AT&T Starts Throttling Unlimited Data Users after 2GB of Monthly Usage

[killerwhack]

Phone vs computer

I got the same message right at 2gb. Ticks me off, really. 2gb doesn’t sound too unlimited.

[update] Atlanta area

Anybody here remember when AT&T made computers ?

I do and I always viewed this as the phone geeks against the computer dweebs. Comm lines and computers go together and are really only useful together so we have the phone companies jockeying for market position with the computer companies.

The computers have sped up quite a bit in the last 12 years but the phone companies are getting back to their lethargic ways. In a sense they trapped themselves because they over sold their capability by signing up millions for "unlimited" and now that they realize what is happening they are re-posturing before they have millions of people complaining and their network is nothing but a clogged mess.

The phone executives are not the smartest or the most honest people, in my opinion.

 

[IIIMPower]

Sign a petition here!

Count me in. Only used 2GB this past month and got the message of being in the top 5% for my area and I have used much more in the past with no problems. This is complete bull... what is the point of "unlimited" if after 2gb you get throttled so much that you cant even load Google's home page in under a minute??! Complete and blatant scam to pressure old unlimited plans into their tiered data plans (3GB plan). We have been LOYAL PAYING customers... Where in your contract does it say: Unlimited Data Plan****

****Unlimited Data Plans (and Unlimited Data Plans ONLY) will be throttled after using only 2GB of data. Your cellular data speeds will then be reduced (throttled) to speeds slower than our EDGE network, leaving you waiting to load web content for what seems to be an eternity. If you would like faster data speeds after using up your Unlimited (limited) Data Plan of 2GB per month, please consider adjusting your plan to our 3GB data plan for the same price of $30/month. This way, we can completely eliminate all Unlimited Data Plan users.

If this was on the contract... I would understand and have no problems. Buuuuuut, it's not.

I found this petition online... might as well sign, who knows.. maybe it will go somewhere?

http://www.change.org/petitions/att-data-throttle#

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Don't throttle the data hogs (the me first folks) = slower network = everyone suffers.

Throttle the data hogs = only the data hogs suffer AFTER they've hogged out.

Lesson: Don't be a data hog = faster network = everyone wins.

Lesson: If you paid for 5 gigs, because you wante to use 5 gigs, you should use only 1, and let the other 4 go unused. Otherwise you're a hog, and should be made to suffer having your speed reduced to a dribble.

Or is 1gig still too much? How much do you use, so that we know how much is an acceptable amount of data, regardless of what we paid for.



http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm?sid=d1e419&id=d1e476

 

[Thunderhawks]

Count me in. Only used 2GB this past month and got the message of being in the top 5% for my area and I have used much more in the past with no problems. This is complete bull... what is the point of "unlimited" if after 2gb you get throttled so much that you cant even load Google's home page in under a minute??! Complete and blatant scam to pressure old unlimited plans into their tiered data plans (3GB plan). We have been LOYAL PAYING customers... Where in your contract does it say: Unlimited Data Plan****

****Unlimited Data Plans (and Unlimited Data Plans ONLY) will be throttled after using only 2GB of data. Your cellular data speeds will then be reduced (throttled) to speeds slower than our EDGE network, leaving you waiting to load web content for what seems to be an eternity. If you would like faster data speeds after using up your Unlimited (limited) Data Plan of 2GB per month, please consider adjusting your plan to our 3GB data plan for the same price of $30/month. This way, we can completely eliminate all Unlimited Data Plan users.

If this was on the contract... I would understand and have no problems. Buuuuuut, it's not.

I found this petition online... might as well sign, who knows.. maybe it will go somewhere?

http://www.change.org/petitions/att-data-throttle#

We should all get what we pay for.

Unlimited is unlimited! (BTW: I do realize that in the fine print they can do whatever they want)

There will be a class action suit by somebody based on the misleading word ATT is using. Only a matter of time.

Progression will be as follows:

ATT to offer LTE when available with the next iphone, but you can only join at tier levels, no more unlimited once LTE starts, so UNLIMITED will disappear via technological advances.

Now in the meantime everybody check out data compression/shrink usages at

www.onavo.com

Their app is only for AT at the moment. 5 star reviews.

If ATT , Verizon etc. keep tightening the GB screw to a point it hurts, the government will step in and
correct this.We'll then have ATT and Verizon having to provide access to their networks and then can choose whom to use. Wouldn't be surprised to see that happen.

 

[KristenM]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

What I'm confused about is how the heck I've gone from ~800mb per month on average on my 3gS to well over 7GB per month on my 4s (incoming only, outgoing has stayed consistent). I use nothing that I didn't use on my old phone, do not stream movies (with the exception of 1-3 short YouTube clips per month), music or download anything besides the occasional small document from my email. I browse the web and check email no more frequently than i did before. I spend >50% of my time in a location where on a good day I have 1 bar, often 'no service.' When I'm at home I'm on wifi.
My usage stats back up these numbers but I can't figure out how it's happening!
What the heck is sucking all this data?! Is there anyway of checking specifically what is using it?

 

[ThunderSkunk]

verizon limits us to 5 gig per month and then the per unit fees kick in. I seem to recall $.80 per 100 meg.

And yet, if you just want 250megs of data per month on your iPad, it's $15.



Straightforward billing would be a flat rate per volume. Get what you pay for and pay for what you get. A company can fool around with whatever it wants, but playing games with people over their billing is the most effective way of angering and alienating your customers.

Imagine pumping gas and facing this kind of billing BS. You can only buy in quantities of 1gal for $12, 7gal for $20, or 15 gallons for $30, and whatever fits in your tank, gas station keeps the rest and offers no refunds. If you buy 15, they'll threaten and punish you once you pump the first 7 of it, and if you buy 7 and it's not enough, they charge you $20/gallon til you're full.

There'd be killings.

 

[woodlandbunny]

Sign a Petition

I live in San Francisco and my data was throttled this month at 2.1 gb. The speed is slowed down to 2g speeds, which are slow but I as able to stream my Pandora very well with no problems.

If we all band together then we have real power. I signed a petition that was on change.org. Here is the link:
http://www.change.org/petitions/att-data-throttle

We need to stop AT&T from thinking this is okay to dupe us with a bait-and-switch.

 

[mantan]

And yet, if you just want 250megs of data per month on your iPad, it's $15.



Straightforward billing would be a flat rate per volume. Get what you pay for and pay for what you get. A company can fool around with whatever it wants, but playing games with people over their billing is the most effective way of angering and alienating your customers.

Imagine pumping gas and facing this kind of billing BS. You can only buy in quantities of 1gal for $12, 7gal for $20, or 15 gallons for $30, and whatever fits in your tank, gas station keeps the rest and offers no refunds. If you buy 15, they'll threaten and punish you once you pump the first 7 of it, and if you buy 7 and it's not enough, they charge you $20/gallon til you're full.

There'd be killings.

That's the ticket. Forget trying to play games with actuarial use of data and getting some people to pay for more than what they use. Set a flat rate per MB and charge people for what they use each month like any other utility. Problem solved.

 

[zoetmb]

So I have been with ATT wireless for about 15 years (back when it was pac bell and through the cingular years). Over that period of time I have received 7 checks from them from class action settlements totaling $874. Everytime they do this ****, they get sued, have to pay tons in attorney fees, undo whatever it was they got sued about, and then pay their customers money. Their board of directors really should look into the decisions management is making, in the mean time I will expect another check from this soon.

I've been with AT&T since the iPhone, which was released in late June 2007. I probably purchased mine in October 2007. I've never received a check or credit. How come?

 

[diamond.g]

Can someone with their contract handy clarify if it says "Unlimited 3G?" I've seen alot of people refer to it as that but I'm almost positive it's worded "unlimited data." The reason I'm curious is because AT&T is marketing the 4S as the only 4G iPhone. I'm wondering if they'll argue that we were throttled because we were using their premium network, Verizon and Sprint charge you more to be on their premium networks. Is everyone else using a 4S as well? As for the regional usage, I'm in New Orleans and normally get throttled in the 5GB to 6GB range.

Mine says Unlimited Data, not sure it ever said Unlimited 3G Data. Of course I have had it since it was the $20 Unlimited Data plan (over EDGE).

Just to note, AT&T counts both download and upload in usage. So if you go over and get throttled, you should find an app that uploads content, because upload isn't capped (yet). So in theory you could quickly increase the 5%. Justin.tv app live streams video...

 

[alphaod]

It really seems unbalanced. I'm in an area without WiFi coverage and somehow I'm suppose to use more WiFi? I'm wondering if they do the throttling based on actual location or on billing location?

 

[SMDrew]

I love all these posts shouting for a lawsuit and how their original contract says 'Unlimited' as if any of that means anything.

The only important thing that matters is that your original contracts all stated that AT&T has full right to change the terms of your contract so long as they give you ample warning and a chance to leave the contract without paying an ETF if you did not agree to the new terms.

AT&T announced publicly last July (and included a notice in everyone's August bill) that, starting on October 1st, they were amending the plan so they could throttle the top 5% of data consumers to better serve the remaining 95%.

If you did not agree to the new terms, you had months before it took effect where you could walk away from AT&T and not pay an ETF. Instead, those complaining now turned a blind eye and naively assumed that it would never effect them - even though the writing was clear that they would end up throttling at, or below, the 2GB point.


By all means, continue to cry about how unfair it is (even though you were given warning) and try to get a class action lawsuit against AT&T or the FCC involved over their changing of the terms (even though the contract you signed stated that they could). I, like AT&T, will be happy to laugh at your feeble attempts while you not only continue to be throttled to a useless speed each month, but you gladly pay AT&T for that service.

The time to raise up and complain was last August/ September. At this point, what's done is done. AT&T has made up their mind and has no reason to change it. If you want to hit them where it hurts the most, take your money and go somewhere else.

Perhaps it's time to start attaching our own terms to our checks, in 4pt font, of course. "By cashing this check, the parent company (AT&T) agrees to provide unthrottled data access speeds per the original signed contract".

 

[Bjornfleuren]

I live in Hollywood

Throttling message comes in around 1.5 gigs as a warning, then at 2 gigs the phone turns useless!

 

[BC2009]

This is EXACTLY what I said would happen to the ceiling for the "top 5%" of users and why their plan is flawed. It will eventually drop down to 1GB users as well. They are essentially compressing the unlimited users despite the fact that these users are those who signed-up for AT&T's top-tier plan. They should offer these users a minimum number of GB and then start throttling those who go over it.

In my originally post months ago, I said that the minimum should be equal to their current top-tier plan, which then was 4GB, but now is 5GB. I'm not speaking as somebody who uses much data, but somebody who thinks this unfair to those that do. My peak usage on AT&T ever was 700mb, but I'm usually in the 300mb range -- same goes for my wife. But I would expect to have access to at least 3GB to 5GB before getting throttled as a "heavy user".

 

[linkismyhero]

We should all get what we pay for.

Unlimited is unlimited! (BTW: I do realize that in the fine print they can do whatever they want)

There will be a class action suit by somebody based on the misleading word ATT is using. Only a matter of time.

Progression will be as follows:

ATT to offer LTE when available with the next iphone, but you can only join at tier levels, no more unlimited once LTE starts, so UNLIMITED will disappear via technological advances.

I'm currently on a Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, and I'm still on a grandfathered unlimited data plan. That includes LTE. I got about 6GB in last month before I got the message that I would be throttled soon.

(It helps that I'm an indirect AT&T dealer so I have access to all of their plans/can see what I'm specifically on and my data usage).

 

[Big Dawg 23]

By billing cycle expires on Thursday. Currently I am at 1.7GB of my "Unlimited" plan. I may stream all day at work for the next three days to exceed the 2GB to see if I get the throttle warning. As of yet I have gone to 2GB and never received the warning.

 

[drummingcraig]

By billing cycle expires on Thursday. Currently I am at 1.7GB of my "Unlimited" plan. I may stream all day at work for the next three days to exceed the 2GB to see if I get the throttle warning. As of yet I have gone to 2GB and never received the warning.

My billing cycle reset today. When I checked last night I was at ~2.8GB of data and I did not receive the warning text, nor was I throttled. However a friend of mine who lives near me is only 9 days into his cycle and received the text warning yesterday after he hit the 2.5GB mark. So it may be tied not only to total amount of data used, but also the rate of consumption.

FWIW, I asked him if this was typical data usage for him and he said that it was not. He said that aside from streaming a bit of music here and there he is not a heavy data user, and that he has no clue why he is using so much now. He's on an iP4 with the current firmware.

 

[EBB]

ATT Throttling IPhone

I also started being throttled at 2 GB last week to a speed of .05 mbps. I had been using about 5 to 7 GB per month before. Some people may think that may be excessive, but I do not have access to Wi-Fi most of the time and that was the reason I chose the unlimited data plan. Spoke with ATT customer service and their solution was a tiered plan, go figure! After getting off the phone I have been running Sling Box 7/24 and now approaching 10GB @ .05 mbps with six days left in my billing peroid. HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW ATT!

 

[drummingcraig]

After getting off the phone I have been running Sling Box 7/24 and now approaching 10GB @ .05 mb with six days left in my billing peroid. HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW ATT!

I understand your frustration with the situation, but I don't see how "leaving the faucet open" is going to help things. You're certainly not hurting AT&T by streaming data at the slower speeds. If anything, you're just harming other customers nearby.

If you really want to hurt AT&T, take your business elsewhere.

 

[nickn]

Screw all of these big carriers and their stupid plans. Everyone look at Republic Wireless. They sell unlimited talk, text, and web, for $20 a month with no contract. If lots of people ran over to them, it would send a message to these companies that people are not going to pay their rediculous fees.

 

[mk313]

For those people who are not sure where the huge increase in data is coming from, you may want to try turning off the 'Setting Time Zone' choice in the location services->System services section of the settings. I have no idea how much data this uses, bt I do remember this being a big issue with regards to battery life early on when I first got my 4S. Once I turned this off, my battery life jumped dramatically. If it's using data to get this info, that may well be adding a bunch to your data usage.

 

[satchow]

Yes - I also received the message. Insane since my average usage is 3 gig per month going back for years.

----------



Dude, verizon limits us to 5 gig per month and then the per unit fees kick in. I seem to recall $.80 per 100 meg . I would double check that though. It is a very fluid environment these days.

5 gigs unthrottled is better than unlimited 2 gigs throttled, but the main reason is the unlocking of the sim card slot because I travel for business a lot.

 

[linkismyhero]

Mine says Unlimited Data, not sure it ever said Unlimited 3G Data. Of course I have had it since it was the $20 Unlimited Data plan (over EDGE).

Just to note, AT&T counts both download and upload in usage. So if you go over and get throttled, you should find an app that uploads content, because upload isn't capped (yet). So in theory you could quickly increase the 5%. Justin.tv app live streams video...

The unlimited tiers run something like this:

Unlimited Data for iPhone 3GS with or w/o VVM (Visual Voicemail)
Unlimited Data for iPhone 4 w/or w/o VVM
Unlimited Data for iPhone 4S w or w/o VVM
Unlimited HSPA for Smartphone
Unlimited LTE for Smartphone

There's actually many, many more than that (Enterprise unlimited, Blackberry Enterprise, Blackberry Standard, Visual Voicemail for Samsung, Visual Voicemail for HTC, etc), but those are the ones I activate the most for grandfathered customers.

 

[gLaDiAtOr73]

It really seems unbalanced. I'm in an area without WiFi coverage and somehow I'm suppose to use more WiFi? I'm wondering if they do the throttling based on actual location or on billing location?

i would like to know this as well. i live in a small city but commute and use most of my data in a large city. I wouldnt mind if they throttled me at 3gb, but 2gb is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

IT'S NOT JUST STREAMING AND TETHERING (ILLEGALLY or LEGALLY) that can cause high data usage...an hour or two on skype voice per day will get you there in a hurry, AT&T can continue this foolishness if they like...I'll speak with my wallet, 10+ years "valued customer" my a$$...as much as I have trashed talked tmobile in the past I will switch in a heartbeat if they get iPhone 5...I don't want a CDMA device Verizon is just as bad as AT&T and Sprint's data is TOO SLOW