Top five percent of AT&T smartphone usage and Bandwidth throttling

[Vaughn Logan]

I don't, but are you going to ask me that in every thread?

Really? You don't work for AT&T? It's refreshing to know that you are following me around on these forums reading my messages. Is that called "Cyber-Stalking"?

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Yes, it does stop with them. It's a VERY small fraction of the overall users who are being throttled, not the masses as you make it seem.

AT&T doesn't have to take notice, they were more than happy to let all Unlimited Data customers walk to Sprint last July.

Those that are effected may drop Netflix, Pandora, and so on... but, as smartphone sales increase, there are more than enough others to make up the few losses. Most will simply learn to use less data, use WiFi more often, switch to a different carrier, or get a tiered plan where they won't be throttled.

Well now ... that "Very small fraction" sure has an overwhelming presence on these message forums. Perhaps you should tell it to them. Maybe they'll listen and maybe they won't. But that's a lot of maybe's now isn't it?

 

[OceanView]

I also don't understand how they can charge $30 for 3GB, yet take that same $30 paid by grandfathered unlimited plan holders and throttle them before they reach 3GB. Corporations are fascinating - no single person would ever come up with that, but put a group of suits together in a conference room and it's stunning how many idiotic and irrational policies are born.

This is a good point.
You can see they are trying to discourage people with the unlimited plan and hope that they will be dumb enough to switch over to a capped plan. I bet we won't see people on the 3GB plan complain about getting the 5% message and throttled down like the people with the Unlimited plans at 2GB.
By the way AT&T, I will never switch off Unlimited just for the principle of it.

Also for the few that are defending AT&T, technically AT&T may have the right to change the terms but you obviously know what they are doing wrong. So why do you defend their practice? If all the other companies start to do same thing, we all would be screwed and no choices would be left at all. So then what are you gonna do? The cell phone companies pretty much have little competition as it is and to some degree what they are doing is colluding to keep prices high.

I encourage everyone that hasn't had a chance to file a complaint to do so.
The more noise we make, the better chance we have to make a difference.

 

[cyks]

Really? You don't work for AT&T? It's refreshing to know that you are following me around on these forums reading my messages. Is that called "Cyber-Stalking"?

Funny since I have been in this site and in most of the forums long before you. I'm forced to read your posts since you enjoy spamming the same messages to any thread revolving around AT&T or throttling.

Well now ... that "Very small fraction" sure has an overwhelming presence on these message forums. Perhaps you should tell it to them. Maybe they'll listen and maybe they won't. But that's a lot of maybe's now isn't it.

The small fraction should have a large presence here. AT&T is targeting those who use the most data and this, being a tech site, will have many that do. Just because a seemingly large number of people here are effected does not mean that relays to a large number in the actual population.

 

[Vaughn Logan]

Funny since I have been in this site and in most of the forums long before you. I'm forced to read your posts since you enjoy spamming the same messages to any thread revolving around AT&T or throttling.




The small fraction should have a large presence here. AT&T is targeting those who use the most data and this, being a tech site, will have many that do. Just because a seemingly large number of people here are effected does not mean that relays to a large number in the actual population.

WOW ... it appears that you are using the same fuzzy math that AT&T uses when they gauge the top 5%. Let's see if that small fraction as you put it can tip the scales with the FCC?

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Funny since I have been in this site and in most of the forums long before you. I'm forced to read your posts since you enjoy spamming the same messages to any thread revolving around AT&T or throttling.

Oh ... I see ... you were here first, huh?

 

[lordofthereef]

Someone better let the real lord of the reef know that someone reasonable has been posting under his name.

No I kid

LOL

I just don't see a point in telling people not to do this. The whole point of the FCC is to keep things fair and legal for the consumer. Do I think writing is going to get anywhere? personally, no. Well, yes, in the sense that they will look into it and deem ATT is doing everything fair an square (this is opinion for anyone who can't tell the difference ) At the very least it will put this issue to bed. The bottom line is that bandwidth is a problem. In fact, it is becoming a problem for high speed land-line (cable, fiber, dsl etc) providers as well in heavily populated areas, based on what a friend of mine tells me who is working for a district rep. in Los Angeles. The difference is they are going about attempts to fix it in a non-secretive way, where as ATT is keeping much of the information from the public. I do believe some sort of restricting does need to happen, but it could and should have been handled very differently by ATT, from a customer relations standpoint. The thing is, customer relations and legality don;t necessarily intertwine. I can be doing everything legally but that doesn't mean I am keeping customers happy.

 

[CptnSaveAClam]

So both My Sister and I received a Text for the 5%

This is ******** I use my phone to Streamline music when I'm on the road and away from WiFi hot spots. I'm on the road a lot for work but I had only used 2.2 Gigs when I got the Text message two days ago. My sister was at 1.8 Gigs when she got her Text. I can understand why they are upset that they have people grandfathered into unlimited plans but this is ridiculous. We Pay for a service and they charge us but don't allow us to use what we pay for.

 

[lordofthereef]

Also for the few that are defending AT&T, technically AT&T may have the right to change the terms but you obviously know what they are doing wrong. So why do you defend their practice?

I haven't read a single person on any thread about the subject say what ATT are doing is morally just (I have read most, but not all, so they may exist. I can say, with certainty, that those such posts are not the majority, however). I don't think a variable interest rate is just, and I would argue that most people that sign one don't know what they could be getting into, yet they are perfectly legal and signed every single day. My point? People here are saying that what ATT doing is within legal boundaries. Does it suck for the consumer? Of course, but that is irrelevant in terms of legality.

 

[boredandlonely]

Exactly. If people don't like the new terms, they have full right to leave AT&T.... which would effect AT&T far more than empty threats and complaining - while staying with them and continuing to hand your money over to them.

Who's forcing you? You had the right to walk away.

I certainly wouldn't call myself AT&T. I'm just smart enough to save my energy complaining about something they have the legal right to do and take my money elsewhere.

1. I'm waiting for Redsn0w that does 5.0.x before I go anywhere, so I can guarantee jailbreak, and re-jailbreakability.

2. Why don't you tell all of us the names of all the other carriers that can do voice and data at the same time like #ATTfail?

3. Maybe I just want to cancel my data plan with #ATTfail and get my internet from a personal mobile hotspot. Let me know the magical way to get #ATTfail to ALLOW ME to drop the data plan.


It's not an empty threat. You can't prove with ANY certainty since you DON'T work for #ATTfail, if they are paying attention, ignoring us, changing future plans, not lowering the cap further, etc. Only #ATTfail knows. Maybe #ATTfail isn't paying attention, but another carrier IS, so they don't run into the same mess.

This is a good point.
You can see they are trying to discourage people with the unlimited plan and hope that they will be dumb enough to switch over to a capped plan. I bet we won't see people on the 3GB plan complain about getting the 5% message and throttled down like the people with the Unlimited plans at 2GB.
By the way AT&T, I will never switch off Unlimited just for the principle of it.

Exactly.

Also for the few that are defending AT&T, technically AT&T may have the right to change the terms but you obviously know what they are doing wrong. So why do you defend their practice? If all the other companies start to do same thing, we all would be screwed and no choices would be left at all. So then what are you gonna do? The cell phone companies pretty much have little competition as it is and to some degree what they are doing is colluding to keep prices high.

I encourage everyone that hasn't had a chance to file a complaint to do so.
The more noise we make, the better chance we have to make a difference.

BINGO.

This is ******** I use my phone to Streamline music when I'm on the road and away from WiFi hot spots. I'm on the road a lot for work but I had only used 2.2 Gigs when I got the Text message two days ago. My sister was at 1.8 Gigs when she got her Text. I can understand why they are upset that they have people grandfathered into unlimited plans but this is ridiculous. We Pay for a service and they charge us but don't allow us to use what we pay for.

File some complaints like the rest of us.

 

[OceanView]

I don't think a variable interest rate is just, and I would argue that most people that sign one don't know what they could be getting into, yet they are perfectly legal and signed every single day. My point? People here are saying that what ATT doing is within legal boundaries. Does it suck for the consumer? Of course, but that is irrelevant in terms of legality.

This is not an accurate analogy.

If you want to use interest rate as an example to the contract we have with AT&T, the following would be more accurate.

Both parties agree to a FIXED RATE at the signing of the contact, then AT&T decides to change the rate to cover costs and make themselves profitable.

With a variable interest rate, the borrower is aware that the rate may change in the future and AGREED to it at the time of agreement.
We Never agreed to limit the amount of data and the speed at which we could access it.

 

[ayeying]

Just got another text that I'm approaching the top 5%. I'm at 2083MB used according to AT&T

 

[cyks]

With a variable interest rate, the borrower is aware that the rate may change in the future and AGREED to it at the time of agreement.
We Never agreed to limit the amount of data and the speed at which we could access it.

With any cell phone plan, the customer is aware that anything about the contract may change and the AGREED to it at the time of agreement.

The difference between a variable interest rate and a cell phone plan is that the customer has a chance to walk away and change providers if their cell plan changes unfavorably.

 

[lordofthereef]

This is not an accurate analogy.

If you want to use interest rate as an example to the contract we have with AT&T, the following would be more accurate.

Both parties agree to a FIXED RATE at the signing of the contact, then AT&T decides to change the rate to cover costs and make themselves profitable.

With a variable interest rate, the borrower is aware that the rate may change in the future and AGREED to it at the time of agreement.
We Never agreed to limit the amount of data and the speed at which we could access it.

I disagree. Nobody agreed to not being throttled if they are found to be abusing their bandwidth. Nobody. Again, ATT's definition of abuse seems to be incredibly off from reality, especially based on their newer tiered plans, but the discussion is about legality here, not morality.

 

[chreesto]

FCC Complaint follow up

I just spoke with Karen at ATT corporate about my FCC Complaint. I explained to here that I was throttled at 1.6 GB (while trying to use Google maps on vacation in Hawaii - I was furious) she stated that that was one of the lowest numbers that she has heard but that the throttling numbers were all over the board with some at 10GB and some at 2GB. There was obviously nothing that she could do and she apologized several times and explained that there were many complaints and that they were being sent up the chain. The conversation went on for a while, she listened politely, agreed with me on most points and we said goodbye. Bottom line - nothing is going to happen here. I think ATT is counting on the vast majority of people heading to tiered data plans while still using the fake carrot that is the "unlimited" plan to retain those tempted to switch and gullible enough to believe that the term "unlimited" has any connection to a plan with little or no limits.

 

[bgro]

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/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

When AT&T recently announced that they were introducing new data plans I remember reading one of the AT&T executives saying something to the effect of "customers are using more data than ever" blah blah blah.

If customers are using more data than ever then how come the top 5% remains at ~2GB usage/month? I got my throttling text from AT&T at 1.65GB this month. This company is such a piece of ****, nothing but liars I will gladly be leaving AT&T once my contract is up

 

[cyks]

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/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

When AT&T recently announced that they were introducing new data plans I remember reading one of the AT&T executives saying something to the effect of "customers are using more data than ever" blah blah blah.

If customers are using more data than ever then how come the top 5% remains at ~2GB usage/month? I got my throttling text from AT&T at 1.65GB this month. This company is such a piece of ****, nothing but liars I will gladly be leaving AT&T once my contract is up

The overwhelming majority of AT&T customers are in the 2GB data tier.

Hypothetically, let's say that a year ago the average customer only used 750MB of the 2GB. Now, they might be using 1.75GB. They'd be using a lot more than ever before, but, since they're still confined to the 2GB tier, they can't/ won't go over it.

With most of AT&T's customers in the 2GB (or lower) data plans, don't expect your throttle point to change for the better anytime soon.

 

[bgro]

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/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

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/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

When AT&T recently announced that they were introducing new data plans I remember reading one of the AT&T executives saying something to the effect of "customers are using more data than ever" blah blah blah.

If customers are using more data than ever then how come the top 5% remains at ~2GB usage/month? I got my throttling text from AT&T at 1.65GB this month. This company is such a piece of ****, nothing but liars I will gladly be leaving AT&T once my contract is up

The overwhelming majority of AT&T customers are in the 2GB data tier.

Hypothetically, let's say that a year ago the average customer only used 750MB of the 2GB. Now, they might be using 1.75GB. They'd be using a lot more than ever before, but, since they're still confined to the 2GB tier, they can't/ won't go over it.

With most of AT&T's customers in the 2GB (or lower) data plans, don't expect your throttle point to change for the better anytime soon.

So why raise the paid limit to 3GB then? If only 5% of data users are using 2GB or more why would AT&T feel the need to only offer a 3GB plan as a realistic usage plan (forgetting about the 300 or 350 mb plan)?

So either the unlimited users are getting prematurely throttled because those of us using 1.5-3Gb per month are getting throttled or AT&T is forcing customers to pay more (3GB plan instead of old 2GB plan) for data they'll never use?

 

[cyks]

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/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)



So why raise the paid limit to 3GB then? If only 5% of data users are using 2GB or more why would AT&T feel the need to only offer a 3GB plan as a realistic usage plan (forgetting about the 300 or 350 mb plan)?

So either the unlimited users are getting prematurely throttled because those of us using 1.5-3Gb per month are getting throttled or AT&T is forcing customers to pay more (3GB plan instead of old 2GB plan) for data they'll never use?

Money is always the answer. AT&T can charge more for the 3GB plan than they can for 2GB. New users will be forced into a plan that, for most of them, will never use all of and customers with 2GB will upgrade so they don't have to worry as much of exceeding the limit.

Plenty of people would rather pay a little extra each month knowing they won't have overages from going over. AT&T knows, and is counting on, this.

 

[boredandlonely]

...the throttling numbers were all over the board with some at 10GB and some at 2GB. There was obviously nothing that she could do and she apologized several times and explained that there were many complaints and that they were being sent up the chain.

Bottom line - nothing is going to happen here. I think ATT is counting on the vast majority of people heading to tiered data plans while still using the fake carrot that is the "unlimited" plan to retain those tempted to switch and gullible enough to believe that the term "unlimited" has any connection to a plan with little or no limits.

What was the pattern? 10, then 5, then stuck at 2? "all over the board" my *ss. More like "on the way to 2gb, or lower".

Bottom line is that they know you are pi**ed off, bad enough to file a complaint. They were FORCED to call you and hear your complaint (much better than YOU having to call CS and wait on the line for nothing, or a disconnect). If true, they are getting LOTS of complaints. I'm DYING for the call...

This is exactly what we need to be doing until somebody DOES start a lawsuit, and I hope they do. Maybe it's only morally wrong, and they found a legal way to screw us (another one), but MAN... the bad press they will get if it starts up. Please please please....

 

[cyks]

This is exactly what we need to be doing until somebody DOES start a lawsuit, and I hope they do. Maybe it's only morally wrong, and they found a legal way to screw us (another one), but MAN... the bad press they will get if it starts up. Please please please....

Bad press from who?

They'll simply say what they've been saying the whole time...something along the lines of:

"AT&T is throttling a very small percentage of the highest users to free the network up, and lower prices, for everyone else. We gave all of our subscribers ample notice and we offer notices when they are approaching/ have reached the limit. If customers don't want to be throttled, they're welcome to join any of the new and improved data tiers we're now offering. The few customers who are against our new policy could have cancelled their service without paying an ETF when it was announced, but AT&T can not justify raising prices or offering sub par service just so we can make a few abusers happy."​

...and, just like that, any bad press is spun to make those complaining look like they're abusing the system and hurting the other customers.

 

[boredandlonely]

Bad press from who?

They'll simply say what they've been saying the whole time......and, just like that, any bad press is spun to make those complaining look like they're abusing the system and hurting the other customers.

Maybe, but I'd rather raise my voice in angry protest and see what ACTUALLY happens than sit back, say "oh well", and lose any chance I may (or may not) have had to make something happen (or not). If you are just going to give up without trying, then you deserve to get screwed. Discouraging others (if that is your intent) is even worse.

 

[cyks]

Maybe, but I'd rather raise my voice in angry protest and see what ACTUALLY happens than sit back, say "oh well", and lose any chance I may (or may not) have had to make something happen (or not). If you are just going to give up without trying, then you deserve to get screwed. Discouraging others (if that is your intent) is even worse.

More things would happen if everyone simply left AT&T and moved elsewhere citing the throttling as their reason, but if you'd prefer to yell in angry protest (while continuing to hand AT&T your money), knock yourself out.

 

[boredandlonely]

More things would happen if everyone simply left AT&T and moved elsewhere citing the throttling as their reason, but if you'd prefer to yell in angry protest (while continuing to hand AT&T your money), knock yourself out.

Yelling in protest only works when:
1) you ARE a customer
2) you literally take your business and leave, LETTING THEM KNOW WHY.

That being said, I'm waiting for Redsn0w before I buy a new iPhone, at which point I will see who really has the best deal. Unfortunately I need phone and internet at the same time where I live. If I lived elsewhere, I would have been on Sprint months ago.

Other people are stuck with #ATTfail because of family plans, or personal networks, or they need dual use like I do. Don't assume everybody can leave because YOUR schedule or situation makes it possible for YOU.

 

[lordofthereef]

I think the bottom line is that the number of people who are effected are a drop in the bucket. If everyone that complained, even once, about unlimited data throttling up and left, ATT wouldn't feel a thing. In that sense, simply leaving isn;t going to do a whole lot. There are PLENTY of people signing up daily and tiered data plans and plenty of people who have already moved to a tiered plan from the unlimited they had before it.

 

[ZipZap]

AT&T Posts losses

 

[Pipper99]

I got my throttling notice this morning at 2090MB of data usage with 6 days left in my billing cycle. It's the first notice, so I haven't been throttled yet: my 3G speeds are still good based on Speedtest.net. I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (AT&T headquarters), and I would have expected the top 5% to be using more than 2gb in such a large market.

Hmmm, if I switch to the 3gb plan and pay the same amount as for my unlimited plan, they won't throttle the abusive 3gb?