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Is AT&T Throttling Really that Bad?

macher

macher

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 13, 2012
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From another thread about AT&T unlimited data some posters were commenting on being throttled as one of the reasons they switched to mobile share.

Their experience being throttled doesn't seem like mine. Some said their devices were unusable. When I get throttled my device isn't unusable. Yes it's a little more of a pain but being throttled from my experience isn't as bad as what posters make it out to be.

As a test I streamed all day episodes of the Soprano's through the HBO Go app. The app warned me it will use cellular data. I was able to watch episodes of the Soprano's on throttled LTE with no problem. Each episode took a little longer to load up but once it loaded it was fine. As far as quality goes there is a difference however FOR ME not that bad like 'this sucks'. Quality was fine to watch.

I also watched some soccer on Bein Sports through my Xfinity app and it was fine for me, a little 'fuzzy' but wasn't a horrible experience.

Is it me not being nit picky?
 
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macher said:
From another thread about AT&T unlimited data some posters were commenting on being throttled as one of the reasons they switched to mobile share.

Their experience being throttled doesn't seem like mine. Some said their devices were unusable. When I get throttled my device isn't unusable. Yes it's a little more of a pain but being throttled from my experience isn't as bad as what posters make it out to be.

As a test I streamed all day episodes of the Soprano's through the HBO Go app. The app warned me it will use cellular data. I was able to watch episodes of the Soprano's on throttled LTE with no problem. Each episode took a little longer to load up but once it loaded it was fine. As far as quality goes there is a difference however FOR ME not that bad like 'this sucks'. Quality was fine to watch.

I also watched some soccer on Bein Sports through my Xfinity app and it was fine for me, a little 'fuzzy' but wasn't a horrible experience.

Is it me not being nit picky?
Click to expand...

I'm on the $45/month GoPhone plan (1.5 GB of high speed data) and the throttle is not bad at all.

It's not that fast all the time (see attachment), but if I had to speculate, ~60% of the time it is.

I can watch videos with no problem at the speeds I've tested. What's interesting is the ping is a bit lower when "throttled".

My new month started today 5/4; I'll run a test or two to see how they stack up to "unthrottled".
 

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That's practically unusable. On the other hand you gotta own responsibility for your usage.
 
I'm on the $45/month GoPhone plan (1.5 GB of high speed data, then unlimited throttled data afterwards). Here's a "throttled" speed test from last night The throttle's not that fast all the time, but if I had to speculate, ~60% of the time it is.

I can watch videos with no problem at the speeds I've tested. What's interesting is the ping is a bit lower when throttled.

My new month started today 5/4; I'll run a test or two to see how they stack up to "throttled".
 
bakedapple said:
I'm on the $45/month GoPhone plan (1.5 GB of high speed data, then unlimited throttled data afterwards). Here's a "throttled" speed test from last night The throttle's not that fast all the time, but if I had to speculate, ~60% of the time it is.

I can watch videos with no problem at the speeds I've tested. What's interesting is the ping is a bit lower when throttled.

My new month started today 5/4; I'll run a test or two to see how they stack up to "throttled".
Click to expand...

Speed test result:
 

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I cancelled Verizon for speeds at work around 1 to 2 mbps. Couldn't access the app store or it would take forever.
 
I honestly don't know how .5 Mbps is manageable in today's age. Those kind of speeds are why I left sprint years ago. I can see audio streaming maybe working but not at high quality. Same for video streaming. This is why I have unlimited data with T-Mobile as well as my unlimited ipad plan with att. No throttling ever.
 
I would love T-Mobile deals if they didnt have such bad reception.

AT%T throttling is really bad.

I use about 7 GB a month but only after being throttled. It might be more like 10 if I were free to use it faster all month.

But thats already like 150$ vs 89$ if I get the plan I would need on a single person with "mobile share"

The fact is they are slimeballs.

They could easily throttle it after 10GB not 5GB for unlimited grandfathers.

They could easily throttle it down to 1.0 or 1.5 speeds instead of .5.

That way we could watch video streaming in HQ or files that are HD. It would make all the difference in usability and wouldnt overload the bandwidth.

But of course they have to be crooks about it.

Is this how they repay the loyal customers who have been with them for over a decade who don't like to worry about data usage limits? I don't want stress I just want someone to fix the throttle issue. Like the government or something.
 
Truefan31 said:
I honestly don't know how .5 Mbps is manageable in today's age. Those kind of speeds are why I left sprint years ago. I can see audio streaming maybe working but not at high quality. Same for video streaming. This is why I have unlimited data with T-Mobile as well as my unlimited ipad plan with att. No throttling ever.
Click to expand...

'Is video streaming on un-throttled data better?' Of course it is but that's not my point. My point is whether or not your device is unusable when throttled.

As I said in my post I agree that video streaming quality at throttled speeds isn't the same as un-throttled speeds. From my experience it's not as bad as what most make it out to be. It's not good but it's really not as bad or horrible from my experience. Everyone will have different experiences. I'm thinking with throttled speeds you still get low LTE pings which helps out a lot.

As we speak I'm streaming Fox News on throttled data. For me not bad at all. For all you posters that say it's unusable or horrible quality... What am I missing? What should I be looking for to prove that quality is horrible? Looks good to me.
 
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Applejuiced said:
I can deal with it, 0.5mb is not unusable at all.
Click to expand...

it was only bad for buffering video ... loading websites and streaming music worked fine.

they actually forced me off their unlimited plan to a cheaper family 30Gb with rollover. I now have unlimited minutes, i am not throttled and can make my phone a hotspot. it was the best move I ever made.

i use about 15gb a month now vs using about 10 with unlimited. AT&T lost on the deal with me. I use more data (at faster speeds) and pay less money.
 
Don't really see the point of people staying on AT&T's throttled plan when Cricket gives way more data for a cheaper price while still using at&t towers.
 
I just report what I experienced. At 1 Mbps my app store would time out. Nothing, zilch. Web addresses hung. I experienced it for about a month till I had enough and cancelled them.
 
kargurin said:
I just report what I experienced. At 1 Mbps my app store would time out. Nothing, zilch. Web addresses hung. I experienced it for about a month till I had enough and cancelled them.
Click to expand...

Something is not right with that.
At 1mb you should not have any probs with the appstore loading or timing out.
Maybe a carrier issue not connecting over carrier data or something.
 
Is AT&T Throttling Really that Bad?

If you're happy with 1 mbps you're much more forgiving than me. I don't even remember connecting at that speed it's been so long ago. As far as timing out, it's a fact on the Android play store. If you're talking about the IOS app store then it may be apples to oranges.
 
When I used 15 gigs of data one month I had .01 kbps download and upload. So yeah it depends on the area or how much data you use but you'll get throttled pretty bad.
 
At 7.71 gigs so far this cycle...still not throttled....wasnt throttled last month either..and.ive been throttled every month When i hit 5 gigs for about 2 years now..so maybe they changed their policy already to congested tower throttling only..
 
mazdamiata210 said:
When I used 15 gigs of data one month I had .01 kbps download and upload. So yeah it depends on the area or how much data you use but you'll get throttled pretty bad.
Click to expand...

Suppose to be .50Mbps down.

----------
Yardman1977 said:
At 7.71 gigs so far this cycle...still not throttled....wasnt throttled last month either..and.ive been throttled every month When i hit 5 gigs for about 2 years now..so maybe they changed their policy already to congested tower throttling only..
Click to expand...

My billing cycle ends the 19th. So far I used 7.1GB and was throttled early in billing cycle. Now I'm not throttled.

Maybe AT&T changed the policy already? Or is it a fluke? I'll check through the day. I've been throttled at a consistent .50 Mbps up and down up until this morning.
 
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mazdamiata210 said:
I'm also "supposed" to have unlimited data but you see how that works right? Lol
Click to expand...

I believe AT&T has implemented the new network management policy. I was throttled with 15 days left at 6.5GB. I noticed last night when I loaded movies it was loading very fast. I did a speed test and was getting advertised speeds. Thought it was a fluke. Woke up this morning and ran a couple of speed tests and am getting advertised speeds, I'm not throttled. Checked our 2 sons iPhones that were throttled, 7.1GB and 6.9GB. They are not throttled now. We all have 14 days left until next billing cycle.
 
it is very bad, but not bad enough to make me pay more to switch plans/carriers. Instagram sucks, youtube sucks everything video/picture heavy sucks. pretty much unwatchable, unless you wanna watch 3 seconds of it every 10 seconds. Today is the 1st day of the new cycle, so my speed is back to normal
 
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