The general public doesn't read release notes. I would bet you most tech literate people don't read release notes. Release notes tend to be read by people specifically interested in that type of subject matter. Pro tip: If the term "release notes" is part of your defense, you've already lost. It's like expecting someone to read the car manual to diagnose an electrical problem. The likelihood of that happening is next to nil except with someone who is specifically interested in cars and dyi auto repair.

Don't get me wrong. The feature is nice. It can be helpful. It should have been opt-in. Opt-in allows the consumer to make a conscious decision that could affect their cellular service. Default on allows for situations like this class action to occur.

 

[iSRS]

I can see how some are having problems with this feature and the default setting but I use wifi assist almost every day.

My ISP has free wifi hotspots all over the city and my iPhone is configured to seamlessly connect to them when within range. While commuting to and from work on the bus my iPhone will connect to an ISP wifi hotspot and if I'm loading a webpage in safari or viewing twitter etc it used to stall out when the wifi signal became too weak as the bus moved out of range. I used to have to manually swipe up and turn off wifi to force the phone back to LTE so Safari or Twitter etc would continue working.

Now this all happens automatically for me and I never have to mess around and disable wifi on the bus . I'm probably the perfect use case for wifi assist. I almost never stream audio or video over LTE and when streaming over wifi I try an pay attention to make sure I haven't disconnected and switched to LTE. Hopefully I never receive a surprise bill from my carrier.

I know what you mean. Assuming we have the same X ISP, where they also turn all the wireless gateways into public hotspots. I drive down a road that basically creates a dead zone since I am moving too fast to actually connect to one. Maybe Apple should utilize the accelerometer and at certain speed to just stay on LTE.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

You need a bit more realism in your thoughts. The general public doesn't read release notes. I would bet you most tech literate people don't read release notes. Release notes tend to be read by people specifically interested in that type of subject matter. Pro tip: If the term "release notes" is part of your defense, you've already lost. It's like expecting someone to read the car manual to diagnose an electrical problem. The likelihood of that happening is next to nil except with someone who is specifically interested in cars and dyi auto repair.

Don't get me wrong. The feature is nice. It can be helpful. It should have been opt-in. Opt-in allows the consumer to make a conscious decision that could affect their cellular service. Default on allows for situations like this class action to occur.

I was a beta tester of iOS 9 and I didn't even know about WiFi assist until iOS 9 came out to the public. That's because I thought I knew enough about iOS 9 based on info from sites like this one. I guess I'm just not perfect enough to read the notes every single time.