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.