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

[RyanJL]

Unlimited data means UNLIMITED DATA..... Doesn't mean it has to be fast. Stop trying to twist the meaning of it and read it for what it actual says.

You are so patently wrong it's hardly worth debating you. It's like explaining a complex mathematical formula to someone who doesn't even know what a number is.

A limit is a limit is a limit.

Those of us who signed up when 3G first became available signed up for "Unlimited 3G." 3G is a common term utilized in the cell-phone industry, and although a specific speed isn't often mentioned, AT&T has put ample promotional effort into communicating that their 3G is the "fastest." At the very least, 3G is promoted as something capable of loading a web page in a reasonably quick fashion.

Even those who were not sold "Unlimited 3G" but rather "Unlimited data" have a colorable argument. Constraining the speed of data after an arbitrary number of Gigabytes has been reached is a limit. Why? Because: (a) the phones are being throttled to the point that, for all intents and purposes, they are unusable on AT&T's data network; (b) creating this arbitrary "5%" number is, by definition, a "limit," as in "you are limited to the bottom 95% of data usage, after which we throttle your speeds"; and (c) the whole situation wreaks of bad-faith business practices and "technicalities" which neither consumers nor courts typically find appealing.

 

[XjeffX]

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I think AT&T is putting the screws to us. In Decemer I was notifed about being throttled at 2.05gbs. In January I was notified at 1.5gbs halfway through my bill cycle. So the entire region had a 25% drop in one month???

What really confuses me is how my data has jumped so significantly. I'm on wifi constantly and up until they started this throttling business, I never went over 300-500mbs per month since I bought the 3G on launch day. Hmmm.

I should add that I live in Southern California. A rather large market.

 

[RyanJL]

read the fine print of the contract, there have always been limits to att's "unlimited".

If this becomes a class action, their marketing promotions will normally trump the fine print in their boilerplate contract.

 

[ghettochris]

There's a simple solution here...

Everyone that has an unlimited plan needs to start using a lot of data. If everyone uses 10GB, that becomes the new baseline for unlimited thus raising the top 5% threshold.

Seriously though, if there has to be a throttling point for unlimited, at minimum it should be the highest tiered amount, i.e. 5GB.... if not more.

Also, tethering should be included across all plans, even unlimited if throttled. It's ridiculous that we have to pay extra to access the data we've paid for no matter how we choose to use it. It's like Ford telling you your monthly truck payment will be higher because you want to tow your boat.

edit: HA! great minds think alike! I took way too long typing this post and seamer posted almost the same thing. Must be a collective wave length we're on!

wait, you're suggesting the minimum throttling amount should be the max tiered amount, or 5gb? ok, fine, but don't expect the plan to be cheaper than the $50 5gb plan. Expect at least $60 or more for that plan. to want that for $30 is just silly. a set minimum would clearly be less than 3gb for $30, that's the way pricing works.

I agree on your tethering gripe, I say it's like att only letting you use speakerphone if you're on the 900 min/month plan I want the $30/3gb plan with tethering, pissed they won't give it to me.

 

[Treq]

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Unlimited data means without limitations. This is a limitation. Stop trying to say different.

read the fine print of the contract, there have always been limits to att's "unlimited".

Then you agree with me. If there are limits to AT&T's "unlimited" then it isn't unlimited. Plain and simple.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

wait, you're suggesting the minimum throttling amount should be the max tiered amount, or 5gb? ok, fine, but don't expect the plan to be cheaper than the $50 5gb plan. Expect at least $60 or more for that plan. to want that for $30 is just silly. a set minimum would clearly be less than 3gb for $30, that's the way pricing works.

I agree on your tethering gripe, I say it's like att only letting you use speakerphone if you're on the 900 min/month plan I want the $30/3gb plan with tethering, pissed they won't give it to me.

I'm saying that exactly. Grandfathered is grandfathered. I have a great voice plan because I've been with ATT long before the iPhone. It's very common with all carriers that you get to carry forward your voice plan, even when rates go up. So why not on my data plan?

 

[miles01110]

So why not on my data plan?

Because they decided not to.

 

[Rufuss Sewell]

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So why not on my data plan?

Because they decided not to.

They decided not to after promising me a two year contract of unlimited 3g on the fastest 3g network in the country.

Apologists for this obvious fraud are either arguing for sport or idiots.

 

[ghettochris]

I'm saying that exactly. Grandfathered is grandfathered. I have a great voice plan because I've been with ATT long before the iPhone. It's very common with all carriers that you get to carry forward your voice plan, even when rates go up. So why not on my data plan?

I wasn't talking about the grandfather issue, more that if there was a current unlimited plan for $30, to expect a throttle below the 3gb limit since they have a $30 3gb plan. that way each plan has pros and cons.

The whole outdated plan and grandfathering is another issue, I am surprised they do it beyond the length of the contract as things change over time, inflation, faster data that lets you use more data etc. kind of like finding a place with decent rent for a year lease then expecting to be able to live there the rest of your life grandfathered in at that rate. not fair to changing times and market values. Also trickier for data than minutes since a voice minute is still a voice minute, but data keeps getting faster and websites size and video bitrates keep increasing, 1gb a few years ago gets you far less browsing than 1gb today.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Because they decided not to.

And that's the problem. When I bought the iPhone, I was sold an unlimited data with it. Plain and simple. I've remained a customer, holding both my voice and data plans. How much I pay is irrelevant, the fact is my plan is unlimited. Ethically you honor that which you've entered or void it.

----------

I wasn't talking about the grandfather issue, more that if there was a current unlimited plan for $30, to expect a throttle below the 3gb limit since they have a $30 3gb plan. that way each plan has pros and cons.

The whole outdated plan and grandfathering is another issue, I am surprised they do it beyond the length of the contract as things change over time, inflation, faster data that lets you use more data etc. kind of like finding a place with decent rent for a year lease then expecting to be able to live there the rest of your life grandfathered in at that rate. not fair to changing times and market values. Also trickier for data than minutes since a voice minute is still a voice minute, but data keeps getting faster and websites size and video bitrates keep increasing, 1gb a few years ago gets you far less browsing than 1gb today.

I understand your points and realistically I know there is no true "unlimited" in any unlimited service and acknowledge the need to throttle at some point. My point is, if you honor your commitment to your customers with unlimited plans, the throttling threshold should not be lower than the highest tier.

 

[justperry]

That's for sure. I live in Thailand 1/3 of the year for work and my service is FAR better there (on the exact same phone).

I'd say AT&T's service ranks somewhere between Cambodia and Bangladesh.

That's Thailand

 

[ghettochris]

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Then you agree with me. If there are limits to AT&T's "unlimited" then it isn't unlimited. Plain and simple.

I agree it isn't "unlimited" but there were unlimited aspects to it, so calling it unlimited* is misleading but not a lie.

The point is you never see any extra charges on your bill no matter how much you use your phones data plan, so maybe a "no surprise on your bill at the end of the month" plan would have been a better name for it.

Even if you could download at max speed 24/7 for the whole month you could say it wasn't unlimited because there are only 24 hours in a day

 

[rgarjr]

There's a simple solution here...
Everyone that has an unlimited plan needs to start using a lot of data. If everyone uses 10GB, that becomes the new baseline for unlimited thus raising the top 5% threshold.

Even though if the top 5% was around 10GB, they can always lie and say it's much lower (2GB).

 

[min_t]

In San Jose, CA, AT&T is throttling after 2gb. I get the top 5% warning after 2GB even though I'm on the unlimited plan. And no, my phone is not jailbroken.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Even though if the top 5% was around 10GB, they can always lie and say it's much lower (2GB).

You really do have to question their numbers. I know it's by region, but that would mean that less than 5% of users with tiers above 2GB actually go over 2GB, meaning those people are truly throwing their money out the window... assuming tiered users are included in their calculations.

It really comes down to this, a basic business truth... In the long run, they will get more of my money if I'm a happy customer than if I'm a pissed-off customer.

 

[ghettochris]

I understand your points and realistically I know there is no true "unlimited" in any unlimited service and acknowledge the need to throttle at some point. My point is, if you honor your commitment to your customers with unlimited plans, the throttling threshold should not be lower than the highest tier.

Yeah, they should just have balls enough to say we're not grandfathering this. once your contract is up it ends. times have changed.

I do feel for the people who got a 2 year contract with unlimited and are now getting throttled at 2gb within the 2 year period, but again it was always unlimited*, and you won't see data overage on your bill no matter how much you use your phone... you'll just be doing it slowly after a while. basically you get to choose if you want to pay extra or slow speeds, something that one may have only expected to happen to hard core abusers or data, not them.

americans were stupid about data a few years back so saying you get 2GB of data then you pay extra wouldn't make sense to people either. there was no easy answer.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

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I think AT&T is putting the screws to us. In Decemer I was notifed about being throttled at 2.05gbs. In January I was notified at 1.5gbs halfway through my bill cycle. So the entire region had a 25% drop in one month???

What really confuses me is how my data has jumped so significantly. I'm on wifi constantly and up until they started this throttling business, I never went over 300-500mbs per month since I bought the 3G on launch day. Hmmm.

I should add that I live in Southern California. A rather large market.

Or the regien had a large increase in usage from new smart phones being activated in December. Means more demand with the same supply. That or some of the supply went off line.

It seems when they start running into bandwidth issues they are going to throttle the highest unlimited plan users first before anyone else gets effected.

 

[ghettochris]

Unlimited really does suggest "without artificial inhibitors."

Since those of us on grandfathered unlimited are being poked at on a dynamic 5%/2gb boundary, why don't we all just start pulling down 10gb each to raise the threshold for everybody?

they need an app to download max data while you sleep or phone is not being used, I'm sure you'd have to work hard to use up another 8gb once you get throttled.

 

[Treq]

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Then you agree with me. If there are limits to AT&T's "unlimited" then it isn't unlimited. Plain and simple.

I agree it isn't "unlimited" but there were unlimited aspects to it, so calling it unlimited* is misleading but not a lie.

The point is you never see any extra charges on your bill no matter how much you use your phones data plan, so maybe a "no surprise on your bill at the end of the month" plan would have been a better name for it.

Even if you could download at max speed 24/7 for the whole month you could say it wasn't unlimited because there are only 24 hours in a day

A limit of the technology or the circumstance is not the same as an artificialy imposed limit. And even if I did download 24/7 and was able to download x data without throttling, when I am throttled to 1/10th of my previous speed, I will only be able to download 1/10 x data. So there's your limit.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

they need an app to download max data while you sleep or phone is not being used, I'm sure you'd have to work hard to use up another 8gb once you get throttled.

The app is called a 15 year old boy with an unstoppable appetite for porn

although you might not want your phone back

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Since AT&T can't be burdened with delivering the unlimited bandwidth they originally sold us, I did them the favor of canceling their service completely, saving myself another $30/mo and the of frustration of trying to find a signal. Terrible service.

 

[justperry]

I feel sorry for you Americans that you have to live with these unscrupulous Mobile Telecom companies and don't have a real choice.

I feel even more sorry for those of them on this thread who don't understand the word Unlimited.
Hell, I am not a native English speaker and even I understand.
People got sold internet 3G speeds Unlimited, that says it all, all you can download at 3G speeds!

I am in Indonesia and I have prepaid internet from three(Provider), packages include 1GB-2GB-3GB and 5GB all unlimited as they say, you get throttled after using your allowance.
At least here they are HONEST and I know that I will get throttled.
Nice thing is though, I pay FAR less than you, 7 U$ for 2GB + 25% extra= 2.5 GB and it's about 10 U$ for 5GB + 25% extra.
Even in Europe it is far less than what you pay.

 

[Can't Stop]

I feel sorry for you Americans that you have to live with these unscrupulous Mobile Telecom companies and don't have a real choice.

I feel even more sorry for those of them on this thread who don't understand the word Unlimited.
Hell, I am not a native English speaker and even I understand.
People got sold internet 3G speeds Unlimited, that says it all, all you can download at 3G speeds!

I am in Indonesia and I have prepaid internet from three(Provider), packages include 1GB-2GB-3GB and 5GB all unlimited as they say, you get throttled after using your allowance.
At least here they are HONEST and I know that I will get throttled.
Nice thing is though, I pay FAR less than you, 7 U$ for 2GB + 25% extra= 2.5 GB and it's about 10 U$ for 5GB + 25% extra.
Even in Europe it is far less than what you pay.

I pay 15 USD (converted to dollars) and i can use it on a phone i can use it on my Mac. No one gives a **** how i'm using it, because common sense dictates that there is no difference. These "people" want you to pay over and over again for something you already paid for and have every right to use it as you see fit.

 

[Mr. Gates]

Are there no smart lawyers here @ Macrumors ????

 

[miles01110]

They decided not to after promising me a two year contract of unlimited 3g on the fastest 3g network in the country.

Apologists for this obvious fraud are either arguing for sport or idiots.

You're confusing an apologist with a realist.

And that's the problem. When I bought the iPhone, I was sold an unlimited data with it. Plain and simple. I've remained a customer, holding both my voice and data plans. How much I pay is irrelevant, the fact is my plan is unlimited. Ethically you honor that which you've entered or void it.

Irrelevant? You're the one trying to discuss AT&T's "ethics." If you're so unhappy with AT&T's throttling you should vote with your wallet and switch carriers. Since you don't seem to be willing to make that change I have a very hard time taking you seriously.