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FTC Levies $40M Fine Against TracFone for Throttling Unlimited Data Customers

Xultar said:
Now, corps can put all the stipulations they want in the fine print. But if they advertise to get your business one way while using fine print to further clarify to the point where it voids the ad...that's a bait and switch and it's wrong.
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As I said in my previous post, most wireless commercials and print advertisements have this exact thing (or some variant of it) in the fine print: "Speeds and coverage are not guaranteed." Would you consider that a bait and switch?

Like I also said earlier, if I'm standing at a spot today getting 10 Mbps down and yesterday I got 60 Mbps down at the same spot, I can call Verizon and complain all I want. However, the CSR is probably going to laugh under their breath at me, roll their eyes, and tell me that speeds are not guaranteed and are dependent upon many different factors -- some of which are out of Verizon's control -- and that will be the end of the conversation.

Now, I don't know what's causing me to get 10 Mbps down instead of 60 Mbps down. Maybe it's the weather? Maybe the POP is saturated? Maybe Verizon is throttling me? Who knows? All I know is that it's unlikely that I would get any compensation for only getting 10 Mbps down since "Speeds and coverage are not guaranteed." That one caveat is usually the giant CYA for pretty much any company that is in the business of providing data wirelessly or otherwise.
 
It's pretty easy to find the posters in this thread who foolishly surrendered their unlimited data plans for one of AT&T's gimmicks. The rest of us are looking forward to a massive AT&T fine, followed by truly unlimited LTE data for life. I plan to avoid gloating, for the most part.
 
I'm fine with throttling "all traffic going through the LTE tower when the LTE tower is congested." And I'm fine with some kind of transparent "throttle data before voice."

But I don't understand how throttling specific users (vs. other users) could be considered moral or ethical (or, apparently, legal!)

And I don't understand why ANY throttling should happen unless there's congestion, PERIOD....
 
its the only reason I stay with AT&T.

I understand we agreed to the terms and conditions but they also have the right to change the terms an conditions at any time. Plus they say they throttle due to bandwidth limitations. Which if true is fine but if I hit my limit on day 10 I don't think your network is staturated 24hrs a day for the rest of the month. Another note if I was a tiered customer I wouldn't be trottled. In most cases unlimited customers are paying more a month then tiered customers who don't get throttled. If you have to throttle that is fine but does it have to be to unusable speeds? I mean if you goto all you can eat but the stipulation is you have to use a straw is it really all you can eat? No your going to get frustrated before you even finish. also I pay for data I should be able to use it how I deem fit. Why is thethering locked out and why do I have to pay extra? I think there were definitely some shady things going on. ATT wasn't prepared for the iPhone to take off and got caught with their pants down. in an effort to regain revenue they were losing they said lets get people off unlimited data and make it a situation where our tiered plans look great.....

it cant be that congested they are looking at introducting LTE VIDEO....
 
IbisDoc said:
It's pretty easy to find the posters in this thread who foolishly surrendered their unlimited data plans for one of AT&T's gimmicks. The rest of us are looking forward to a massive AT&T fine, followed by truly unlimited LTE data for life. I plan to avoid gloating, for the most part.
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I still have my AT&T unlimited data but I think you're likely to see those account options just disappear ("no longer available" kind of thing) and then we'll be forced to "upgrade" or to move to another carrier (good thing we have lots of open competition in the US of A! Oh, wait..... :( )
 
jeamland said:
I still have my AT&T unlimited data but I think you're likely to see those account options just disappear ("no longer available" kind of thing) and then we'll be forced to "upgrade" or to move to another carrier (good thing we have lots of open competition in the US of A! Oh, wait..... :( )
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AT&T won't lose its longest and best customers over this. They're just delaying things as long as possible, and suckering as many people as possible to switch with dumb deals.
 
Hopefully this will lead to greater clarity in marketing. If the carriers don't satisfy customers then somebody will and eventually they will decline while the market develops a work around. In many respects they behave like greedy bullies...but they run like chickens when they get smacked back and this decision/fine is a step in the right direction. I can see both sides of the problem (supply and demand) though. There is limited supply and seemingly unlimited demand. If there were no restrictions at all everybody and their brother would be streaming videos like crazy and then it wouldn't work for anybody. I sympathize with all of us data customers but in reality the whole wireless market is a pay for access system NOT a pay for use system right now. Perhaps a better way to allocate the bandwidth would be to go to a true pay for use rate model And let people decide what's imoortant to them and regulate their own data consumption under a pay for use model.
 
larrylaffer said:
I disagree that AT&T will in turn remove the ability to maintain these plans. This plan is the only reason I stay with AT&T. I suspect I'm not the only person that feels this way.
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Verizon had no problem ditching it. No reason to expect them not to remove it if they get fined big time.

Fiestaman said:
Wrong, but thanks for playing. You are correct that grandfathering doesn't mean it is unlimited for life, but it definitely means that you are supposed to have unlimited for the life of your contract. AT&T is required to go by your contract or they are in breach of contract. Simple. That isn't to say that AT&T can't decide at any time that they no longer will allow grandfathered plans and thus, any new contracts going forward will have to change plans.
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The point is they may no longer allow it the next time you upgrade (or even when you purchase it unsubsidized). Nevertheless, you're not exactly correct as it's also in the fine print that they can change it anytime, but you get a free pass out of paying the ETF if they break the contract. You still lose it either way.
 
Mr. Gates said:
Wrong, it was advertised as UNLIMITED 3G Data ....Not , Unlimited 56k

Let the grown ups speak.
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3G is not a speed.

Ask any grown up, they will tell you that.

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larrylaffer said:
I disagree that AT&T will in turn remove the ability to maintain these plans. This plan is the only reason I stay with AT&T. I suspect I'm not the only person that feels this way.
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you may not be the only person, but I would expect that AT&T would be happy to see you and others go if it represents a disproportionate amount of usage.

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Fiestaman said:
AT&T is required to go by your contract or they are in breach of contract. Simple.
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Ehh...you may want to actually read your contract before you make statements like that.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Verizon had no problem ditching it. No reason to expect them not to remove it if they get fined big time.
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am i not understanding something here? i'm on a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan currently. always have been. i realized they stopped offering it to people, yes, but folks in this thread are commenting like one day they stopped honoring it (and commenting based upon that presumption [i presume]), while others are saying they will - someday..

what exactly are people saying here??
 
teslo said:
am i not understanding something here? i'm on a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan currently. always have been. i realized they stopped offering it to people, yes, but folks in this thread are commenting like one day they stopped honoring it (and commenting based upon that presumption [i presume]), while others are saying they will - someday..

what exactly are people saying here??
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Don't you have to buy the device unsubsidized if you want to keep your Verizon unlimited data? Currently at&t is allowing you to keep your grandfathered plan when you renew your contract at the subsidized price and they may take the Verizon approach.
 
I hope Verizon gets slammed with something like this. They say how fast and everything is blah blah blah our phones are like Lamborghini's I want to floor it and not stop. Not have a stop sign at the end of the road and not be able to use my sick car
 
All they had to do was stop lying to people, but noooooooo, that was too much to ask. If you have to describe your definition of "unlimited" in the fine print as it pertains to data usage, you're doing it wrong.

And I actually understand throttling on the rare occasion that it's necessary, but that's not the case. They're just throttling because they can.
 
avanpelt said:
As I said in my previous post, most wireless commercials and print advertisements have this exact thing (or some variant of it) in the fine print: "Speeds and coverage are not guaranteed." Would you consider that a bait and switch?
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It's not the same thing as advertising unlimited, then delivering less then dialup like speeds once you reach a small print threshold. One is due to a variety of uncontrollable issues, the other is direct capping of the speed of access to a network that you have "unlimited" data on from the source.

It's not hard to fix, you just stop using the word "unlimited" unless you're actually providing that at the top teir of service (which T-Mobile does quite well, all their plans are actually unlimited for minimal access, but the amount of LTE data you get per plan is clearly delineated in the plan itself, not in a 4 point font during 3 seconds of a commerical).
 
maflynn said:
40 Million, that's lot for a tiny carrier, though aren't they owned by walmart
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TracFone is a subsidiary of America Movil. America Movil is owned by Mexican business magnet Carlos Slim. At the end of 2014 Carlos Slim was estimated to be worth 72.6 billion dollars.
 
Verizon's speeds in Philadelphia are so horrendous, i wonder if i am on LTE or 3G.......
 
wowotoe said:
The data is NOT unlimited if you throttle it. That's the marketing BS to twist your mind.

Think of this scenario in car speed. In the first day of the month, you can drive as fast as you can (lets assume your car can go 100 mph in terms of LTE cap speed). So you can drive 2400 miles on the first day.

Then your car is throttle down to 10 mph, that's only 240 miles for each day in rest of the month. The result is 240 miles x 29 days = 6960 miles.

That means you can drive no more than 9560 miles each month.

So there is your "limit".
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But it's still not unlimited even if you NOT throttle it?

So if somehow your car allowed to reach 100mph all month long, it would go 2400miles x 30days = 72k miles. So there is your another "limit"

Yeah I dont like being throttled too, but to be fair nothing is really unlimited, maybe it should say "all data you can eat" but of course that's not as catchy as marketing plan.
 
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