Not sure about millions of customers lost. But they may face millions of dollars lost in a class action lawsuit.
There will be lawsuits threatened because of this sneaky throttling. (the dropping of data speeds during a call). I guess AT&T thought they could save on bandwidth and thought people would not notice a drop in data speeds during voice calls?
But if they are trying to get people off unlimited data plans onto the $50/5GB data plan that offers tethering. They need to provide a reasonable service. We aren't talking about being in the boonies with 1 bar of edge so can't get good data. We aren't talking about being in congested cell phone towers that can't handle the traffice.
We are talking about purposely throttling all users (even tiered data users who assume they will get unthrottled data) during voice calls. And people who have LTE phones with pay for hotspots will notice the downgrade in data the most while on simultaneous calls with data active.
1. AT&T needs to explain to people with LTE phones that's they will automatically drop data speeds to not only Hspa but will be throttled to less than 1mbps download and less than dial up for upload speeds.
2. They need to explain to people with "Hspa/UMTS" phones similar data drops are expected on voice calls.
3. Oh yeah last but not least. They do not have to explain to users tethering on EDGE speeds cause not thottling is needed during voice calls because edge doesn't support voice/data at the same time.
All AT&T needs to do is write in 18-20 font size in all the pamphlets they release about 4g/LTE speeds. Or issue a public statement release regarding these isses That avoids all the pending lawsuits.
AT&T was smart to issue a public release statement about the 3GB/5GB throttling limits for all unlimited users. That's clear cut. Might piss some off. But it's the right thing to do to avoid legal lawsuits.
I respect the fact that you hate AT&T, you're certainly entitled to your opinion.
Although I don't advocate for any business or brand, I have carefully read AT&T's terms of service, privacy policies, and all other documentation. Before I place my signature on any binding contract, I read and understand it.
If more people took personal responsibility to do so, the "sky is falling" mentality would not be so prevalent.
I do understand it's terribly popular to make up stories, use assumptions & heresay, all in an effort to take out ones hate and aggression towards AT&T, to slander them is fashionable.
However these types of posts are nothing more than a futile attempt to paint a nefarious picture.
There a lot of very smart people that use AT&T, if any of these accusations were true, you'd be reading about it in every major newspaper, news site, and TV news show around the country.
Best case, is if you are so disturbed with AT&T, try one of the other carriers, all of which employ similar policies. You'll probably learn the grass is not greener. It's as simple as that. I know, I've used and continue to use, more than one carrier.
Lastly, your needs may be better served with a land line. Ditching your smartphone will relieve you of all this stress.
