Does anyone know what is going to happen with the unlimited plan with regard to throttling now that the 3GB plan is in effect? Will they still throttle at 2.01 GB? I have never used more than 2GB until this month and I got the text the moment I exceeded it. I'm not pleased with this situation. It seems unreasonable that someone with the 3GB plan will get more data at normal speeds than someone with the unlimited plan. If I will get throttled at 2GB... then what's the point of the unlimited plan?
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ATT Unlimited now that the 3GB plan is available
- Thread starter tl01
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Since unlimited is throttled at 2GB, who is going to switch to ATTs new $30/3GB plan?
That is the very title of the thread. What does it not answer?
That is the very title of the thread. What does it not answer?
Did you see the part in my original post that said... Will they still throttle at 2.01GB? I'm wondering if that is going to change. I know there's lots of speculation. Is there any proof?
They base the 5% use on Unlimited plans alone. So unless more people start going over 3GB a month that answer will most likely remain no.
Isn't that what AT&T is trying to achieve? To get their customers to willingly give up their unlimited plans & switch to a tiered plan by providing the necessary "incentives" to persuade them to do so?
Exactly.
3.5GB's so far with 5 days left on the billing cycle and no slow downs or messages from AT&T.
There is no way for this to be answered with any amount of certainty. I haven't seen an ATT exec pop on these forums and tell us exactly who, how, and why they throttle people the way they do, so I doubt we will get officials chiming in here. In short, we will have to wait and see. Honestly, I don't see this new plan changing the average significantly any time soon.
I can also verify this. As one who makes it a habit of keeping complete records just in case I require them in the future, I've consistently gone over the throttling threshold. My grandfathered unlimited plan has not been challenged, nor have I been throttled.
AT&T has served me well for years. If at some point I get throttled or end up having to pay more, I won't be surprised. Nothings forever.
I am sure it's only time when some young law student will consult with their law class as a project and bring issues up with the FCC.
AT&T needs to clarify at what point people will be throttle and they need to address the location based throttling.
As of right now it's a mess. While speeds are not guaranteed there is a clause about acceptable service for end users. By requiring data for end users and offering unlimited data and not offering acceptable service it's a lawsuit waiting to happen unless they waive the ETF for end users affected.
Look. I am not saying throttling is bad or unethical or illegal. It's the way AT&T is implementing the throttling.
By not clarifying the actual data amount and or location. End users are kept out of the loop.
As of right now and AT&T will not confirm.
It appears AT&T is throttling users in the top 5% (but they are only using those who are on unlimited data and not average across the board with their millions I other users some of whom may be on 200mb data plans).
Second its location based as some are getting throttle before 2gb while others are not getting trotted even at 5-7gb.
AT&T needs to clarify this fast.
Tmobile says unlimited but will throttle at 2gb, 5gb, 10gb etc depending on tr type of plan you have. That's clear cut.
Verizon will only throttle those in congested cell towers. That gives Verizon wiggle room. But it's a lot clearer than AT&T. Cause you know you likely won't be throttled at 2am.
AT&T needs to clarify at what point people will be throttle and they need to address the location based throttling.
As of right now it's a mess. While speeds are not guaranteed there is a clause about acceptable service for end users. By requiring data for end users and offering unlimited data and not offering acceptable service it's a lawsuit waiting to happen unless they waive the ETF for end users affected.
Look. I am not saying throttling is bad or unethical or illegal. It's the way AT&T is implementing the throttling.
By not clarifying the actual data amount and or location. End users are kept out of the loop.
As of right now and AT&T will not confirm.
It appears AT&T is throttling users in the top 5% (but they are only using those who are on unlimited data and not average across the board with their millions I other users some of whom may be on 200mb data plans).
Second its location based as some are getting throttle before 2gb while others are not getting trotted even at 5-7gb.
AT&T needs to clarify this fast.
Tmobile says unlimited but will throttle at 2gb, 5gb, 10gb etc depending on tr type of plan you have. That's clear cut.
Verizon will only throttle those in congested cell towers. That gives Verizon wiggle room. But it's a lot clearer than AT&T. Cause you know you likely won't be throttled at 2am.
It's possible, but given that the hotter topics tend to be civil rights and wrongful convictions, and there are plenty of civil rights cases and wrongful convictions for law class projects to take on, a law student aiming for a less-glamorous consumer suit against AT&T, that could possibly less clear-cut, would probably get a C.
The better option might be to go the death-by-many-small-claims route, but that would take a lot of affected AT&T customers who don't mind spending an afternoon or two in small claims court, and probably a couple of test cases to see if their contract doesn't throw an effective legal wrench into the works.
I would love to know where anyone would have a case.
AT&T has clarified the point of throttling... it's when a customer uses more data than 95% of the other customers. Yes, there are questions regarding markets and why some people are being throttled and others aren't, but, if court ordered, it shouldn't be difficult for them to prove that the vast majority of customers use less than 2GB.
As they maintain that they're only throttling the top 5% to better serve the other 95%, they are offering acceptable service. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant as they can easily work up numbers to show whatever they want/ need them to.
They announced the policy changes at the end of last July and said that they would begin throttling in October. That gave anyone who didn't agree to the new terms a couple of months to leave AT&T without an ETF.
The original contract states they can change the terms so long as they give ample warning and a chance for customers to leave without an ETF if they don't agree to the new terms. They did that.
If you repeatedly call and complain, they might still let you out of contract without an ETF otherwise or, if you really want to stay with AT&T, a few people have reported here that they were able to change to the '5GB and tether' plan and receive various other discounts so it remains the same price.
Either way, the days of 'unlimited' data on AT&T are long over. It's time to accept that and move to a tiered plan or move to another carrier.... or downgrade to a non-smartphone where unlimited is still available and, as I can attest, still remain unthrottled regardless of use (I've averaged between 10-50GB on my non-smartphone plan since the throttling began).
I completely understand what you are saying. My issue is that they give you a non specific moving target each month. How can I stay under the amount if they do this. In addition, it will just continue to bring down the highest users over time. They should publish what the amount is from last month and then use that as the throttle point for the upcoming month. That way I know it is 1 gb or 4. It's nonsense to tell me to stay below a certain amount of if I don't know what it is.
Also, if I pay $30 for unlimited and get throttled at 2 gb... How is it fair that someone else gets 6 gb for the same price? How can they call the entire state of California one market?? Lastly, how does forcing me to take the 3 gb plan relieve data on the network? If I switch an use 3gb that way... How is that better than 2.5 on the unlimited plan?
bingo. The unlimited throttling seems to be based on usages in the area. If an area is starting to have bandwidth issues they go to the unlimited plans in that area and go after the people who have the highest usage and work their way down. Some areas that could be 2 gigs. Others 5 gigs of data and they have no issue with them.
it's all about the MONEY to them. you pay $30 for the "unlimited" plan which isn't really unlimited. You go over 2gb and they don't make any money off of you. If they entice you to the $30 3gb plan...they don't throttle you bc the more data you use the more money they make. It's all about greed...that's all it is. This is just a way to force everyone with unlimited data to go on their tiered data plans=more money in their pockets.