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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.

lol its great to be a massive corporation you can do what ever you want...lol we pay for unlimited but only 2gigs are fast the others are at 56k speeds..lollol

i dont care just give me a bigger iphone screen
 
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.

This is the reality of it. Anyone using this much bandwidth is tethering, in which case they are violating the agreement and thus are in no position to complain about anything.

Nobody is streaming 12 gigs a month to their phone only with 3G.
 
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.

Link me to the ad where they promise unlimited speed.

*Hint: There isn't one.
 
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.

ATT could easily cancel our unlimited plans so this option is the least trouble. And it seems they start warning at 10GB so it seems fair for now. Mobile internet is a limited resource after all.
 
Sure looks like the first step of a gradual ungrandfathering.

And the term "unlimited" is such a joke at this point, it's sad that it seems to be completely meaningless. I've seen plans advertised as "unlimited" with multiple data tiers including as low as 250 meg per month. I'd love to see some regulation step in and shut down using that term unless it actually applies.
 
Sprint can talk all they want about unlimited. They will be just like ATT and Verizon once they experience the iPhone for awhile. It's just a nice hook. You'll see. ;)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

This is such bs. Fair usage? No, your paying for unlimited not kind of unlimited. I agree that the 5 percent is going to keep on shrinking until normal usage is included. Sprint will save us though, they are going to get so many customers because they dont throttle usage
 
Wrong. If you recall when AT&T switched from unlimited plans to the current data plans, they told you that only 2% of people went over 2GB/month. And they're throttling 5%, you do the math......

They probably mean top 5% of unlimited users. People not unlimited, they don't care about as they actually pay for their usage.
 
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.

In prinicple it seems fair. But let me explain exactly why I don't think that how they are carrying it out is fair in the least.

Look at the 19 iPhone users around you. Are they using less data than you? Welcome to that "top 5% of throttled users". It doesn't matter how much data you are using, only that you are in the top 5%. Now I don't know about you guys, but I surf the web, have my iPhone connected to two IMAP accounts, download the occasional game and song, and stream Pandora every so often. In other words, I use my iPhone like an iPhone!
But I also use more data than my Mother, and my gf, and even my father who uses it quite a bit. Even though I don't use all that much data, I bet I am near the top 5% of users.

To make matters worse, even if I keep my same habits I am going to come closer and closer to that 5% as time passes. Why? Because I would place money on the fact that the new iPhone users that Apple lures in are going to be using less data than the current average user. Most of the techies and early adopts are already on the platform. The people left are on average going to be using less data. This is not going to be universally true, and I have no scientific proof to back it up. It just strikes me as common sense.

I am a user that is "in front of the curve" in data usage, but right now I'm with a bunch of iPhone users that are also pushing that curve, so I don't look so bad. As more and more people get iPhones, I will get closer and closer to that top 5%, regardless of how much data I actually use.

That's why I don't like it. It seems reasonable on the surface, until you start thinking about it.
 
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.

Exactly. Why is it so hard for people to imagine those that use public transport or whatever and wind up wanting to stream an hour or so of video each day not from a wi-fi hotspot?

Or how about if you carpool to work? I have a friend who drives in with his family to work and he sits in the back seat for 30 mins each way every day. He also likes to stream video during the commute.
 
Anyone using this much bandwidth is tethering, in which case they are violating the agreement and thus are in no position to complain about anything.

Nobody is streaming 12 gigs a month to their phone only with 3G.

So you're calling me a liar? You're ignorant.
 
This is the reality of it. Anyone using this much bandwidth is tethering, in which case they are violating the agreement and thus are in no position to complain about anything.

Nobody is streaming 12 gigs a month to their phone only with 3G.

I beg to differ. I've never personally hit 12 gigs, but Pandora can be expensive [edit: Bandwidth wise, not $], and is a completely legitimate use of an iPhone.

[edit]
And in this case, if they slow it down to the point where Pandora can no longer stream, and what you want data services for is streaming Pandora, than they have effectively killed your data plan. They aren't giving you "unlimited, but slower", they are taking it away for all intense and purposes.
 
[edit]
And in this case, if they slow it down to the point where Pandora can no longer stream, and what you want data services for is streaming Pandora, than they have effectively killed your data plan. They aren't giving you "unlimited, but slower", they are taking it away for all intense and purposes.

Yeah this is precisely the key point. A lot of the posts here saying, so what it's just throttling, you still get the data.

But the throttled speed IS TOO SLOW to stream video from netflix and hulu so it really is killing what you really ought to be able to do as these are completely legitimate uses.
 
Are you saying they have not been investing in infrastructure ?

That simply is not true.

If you think I'm wrong go ahead and provide some figures

And that is not even the problem. There are actual physical limitations to how far they can build out their infrastructure especially in certain areas. It is a much more complex issue then just saying "build out more AT&T".

I am fine with people who steal the bandwidth from the rest of us getting throttled. I would actually prefer they just get banned altogether, but if the throttling runs most of them off to other servers that is fine. It will be much better for AT&T's bottom line and for the rest of us on ATT's service.
 
15 gigs isn't a lot....

When you don't have home internet and tether to your lap top.

That is what most of these heavy users are doing. They tether and use the connection instead of a home connection.

Not sure but I believe that violates your contract.

Don't get me wrong I tether too when I am on the road it is great and I have the grandfathered plan too. What gets me are the people who thought they would get one over on AT&T and use their phone as a cable modem.

I have had people get on me in the past for this. One guy was so pissed at my opinion that it was not right to use the phone in place of a home connection because he was in the military and was putting his life on the line for a$$ oles like me.

Oh well that is his opinion and mine is mine.

Use your phone in place of a home connection and pay the price.
 
No, do the math shall we.
Unlimited means you can turn your iPhone/iPad on and down load continuously with no artificial limit on a lets say 2MB connection. At the end of the a 31 day month you'll have a file on your device of a certain size.
If you throttle it, you've now put a limit on that filesize.

It's not whether you'll ever have a need for it, it's the fact that you signed up to it. They agreed to provide it.

Where did you sign an agreement saying that the connection was guaranteed to be 2Mbps? YOU DIDN'T. So your math doesn't work.

All you did was sign an agreement saying that your data would never be shut off -- that every time you attempt to pull in a packet of data (barring factors out of AT&T's control such as extended power failures, construction mishaps cutting fibre links, etc), the packet would be allowed to get through. And this is still the case.
 
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 :)

Download World of Warcraft. Or, download a few World of Warcraft patches via tethering.
 
And so..... It's the top 5% that get screwed for an 'unlimited data plan' that was supposed to be 'unlimited'......!!!!!

Anybody see what's happening here? 'the top 5%'.......that average will keep moving downward as AT&T & Verizon penalize/'throttle back' people because of their usage. It becomes a moving target. As the heaviest user (top 5%) get throttled back, now the slightly lesser users become the heaviest users (top 5%)......etc......etc..... Pretty soon the 'top 5% can be pretty far down the list.

Not only is it unfair because we all have grandfathered in 'unlimited' data plans (since when did unlimited=limited?), but also the way they calculate where/when they 'throttle' users back.

A. I wish these companies wouldn't change the rules in the middle of the game!
B. I wish Sprint had decent coverage AND signal. (I'd switch in a minute)
C. I wish AT&T and Verizon would go to hell for the new ways they always find to screw us!!!

Since it only applies to people who are grandfathered in on the unlimited plan who cares? Sure that will keep pushing the bar down and shrinking that user base, until such a point that those people will actually be paying for the data they use like everyone else.

This 5% bar has NO impact on people who actually pay for the data they use.
 
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?

BZZZZT; thanks for playing.
The "unlimited" referred to unlimited amounts, not unlimited speeds. Your speed has always been limited based upon signal strength, numbers of users on the same cell site, etc.

I prefer ATTs throttling to, for example, Comcast's hard limit on home cable internet. If you exceed their arbitrary limit, twice, they ban you for at least a year - you get ZERO access.

Until the US figures out how to increase cell, wifi, and hard wired access capacities and speed, the internet revolution cannot be completed.

Some communities, and all of South Korea, are aiming for gigabit speeds to every household. Such speeds make downloading and streaming even HD video practical and can speed the demise of physical (optical) media such as bluray discs. But if you're limited in bandwidth or total consumption (Comcast is 250GB/mo - about 10 full 1080p60 movies with BluRay level compression), then that transistion cannot fully take place.


Eddie O
 
Link me to the ad where they promise unlimited speed.

*Hint: There isn't one.

If they throttled speeds down to 0.01 kbps, they would effectively be cutting off access. They might not be slowing speeds down that much, but the point is the same.

They are throttling speeds with the express purpose of preventing people from using the unlimited data for which they pay.
 
So according to you, because I can't download 1 TB a second, I'm being limited. After all, that's less than "unlimited," isn't it?

Did you even read his post or just ignore what was said?

He's not talking about infinite speed, he's talking about the network being able to provide one speed but ARTIFICIALLY limiting the speed.

I have to say, it's pretty hilarious to see all the apologists insisting that a limit isn't a limit. And for the most part the complaints here aren't that all these companies should offer infinite data to everyone - it's that yes they're not offering "unlimited" plans but since that's the case THEY SHOULDN'T CALL THEM "UNLIMITED".

The providers blew it with this one - from the beginning it was obvious to everyone they couldn't offer "unlimited" but they made that promise anyway. And when they are a bunch of liars, somehow the users are the bad guys? Wow.
 
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