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8CoreWhore

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 17, 2008
2,670
1,225
Tejas
I just got a text message from at&t saying:

Your data use this month puts you in the top 5% of users. Use wifi to help avoid reduced speeds.

So I called them.

I pay $30/mo for unlimited data. I'm grandfathered in, that plan is no longer available.

The plans available are $30/mo for 3GB. Then it drops to something like 300MB for $20.

So I call, she reads a script to me. I ask her how much data I used - 2GB as of today and today is the last day of the billing cycle.

So I ask her the obvious questions -

But she keeps saying it's not about GBs its about the rate I use it. I tell her my rate is 2GB per month.

So I ask why someone who pays $30 and gets 3GB gets more than someone who pays $30 for Unlimited? She won't answer, she is stuck to the script - "It's about rate". So I ask her what is the acceptable rate and how do I keep track of it? Basically there's no way to know. So what do I do differently to avoid doing something wrong?

Use your phone less. She says don't watch Netflix, don't stream pandora, etc. I say that I don't...

So I say, you're telling people they can't use the phone as advertised.

So what happens if I go "over" this mysterious rate? My speeds slow down.

But at&t promised me certain speeds and at&t will be in breach. She says there is no promise because network speeds vary.

I say they vary for technical reasons, but if I am targeted for a slow down, that's a policy decision - I should expect the same speed range as anyone else because I have done nothing wrong.

Well, her script is no longer helping her. I tell her that if I experience slower speeds than average after this warning, I'll be contacting my congressman, the FCC, and a lawyer to put together a class action suit.

She specifically told me that only people on the Unlimited plan are being told to cut back and not the people on the 3GB plan because, "They are on a different network". I told her she was a liar. It's a policy decision, it's a different plan, not a different physical infrastructure.

I told her if at&t doesn't want me as a customer, I'd be happy for a mutual severing of the contract. Silence. I told her they are harassing people into switching plans, and I'm not going to.

What I gather from this is they will not actually restrict my speeds. When they say it will slow down, they want us to believe they will target-throttle, but they won't really.

Has anyone who received this warning actually experienced slower speeds or any other penalty???
 
AT&T seems to think they can push customers around... and it is working since customers can't do anything about it.

Unlimited data: no longer available, except grandfathered.
200mb and 3gb data plans: no longer available, except grandfathered. new data plans additional $5.
200, 1000, or 1500 texting plans: no longer available, except grandfathered. forced to choose between pay-as-you-go and unlimited.
 
Which one answers my question?

What is your question? yes people are getting throttled. AFAIK there is no other "penalty". ATT's stance is that they don;t have to explain it. They priced it that way because they wanted to. It sucks, but it's how it is.

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At a speed that is not reasonable.

Reasonable to who? I would say that edge speeds were never reasonable, but people still paid $20 a month for those! FWIW, I agree that it's not reasonable, but that isn't a good enough argument in and of itself to expect any form of change IMO.
 
Reasonable to who? I would say that edge speeds were never reasonable, but people still paid $20 a month for those! FWIW, I agree that it's not reasonable, but that isn't a good enough argument in and of itself to expect any form of change IMO.

Everything I have read is that the throttled speeds are much slower than edge, to the point that you may as well not even have a data connection
 
What is your question? yes people are getting throttled. AFAIK there is no other "penalty". ATT's stance is that they don;t have to explain it. They priced it that way because they wanted to. It sucks, but it's how it is.

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Reasonable to who? I would say that edge speeds were never reasonable, but people still paid $20 a month for those! FWIW, I agree that it's not reasonable, but that isn't a good enough argument in and of itself to expect any form of change IMO.

Please people -

If you have a slave mentality, just don't read these complaints and don't comment. We already are familiar with the nature of your affliction, we don't need to be reminded.

My question is the sentence that ends with the funny looking "?".
 
Please people -

If you have a slave mentality, just don't read these complaints and don't comment. We already are familiar with the nature of your affliction, we don't need to be reminded.

My question is the sentence that ends with the funny looking "?".

Great, so your question has been answered, right? I asked exactly because I didn;t understand why you would said what you did after having been given an answer. In fact, I went ahead and answered it for you as well.

let me do it again. The answer to your question is YES, throttling is real, and they throttle you to the ground. No, there is no other penalty to speak of.

And a video example for you as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW5aEQzTcW0

I do hope you consider my affliction cured. :D
 
When they say it will slow down, they want us to believe they will target-throttle, but they won't really.

Yes, they will. Some of the other 12 threads mentioned have screenshots of speed tests and so on and so forth.

As far as plan and warning, I am in the same boat as you, but from what I've gathered from AT&T, "unlimited" applies to quantity, not speed. Whatevs.
 
.

But at&t promised me certain speeds and at&t will be in breach. She says there is no promise because network speeds vary.

I say they vary for technical reasons, but if I am targeted for a slow down, that's a policy decision - I should expect the same speed range as anyone else because I have done nothing wrong.

While I sympathize with your indignation and disagree in general with AT&T's recent policies towards throttling, their ability to do this is spelled out in the wireless customer agreement.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...greement#whatAreTheIntendedPurposesOfDataServ

AT&T reserves the right to (i) deny, disconnect, modify and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited or whose usage adversely impacts its wireless network or service levels or hinders access to its wireless network, including without limitation, after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage and (ii) otherwise protect its wireless network from harm, compromised capacity or degradation in performance, which may impact legitimate data flows.

AT&T's position, whether one agrees with them or not, is that the alleged "top 5%" of data users is adversely affecting the network and using a disproportionate share of a finite resource.

Their bet is that users lack the technical means or wherewithal to prove them wrong in a forum that would matter.


Well, her script is no longer helping her. I tell her that if I experience slower speeds than average after this warning, I'll be contacting my congressman, the FCC, and a lawyer to put together a class action suit.

Probably something she's heard a million times. If you go through with it, best of luck. But I suspect the contract language provides enough wiggle room that their claim will stand up in court. Which would mean your recourse is to appeal to legislators and the FCC.

Sad to say: you'll probably have better luck pounding sand.
 
AT&T told me that their top 5% varies month to month, because I had asked why I didn't get throttled the previous 5 months when I used 5gb each month and then get throttled at 2 this month.
 
AT&T told me that their top 5% varies month to month, because I had asked why I didn't get throttled the previous 5 months when I used 5gb each month and then get throttled at 2 this month.

I was told the same. Apparently, 5gb is the ceiling in my area.
 
Has anyone who received this warning actually experienced slower speeds or any other penalty???

This is my second month going over the 2 GB "limit" on the unlimited plan. I am being throttled as of a few days ago, so yes, they actually do do it.
 
Technically they are not stopping your unlimited plan, they are just throttling you.

Technically they are stopping the 'unlimited' part. The meaning of unlimited means without limits. While you are correct in the term that they are still providing unlimited data, you're wrong with the rate they deliver it. If they can physically and economically provide a certain speed, but purposely slow you down you're no longer receiving the full unlimited data flow.

Say your local gas station only allows you to pump two gallons a day. They're still offering unlimited gasoline because you can come back every day and buy two more gallons. But what if you need more? Well you can either find a new gas station to shop from(sprint), or just try to deal with it. So your theoretical 'unlimited' supply of gasoline is actually being throttled/limited. Get what I'm saying?
 
Technically they are stopping the 'unlimited' part. The meaning of unlimited means without limits. While you are correct in the term that they are still providing unlimited data, you're wrong with the rate they deliver it. If they can physically and economically provide a certain speed, but purposely slow you down you're no longer receiving the full unlimited data flow.

Say your local gas station only allows you to pump two gallons a day. They're still offering unlimited gasoline because you can come back every day and buy two more gallons. But what if you need more? Well you can either find a new gas station to shop from(sprint), or just try to deal with it. So your theoretical 'unlimited' supply of gasoline is actually being throttled/limited. Get what I'm saying?

The plan is called unlimited "data". Please show me where any cellular provider promises a minimum transfer rate at all times.

As for your analogy, it's incorrect. Allowing only two gallons per day is not unlimited gasoline because they are stopping at 2 gallons. AT&T is not stopping the flow of data after a person gets the 5% warning. The correct analogy is that the gas station reduces the flow of gasoline to a trickle, but you're still getting gas. If you need more gas, you just have to wait longer until you get what you need even if it's an inconvenience.

Now if a cellular provider promises a "minimum" transfer rate at all times and they throttle it below that rate, then that would be limited in relationship to transfer speed.
 
Technically they are stopping the 'unlimited' part. The meaning of unlimited means without limits. While you are correct in the term that they are still providing unlimited data, you're wrong with the rate they deliver it. If they can physically and economically provide a certain speed, but purposely slow you down you're no longer receiving the full unlimited data flow.

Say your local gas station only allows you to pump two gallons a day. They're still offering unlimited gasoline because you can come back every day and buy two more gallons. But what if you need more? Well you can either find a new gas station to shop from(sprint), or just try to deal with it. So your theoretical 'unlimited' supply of gasoline is actually being throttled/limited. Get what I'm saying?

What you're saying is true and it'd make sense if the plan was still for the original unlimited. It's not.

The unlimited plan was changed last July when AT&T changed/ added the throttling of the top 5%.

You can get tangled up in definitions and semantics, but the 'Unlimited' plan itself has been altered so any of the original promises are null.

If you don't like the new terms, then the time to do something about it was between when they announced it 6+ months ago and when it was put into place in October.
 
Which one answers my question?

As other people have already stated and answered you, almost all the threads that use the term "AT&T" and "throttled" answer your question.

Just look around. You aren't special. Your fellow subscribers aren't slaves. They are all disgruntled AT&T subscribers or, like me, FORMER subscribers.

You can play tough guy all you want here on the internet about legal action, yelling at the minimum wage customer service reps or whatever else. But in the end, you are going to be throttled if you are on a grandfathered Unlimited plan and you go over 2Gigs. Its not a matter of if, its a matter of when. Its been going on since at least November. It will continue until they get to everyone.

Fight it however you want. You aren't accomplishing anything by pleading your case or flexing your epeen here. You'll still lose.
 
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