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

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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Potentially yes but since it only impacts people with grandfathered unlimited plans who cares.

As others have mentioned, AT&T does not have to allow people with grandfathered plans to carry them over to new phone purchases.

AS SWC noted, if you want a fair plan get the 2 gig plan and actually pay for your usage.

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Negafox said:
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.
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Then sign up for the $25 a month for 2 gigs plan with $10 for each additional gig. It will never be throttled and you will always know exactly what you will pay for how much bandwidth you use. Really a simple solution for all of you who are so disconcerted about it. It will take all the worrying out of it for you.
 
ade2bee said:
Fool!

When you buy something you should get what it says you get... Not sort of!

Unlimited: Not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity, or extent

Next you'll be agreeing with 'throttling' the people who drive more because they wear the roads down more for others... I f they sold that contract then that is their problem
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Actually, users of the roads are throttled: they pay more the more they drive (gas taxes). Higher mileage cars tend to be lighter and easier on the roads, so they pay less.
 
Do you use your data just on your phone or do you tether?

milo said:
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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If you can use 10 gigs of data on your phone WOW!

Most of the people who have these high rates are tethering to a computer which is not what was offered.

If you are using 10+ gigs of data just on your phone then your argument is valid. If not than it is just sour grapes on the fact that people thought they had found a way to "stick it to the MAN" and would run their home off of their phone connection.
 
milo said:
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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Exactly. AT&T can't provide the service they advertised? Too bad.

Imagine if I lost my job and couldn't afford to pay my AT&T bill. Imagine if I started "throttling" my payments so they came more slowly and arrived late - but I still paid the full amount eventually.

Would AT&T be alright with that?
 
goodcow said:
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.
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Thank you. The majority of people that post here have some serious perception issues & are getting bent over by their providers. It's not hard at all to use 20gb per month if you're on the go a lot and out of wifi range during that time. The cell providers need to catch up with the times.
 
rorschach said:
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.
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Wrong. They are announcing, in advance, that the terms of a month to month data plan are changing. And if you don't like it, you're not obligated to continue using it. Nobody was duped, nobody is falling victim to false advertising. AT&T never guaranteed that they'd offer an unlimited, unthrottled data plan forever and ever, and they haven't offered it to new users in a very long time.

When Netflix was advertising "unlimited disc rentals" while secretly throttling heavy users' disc usage? That was false advertising. This? No. This is no different from your landlord telling you that your rent will increase after your lease is up.
 
miles01110 said:
Throttled access ≠ No access. And as always if you're dissatisfied, switch to Sprint. Voting with your wallet always works.
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Throttled access is also ≠ Unlimited access.

I'm not personally worried about it, as I only hit about half a Gig a month, but I'm preparing to step up to a new iPhone 5 (I hope) soon, and my sister is moving to Thailand in January, so FaceTime will be used often. ;) I know, it (currently) only works over WiFi, and that's good, but I can't believe that my almost exclusive current use over WiFi leaves 1/2 G to be registering on AT&T's servers. If they are for some reason counting time over WiFi, I'll be jumping up there soon, and I have deliberately held on to my "unlimited" plan in anticipation of said time when it might become necessary.
 
Is this profit or revenue?

nipo said:
You know what would help normal users get better speeds?

If ATT invested more in their infrastructure instead of trying to increase profit margins per user.

They made $3.41 billion 1Q this year an increase of 39% over 2010. There is no reason they should reduce anyone's service.
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westy310 said:
Wrong. They are announcing, in advance, that the terms of a month to month data plan are changing. And if you don't like it, you're not obligated to continue using it. Nobody was duped, nobody is falling victim to false advertising. AT&T never guaranteed that they'd offer an unlimited, unthrottled data plan forever and ever, and they haven't offered it to new users in a very long time.

When Netflix was advertising "unlimited disc rentals" while secretly throttling heavy users' disc usage? That was false advertising. This? No. This is no different from your landlord telling you that your rent will increase after your lease is up.
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At least you admit they are indeed changing the deal.

Yes people can cancel their contracts but that doesn't change the fact that AT&T promised one thing and is now going back on that.
 
sidragon said:
No. If your contract stipulates unlimited access, then you are entitled to it. Arbitrarily throttling your usage violates that.
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If this is how you truly feel, then you should complain to AT&T. If you manage to convince them, they will release you from your contract and terminate your service. People do this all the time when policy changes like this are announced. If you are truly affected by this policy change, something tells me that AT&T isn't going to really mind letting you go. But, if you can't convince them you are entitled to arbitration.

Whining and moaning on an internet forum does no good. Remember, arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.
 
rorschach said:
At least you admit they are indeed changing the deal.

Yes people can cancel their contracts but that doesn't change the fact that AT&T promised one thing and is now going back on that.
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the unlimited was based on the fact that you would use mostly text data or in the case of music/video something from a CDN network to optimize the traffic. not stream 20GB from your home DVR that screws up their network

and the whole point of wifi on phones was for people to use it. not turn it off to make sure they use more 3g data
 
marksman said:
Then sign up for the $25 a month for 2 gigs plan with $10 for each additional gig. It will never be throttled and you will always know exactly what you will pay for how much bandwidth you use. Really a simple solution for all of you who are so disconcerted about it. It will take all the worrying out of it for you.
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Really? After acknowledging that is those on the grandfathered unlimited plans, you expect people using 10+ gigs a month to be okay with paying $105-125 a month when they have been promised that they could continue to use it for $50?

You work for AT&T, don't you?

:p
 
Norkusa said:
This is one of the many reasons why I'm not even considering AT&T when I get my first iPhone next month.
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Verizon's slow data speeds are just as bad as using throttled down AT&T speeds. AT&T has the best data network. These people that use crazy amounts of data should be throttled. They are to cheap to get home internet service and steal tethering, thereby throttling down the cell data network for everyone else.
 
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parseckadet said:
If this is how you truly feel, then you should complain to AT&T. If you manage to convince them, they will release you from your contract and terminate your service. People do this all the time when policy changes like this are announced. If you are truly affected by this policy change, something tells me that AT&T isn't going to really mind letting you go. But, if you can't convince them you are entitled to arbitration.

Whining and moaning on an internet forum does no good. Remember, arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.
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:/

Sad but true. You've hit the most meaningful point to the whole thing. :(

Doesn't make AT&T right for it, though. My 1/2 G monthly usage that I'm still paying for unlimited on should make it okay for someone out there to use 10G. They are welcome to my share of the bandwidth. Oh, wait, I'm not even on AT&T service half the time. That's another issue I'm peaved about, but off topic here.

<<< Goes back to his "still retarded" corner...
 
dodgerbluetx said:
Stop People want the sensational headline so they can flip out and whine complain about something, espcially AT&T related...
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I'm surprised that no one is ragging on AT&T for donating almost $500,000 to Rick Perry's tea party campaign.

A half-million that could have been spent upgrading service....
 
ppdix said:
12GB per month? Streaming porn for sure...
Get off the internet, Reverend and try a social life... :rolleyes:
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I average about 12GB/month too.

This news sucks for me. To stick to the man maybe I'll bump my usage up to 24GB/month!:mad:
 
SJBMusic said:
Really? After acknowledging that is those on the grandfathered unlimited plans, you expect people using 10+ gigs a month to be okay with paying $105-125 a month...
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Not at all. The customer has a choice. If they want to get the service that has a market value of $125, then they have the option of paying the market value for that service.

If, on the other hand, they don't want to pay $125, and they are grandfathered in to the point where they still have access to less-than-market-value pricing, then they have the choice to stick with the $50 plan, and live with the compromised service that comes with it.
... when they have been promised that they could continue to use it for $50?
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If they are on the grandfathered plan, then they were never promised that it would stick around forever.

In fact, no customer of AT&T has any promise that ANY service is going to stick around forever. AT&T can notify you of their plan to make a change to any aspect of the contract you signed, and you have the option of either terminating your service entirely, or else accepting the change as signified by continuing to purchase service.
 
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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.
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Exactly...I probably suck down 100GB easily every month...video streams, FTP stuff, work/office use, giant uploads to Shutterfly, etc.

It's all relative anyway...you look back every 10 years and say "wow! what a joke...I was only using ____ back then!" 10 years from now we'll all be laughing about the 11GB cell carrier barrier. It's just that the companies do have to try to control the big hogs fairly.
 
rorschach said:
At least you admit they are indeed changing the deal.

Yes people can cancel their contracts but that doesn't change the fact that AT&T promised one thing and is now going back on that.
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I retract my previous statement that "nobody was duped". I just looked it up, and AT&T stopped offering unlimited data plans to new users in June 2010. So yes, for a small number of people who (a) bought their first iPhone with an unlimited data plan in early 2010 and still have a few months left on their original 2-year contract, and (b) are in the heaviest 5% of data users, they are not getting what they were promised.
 
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