AT&T to Soon Throttle Unlimited Data Plan Speeds

[rflynn88]

I used about 2.2GB of data from my AT&T $30 "Unlimited" plan last billing cycle. I don't think I'll be making the top 5% anytime soon.

 

[lamorpa]

When are they going to Throttle of the Rate of the Data Speed Limit per Second?

 

[lamorpa]

[citation][nom]danimal_the_animal[/nom]LOLATT acts like the data is going to get all used up.So stupid....all marketing and there never was a problem with high data users before so why now![/citation]
They're talking about this reality (the one we live in). No some other, alternate reality that you may be in.

 

[Guest]

Their "average" would be around 200 or so megs. So that really just puts the max you could use at 2.4 gigs. Bucnh of corporate bullshit I say.

 

[captaincharisma]

does this mean there finally saying there cell network is garbage?

 

[lamorpa]

[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]does this mean there finally saying there cell network is garbage?[/citation]
2 for 2!!!!!!!!!!
does this mean their finally saying they're cell network is garbage?

 

[daveola]

[citation][nom]shanky887614[/nom]sy, they will just send them a notice of change of contract that they will add a fair use policy if there isnt allready one there and there fine and its legal[/citation]
They can't "just send a change of contract" without giving the customer the chance to opt out of the contract they signed.

 

[shanky887614]

dave, they can give notice with a few months before they do it though

 

[alidan]

is this the top 5% as in they only go after the top 5% or is this like saying only the top 5% go over 2gb a month, no one else has to worry where the % can change.

 

[shanky887614]

i think its they throttle the top 5%

 

[daveola]

[citation][nom]shanky887614[/nom]dave, they can give notice with a few months before they do it though[/citation]
They can give all the notice they want but they cannot legally change your contract without giving you the opportunity to opt out or accept the change. A change in contract legally nullifies the aforemention signed agreement (contact) between the customer and business entity. In easier terms....they cant change the rules whenever they wish. However, I am quite sure their attorneys made sure that somewhere in those original contracts they worded it so that they have the right to change such things as this "throttling" issue.

 

[sykozis]

[citation][nom]shanky887614[/nom]sy, they will just send them a notice of change of contract that they will add a fair use policy if there isnt allready one there and there fine and its legal[/citation]
That only works if it's specifically mentioned within the original contract that the terms and conditions are subject to change at any time. Otherwise, it's called "breach of contract".... Contract Law doesn't permit 1 party to the contract to freely alter the contract at their discretion. It requires an opening to be made within the original contract for future changes, such as "terms and conditions subject to change" being stated within the original contract. Aside from that, both parties to the contract must agree to the changes for them to be legal.

[citation][nom]nebun[/nom]how hard is it to upgrade the hardware??? really....this is really stupid...companies need to invest more of the profits on their infrastructure, if they did this we would not have these problems[/citation]
Under the assumption that it's reasonably similar to upgrading any other network, I'd say it's fairly easy, though costly. Cox Comm is constantly upgrading their equipment in my area. In fact, since 2003, Cox Comm has gone from 3mbps cable internet to 25mbps cable internet in my area with no increase in the monthly service fee. It's been $45/month for the last 8 years and 22mbps bandwidth increase. Before anyone screams that $45/month is expensive, realize this. Verizon was $60/month for "up to 3mbps" DSL that only averaged 512kbps......and is currently $50/month for 15mbps FiOS service. I'm sure AT&T isn't nearly as capped as they claim to be....but, they do have a long standing history of greed, abuse of market position and monopolization of market. I don't expect any of these tendencies to ever end as long as the US is run by those lacking any form of intelligence.

 

[Guest]

AT&T just needs to dry up and die....

first they are going to throttle the top 5%... then once they see they can get away with it, everbody...

why does it seem no one can remember back as far as 15 years ago when dsl/cable first hit main stream.. Many of the big hitters tried to roll out data/throttling caps... but the users wouldnt have it, and partly because there was actually competetors to choose from, those who tried the data caps failed... ahhh the power of monopoly.... no choice but to accept substandard service.

All the excuses were the same back then, as users were going from dialup to an always on broadband connection, they were free to download and upload lots of pics, videos ect.... the cable companies claimed that they couldnt keep up and tried to force data caps, and even went to congress with thier crying.... back then they were told to stop whining and acrually spend some money on thier infrastructure.... it worked out just fine then and if these companies had thier way, do you think youtube would exise? hulu? facebook? or any other bandwith hungry service? no they would have died as would many other great inovations on the web...

At&t is just looking for an excuse to spend next to nothing on infrastructure/ maximise profits and excuse thier money grubbing policies by saying that the growth if data is just too much so much so, they even have to throttle thier land lines!!!!
funny thing is.... telephone companies in the rest of the world have no problem keeping up with heavy smartphone usage, and it seems that the only places in the world that seem to have a problem are areas where monopolies rule...

 

[cookoy]

if the infrastructure cannot cope with the usage, then they should increase capacity instead of taking in more customers. those who buy unlimited data contracts should only be limited by the connection speed of their plan. otherwise, it's like buying tickets for an entire season but you can't watch every games if you're among the top 5% regular patrons.

 

[Montezuma]

How many times does this have to be said? Spectrum is not a limiting factor for wireless networks. The number of subscribers that a given area's network can handle is spectrum, multiplied by the number of cell sites(towers).

Of course, AT&T would rather that the dumb masses not look at the number of towers it fails to install, which is a failure of AT&T and not the customer base.

 

[Montezuma]

AT&T is stating that the "top 5% of customers" are using "...12 times more data than the average of all other [customers]". Since the average, according to AT&T is 200MB to 400MB, that would place the "top 5%" at around 2400MB to 4800MB. That 2.3~GB to 4.7~GB, which is not a lot.

To me, this smacks of BS. Though, that is expected, sadly of AT&T.

 

[need4speeds]

-Yeah never get in a 2 or 3 year contract. Once you locked in they know your stuck, they start throttling, dropping calls, switching you to analog to eat your phone battery and nuke you.
Month to month with internet, and cell phone, and they kiss the ground you walk on cause they know you will switch.

Mostly they are going to throttle customers who are stuck in contracts.

 

[rantoc]

And yet another setback in todays "cloud" model for the Usa market where the consumers pay for a certain bandwidth that they in the end aren't allowed to use as they see fit. Who will want to stream that video/game over the cloud when the amonth of data is limited? I know i wouldn't!

Maybe its time to sell the shares in the cloud companies once and for all, at the rate the isp's is currently crippling their main way of delivery it wont be long before their done for.

 

[happyballz]

Oh please, all this 5% use all the bandwidth bullshit is proposterious. Where are they pulling these statistics from? These claims were never verified by third party nor independent test.
Even if it was true, I'm not sheadding a tear to a company that has higher profit margins than EXXON... yeah how you like that? If they were truly injecting millions of $ for upgrades like they say their wireless would cover the whole globe by now with speeds close to cable. I'm not buying their lies, in addition its truly unbelivable how much they charge in contrast to how much bandwidth costs = next to nothing. While wireless deployment is understandably more expensive, ATT is also a Tier 1 ISP which helps them cut on costs of having their own infrastructure for cell tower connections.

So in the end F UUUUU AT$T

 

[Marthian]

saying that it is network constraints that are forcing its hand to throttle data.

Then upgrade the damn network, you lazy corrupt bastards. I hate being in an area with only one internet provider and all the cellphone companies are greedy.