AT&T to Throttle Unlimited Data Plan Customers Starting in October

[thetoad30]

Whoops, your poor self control failed again Cmon, you said you stopped arguing with me, so stop arguing with me!

MAYBE I SHOULD SAY IT IN CAPS?

Perfect. Now we really do know who you are. Keep making yourself even more of a joke.

You said you were done arguing with me? Then 120 seconds later you failed at that Poor self control. ATT's going to teach you some real soon

You have to learn that your needs are not everyone's needs. Stop projecting your crazy amount of free time and love for streaming video on everyone else please. And start working on that self control!

No more arguing with me, cmon you said it. Show that you can stick to your word like you are demanding that ATT do

I don't project my love for streaming on anyone else. Not once did I ever say that having the 2GB plan should be disallowed and everyone should be forced to pay for the unlimited plan.

 

[tivoboy]

one then, the another

While reducing something that has been promoted as unlimited is pretty annoying one thing I am finding is making it even MORE annoying.

It would seem that AT&T is attempting to use this "lack of available capacity" as the argument for the necessary throttling, but also they are trying to use as a a "requirement for the t-mobile deal" to go through. As if, AT&T won't be able to continue to offer even this RESTRICTED access without this deal.

that is just not accurate and pretty lame in my book

 

[vitzr]

AT&T have been being customer hostile for over 100 years. The only way they could surprise me is if they did something opposite.

Ive had years of terrific customer service from AT&T before Apple created the iPhone. Even Steve Jobs agreed, he selected them as the original, exclusive iPhone carrier. I have owned every iPhone, it paid off to be a loyal customer. I've had unlimited data every year since. There are more than 8 AT&T iPhones in my family and we could not be happier. Each year AT&T has given us the upgrade price so we could have the latest iPhone. You can't beat that.

 

[ArmyStrongMD]

I love the whiners in these types of threads. I consider myself a heavy data user, and if I break 1GB per month, it's a lot. I will have the unlimited plan from the beginning, and will keep it as long as I can, but jeez, if your using more than that, or over 2GB per month, you need to get a freakin' life. Get off the damn phone\internet and go out and breath the air, LOL.

That's like saying "I consider myself a really fast driver, but I rarely go more than 10 under the speed limit."



If 98% of users fall under 2gb, IMO you need to be over that threshold before you can call yourself a heavy data user. I use between 3 and 4gb a month, a bit of Netflix, a bit of Pandora, quite a bit of surfing, and a TON of emails with large attachments for work (downloading LONG pdf faxes and images mostly). I would say my job accounts for about half my data usage, so maybe I do need to get a life, outside of work that is.

Furthermore, telling us all that you'll keep your unlimited data for as long as you can while you use less than 1gb a month is similar to someone saying

"I like to show my support for AT&Ts fine service by sending them an extra $5 a month for data I never use."

Since you're more than happy to pay this extra $5,how about I call AT&T for you, conference you in, and we switch you over to the 2gb plan? Then, you can mail me $4 a month for as long as AT&T grandfathers in unlimited data users. WIN WIN

 

[ArmyStrongMD]

I think AT&T is just implementing throttling as an alternative to ending unlimited data plans upon contract renewal. It is the vague 5% figure that worries me, as I have no idea if my 3-4gb monthly usage falls within that range. The statistic upon which the new data plans were based is not that relevant (98% of users are under 2gb). The throttling applies only to users on the unlimited plan; if you use less than 2gb per month and still pay for the unlimited plan, you need to re-evaluate your finances (with the exception being those that usually use under 2gb, but sometimes use much more). Following this logic, I would assume most users still on the unlimited plan continue to pay the extra $5 a month because they use over 2gb per month. In this case, we have no idea what the average usage of this select group is.

I use 3-4gb a month, mostly because I almost never connect to wifi. I find that quite often I have to disconnect from wifi because my iphone data stops entirely during simple tasks such as loading websites. It's almost as if the phone can't figure out whether to use wifi or 3G, and just gives up. The 3G service is plenty fast, and obviously with wifi OFF you'll consume less battery than with 3G and wifi on.

I didn't jailbreak my phone so obviously I don't use "illegal" tethering, and I would imagine that users who do consume astronomical amounts of data. I really that throttling will only seriously affect these users. Users like myself will not be majorly inconvenienced by slower speeds. My emails will take much longer to download, but I would find it much more frustrating if my laptop suddenly took a dive and could only function at dial-up speeds. I find the throttling to be a much better alternative than losing my unlimited data plan completely. If you bought your device just to stream Netflix and Pandora, or if you have a jailbroken device to do the "illegal" tethering, then yes, this sucks, but for almost everyone else this should not be a big deal.

 

[whiteyanderson]

And that's what I am as well. A small business owner who runs my company on my iphone. I have an exchange server to sync my email contacts and calendar, i stream internet radio while I walk my dog most days, and I use the web on my phone a TON of research problems all throughout the day. And my average usage over the past 24 months on ATT has been under 800 MB.

The people who are bitching are people who don't know the value of the dollar and think that they are owed something by the world. Thankfully, those people always end up losers in the end.

You sir are a pathetic corporate shill. A total symbol of what is wrong. You fault the customer for the use of a service he pays for, and cry about it. Yet find it ok for the business to renig on the deal. You may be a business owner? But I would be very afraid for any of your customers as you see it fit to loosely define the terms and shift things into your favor at will. I suppose you support outsourcing too. Anything good for the business and their bottom line is all that matters.

The biggest issue in this country is business owners like yourself. You take and take. You outsource the labor, you take the tax cuts and do everything to increase your profit margin. All the while you're too ignorant to realize that what you are doing is alienating yourself from the population. Soon will come the day that you corporate pigs have finally cannibalized your customer base. Purely on the back of needless greed. When you've changed the terms enough and outsourced all the work, who may I ask, shall purchase your shiney little products? Who will be left to pay for it? We are already seeing it happen. We are no longer in a recession. We are now part of a new STANDARD.

Business owners such as yourself have broken the backs of the working class and in turn, this country. Pat yourself on the back. Boo-hoo, all in the name of business. Hoard all the cash you can I suppose right?

FWIW, I run my own business, as does my wife. We are succesful. You make me sick. You are the problem. You give a customer something? It is their right to use at as they wish. THEY have paid you for a service. The customer is ALWAYS right. Once you and the other losers re-realize this important lesson, maybe things will turn around. You take, and you take in the name of profit and never give back one iota to those who have helped make you succesful.

 

[ftaok]

And no it doesn't. Users paid for unlimited data, and regardless of which device they choose to use, the data is still data. It doesn't matter if it's going to a phone or a computer - it's STILL data. Data doesn't magically increase three-fold when you use a computer vs an iPhone... it's the same size, and this argument is flawed.

In theory, you're correct. But we live in the real world. The providers design their network usage based on the fact that a single smartphone will have a certain amount of downtime in which the network is not accessed. Sure, if you stream for hours on end, then you'll continuously tax the network, but most folks don't do that.

The issue is when tethering, mulitple devices are hitting the network simultaneously, so the chances of the network being hit at 100% increases as the number of devices tethered increases.

So when AT&T sells you an unlimited plan, they do so with the assumption that you won't be on the network continuously and they've priced it accordingly. Adding tethering to the mix will blow that assumption out of the water. If they have enough thetherers, the network will grind to a halt or they'll lose money.

 

[nickrile]

Does data usage like this put me in that top 5%?

 

[pizzafootbal]

Does data usage like this put me in that top 5%?

Image

I think you should be fine, but no one except AT&T knows right now

 

[cameronjpu]

Does data usage like this put me in that top 5%?

Image

ATT has said they will warn multiple times and give a grace period, so you have nothing to worry about. If you hit 3 GB with 3 days left in the month and they send you a warning, a user in that situation can (gasp) watch a few less netflix movies or whatever over the last few days of the month. But your usage is no biggie.

 

[whyamihere]

If you hit 3 GB with 3 days left in the month and they send you a warning, you can (gasp) watch a few less netflix movies or whatever over the last few days of the month. Your usage is no biggie.

I pay Netflix for unlimited online streaming. I pay AT&T for unlimited monthly data. Why are you or any other end user in any position to tell me I should watch fewer movies?

 

[SolRayz]

^^you have nothing to worry about...lol...you are so naive cameronjpwhatever. Once ATT has us all cornered with a tierd data plan they will raise 2GB to $30 a month like Verizon...don't you worry about that.

 

[cameronjpu]

I pay Netflix for unlimited online streaming. I pay AT&T for unlimited monthly data. Why are you or any other end user in any position to tell me I should watch fewer movies?

I'm not, but ATT is, and they are just about to start doing just that. I'm just trying to help you not get throttled So, watch less movies over 3G.

^you have nothing to worry about...lol...you are so naive. Once ATT has alll cornered with a tierd data plan they will raise 2GB to $30 a month like Verizon...don't you worry about that.

Wanna bet? So far their movement has been in the opposite direction, allowing more data usage for a given amount with the tethering plan than they used to. Once they get rid of the abusive users (or put better, get the abusive users to pay for what they eat) they will be in good shape to let the average move up over time without charging more for it.

 

[SolRayz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

What planet are u on. Data is becoming MORE expensive. If your a heavy user of data $30 for unlimited data is cheaper than any tierd plan.

 

[whyamihere]

So when AT&T sells you an unlimited plan, they do so with the assumption that you won't be on the network continuously and they've priced it accordingly.

Unfortunately assumptions are not legal (you know the old saying about when you "assume" right?). If that is their intention, it should be specified in the contract. That would make it legal and there would be no issue.

 

[k1121j]

Rip Off

when att Droped the unlimited plan they said "AT&T says 65 percent of its smartphone data subs use less than 200 MB a month; 98 percent use less than 2 GB.". what I want to know is what is the average top 5 percent I'm guessing its less than 1 gb so is att saying that they will throttle me if I use a fifth of what I pay for.

 

[ftaok]

Unfortunately assumptions are not legal (you know the old saying about when you "assume" right?). If that is their intention, it should be specified in the contract. That would make it legal and there would be no issue.

Alright, then substitute "assume" with "design". AT&T designs their network and pricing based on the average use patterns. Tethering allows people to substantially go above average use patterns, hence AT&Ts desire to throttle data speeds to some users.

As for the legal issue, that's not really a concern for AT&T. I don't know what's in the TOS for folks that have the unlimited plans. Do they guarantee a certain speed? I'm sure AT&T has all sorts of slimy lawyers write up these TOS agreements and have tons of clauses where they don't guarantee speeds and that data speeds can vary depending on many factors, including the *******ry whims of the provider.

ft

 

[cameronjpu]

As for the legal issue, that's not really a concern for AT&T. I don't know what's in the TOS for folks that have the unlimited plans. Do they guarantee a certain speed? I'm sure AT&T has all sorts of slimy lawyers write up these TOS agreements and have tons of clauses where they don't guarantee speeds and that data speeds can vary depending on many factors, including the *******ry whims of the provider.

ft

The bottom line here is that the worst thing the abusers can demand of ATT is that they be let out of their contracts, something which ATT would LOVE to do anyway. Then the people who have the time and eyesight to watch 10 netflix movies a month on 3G will discover that the alternatives to ATT are no different.

 

[Omniblast]

This is why single/duo carriers are not helping the ecosystem here. We need to have more companies provide service so they drive the prices down. Look what happened at the UK with broadband providers. If only that was possible here with the telecom companies.

Maybe Apple should just create their own telecom company. *shudder*

 

[twoodcc]

i really don't like this. i mean, what's the point of having data plans if they don't want you to use them?

 

[ihonda]

FWIW various reps have told me anything over 5-7GB will be throttled some. they claim throttled to UTMS speeds down from HSPDA speeds.

apprently the top 5% changes each month which makes no sense to me.

 

[David Gomez]

Let's Sue At&t for contract violation!!!!

Let's Sue At&t for contract violation!!!!
Who's with me?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Let's Sue At&t for contract violation!!!!
Who's with me?

Steve Jobs would probably join you. He likes to sue everyone.

 

[David Gomez]

Stupid AT&T

While reducing something that has been promoted as unlimited is pretty annoying one thing I am finding is making it even MORE annoying.

It would seem that AT&T is attempting to use this "lack of available capacity" as the argument for the necessary throttling, but also they are trying to use as a a "requirement for the t-mobile deal" to go through. As if, AT&T won't be able to continue to offer even this RESTRICTED access without this deal.

that is just not accurate and pretty lame in my book

Stupid AT&T!!!!!!!

 

[truz]

I was told years ago the Unlimited data plan had a bandwidth cap of 5GB. AT&T fair usage policy.

I'm guessing AT&T has a few users abusing the network and using a bit torrent over the air.