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AT&T Revamps Throttling Policy, Only Slows Unlimited Users above 3GB/Month
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Folks should still sue in small claims court. Now AT&T is unabashedly admitting that the unlimited plan you signed up for in their contract has been broken by AT&T. 3GB is not unlimited. They shouldn't be able to blatantly cap "unlimited" and get away with it.
Unfortunately, I think AT&T CAN get away with it. I didn't see anyone post this part of the contract, but admittedly, I skimmed the thread only. This has been in the contract in some form or fashion since at least 2008 when I signed up -- I copied this from mine, from the section bolded "Permissible Uses" under the general terms and conditions:
The list of things they prohibit in part i are listed directly above that block, but I don't think the specifics need to be posted here, this part of the contract is specific enough for us to consider. I don't want to make this a "tl;dr" situation.
If anyone honestly thought AT&T didn't do the proper CYA here, I am surprised. Yes, it sucks, because they have a pretty good chance of getting away with their crappy advertising about "unlimited," but it is what it is. I personally haven't had any issues with AT&T, but I say whoever DOES need the large amount of data and wants to go elsewhere, scour your contract to see if you can find something that will allow you out, or wait until it's up. Assuming you don't want to pay the ETF, that is.
It's a fact that AT&T put up $40 billion dollars a few months ago to buy extra spectrum for their network (by purchasing T-Mobile).great idea, except this doesn't allow this greed corp to overcharge ... 95% of it's customers that don't use 2gb
= greed
i wana buy mAtt a beer!
att lying for money ??? ... nooooo (sarcasm)
It's also a fact that AT&T ended up paying T-Mobile $4 billion when the FCC opposed the deal and it fell through.
If AT&T was just throttling to be greedy and make money, there'd be no reason for them to have put up $40 billion (losing $4 billion) trying to get spectrum to avoid this situation in the first place.
Are you kidding me? I'm always on my phone (mainly browsing, occasionally streaming). Hell, my car uses my smartphone's data plan. I've never gone past a gig and a half. I only know one person who uses more data than I do, and he's always streaming.
Unless you're running Pandora in the background and considering that "barely using the phone", there's no way "barely using the phone" can rack up anywhere near 8 GB.
U don't get it. Try using iTunes match a service I'm paying for, a service built in to the iPhone. Try using siri. Try using tethering another feature built in to the iPhone I can't use. I have used match for three days and I had my first 5% message and I have been a user since the 3G.
It's people like you and companies like atandt who restrict the pace of innovation. Good for you if u use little data. U obviously have no use for an iPhone but please don't criticize the rest of us who want to use the iPhone for the purposes it is made for.
Bottom line, if atandt can't guarantee existing customers the quality of service they advertised and we bout by, that's their tough **** and they should not. E accepting new customers.
Maybe the us is indeed turning into a third world county and soon cable providers will be rationing Internet service.
Your post started out slightly irrational and was just full blown ridiculous by the last sentence. First of all, the way you use more data for your iPhone than someone else does not make your approach any more "correct" or "meant" for the iPhone than anyone else's. Apple designed it to be used by its owner, and that's exactly what people do, whether they use up a lot of data or not. And secondly, your last sentence is not only completely false but it makes no sense at all either. Maybe you should just refrain from those kinds of statements until you know what you're talking about?
As someone that doesn't have unlimited I find that you can get twice as much data for the same price annoying
ATT has never defined unlimited as all you want as fast as you want it. They have kept it strictly on the amount. Heck they don't guarantee any set speed to anyone.
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It will end when ATT announces that with the iPhone 2012 they are dropping all unlimited plans (as is their right) and when you get your next iPhone you will have to pick a tier
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Well sure, I have the 3gb tier and I pay $30 why shouldn't we both get the same amount of data at the same possible speeds for our $30.
And given that their top 5% in an area system was hitting folks in a way consistent fashion having a set GB is a way better marker to be fair to all.
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Or they aren't. You would need to look at the definition in the terms you signed and see if they are breaking that -- not some random dictionary definition that holds zero legal weight. If you signed without reading that's not ATTs fault
It would be easier to understand your post if you would follow standard English - you shouldn't make your readers stop and try to figure out what phrases like the "the us" mean.
You have the option to change services without having to pay the ETF due to the change. If you don't then you have no grounds to sue because sticking around is your consent to the terms.
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Your lack of overage fees is your show of appreciation.
I can't believe so many people defend AT&T. Maybe opinions will be different when they start throttling non-unlimited data plans too.
Except that you aren't paying them any extra money. You pay $30 a month whether you use 300MB or 30GB of data. Whereas new folks pay $30 for 3g and then more money if they go over it (and could end up throttled as well)
honest question, why jump to verizon when the same $30 at at&t buys you even less data (only 2gb)?
I completely agree with this. It could happen. There seems to be no limit to the douchebaggery that AT&Thieves are willing to dish out to its customers.
You have zero proof that it is just 4.5GB a month. It could be 10 times that for some users. Because they have 'unlimited' and feel that means they should use as much as they can
So, will HSPA+ users get a 4GB cap? They call it "4G" on their service maps.
This seems reasonable to me...
This seems reasonable to me...
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B5141a Safari/7534.48.3)
Sounds like a slippery slope fallacy to me. The difference between the tiered data and unlimited data is that with the tiered plans, you're actually paying for a defined amount of data. Why would they need to throttle those users?
Born2run45 said:
Sounds like a slippery slope fallacy to me. The difference between the tiered data and unlimited data is that with the tiered plans, you're actually paying for a defined amount of data. Why would they need to throttle those users?
Since the iPhone came out 5 years ago, AT&T has repeatedly demonstrated that while first in line to take your money & a nice long contract, their policy is to then deliver as little as they're legally obligated to or slightly less. From rolling in cash & then refusing to upgrade their spotty old misrepresented networks to actually function, to arbitrary and absurd tiered data & tethering "plans" to limited unlimited BS, to this throttling nonsense, & anti-trust practices, AT&T's business isn't communications, it's con. Verizon, Sprint, or TMobile have the benefit of the doubt yet.
Of all the companies I've ever done business with, AT&T is the only one I've found reason to personally resent on a moral basis. I hope they die a horrible death, because they've earned it every step of the way.
Skype & WiFi it is from here on out.
A T and T is claiming that they cannot support the increase in demand on their network.
A T and T are still continuing to accept new customers on a network that cannot meet the current customers demands.
A T and T is screwing existing loyal customers who signed up before the new customers on a plan that promised unlimited data claiming it is their fault for degrading the quality of the existing network.
I will find it funny when this years new customers complain in two years that its not fair that they get blamed for a poor network when their existing 5GB plan is throttled to 3GB to make it consistent with new customers .
Those that bitch at existing customers use of data will soon be the ire of tomorrows new customer. This is obviously ATnadTs business plan.
The much heralded new 4S service Siri relies on a good quality reliable network. As does the iTunes Match service released by apple. This requires bandwidth.
As ATandT continue to charge more for bandwidth it will stifle innovation in such services. And it will prevent users form enjoying the full iPhone experience, especially when having paid a premium for an unlimited service.
Does that make sense, or do you need it in better Engligh mr pompous?
Anyway, what do I care, Im jumping ship when I can..............
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us = USA
Comprende?
I think this whole policy revamp is way overblown. The new policy, to me, is a fair compromise. When I signed up for "unlimited" service it was for 2G (EDGE). So now we are at 3G and, soon for the iDevices 4G. Smartphone ownership has gone from geek to grandma in the space of 5 years, and bandwidth hasn't grown proportionally, largely due to external reasons. What good is "unlimited" service if you can never get service because everyone else is hogging bandwidth? Every been to a concert or ball game. Good luck.
The reality is unlimited service isn't going away for those of us that have it -- we still get all the 2G EDGE we always had. ATT isn't shutting off the spigot, just slowing it down. 3G and 4G are limited but the vast, vast majority of users will not be impacted by 3 and 5GB maximums. Most people don't use their phone as their computer or primary Internet device. The hogs will pay. What's not fair about that?
Put another way -- your house has 1 bathroom for 3 teenage kids. As parents you don't let any one of them use it as long as they like in the AM or no one gets to work or school and everyone is cranky. There are time allocations. It's what makes for a civil household.
The reality is unlimited service isn't going away for those of us that have it -- we still get all the 2G EDGE we always had. ATT isn't shutting off the spigot, just slowing it down. 3G and 4G are limited but the vast, vast majority of users will not be impacted by 3 and 5GB maximums. Most people don't use their phone as their computer or primary Internet device. The hogs will pay. What's not fair about that?
Put another way -- your house has 1 bathroom for 3 teenage kids. As parents you don't let any one of them use it as long as they like in the AM or no one gets to work or school and everyone is cranky. There are time allocations. It's what makes for a civil household.
The iPhone 4S is not a 4G phone cause 4G still doesn't even truly exist. The closest thing to exist is "3.5G" at best.
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Could not agree more, I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. I also find it funny for anyone to comment on here talking about legal action when you know they won't, it's the internet and you're all talk.
People need to really understand the hardware limitations anymore, there's only so much AT&T can do until they have to make drastic changes. Will people like them? Not everyone.
Will people complaining switch? Bet they won't, no other carrier can match AT&T's speeds and they'd probably be better if it wasn't for all the data hogs. I imagine people living in cities like San Francisco and other big city areas would love to get rid of data hogs.
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Not to mention, AT&T is still a business and they're in business to make money. If you were running AT&T and you saw money just being funneled out of your pockets at an alarming rate, I bet you'd do the same.
There are more important issues in the world, your data on your smartphone that you already paid a pretty penny for shouldn't be that big of a deal. I paid $400 for my iPhone 4S 64gb model, I'm not crying broke. I had to end my unlimited plan awhile back but eventually jumped on the 5GB tiered plan for tethering and I'm fine.
There's no reason anyone should be streaming entire Netflix movies on their 3G connection, not to mention it probably looks like **** anyways. But to all the unlimited plan people, enjoy being throttled while I'm getting my data faster. Me having 5GB of data a month is MORE then enough for a smartphone, the only reason this month I'm even close to my 5GB limit is due to tethering and downloading some much needed updates to my computer.
Does this apply to iPad or not?
The web site I saw kept on saying smartphones. Of which the iPad isn't.
If it does apply, then I guess I messed up not selling my iPad 3G SIM when I had the chance. Someone could have bought it for $300 and later regretted that decision
The web site I saw kept on saying smartphones. Of which the iPad isn't.
If it does apply, then I guess I messed up not selling my iPad 3G SIM when I had the chance. Someone could have bought it for $300 and later regretted that decision
I'm not keen on that analogy. You've cast AT&T as my Dad - who I really do owe a lot to.
Not so with my unlimited data contract. I've kept up my part of the bargain for four years, and AT&T need to stop shirking and face up to their responsibilities. I'm not the teenager in this relationship.
And just for the record, my monthly usage is almost always under 1GB, I hover around 2GB when I travel for work. No tethering. No jailbreaking. No activities contrary to my contract with AT&T.
If AT&T wants to throttle my service because their network in my area is congested, fine. But if I'm in an area without network congestion, why should I be throttled after 3GB? I paid for a service that states Unlimited 3G Data.
You are artificially slowing me down, not by bandwidth congestion, but through your own implemented software. This is preventing me from getting your advertised "3G Speeds".
For those that complain, like I do, AT&T will credit some months of 'data' usage that was 'throttled' by them. I've done it every month I was throttled (only 3 so far) and I was given a few bucks off my data plan.
I have 4 lines on my account, 2 with iPhones. They wouldn't want to lose a customer paying $200/mo for a $10 discount.
I'm pretty sure they'll wipe out their unlimited data plans as according to the customer service reps, its' been nothing but headaches for them.
You are artificially slowing me down, not by bandwidth congestion, but through your own implemented software. This is preventing me from getting your advertised "3G Speeds".
For those that complain, like I do, AT&T will credit some months of 'data' usage that was 'throttled' by them. I've done it every month I was throttled (only 3 so far) and I was given a few bucks off my data plan.
I have 4 lines on my account, 2 with iPhones. They wouldn't want to lose a customer paying $200/mo for a $10 discount.
I'm pretty sure they'll wipe out their unlimited data plans as according to the customer service reps, its' been nothing but headaches for them.