I ACTUALLY WROTE THIS EMAIL TO TIM COOK. LOL.
Mr. Cook,
I am writing as a concerned consumer who is being held hostage by the draconian policies that your partners at AT&T are enforcing.
As you may or not be aware, AT&T has begun to throttle data for the top 5% of their users slowing speeds down to less than dial-up speeds which makes the phone useless for what I use it for which is, iTunes Match, Pandora, iHeart Radio, ESPN Radio, and Netflix which are all data intensive apps. I have been grandfathered into the Unlimited Data and Text plan since I got my iPhone 3G in 2007.
I feel that it is unfair that AT&T be allowed to practice this since they have they have tiered data plans ranging from 250mb to 5gb with an option to pay an extra $10 per gigabyte you go over. I asked them if I would be throttled at the same rate of data consumption if I had the 5gb plan. They said no. This made me furious.
Why would you not practice that policy on someone who doesn't have an unlimited plan? I again asked if their highest data plan is for 5gb, then why don't they start throttling me at 5gb and not at 2gb which they have done the last 2 billing cycles. (I reached 2gb of usage 9 days into my billing cycle which means for 21 days, my phone was useless.) AT&T told me to use wi-fi connections or to download music into my phone rather than use iTunes Match to which I responded by telling them that they have no right to tell me how to use my phone. And if one of their suggestions is to use wi-fi more that means that they don't want me to use their own network!
I explained how illogical data throttling is considering how much data any device nowadays, and not just the iPhone, can consume.
But I cannot speak on behalf of other smartphone owners so I am using my iPhone 4S as an example. I told AT&T that this phone has an 8mp camera. If I use it and upload that picture to Facebook or Twitter, that is easily almost 2mb of data at full resolution. I also asked them if they knew what iTunes Match was. They had no answer so I enlightened them. I told them that each song was upconverted to 256kbps quality and that is a pretty huge file when the song downloads into your phone. Again, their answer was to tell me to just download songs into my phone and not use iTunes Match which is a service I paid for! I bought the 16gb 4S for the sole purpose of never worrying about putting all my songs in it...
AT&T touts the amazing capabilities of their devices, the iPhone more than most, and to do more with them. They tell you that you should live your life and not wait for it to catch up. (This is all in their commercials.) But when data throttling interferes with the way you can use your device, you can no longer live life the way they preach it. Photos have to be uploaded at a Starbucks or at home. Watching movies on Netflix while you're on the exercise bike at the gym is impossible. (I also asked them rhetorically if I would watch Netflix on my phone while I'm at home.) I can't listen to my music in my car on the way to work because iTunes Match cannot download my songs.
I ask for your help to speak, not just to AT&T, but to Verizon as well and let them know that data throttling destroys the experience that Apple has promised to each of their loyal and new customers.
I hope you get the chance to read this and address it with AT&T and Verizon as I feel that the practice is unfair and should be illegal since it infringes on my using services I have paid for.
Have a great weekend and I continue to look forward to the amazing things that your company will present in the coming months.
Thanks for listening,
