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

I'm glad to see some hard numbers here. It does appear that 10gig is currently the rough target. While I'm not a fan of caps- I get the issue and 10gigs is in fact a lot of data to use on a phone. Even those that use this much have to admit that they are streaming a fair amount of content.

My main concern is that the threshold drops over time to something closer to 2 gig after they filter out the 10+gig users.

I generally use about 1-2 gig per month- but when on vacation I have spiked up to 10-12 gig because there is no other internet access (lots of Slingbox use). Part of me wishes this was location specific. In my area and where I vacation, I've got great 3G speeds and coverage. Clearly the local towers can handle the current volume with ease. I do however travel a fair bit and can't believe how bad things remain in Manhattan and parts of Chicago. I can have nearly full bars and still get less than Edge speeds – or nothing at all.
 
cPol said:
I really don't care as I certainly don't use nearly enough data to trigger this, but someone explain to me how this works. Because someone will always be in the top 5% of data users.

Let's ignore, for the moment, the outrageousness of using 10GB/month and assume that numbers like that are reasonable. So, the top 5% of people who're clocking in at 10GB get throttled, and dial back their usage. So, next month, the top 5% of users are around the 9GB mark. They get throttled and reign it in. Sooner or later, you're going to have people who're using .5GB a month comprising the top 5% and finding their connections throttled, yes?
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your math is wrong bro, the top 5% isn't a specific group of people, it's an arbitrary measurment. i cpould be top 5% one month, the next month i could dial it back AND I WOULD'NT be top 5% anymore, someone would have taken my place...
 
cPol said:
Let's ignore, for the moment, the outrageousness of using 10GB/month and assume that numbers like that are reasonable. So, the top 5% of people who're clocking in at 10GB get throttled, and dial back their usage. So, next month, the top 5% of users are around the 9GB mark. They get throttled and reign it in. Sooner or later, you're going to have people who're using .5GB a month comprising the top 5% and finding their connections throttled, yes?
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"You are in the top 5%" is intentionally vague, but it would be stretching to guess that.

But then again, it's a wireless phone company, so I wouldn't be surprised if your theory turns out to be true.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
I typically use 1-2GB a month without tethering. My speed already feels like it's Being throttled. 3G with 4-5 bars feels no different than Edge :(
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It's partly because carriers have inadequate coverage and back-haul feeds AND partly because there are those 5% of folks who abuse the service and are making it slower for those of us who are using the service REASONABLY.
 
MattMJB0188 said:
We're talking apples and oranges here. Too much voice isn't bogging down the network. Face the reality, they need to throttle in order to maintain their network.
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Or they could invest more in the network... With the record profits they're making.
 
rayyu882 said:
How do you know what speed it will be and it is unusable?
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Let's sit back and find out

Since the point is to get people to use their network less, I'm sure it'll be right speedy and users will hardly notice a difference /sar

More to the point

Anything less than 100% of the service users pay for is unacceptable.

Charging a premium on tethering is just as underhanded. Here's an unlimited data plan, and a monthly tax added should you choose to exploit the "unlimited" part. Bullcrap.
 
My complaint about the top 5% is what does that number mean to the user exactly? What if 95% of users are using 2 GB a month and the top 5% are using 2.1 GB month? It's a bit sad that I pay far more for Internet through my family's iPhones than Cox, but the AT&T plans have some virtual cap that I cannot even told what that magical number is. Even worse is that I'm spending $30/month per phone on Internet connectivity, and we can only watch poor quality YouTube videos and cannot download apps over 20 MB unless we use WiFi?

I would prefer to know what the actual bandwidth cap is and be free to use that allocated bandwidth however I please.

How do I know how much bandwidth to use per month? I watch Netflix a lot at home via Cox Internet plus play a lot of games. I can easily purchase and download a 10 GB game (e.g. World of Warcraft) if I was ever tethering.

If I could, I would rather have the iPhones with no Internet data plans since it seems to be a complete waste of money to my family. I have WiFi at home, WiFi at work, and many stores and restaurants offer free WiFi. I really don't make much use of AT&T data plan anyways.
 
My data usage for this billing cycle (21 of 30 days) is 651MB for my iPhone 4. When I use my iPhone at home it is almost always on Wi-Fi. Most of the time when I am out I will use 3G since 3G here in Columbus, OH is often faster than the free Wi-Fi service that places like Starbucks offer. I still have the $30 a month unlimited plan. I looked back at my old bills and my data usage has been between 500MB to 1.3GB at the most per month.

Now if you want to talk data usage on my Road Runner Extreme (30Mbps Down and 5Mbps Up) Cable Modem service at home (which is currently unlimited with no known data caps) that is a whole different story. My uTorrent stats alone say I have used over 875GB of data in the past 31 days. That doesn't even include non Torrent traffic on my PC (web surfing, video & audio streaming and other non-torrent downloads) or data that my Xbox 360, TiVo Series 2 and TiVo Series 3, Playstation 3 and my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 (when they are connected over Wi-Fi) use. Time Warner is testing out data caps I hear, so I might be in trouble if they ever decide to put caps on Road Runner.

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I do almost everything from my phone. Dropbox, clouds, GPS, email with large attachments, it's my primary camera and I share via SMS and Facebook, and I have never gone over 600MB in a month.

I can't imagine what you have to do to top 11GB. Maybe you love TV but don't own one? :p
 
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cPol said:
I really don't care as I certainly don't use nearly enough data to trigger this, but someone explain to me how this works. Because someone will always be in the top 5% of data users.

Let's ignore, for the moment, the outrageousness of using 10GB/month and assume that numbers like that are reasonable. So, the top 5% of people who're clocking in at 10GB get throttled, and dial back their usage. So, next month, the top 5% of users are around the 9GB mark. They get throttled and reign it in. Sooner or later, you're going to have people who're using .5GB a month comprising the top 5% and finding their connections throttled, yes?
Click to expand...

That's being childish. This throttling applies to plans which are no longer generally available. Considering they have $15, 250MB and $25, 2GB plans ostensibly you would have to go well over 2GB before they start throttling your connection. The unlimited data plan is $30 so to expect a lot more data is naive given $25 gets you 2GB, but clearly using 5x the data of the $25 plans is excessive.
 
seanfranklin said:
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.
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I use 20-30GB a month. It's called streaming video podcasts over the iTunes store. It's also called an hour and a half commute each way via public transportation.
 
ericinboston said:
11GB+ a month for a PHONE is really high...and I understand he does not have home WIFI...but he doesn't have access to ANY WIFI?

I would imagine it's Youtube/video streaming, sending/receiving large email attachments, and maybe some iCloud stuff. Maybe he is also tethering. Who knows. I bet the average Joe uses 500MB-1GB a month WHILE ALSO using lots of WIFI spots for better bandwidth.
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We use far more than 11GB at home. If I was doing that from tethering a phone, they'd hate me. One month I was at 150GB. Netflix, Hulu, OS downloads, movies, etc.

On my phone, I seldom break 300MB/month. I imagine including wifi would bump that to 500MB (not even sure offhand how to estimate that), I just don't use the phone for that much data, myself. Screen too small.
 
JAT said:
We use far more than 11GB at home. If I was doing that from tethering a phone, they'd hate me. One month I was at 150GB. Netflix, Hulu, OS downloads, movies, etc.

On my phone, I seldom break 300MB/month. I imagine including wifi would bump that to 500MB (not even sure offhand how to estimate that), I just don't use the phone for that much data, myself. Screen too small.
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there is a big difference in doing this from home internet compared to 3g
 
seanfranklin said:
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.
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I concur.

4GB + Tethering works well for me, but I still feel like the price is a bit too high. 4GB is 4GB, it shouldn't matter whether I access it on my phone or while tethered.
 
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realmike15 said:
12GB is a lot of Data on an iPhone. I used 1.5GB once, and I used my phone a TON that month. My typically monthly usage is only about 500MB give or take. I can't imagine using 12GB on a monthly basis.
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Video podcasts can cause one to exceed 12GB in one month. Add Netflix and Pandora and it is most definitely possible.
 
H2SO4 said:
You obviously are. You ain't very good at it either.
There is no such thing as unlimited. So in the real world it means with no artificially set limits.
If you can't see that you need limiting. The point is if you agree to provide something provide it. If you have caveats, explain them up front.
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They do. It's called the conditions in the contract you signed. That defines what they are obligated to provide; and it's not "as much data as you want, when you want it, at the highest possible speed."
 
Small White Car said:
For everyone concerned with "fair," you should switch to AT&T's "fairest" plan of all.

The 2 GB plan lets you go as high as you want, with no throttling. You use what you want and pay for what you use.

NOTHING is more fair than that. Go get it. Those of us keeping our unlimited plans do so knowing that it's a compromise. It's a bit less fair but a bit cheaper.

Fair or cheaper.

The choice is totally yours.
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You want people to pay for what they use!? Oh noes!

Everyone here wants their service for free, no one has a concept of the multi billions of dollars it costs to build a network. In fact, AT&T could offer FREE service, and we'd have complainers here finding something wrong with the service.
 
I wish I could tether my Wi-Fi only iPad 2 with my iPhone 4 without having to pay extra. I would only use it once in a great while when I am out of town and don't have access to Wi-Fi (like my Mom's house). I am sure I could keep the data usage down. I used to get free Wi-Fi when visiting my Mom from them neighbors but they have their access points locked down now. :-(
 
Why do people always get so "shocked" at something like 11 gigs in a whole month?

I have a 45 minute bus commute each way to work. I like to watch an episode of a show on hulu or netflix in those boring bus rides. Sometimes I like to watch youtube videos in my bus rides. Sometimes I like to watch streams of sports or video games from the justin.tv app. An hour of video a day is like 300 megs or something. Boom, there's 9 gigs in a month without counting any other data usage from web browsing or streaming music from Spotify in my car.

If you just use your smartphone to browse the web, sure it won't use much. Why do people even have iPhones and large screened Android phones if all they do is browse the web and don't stream video?
 
What do you need to do?

What do you need to do to go over 10GB in 30 days?
Even if I see a few movies, I never went over a few GB of data. Unless you're streaming videos 24/7 including in your sleep.

Curb the data hots, I have no problem with that :)
 
dodgerbluetx said:
You want people to pay for what they use!? Oh noes!

Everyone here wants their service for free, no one has a concept of the multi billions of dollars it costs to build a network. In fact, AT&T could offer FREE service, and we'd have complainers here finding something wrong with the service.
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No, people want AT&T to provide what they advertised. If AT&T felt that providing unlimited data was too burdensome then they should not have offered it or they should not have grandfathered people in when they upgraded their phone.

People most certainly are paying for the unlimited data for which they signed up.
 
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