Clauses in AT&T Contracts Have Always Provided for Limits on 'Unlimited' Data Plans

[The DRis]

I know right. I use my iphone everyday and the TOTAL data usage I have used since 2008, closing in on 4 years is....

Sent: 620MB
Received: 5.8GB

Eh, try again. Reset the statistics and check it in a month. I've had an iPhone since 3G and my data usage says the same thing, down to the MB.

And I know I use at least 1.5GB a month. I recently got a text for just breaking 2GB's. I used to be 5GB's a month but have been since moved into an office and have access to wifi.

I started working out a lot and watching Netflix while on the bike and treadmill. That's what pushed my limit up. I also stream Pandora all day, and in the mornings I stream a local radio show because I don't get FM reception in my office.

 

[blybug]

Although fundamentally I am against ATT's policy of throttling, I still have to wonder who (and why) is using more than 3GB of data per month on a cellular network. Surely these people cannot be the norm. And as ATT indicates, it seems to be around 5% of the customers.

Got the dreaded throttle-threat message after starting to used Apple's much hyped iTunes Match service. Only use the 3G network for iTM in my car, maybe 2-3 days per week 45 minutes each way.

Just an average Joe signing up for an offered service. I knew my data use would increase, but never imagined it would balloon as it did, nor did I expect my Unlimited Plan would be threatened by AT&T in this manner.

Shut off iTM on the iPhone, back to manual syncing. Still worth the $25 per year for backup and for iPad (WiFi only), but not really getting the full value I expected. Wish it was easier to toggle between using cloud and locally stored music.

 

[jlgolson]

At least AT&T does not appear to be going after business accounts at this time, that would be really bad. In our case we work in the engineering field and will quite often have to download and forward emails with 10MB attachments (that's at least 20MB of data each time we do so). This can happen as frequently as 10-20 times in a single day. So we would be talking about 200MB per day or about 5.5GB in a month at just 10 times per day. We have some users hit 18GB without any tethering (I know, because I administer the accounts and monitor the phones). Now I understand that non-business users will use only a fraction of this, but the point is that 3GB at high speed is not the unlimited that was promised to them.

The consumer accounts (which is the contract linked in the article) have a completely different set of restrictions than enterprise accounts do. In fact, they are explicit that the consumer plan can't be used for business use.

A company, using the phones to generate profit, should have no problem paying for AT&T's business plans.

 

[ed724]

I'm not that up in arms over the "unlimited" thing, although it does seem like a misnomer. I think the precedent which seems illegal is this part:



Having language that restricts how one is able to take a company to court seems...very much not okay.

If someone using ATT services doesn't agree with language of the contract, then why are they using the service. Read the Contract, don't agree, don't sign.

 

[valanchan]

I'm mostly concerned with the precedent being set here, using sneaky clauses in a contract to change your service? What will they change next? It feels slimy and is bad business.

I agree and it is only through a loss of money that such companies will learn not to make promises that they cannot or plan not to keep.

 

[Rocko1]

Maybe they shouldn't have offered "Unlimited Data" when they didn't have the means to keep it up.

I know they're people who 'abuse' the network, but don't invite people when you don't have enough seats at the table.

Who is abusing it? ATT never said unlimited, but take it easy. They sold unlimited. Now they know it's not realistic to maintain that setup.

 

[scoobydoo99]

omg. This Frommer guy has no clue what he's talking about.

Also, the AT&T contract wording upon which he (and this article) base their assessment is not specific enough to apply to normal usage. The wording implies improper usage (e.g. - using the network to carry out a DDOS attack), not legitimate users who just happen to consume a lot of data.

Finally, arbitration clauses (even "binding" ones) are NOT binding. There are numerous legal maneuvers that can get a case into court even when the contract prohibits it. You can find any number of crazy clauses in contracts (I saw one once that indemnified the maker from causing death "even in the event of our gross negligence") Point is, you can sign a contract that says anything, but the court will eventually decide if it was a legal contract in the first place or whether any particular clause (e.g. arbitration) would hinder the cause of justice.

 

[BlackMacb00k]

To be completely fair, AT&T should throttle the "unlimited" txt messages of their users with that service too.

 

[NixPix]

Lets talk about how much 3GB is with LTE (4G).
I got a 4G modem delivering 80Mbit/s (download). How far does that take me?

3GB = 3 000MB = 24 000Mbit

24 000Mbit
------------ =300 seconds = 5 minutes
80Mbit/s

So, basically, the plan is to give me 5 minutes of full speed per month?
Is that UNLIMITED in any stretch of an imagination?

 

[tmroper]

When the "offer" and associated marketing collateral say one thing, and the fine print says another--that's the problem people are upset about. Doesn't such a switcheroo constitute "bait and switch" of some kind, a tactic outlawed by consumers laws I think?

 

[Imola Ghost]

What about if I pay for 3GB of data and only use 1.5GB, shouldn't the remaining roll over...kind of like my talk plan?

I mean if I pay for it I want it.

I have the ATT Unlimited plan and have never been throttled but I can understand why it bothers people, it bothers me and I've never even been close to coming to 2GB a month. I don't really want to change because the price point is no different than my unlimited price I'm paying.

And at those data price points being similar to unlimited price...it's kind of like ATT is wanting or setting up so that people with switch over to the 2/3GB plan instead of the unlimited.

 

[gotluck]

To be completely fair, AT&T should throttle the "unlimited" txt messages of their users with that service too.

haha - this is good, consistency is important!

 

[JAT]

This is a perfect example of why so many people dislike at&t! As soon as the iphone 5 comes out I'm dropping at&t and going for verizon. I will have to pay the termination fee but I'll make up for it when I sell the iphone 4S on ebay

You realize that unlimited is no longer offered by VZW. And their tiers are not as generous as ATT's. And their speed is slower. (unless LTE comes to the next phone, then nevermind)

Yes I am very sure. That averages about 150MB a month.

Most of the time I use my phone, I am on wifi. If there is no wifi, that usually means I am doing something and don't care to use my phone

See, you are contradicting yourself. So, you DON'T use data, that's all I said. That agrees with your stats. It's when you implied that you use data all the time that didn't make sense. Obviously, if you don't use it, you will have no problems with any of this. I hope you are on the cheap plan to save cash.

 

[winston1236]

Who the hell still uses ATT?

i do unfortunately, until my contracts up in a few months!

 

[Kavok]

Frommer said:
Here's the big picture bottom line: If you use a lot of data, you are clearly getting some sort of value out of it. Value isn't free. The world's finite resources simply aren't trending toward free. That isn't logical. I predict most of you will be spending significantly more per month for wireless data in 5 and 10 years than you do today. You'll be getting faster and better service, and more value out of it, but it won't be cheaper.

Please get over your emotional battle -- and extinguish any legal threats, that's silly -- and join us in reality. If you use a lot of mobile data, be happy about it, and be happy paying for it. It's worth it. And consider trying the add-on tethering plan for the iPhone, it can be useful if you carry a laptop or iPad.

I beg to differ. The people that have unlimited plans ARE paying for it. Unlimited data service. Period. They don't want anything free, they just expect to get what they paid for. Getting punished for using something that they ARE paying for is wrong. THIS is the problem that a lot of people don't seem to get.

I also think that charging extra for the ways you access the data service you've already paid for is wrong. Data is data, whether it's used on the iPhone, the iPad, tethered to a laptop, etc. It doesn't change. Maybe the amount used changes a bit depending on device, but that falls back into the original argument. Charging for tethering, for example, is just an invented way for them to squeeze more money out of people.

 

[doelcm82]

Think before you act.

If you think you can get a better deal than AT&T, do yourself a favor and research it carefully. Bigger GB's won't do you much good if you don't have coverage, or if you end up with slower data overall.

If you KNOW you can get a better deal than AT&T, do yourself and everyone a favor and go for it. AT&T will notice an exodus, even if it's just in a single market.

----------

Charging for tethering, for example, is just an invented way for them to squeeze more money out of people.

I agree with that. It's a ripoff, and it's why I don't tether.

 

[Huracan]

If it is not unlimited they should not have marketed as unlimited, that stinks to me to false advertising. That thing of not being able to bring a class lawsuit is awful. Cell phone companies are probably the worst I've seen in terms of nickel and dime you with extra fees and "taxes" and also on giving false and misleading advertisement. If we could organize all of us and say enough is enough and contact the FCC and congress and ask for meaningful change in the way these companies do business that would be great.

 

[mingoglia]

There's a simple solution for companies going forward. DON'T call something "unlimited" if it's not.

 

[jjk212]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Think of it this way: 8Mbps = around 3 gigabytes in 50 minutes. So one could use up their monthly 3GB plan in less than an hour. Thats an unrealistic measurement though. Maybe more realistic would be consuming your entire allotment streaming media in around 6 hours. Just some food for thought.

 

[Swift]

put out by the AT&T marketing dept

It sure sounds like that. You know what's wrong? How did AT&T manage to reclaim their monopoly powers?

"Unlimited" isn't, if it suits them.

Tell you what: drop the calling plan. Just let me skype and facetime, etc. Internet phone. Drop the price by half. Then I'd be willing to pay $30 for 3GB.

I don't accept the premise that this proprietary networking makes any sense at all.

 

[blow45]

So Jordan is macrumors Grubber? Just out of accident, and seeing the backlash to the rumours of low storage iPads, all of a sudden we have a report on carriers throttling iCloud usage, ie we are not responsible if your iPad can't store **** at 16gb blame it on the carriers for throttling iCloud.

Come on apple, your pr machine is a disgrace nowadays. They are so damn transparent...

 

[kd5jos]

So let me make sure I understand....

AT&T has set it up so that customers can't group together in a single class action lawsuit allowing AT&T to focus its resources on one single suit. Instead, everyone that has a complaint has to go in and file a claim in small claims court. So if everyone that had a complaint were to do this, it would cost each individual, what $50 or $100. Meanwhile, imagine the bill for AT&T trying to defend itself against all those suits that IT decided can't be aggregated into a single class action suit. Okay everyone, let's all pick a day and go and file a suit.

 

[Macboy Pro]

100 million happy customers? I'm in NY and let me tell you-no one here is really happy with AT&T. They merely tolerate it. Similar with other telecoms.

But enjoy your propaganda. How delusional of a fanboy do you have to be to use it to spring yourself into AT&T Fanboyism?

Dude, GO TO VERIZON and complain about their antiquated network. It is so funny to listen to all these people who just love to bash AT&T. MOVE TO VERIZON !!! PLEASE - MOVE !!

or... do you actually want the faster AT&T Network and the ability to surf and talk at the same time

Save the "my contract doesn't expire until ...... " Verizon has had the iPhone for long enough that you can move or you CHOSE to stay for one reason or another.

 

[Raist3001]

Here’s the big picture bottom line: If you use a lot of data, you are clearly getting some sort of value out of it. Value isn’t free. The world’s finite resources simply aren’t trending toward free. That isn’t logical. I predict most of you will be spending significantly more per month for wireless data in 5 and 10 years than you do today. You’ll be getting faster and better service, and more value out of it, but it won’t be cheaper.

What a very foolish point of view. This guy Frommer is clearly out of touch with reality. I see he made no attempt to explain why at&t continues to use the term UNLIMITED when in fact you were never unlimited if you happened to use large amounts of data. The value of the unlimited data plan is exactly what I paid for when I chose the unlimited plan. It was the most expensive plan which made the value exactly anything but free. And last time I checked Mr Frommer, I was paying more for my wireless data plan which allowed me more value! Apparently this clown forgets that at&t offers tiered plans each one offering more value (more data) as the price....GASP....increases!

 

[tigress666]

As someone who is from Canada, so doesn't have a horse in the race (I don't even own a cell phone), as it were, I don't understand the accusations that throttling users who use is an excessive amount of bandwidth means they're not unlimited. As far as I know, the plan is not for unlimited data rates at the highest speeds possible. Just unlimited data. AT&T isn't preventing people from using their data plan.

I understand where AT&T is coming from. First of all, when they made unlimited plans, I'm guessing they didn't foresee people using GBs of data. And the more people who hog band width, the more that impacts everyone and the more costly it is for AT&T.

It just seems to me people being selfish.

Oh, don't make sense, no one wants to hear that!