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Yes, I am in Seattle... I watch Netflix, watch live streams through the justin.tv/twitch.tv app. I also stream radio through Pandora every time I am at work...

Same. I live on cap hill, and I used around 10gb every month. Never been throttled, so definitely Seattle residents arent going to get throttled because our network here doesn't get the high congestion like other places get. We have ALOT of backhaul.
 
Do you still have the AT&T account? I am to take over someone's AT&T account with 2 lines with unlimited smartphone data. Please let me know if you or anyone wants to get rid of such plan and doesn't want pay etf. I am willing to take over the account.

They dont let you take over a plan that is no longer offered. You will have to choose a new plan, you are only taking over the liability of the line not the plan itself. Sorry
 
Quick follow up.

My billing cycle ended on the 11th. I should not state but I work for Apple corp., and beta testing iTunes Match on 3G cellular has been a focus for the "still beta" service. On the 13th I had to download 501 tracks from my iTunes Match account, and around that time I hit the 1.2GB mark. I received another warning and my speeds were throttled down to the point my iPhone 4S 3G is stagnate (don't forget Siri needs connectivity to servers).

Traveling between NYC, San Jose/Palo Alto, Chicago and Texas quite a bit makes this an issue for me. In no way am I abusing my "unlimited data" plan, yet AT&T has made it clear they plan on randomly throttling unlimited users for going over 2GB/mo. They claim it is just a "warning" but when your speed has been rendered so slow as to be unusable there is most definitely an issue.

It is a shame the LTE iPhone will not be available publicly until late Summer, however I have decided on switching to VZW. Believe this or not, many in Apple have done so, and that states much about AT&T's lack of concern for their consumer public. I realize other carriers do this, however on a $30/mo unlimited plan AT&T throttles you for the remainder of your billing cycle and you are not able to pay more to continue using your data unless you switch off the unlimited data plan (which is their intent). I would rather pay more with another carrier knowing that should I need it I can still have access to 3G/LTE service for an increased monetary fee.

This is about principle, and AT&T seems to have none.

As well, I have a 917 area code number but my billing is in another state. This should not impact usage.
 
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Yes it would. But a) LTE coverage isn't every where yet b) iPhone doesn't have support for LTE and c) current LTE chips suck your battery dry.

Excellent points. In fact, the last point is the reason the redesigned iPhone 5 was not released. I did not specifically use the device, however there was an iPhone 5 with a Broadcom LTE/GSM/CDMA/etc chipset w/ NFC and the current updated hardware in the 4S in a "teardrop" back similar to the current iPad. It was shelved and the backup 4S marketed with "Siri" was pushed instead.

Expect an LTE iPhone announcement by Summer and release around Autumn. After this current fiasco with AT&T I cannot afford to travel and work off such slow 3G speeds for the next 20-some days. As AT&T will not allow grandfathered unlimited data plan users to purchase more 3G data without switching plans, and switching would not take effect until the end of my billing cycle according to various AT&T rep(s), I am afraid I will have to end my business with AT&T Wireless. I am "throttled" until the 11th of February if I do not. As I will not have to pay an early termination fee, and procuring the next iPhone should not be an issue, switching to VZW at the moment on a tiered plan will allow me to have service at an additional cost should I need it. Until iPhone 5 LTE rollout I will miss simultaneous voice + data, however in my current situation I barely have data so perhaps it will not be an issue (or perhaps I should procure an Android LTE ;) ).

Thanks guys for all your help, I hope the thread I started was informative enough for many and not a "rant." :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr (and the late Coretta Scott King, an amazing advocate for equal rights to everyone who passed in 2006). Have a great work week. :)
 
Just so you know, Verizon doesnt currently allow Voice over LTE or VoLTE, so they do NOT have simultaniouse voice and data. They are rolling that out this year. Oh and its only on LTE so my solution is better anyway since it works on both LTE and 3G.

Now that being said, I can make phone calls and use data on my new LTE verizon phone at the same time. and the phone calls dont use any minutes. How??? I use Google Voice on my LTE line and can talk and surf at the same time minute free. :) So I am ahead of Verizon on their own network.:cool:
 
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)

Buh Bye!
 
It is very interesting that you would be an apologist for one of the most reviled corporations in America. The definition of the word "limit" was not created to tailor to the wireless industry or to internet data specifically. Anyone with a third grade understanding of the English language understands what a limit is. Artificially reducing a user's speed is indeed a limit, and said user's plan is therefore unlimited. AT&T can offer whatever they want and charge whatever they want at the end of the day, but if the plan is supposedly "unlimited" then that is what they should deliver.

Honestly, it was a mistake for AT&T to "grandfather" anything in the first place. They should have been more upfront about the whole thing right from the start.

"As long as you remain within your original 2-year term, the original conditions apply. As soon as you renew your contract, you must switch to a tiered plan; otherwise you will not be permitted to renew your contract. As soon as you go month-to-month, you must switch to a tiered plan; otherwise your service will be terminated immediately. Have a nice day." That would have been the right strategy.
 
Honestly, it was a mistake for AT&T to "grandfather" anything in the first place. They should have been more upfront about the whole thing right from the start.

"Either switch to a tiered plan, or we'll cancel your contract. Have a nice day." That would have been the right strategy.

I'd love it if they would cancel my contract. I want to leave but I don't really feel like eating a $600 ETF for my wife and I. Their service is garbage anyway.
 
I'd love it if they would cancel my contract. I want to leave but I don't really feel like eating a $600 ETF for my wife and I. Their service is garbage anyway.

Hmm... So does throttling, since it now appears to be ATT's official policy, constitute a change in T&C? If so it may be grounds for breaking the contract without ETF.
 
I left AT&T because it would have cost me a ridiculous deposit to open up my own account since I'm only 19, and went with Sprint. I'm actually quite satisfied with them. But data speeds aren't that great on Sprint so I don't think you would be too happy with them. No carrier beside Sprint even offers unlimited data so I don't know what your options even are...
 
AT&T, for one, is sitting on the most unused spectrum of all the US carriers, a point they liked to boast about before the attempted T-Mobile purchase (at which point they had to try hard to make people forget that little fact).

Perhaps what AT&T should be doing is investing more to deploy that spectrum, as well as to shore up backhaul in places where there is spectrum in use but not enough backhaul at the sites to fully utilize it. They can certainly afford to spend that cash.
You are right: they do need to do that.

But you also cannot base your business expenditures on a small percentage of your customer base. That is the crux of the situation.

According to at least one study cited by the NY Times recently, the top 1% of data users generate 50% of mobile data traffic.
The world’s congested mobile airwaves are being divided in a lopsided manner, with 1 percent of consumers generating half of all traffic. The top 10 percent of users, meanwhile, are consuming 90 percent of wireless bandwidth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/t...s-wireless-bandwidth.html?_r=3&ref=technology

In a pay-for-your-consumption scenario, fine. But what business wants to operate like this in an all-you-can-eat environment? Would you?



Michael
 
Your post made me laugh. :rolleyes:

How so? Please, if you don't have anything productive and OT let's keep the insults out of the thread. As has been stated by many, we're adults here, let's keep this civil. :)

Just so you know, Verizon doesnt currently allow Voice over LTE or VoLTE, so they do NOT have simultaniouse voice and data. They are rolling that out this year. Oh and its only on LTE so my solution is better anyway since it works on both LTE and 3G.

Now that being said, I can make phone calls and use data on my new LTE verizon phone at the same time. and the phone calls dont use any minutes. How??? I use Google Voice on my LTE line and can talk and surf at the same time minute free. :) So I am ahead of Verizon on their own network.:cool:

I didn't know that regarding VZW's lack of voice+data LTE until this year. I know the iPhone 5 will have LTE support, so hopefully come this Autumn voice+data will be available (however QoS and supported cities will depend on how fast the LTE network is deployed).

Unfortunately I cannot spend the year playing this game with AT&T. My choices are either changing my data plan with AT&T to a 4GB tiered plan and have the option to pay extra should I exceed my data usage or switch to VZW. If I were to stay with AT&T and move out of my unlimited plan to a tiered plan I would strong armed thus defeating the purpose of voting with my dollars. I have no ETF and due to my profession would not need a new iPhone, thus it would be a matter of simply moving to another carrier.

As this has been happening for myself and countless others, if we do not act as a collective consumer whole AT&T will continue this practice. Unlimited data means unlimited data with "fair use," if AT&T continues to lower the "fair use" bar to unreasonable data usage I do not view that as "fair" in any sense of the word. Had AT&T specifically stated in the contract what data usage qualifies as "fair use" then I would understand, however it seems they are playing with semantics and legalize by refusing to clarify the contractual agreements and work with their customers. In strong arming customers with warnings and data throttling by lowering their claimed national 3G data usage thus marking unlimited users in a top 5% category, AT&T is treading in dangerous legal territory should a class-action lawsuit form with enough information regarding these practices. I have no issue in paying more for my service, I do take issue with this sudden and brazen disregard towards myself and many others.
 
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You are right: they do need to do that.

But you also cannot base your business expenditures on a small percentage of your customer base. That is the crux of the situation.

According to at least one study cited by the NY Times recently, the top 1% of data users generate 50% of mobile data traffic.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/t...s-wireless-bandwidth.html?_r=3&ref=technology

In a pay-for-your-consumption scenario, fine. But what business wants to operate like this in an all-you-can-eat environment? Would you?

Michael

...and what does a study comparing users in Europe have to do to those paying for unlimited and being excessively throttled by AT&T in the States?
 
I ported from AT&T to Verizon when the iPhone 4s launched.

I'm not at all impressed with Verizon's 3G speeds. At work, I'm near a "congested tower", and I rarely get over 300kbps. The latency seems lower, so web surfing actually feels a little faster than AT&T (when it's a mostly txt page, like the forums here), but downloading anything from the App Store or iTunes Store takes for-freaking-ever. Like 4 minutes to DL and install a 15mb app. Even on a good tower, apps like Flipboard, Facebook, or any of the news apps (like CNN) seem to refresh noticeably slower than my friends with AT&T iPhone 4s.

I gave AT&T the finger because they didn't have good coverage in a rural camping spot I goto twice a year (that Verizon has great coverage in). Now that I've been on VZW for awhile, I almost wish that I hadn't. Hopefully the iPhone 5 will be LTE and speed things up where I live!

my personal phone is on VZW, at work I get an AT&T service. I have been running speedtest all over my normal areas that I am mobile at, and for the the most part AT&T is almost more than 2x the speed of VZW. I know that ymmv but still that's crazy! Now if I travel to a congested area (big city) I do notice that it's better to have VZW because not only do you still get service, it's actually quite fast. In my home town the best I can hope to get from VZW is about 1.5mb speeds, but the average speed is about 300kb everywhere else. at home I use wifi, at my friends they let me jump onto their wifi, but everywhere else I have to use AT&T because it's almost always faster than VZW.

my 2 cents
 
Thats about the same as my usage right now, Im at about 10Gigs and halfway through the month. I am on Verizons Unlimited 4g hotspot that they have for 4g phones.
 
Just so you know, Verizon doesnt currently allow Voice over LTE or VoLTE, so they do NOT have simultaniouse voice and data. They are rolling that out this year. Oh and its only on LTE so my solution is better anyway since it works on both LTE and 3G.

Now that being said, I can make phone calls and use data on my new LTE verizon phone at the same time. and the phone calls dont use any minutes. How??? I use Google Voice on my LTE line and can talk and surf at the same time minute free. :) So I am ahead of Verizon on their own network.:cool:

You have to love GooVe IP for Android! Or any other VoIP client.
I actually do that with AT&T and surprisingly it still works perfectly when throttled. XD
 
AT&T has given me two warnings and throttled my unlimited plan to almost no 3G service. After dealing with customer "service" I was told that my 2888.1MB monthly (billing cycle ends on the 11th) I am not being punished, this is simply a "reaction to my action." Basically, anyone who goes over the 2GB data rate on an unlimited grandfathered data plan is subject to AT&T's "Top 5%" of data users and can be throttled. When asked how they determine the top 5% (friends have gone way over 3GB/mo and have not been throttled) I was given the run around.

SO I am reacting to their reaction by leaving and am considering Verizon or Sprint.

-Sprint: Unlimited data for $10, slowest network, ok calls
-Verizon: Best voice network, average data speeds, tiered plans (although Verizon doesn't throttle through billing cycles, speeds may increase as tower congestion decreases for accounts over their data limit, so I've been told).

Before I ditch I'd love to read anyone's suggestions/experiences. Thanks!

If you leave AT&T and join another company, your going to be hit with high fees since it seems you use a fair amount of data......

I would just contact them and find out how long this "throttle" period lasts.

If it means you are banned then id jump ship but the grass isn't much greener on the side :(
 
With the new Tiered plans, I wonder if it will change the threshold from ~2GB to ~3GB where throttling begins?

This is exactly the question I want to know. Seems they should but if it's
truly the top 5% then it probably wont unless people start using more data.
 
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