You can get that from Sprint, essentially. Slow, unreliable network but unlimited data.
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Top five percent of AT&T smartphone usage and Bandwidth throttling
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You can get that from Sprint, essentially. Slow, unreliable network but unlimited data.
Just filed a complaint....
.... with the FCC. I got the message for using 2060.3 MB of my unlimited plan. My wife (who has the 2gb plan) has used 70 MB.
2 GB = 2048 MB
That means they sent me a text and e-mail to tell me they were planning on throttling me for going 12 MB over the 2 GB tier. I'll accept their assertion that the word "unlimited", which is clearly stated on my contract, no longer means unlimited, but this is absurd.
Now I just have to decide which carrier is better.
Too bad, been with ATT for 10 years.
.... with the FCC. I got the message for using 2060.3 MB of my unlimited plan. My wife (who has the 2gb plan) has used 70 MB.
2 GB = 2048 MB
That means they sent me a text and e-mail to tell me they were planning on throttling me for going 12 MB over the 2 GB tier. I'll accept their assertion that the word "unlimited", which is clearly stated on my contract, no longer means unlimited, but this is absurd.
Now I just have to decide which carrier is better.
Too bad, been with ATT for 10 years.
The large difference is the coverage footprint. I was with Sprint, and it didn't come close to ATT's coverage. I was with Sprint for a year and travel pretty frequently through central and western US. Sprint map couldn't hold a candle to ATT in those regards.
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Outside of Sprint, they are all on some sort of limited data plan now.
My two cents
I just wanted to chime in here. Please see the attached screen shots.
Please note I have not received any warning what so ever. I have had my unlimited plan since the very beginning and have upgraded to every single iPhone. Not that those two facts are totally relevant but figured someone may ask.
I have not tethered since many months ago (10+) and obviously not since the 4S has been out.
What is a little weird as I look at these for the 1st time I see DATA ACCESS INETV6. That must have changed on October 16th when I got the iPhone 4Steve. I still wonder what that means exactly.
I have been pushing the data hard, as well. Using iTunes Match a whole hell of a lot.
I wonder if people geological area means any difference.
August 18 to September 17
September 18 to October 17
October 18 to November 17
November 18 to December 17
I just wanted to chime in here. Please see the attached screen shots.
Please note I have not received any warning what so ever. I have had my unlimited plan since the very beginning and have upgraded to every single iPhone. Not that those two facts are totally relevant but figured someone may ask.
I have not tethered since many months ago (10+) and obviously not since the 4S has been out.
What is a little weird as I look at these for the 1st time I see DATA ACCESS INETV6. That must have changed on October 16th when I got the iPhone 4Steve. I still wonder what that means exactly.
I have been pushing the data hard, as well. Using iTunes Match a whole hell of a lot.
I wonder if people geological area means any difference.
August 18 to September 17
September 18 to October 17
October 18 to November 17
November 18 to December 17
Seriously this is absolutely absurd. We have the ability to definitely make a difference here if we all file complaints and encourage those we know to do the same as well.
Sadly, what makes me laugh the most is that many of you are surprised by what they're doing.
There were plenty of threads when they first announced their throttling the top 5% with many people falsely thinking that it would only effect those who tethered or used 50GB+ a month. I repeatedly said that, based on their own numbers, it would effect anyone who uses 2GB (or, more than likely, only 1.5GB of data/month), but I was dismissed as crazy talk or simply wrong.
It's amazing how much of a difference a couple of months can make.
The real beauty of the 5% is that, as people leave, use less data, or are forced to due to throttling, the threshold point will continue to drop lower and lower... eventually forcing everyone to drop unlimited (either via a different carrier or moving to a tiered plan).
There were plenty of threads when they first announced their throttling the top 5% with many people falsely thinking that it would only effect those who tethered or used 50GB+ a month. I repeatedly said that, based on their own numbers, it would effect anyone who uses 2GB (or, more than likely, only 1.5GB of data/month), but I was dismissed as crazy talk or simply wrong.
It's amazing how much of a difference a couple of months can make.
The real beauty of the 5% is that, as people leave, use less data, or are forced to due to throttling, the threshold point will continue to drop lower and lower... eventually forcing everyone to drop unlimited (either via a different carrier or moving to a tiered plan).
difference between iphone cell usage and what ATT says i'm using?!?
My cell data usage on my iphone says 2.4 gb DL and 124 mb UL
Att says i've used almost 4gb since then WTH??
Anyone else see a discrepancy?
My cell data usage on my iphone says 2.4 gb DL and 124 mb UL
Att says i've used almost 4gb since then WTH??
Anyone else see a discrepancy?
And you sir are the 5%... I have a family plan with all iphones, all my buddies have iphones.. NONE of them ever watch netflix in there phones... who does? Oh, well you do, some do, maybe.. 5% do? In my family plan, I'm the only one unlimited and I average out at 1-2gb a month... Everyone else which includes my wife, my mother, and 2 sisters, use less than 400mb... The thing is everyone posting here is a tech freak and generally use up more data.. but we are not 50%, hell we're not even 1%... Most peeps that I know that have an iphone don't ever sync there phones, or still running an older version of ios... simply because they don't care, they're not like you and me... and this is the majority... the fact is that I have a harder time believing that 5% use more than 2gb when 90% of the people I know use less than 1gb...
It would be a band-aid solution at best, I know, but...
Have you considered using a web browser which uses web a page compression proxy, such as Opera Mini (available through the app store)?
It claims compression factors of up to 90%. You won't really get that much in the real world, but when the bottleneck is the transfer link speed (rather than CPU rendering time), the smaller the file size, the better. Unfortunately, you also won't have access to some key HTML5 and Javascript components, so some web sites that haven't been coded to fall back gracefully to alternate methods, will be crippled by this browser.
It may be worth a try, though, to see if it would offer you any improved web browsing on your most commonly used websites.
Complaint filed with the FCC as of last post.
Cut off again at 2GB a few days ago. Averaging 15kbps now. Have to load webpages MULTIPLE TIMES in order to load MOST of the data (but still not getting it all). I guess it's the cached files helping out when I reload each time. Can't watch any video from any source, except super low quality commercials before videos I wanted to see, so I just give up. Hear that internet advertisers? I'm NOT WATCHING YOUR COMMERCIALS because #ATTfail is raping my data speed and wallet.
I'm honestly surprised that the cutoff is apparently 2GB again, and not lower. If they WEREN'T trying to rip us off, they would have throttled to a minimum USABLE speed. Since they are obviously malicious, I expected this to keep going until the full-speed data cap reached 1k of data.
As soon as the 4S is jailbroken untethered, I will be researching a carrier switch. Sprint may be slower, but it's still CONSISTENTLY faster that #ATTfail's 15kbps that I am left with for 28days a month. My phone always disconnects, and I never get incoming calls/vm anyway, so I'm not really losing any functionality by going to Sprint.
Every month that I am eligible for a subsidized iPhone upgrade, and I DON'T take it (but stay with #ATTfail), it's like I am just GIVING #ATTfail the subsidy back, and they obviously don't deserve a 10% raise on my fees every month for ruining my internet usability, NOT providing reliable phone service or voicemail, etc. I don't believe that it "locks me in" for another 2 years since they have broken my original contract for unlimited data. I bet I can bring that up whenever I want, and leave without paying any Early Termination Fee (ETF). Plus, we all know Apple never releases iPhones when we expect, but months later. So the ETF will be much smaller by then anyway, IF, I even had to pay ANY of it.
I'm also NOT waiting for 4G speed iPhone 5(?), because we all know it will have a NEW data contract that will force me into a tiered plan worse than the current tiered plans, which are worse than the unlimited plan I am SUPPOSED to have.
Cut off again at 2GB a few days ago. Averaging 15kbps now. Have to load webpages MULTIPLE TIMES in order to load MOST of the data (but still not getting it all). I guess it's the cached files helping out when I reload each time. Can't watch any video from any source, except super low quality commercials before videos I wanted to see, so I just give up. Hear that internet advertisers? I'm NOT WATCHING YOUR COMMERCIALS because #ATTfail is raping my data speed and wallet.
I'm honestly surprised that the cutoff is apparently 2GB again, and not lower. If they WEREN'T trying to rip us off, they would have throttled to a minimum USABLE speed. Since they are obviously malicious, I expected this to keep going until the full-speed data cap reached 1k of data.
As soon as the 4S is jailbroken untethered, I will be researching a carrier switch. Sprint may be slower, but it's still CONSISTENTLY faster that #ATTfail's 15kbps that I am left with for 28days a month. My phone always disconnects, and I never get incoming calls/vm anyway, so I'm not really losing any functionality by going to Sprint.
Every month that I am eligible for a subsidized iPhone upgrade, and I DON'T take it (but stay with #ATTfail), it's like I am just GIVING #ATTfail the subsidy back, and they obviously don't deserve a 10% raise on my fees every month for ruining my internet usability, NOT providing reliable phone service or voicemail, etc. I don't believe that it "locks me in" for another 2 years since they have broken my original contract for unlimited data. I bet I can bring that up whenever I want, and leave without paying any Early Termination Fee (ETF). Plus, we all know Apple never releases iPhones when we expect, but months later. So the ETF will be much smaller by then anyway, IF, I even had to pay ANY of it.
I'm also NOT waiting for 4G speed iPhone 5(?), because we all know it will have a NEW data contract that will force me into a tiered plan worse than the current tiered plans, which are worse than the unlimited plan I am SUPPOSED to have.
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Good luck with that. If the FCC agrees with you, then I think the best thing AT&T could do would be to erase all doubt by completely discontinuing all unlimited plans on current out-of-contract customers immediately, and to simply not offer it at all to any currently in-contract customers as they attempt to renew for a contract extension.
Indeed, as the contract stipulated in the section dealing with how future amendments could be applied to the contract, you can walk away without any ETF the very same day they announce any amendment to the contract. Your decision to continue using the service following being given notice that the terms will be changing would signify that you accept the new terms. You placed your signature on a piece of paper stating that you were aware and willing to be governed by this amendment process.
However, I'm not certain that AT&T ever actually introduced any formal amendments to their contract to coincide with their plans to start throttling. So that section of their contract may not apply.
But the question remains: would a court agree that the existing contract was, in fact, being violated by the introduction of throttling? Was there any language in the contract that actually prohibits AT&T from delivering slower network speeds than the infrastructure is physically capable of delivering?
Yes, which is exactly what they are already doing by throttling to unusable speeds. What's the difference? Now we're fighting back. You can't win if you don't play. But you CAN lose.
Again, the odds are in my favor. Say I have to call #ATTfail customer service and try to argue my way out of the ETF (if my scenario even takes place). Like 50% of the times I have ever called CS, I get disconnected because the service is too unreliable, or I am hung up on during transfer (seriously). I'll just end up making ANOTHER complaint to the FCC because their poor service is keeping me from even discussing the OTHER poor service. Not looking good for #ATTfail.
And if they really have throttled the "top 5%", they should then EASILY be able to support a USABLE minimum speed, higher than 15kbps.
Maybe I will start running a torrent client continuously for the rest of the billing period every time I get throttled, to keep the cap from getting any lower.
AT&T is such a s***y company! I went over 2gb just barely. Then they sent me an email and text about my usage. I'm going to switch to Verizon. 
You know I have to agree. Almost everybody I know that has an iPhone doesn't use their iPhone like a multi media device like I do. In my family we all have unlimited data plan because I get 28% off on data on each line , $21.60/line. But everyone except me uses average 1-1.5 GB. I definately use more than 2 GB but haven't been throttled yet.
I wonder how Apple feels about the criminals at AT$T turning their iPhone into a dumbphone?
This amounts to theft, AT$T's executives should be in jail.
This amounts to theft, AT$T's executives should be in jail.
I have a question.
I've never gone over 3GB in all of the last 3 years with unlimited data and never have been sent any texts or e-mails.
However I went over 2GB just a week ago and got a text and e-mail notifying me that I was above the 5% blah blah crap that you are all familiar with.
As of today, I have about 2.4 GB use and my speeds are normal from what I can tell.
For people that got the message and then a reduction of speed, did you ever go over 5GB at any time before?
I'm wondering if people that went over 5GB at one time were catagorized/flagged for excessive use and thus they are slowing you down now.
I've never gone over 3GB in all of the last 3 years with unlimited data and never have been sent any texts or e-mails.
However I went over 2GB just a week ago and got a text and e-mail notifying me that I was above the 5% blah blah crap that you are all familiar with.
As of today, I have about 2.4 GB use and my speeds are normal from what I can tell.
For people that got the message and then a reduction of speed, did you ever go over 5GB at any time before?
I'm wondering if people that went over 5GB at one time were catagorized/flagged for excessive use and thus they are slowing you down now.
Good idea
If a large number of people do it then there will be more, faster data for everyone They won't say anything as they keep seeing record sales for the iPhone. Just about the dollars. As for me I will switch to Verizon or sprint. Att can keep their unlimited plan. But they will be missing my $200 a month.
There absolutely is a difference. By forcing customers to choose an explicitly tiered plan, they'll be placing those customers in danger of having to pay additional overage fees if they accidentally exceed their monthly tiered limit.
At least with your current plan, you would never need to worry about the possibility of accidentally having a larger data bill than you had budgeted for, no matter how high you accidentally allow your consumption to creep. (Pun intended...)
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I just got the notice this evening. As soon as I did I logged on to see my usage at 2056.8MB for the month. 10 days remain in the billing cycle. I had a 4S but decided to return so you can see there were a few prorated days on the far right data for 101.27 MB. As you can see this is part of a ATT Enterprise multiple line setup. 4 lines have unlimited data (since 2007) and monthly billing (frequently international) exceeds $600 a month. I guess their capping the unlimited to 2GB now... little point in taking my extra $5. Thanks #ATTFail.
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Thats about average...
I did have veeeeery high usage this summer as I was moving and didn't have home internet... thus plenty of MyWi (once or twice above 10gb in a month but usually 2-4...) I got a notice about it (End of Sept billing cycle) and have since stopped completely.... but even with such a substantial monthly spend they're still threatening to throttle the second i go over 2gb... WTF
I did have veeeeery high usage this summer as I was moving and didn't have home internet... thus plenty of MyWi (once or twice above 10gb in a month but usually 2-4...) I got a notice about it (End of Sept billing cycle) and have since stopped completely.... but even with such a substantial monthly spend they're still threatening to throttle the second i go over 2gb... WTF
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