Is AT&T Throttling iPhone Data Already? Some comparisons

[Applejuiced]

From first post:
"My data use on these devices is NEVER more than 1.5mb per month. I woul not even be close to a high data user. In fact my iPad would be the much higher consumption device."

Data use is less than 500mb on all 3 devices this billing period. Was less than 1gb on all 3 devices last billing period.

So they are not throttling you if you didnt use much data.

 

[magicbrain]

*********

got that 5% ********* txt a month ago myself. spoke to att for 1/2h yesterday - waist of time. att basically wants us to leave & hope we will pay cancellation fee in the process (extortion).

1) their claim that only 5% of unlimited data users use more then 2gb - is a lie (of course, their "system", "is not able to tell you" what that cap number even is!)
well, according to Nielsen top 10% use over 4.6gb (i myself have been under 3gb for over a year now & _once_ jumped to 4.6gb when my daughter wanted to watch netflix on a family road trip)

2) their "solutions" are unreasonable:
- throttling to edge speeds is unusable (in my case 1mb vs 0.10mb). e.g. it takes me 1 minute (!!!) now to load macrumors.com (vs. 5 sec before)
- "use wifi when possible" - what service am i paying att for??? not, wifi! i am and have been paying for unlimited cell data service for 5 years now. somehow att had no problem providing me with this service, until now?


HOW TO FIX att "unlimited" throttling / SOLUTION?
[unfortunately you can't reason with support, they have been instructed to forward you to a "data consultant", not even a supervisor. but ...]

1) sign this petition (only 110 pipl so far ... 16 here)
report this to consumerist (bite back link) / fox is on your side (local news) / write a letter to EECB
0) demand a refund of all your data charges for the past ... no, this won't happen - but it will give you a pleasure to aggravate your "data consultant"

2) CANCEL - yep, due to this drastic change in service (again, magic words here are "unreasonable" "unusable" "change of terms") - you can cancel the contract & not pay the cancellation fees (ask them for a copy of the original contract . here's another link - for other ways to cancel.
- "what about my iPhone?" - i've got good news for you, which will actually save you money - h2o wireless - new service that uses att's network (ironically). yes, you can use your locked att iPhone 3gs, 4 & 4s without jailbreaking: unlimited talk, text + 2gb of data for $60 (you pretty much getting 2gb right now anyways ...).
of course there's verizon, sprint & for jailbreakers: t-mobile ($50 unlimited) & simple mobile ($40 "unlimited" all), but both only Edge speeds
- "what about iPhone 4s"? - "i just got one in oct"? - long shot, but during my purchase via apple.com, i found this small print: "AT&T $175 early termination fee", here's the screen shot for your pleasure.

3) need more data? mobile hotspots
- sprint: 3gb for $35/m
- clear: $39 / unlimited (3g)
- t-mobile unlimited $9.99 for existing customers! (but i think they throttle too
- iPad $25 - 2gb plan
-----------
RT - post on twitter / like on facebook

 

[cyks]

got that 5% ********* txt a month ago myself. spoke to att for 1/2h yesterday - waist of time. att basically wants us to leave & hope we will pay cancellation fee in the process (extortion).

1) their claim that only 5% of unlimited data users use more then 2gb - is a lie (of course, their "system", "is not able to tell you" what that cap number even is!)
well, according to Nielsen top 10% use over 4.6gb (i myself have been under 3gb for over a year now & _once_ jumped to 4.6gb when my daughter wanted to watch netflix on a family road trip)

Except that your link is for all smartphones, many of which are on other providers and often using LTE, and not just AT&T data users.

AT&T is, of course, going to use the numbers which benefit them the most. Re-read the text they sent you.

Your data usage is among the top 5% of users. Data speeds for the rest of your current bill cycle may be reduced. Visit www.att.com/dataplans.

Note that it doesn't say that you're in the top 5% of unlimited or even of smartphone users. You're being compared to ALL of their data users and, in that case, I can easily believe that the vast majority don't go over 2GB... especially since most of them have plans forbidding them from doing so.

 

[magicbrain]

greed

Except that your link is for all smartphones, many of which are on other providers and often using LTE, and not just AT&T data users.

well, yes if you have lots of att stock you'd see it that way

just read around the forums, i did when att sent out tethering notices few months ago. back then only people with more then 5gb of usage would get those ... here's a survey that says 17% (but only 52 pipl)

here's what really ticked me off: when i asked them "what is the 5% gb cap?" - "we are not able to tell you this information, the system determines this automatically". call me crazy, but i trust Nielsen & macrumors over this magical "system" that nobody can see or verify.

i'm was trying to be fair here, some pipl got jacked because they used 10gb/m - & i agree, that's abuse, but not _2gb_. i find it hard to believe that new york market uses less then 2gb on average

the fact that it's 2gb ... oh wait, isn't the latest data plan available for $25/m ... at, yes 2gb cap? ... what a "coincidence" (which happens to match verizon, etc)

but anywho, i'm taking my business elsewhere & 4 accounts my family has. i'm tired of greedy corporations having no regards for loyal costumers. not willing to meet in the middle & not providing the promised service. then having a nerve to send me a txt asking how much would i recommend att to my fam? from 1 to 10? 0!

 

[cyks]

the fact that it's 2gb ... oh wait, isn't the latest data plan available for $25/m ... at, yes 2gb cap? ... what a "coincidence" (which happens to match verizon, etc)

Yes, exactly... and, more than likely, close to 95% of their users have either that or the miniscule 200MB plan.

If that's the case, it would make sense that you'd get throttled around that same point.

 

[Tinmania]

well, yes if you have lots of att stock you'd see it that way

Logic challenged? He stated a fact. There is no other way to "see it."

AT&T is not even mentioned in the link you provided as proof AT&T was "lying." What a strange way to support a position.

In fact that link, if anything, supports AT&T's assertion. It is quite clear it is the top users whose data consumption rates have increased dramatically.

A look at the distribution of data consumption is even more shocking: data usage for the top 10 percent of smartphone users (90th percentile) is up 109 percent while the top 1 percent (99th percentile) has grown their usage by an astonishing 155 percent from 1.8GB in Q1 2010 to over 4.6GB in Q1 2011.

Apparently the 1% have all ended up here.




Michael

 

[magicbrain]

1%

Logic challenged? He stated a fact. There is no other way to "see it." ...
In fact that link, if anything, supports AT&T's assertion. It is quite clear it is the top users whose data consumption rates have increased dramatically.
...

wow ... i'm really surprised to see iPhone users (maybe i'm wrong making that assumption as well) defend att on cutting off, what users are paying for ... and att agreed to provide

or att has placed this many trolls on macforums?

i'm actually asking: michael, cyks do you guys work for att / another data provider co? do you have iPhones & if so do you have unlimited plans? thx

 

[Tinmania]

wow ... i'm really surprised to see iPhone users (maybe i'm wrong making that assumption as well) defend att on cutting off, what users are paying for ... and att agreed to provide

or att has placed this many trolls on macforums?

i'm actually asking: michael, cyks do you guys work for att / another data provider co? do you have iPhones & if so do you have unlimited plans? thx

Work for AT&T? That is absurd.

I have had an iPhone since the first one came out. Naturally I had the unlimited plan, that was all there was.

"Had" because awhile back when I started to hear about more and more data hogs--using obscene amounts of monthly data--I knew it would not last. Since I had only once used over 1GB (1.1 actually) of data in all the years I was with AT&T, with my average being under .5GB I no longer wanted to subsidize those people who, in my opinion, were abusing the network and would eventually ruin it for everyone. So I dropped unlimited for the 2GB plan. It felt good.

Last night I went out to dinner on the money I would have spent on your data. Thanks!!!




Michael

 

[chakraj]

My billing starts on the second and I am at 3.22 gigs right now using my new LTE plan. Not with att.

 

[cyks]

wow ... i'm really surprised to see iPhone users (maybe i'm wrong making that assumption as well) defend att on cutting off, what users are paying for ... and att agreed to provide

or att has placed this many trolls on macforums?

i'm actually asking: michael, cyks do you guys work for att / another data provider co? do you have iPhones & if so do you have unlimited plans? thx

Work for AT&T or another provider? No, definitely not. I just now how to read what they've stated and knew from the beginning, when they mentioned throttling back in July, that they would eventually start cutting users around the 1.5-2GB mark.

For the past few years, AT&T has talked about how 98% of their users use 2GB or less of data. If that's the case, and they say that they're going to throttle the top 5%, then it'd only make sense that their throttle limit would be under 2GB. Fair? No, but that's big business for you.

As for me and my usage, as I've posted elsewhere, I've been curious how widespread their throttling is, so I've been 'testing' it. In AT&T's original press release, they said they were throttling smartphones... so, I upped my usage on a non-smartphone to see if it really was about network congestion, or about money.

I've been able to use over 50GB without a peep from AT&T (on a non-smartphone).

 

[Tinmania]

Work for AT&T or another provider? No, definitely not. I just now how to read what they've stated and knew from the beginning, when they mentioned throttling back in July, that they would eventually start cutting users around the 1.5-2GB mark.

For the past few years, AT&T has talked about how 98% of their users use 2GB or less of data. If that's the case, and they say that they're going to throttle the top 5%, then it'd only make sense that their throttle limit would be under 2GB. Fair? No, but that's big business for you.

As for me and my usage, as I've posted elsewhere, I've been curious how widespread their throttling is, so I've been 'testing' it. In AT&T's original press release, they said they were throttling smartphones... so, I upped my usage on a non-smartphone to see if it really was about network congestion, or about money.

I've been able to use over 50GB without a peep from AT&T (on a non-smartphone).

They are not writing procedures for the entire system and I don't see why they would. It is unnecessary at this point. They have identified groups, and only target within that group. In this case non-smartphone subscribers, on average as a whole, do not consume a statistically high percentage of data. There is little need to target that group (at this point in time). If enough non-smartphone users consumed 50GB the same exact thing would happen: throttling.

Smartphone users, on average, do consume a lot of data. Ergo, that group is targeted.

As a database developer I am often tasked with similar situations. It's always easier if the task is limited to an easily identified group right from the get-go.




Michael

 

[magicbrain]

HOW TO FIX att "unlimited" throttling / SOLUTION?
[unfortunately you can't reason with support, they have been instructed to forward you to a "data consultant", not even a supervisor. but ...]

1) sign this petition (only 110 pipl so far ... 16 here)
report this to consumerist (bite back link) / fox is on your side (local news) / write a letter to EECB
0) demand a refund of all your data charges for the past ... no, this won't happen - but it will give you a pleasure to aggravate your "data consultant" ...

1.1) Since that 5% formula is determined on average usage, WE SHOULD ALL Netflix / pandora at night, once we get throttled - that way 2gb cap will go up, the next month

See my original post: with links to the petition, nielsen, how to cancel without paying cancellation fees and h20: $60/m unlimited talk, txt and 2gb of data - new service that uses Att's network, so you can even use your locked iPhone 4s without jailbreaking