AT&T To Impose Caps, Overages [ Edited ]

[SBP2010]

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

Next up the GAS company, the evil gas company, how do you verify the accurate amount of gas you are charged for? It runs on a meter. I'm sure it has a calibration somewhere, but where and how do you trust they haven't ripped you off???You simply have to trust them?

Water company?? same as above...You simply have to trust them?

AND don't forget,{Keep it Courteous} the meter on the fule pump at the local EXXON station!! How do you KNOW they are accurate? How do you KNOW for SURE????? You simply have to trust them?

{Keep it courteous}

Why don't you wait and SEE what actually happens vs all the hype?

DPR

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Personally I do not feel that ATT is the evil company and caps are going to be that bad.  Yet your logic above is flawed when comparing to broadband metering.  Every state inspects gas pumps and provides penalties for offenses, some states very severe.  Water companies and electric companies are also regulated so consumers have a channel to turn to when questions of metering come up.  There is NO such protection for broadband users. 

[kdroop]

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

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bld522 wrote:

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jmsherman8 wrote:

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enamorate wrote:

According to users on DSL Reports, the AT&T meters can underreport usage by about 90% in a day which would obviously be good for a consumer. Not as good as unlimited data would be but that's understood. It's still feels like you're getting away with something. But other days, apparently the same user says AT&T can over report your usage by, wait for it 4700%!!!!!. Yeah that's not exactly a good thing. 

{Content Removed: The forum is not a venue for legal discussions}

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4700% my god that is insane!

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At the risk of repeating myself, is there anyone here who would be willing to give up their electric meter and let their electric utility tell them how much electricty they're using each month from now on?  Keep in mind that if you agree to do this, no one will ever audit your electric company to make sure that the monthly usage figures they're reporting are accurate.  You simply have to trust them.

Buehler???  Buehler???

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The sky is falling the sky is falling!!

So you are saying {Keep it Courteous} that each month, you go out to the electric meter, write down the new settings from the numerous little dials, some go forward, some go backwards, and compare month to month, and you call them, and compare the number of KwHours you've used, compared to last months, the charge per KwH, from last month, and you are able to convert all that, and in doing so, you can tell if the calibration on your meter is up to date, all so you can keep up with what the electric company is charging you each month? AND based on YOUR calculations, each month, because you don't trust the electric comany, you call up and dispute the KwH used? You simply have to trust them?

Next up the GAS company, the evil gas company, how do you verify the accurate amount of gas you are charged for? It runs on a meter. I'm sure it has a calibration somewhere, but where and how do you trust they haven't ripped you off???You simply have to trust them?

Water company?? same as above...You simply have to trust them?

AND don't forget,{Keep it Courteous} the meter on the fule pump at the local EXXON station!! How do you KNOW they are accurate? How do you KNOW for SURE????? You simply have to trust them?

{Keep it courteous}

Why don't you wait and SEE what actually happens vs all the hype?

DPR

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Real simple yes most people don't double check yaddda yadda.However you can and will be able to source 3rd party options for meter testing and accuracy.

The standards are such that disputes can be resolved with an engineering study and if the meter is bad that utility will be held responswible.

Here there are no 3rd party engineering sources to bring in to invalidate or to validate their claims.There is no open metering standards we don't even know the exact location of the meter much less whether or not it will be 1024 or 1000 mb.

Then there is the issue that once you have been normed to a meter and a cap that they can squeeze this down the road to violate you more often

[7-Cha0s]

They are counting data that my firewall rejects and that is WRONG! Only data that passes the firewall should be counted. Until then, they are overcharging everyone.

[Dread Pirate Ro…]

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SBP2010 wrote:

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

Next up the GAS company, the evil gas company, how do you verify the accurate amount of gas you are charged for? It runs on a meter. I'm sure it has a calibration somewhere, but where and how do you trust they haven't ripped you off???You simply have to trust them?

Water company?? same as above...You simply have to trust them?

AND don't forget,{Keep it Courteous} the meter on the fule pump at the local EXXON station!! How do you KNOW they are accurate? How do you KNOW for SURE????? You simply have to trust them?

{Keep it courteous}

Why don't you wait and SEE what actually happens vs all the hype?

DPR

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Personally I do not feel that ATT is the evil company and caps are going to be that bad.  Yet your logic above is flawed when comparing to broadband metering.  Every state inspects gas pumps and provides penalties for offenses, some states very severe.  Water companies and electric companies are also regulated so consumers have a channel to turn to when questions of metering come up.  There is NO such protection for broadband users. 

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THAT was my point, taken to the ridiclous.

DPR

It was not meant as a serious comparison, just a commentary on the drama of it all.

[mblackwell33]

Simple Math. Between my Uverse, Phone, internet and a family wireless plan I pay around 400 a month. That is already way to much to spend for these services. To combat this I will be systematically cutting off service after May 2. My wireless contract is up this summer and Verison has the Iphone now and better coverage and faster 4G. Then I will start looking at other companies to provide my other services.

I would recommend to all that you downgrade your service. Why pay for 12 MB or 24MB when you cant take advantage of it. You might as well scale down to 1.5MB at least it will slow down your data consumption and save you soem money in the process. Pay 15 dollars a month instead of 45.

Why would anyone pay 45 dollars a month for internet and be restricted like that with caps and overages. Greed, Greed Greed is the only thing these companies understand. Take away revenue and that speaks louder than any forums ATT has. I will be voting with my wallet. Even if another provider has caps. At least I know that going in. I have been a lifetime ATT customer and I should not be penalized for doing so. Data has been unlimited for more than a decade but since they cant compete or dont want to compete they try and restrict your usage. I dont need to be controlled by any corprate entity.

So if you are serious there are other alternatives and I would high recommend downgrading service or cancelling all together. Hopefully soon a company will bring Fiber to the house. This is the 21st century. With all the governement money they get to increase broadband in rural areas and they have not done they should return.

Greed will be your Downfall ATT

[bld522]

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

It was not meant as a serious comparison, just a commentary on the drama of it all.

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Today's drama is tomorrow's reality.  And to address your point, my electric utility has had to issue me credits on three separate occasions over the last 12 months due to meter misreadings.  Good luck getting AT&T to issue you a credit if they misread your meter and you don't even know where the (keeping it courteous) thing is located.

Think folks.  THINK!

[bld522]

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mblackwell33 wrote:

I would recommend to all that you downgrade your service. Why pay for 12 MB or 24MB when you cant take advantage of it. You might as well scale down to 1.5MB at least it will slow down your data consumption and save you some money in the process. Pay 15 dollars a month instead of 45.

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Excellent advice!  As you said, the math is simple.  The faster your connection, the sooner you'll get to your cap.

There's one other thing to keep in mind.  Some devices base their QoS on the speed of your broadband connection.  Roku boxes do this automatically.  What that means is that the faster your download speed, the higher the quality of service (from streaming Netflix in SD to streaming Netflix in HD in the case of Roku boxes) and the more data that gets pumped through your pipe in a given period of time.  As you might imagine, there's been quite a conversation about this on the Roku forum.  You can follow it here if you like:

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=38286&sid=16954b49f21bdd2ca2799347617a15c0

[bld522]

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7-Cha0s wrote:

They are counting data that my firewall rejects and that is WRONG! Only data that passes the firewall should be counted. Until then, they are overcharging everyone.

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I don't think that's an argument you can win.  But I do think we should only be charged for data that actually traverses our WAN ports.  Overhead should be on AT&T, not on us.  And AT&T should provide us with the ability to monitor our own usage by demanding that their OEM router manufacturers incorporate broadband usage meters into their firmware.  But I repeat myself . . .

[jmsherman8]

DPR,

   Actually I do, mine is the newer digital meter. You don't have to convert everything but I do check the usage vs what i see here on the meter and if there is a discrepency or I see a particularly large bill I call consumers to find out why? If it cannot be resolved there I contact the Michigan Public Utilities Commission who will FORCE an audit of the meter and MAKE sure everything is running correctly. The same goes for my gas. My water is well water and is not metered. What people are trying to say is that if the monitoring tools can be off by such huge swings then there are serious issues and yes we should be worried about being overcharged. Even if ATT wasn't profit driven this type of metered service has way to many variables to consider when you get into pricing for a capped service. There are simply way to many ways variables to be able to do this in a way that would be fair for your average american. I mean if you all you do is check your email and look at websites you are probably going to be ok. The bulk of the people now though are moving over to streaming video and audio via web radio and tv. Services like pandora, netflix, hulu, vudu, amazon on demand, etc, etc, etc, all consume massive amounts of bandwidth.

[Dread Pirate Ro…]

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jmsherman8 wrote:

DPR,

   Actually I do, mine is the newer digital meter. You don't have to convert everything but I do check the usage vs what i see here on the meter and if there is a discrepency or I see a particularly large bill I call consumers to find out why? If it cannot be resolved there I contact the Michigan Public Utilities Commission who will FORCE an audit of the meter and MAKE sure everything is running correctly. The same goes for my gas. My water is well water and is not metered. What people are trying to say is that if the monitoring tools can be off by such huge swings then there are serious issues and yes we should be worried about being overcharged. Even if ATT wasn't profit driven this type of metered service has way to many variables to consider when you get into pricing for a capped service. There are simply way to many ways variables to be able to do this in a way that would be fair for your average american. I mean if you all you do is check your email and look at websites you are probably going to be ok. The bulk of the people now though are moving over to streaming video and audio via web radio and tv. Services like pandora, netflix, hulu, vudu, amazon on demand, etc, etc, etc, all consume massive amounts of bandwidth.

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I agree with you that the ave user will not be affected. We have to consider this fourm and that the posters here, represent a minority of subscribers. I don't think however, that the bulk of people are moving over to, like you posted, streaming video and audio via web radio and tv, Services like pandora, netflix, hulu, vudu, amazon on demand, etc, represent the majority of users. Sure some if not all stream data, but not 24/7 and only for a while before they move on to something else. I think those users are the minority, IMHO! I may be wrong, we'll see. I just don't think the sky is falling.

I've read a lot of drama over this on the FB page as well. There are a lot of people jumping off the cliff over there.

I read where if they are giving usage notifications at 60% and 90%. But haven't seen anyone on here say that. I also read if a custome exceeds, they get a warning sent to them the first time and not charged. But I haven't read that on here either, it was on the web site. (yes an at&t web site) I got slammed for believing what the at&t web site said.

I've read some stuff like, "thanks now I can't watch TV" "Thanks, I'll have to tell the spammers to stop spaming me because at&t is charging me for spam, thanks" so the rhetoric is heated up! LOL

I just got my iPhone bill. I use the internet a lot, pandora, FB, Google ect and I was at 10% usage of my 2G plan I signed up for. I may have to lower that plan since i'm no where near what I pay to use. I suspect the internet usage at home will end up the same, but again It is my opinion. We will see in may right! Maybe we should wait and see.

DPR

[jmsherman8]

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

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jmsherman8 wrote:

DPR,

   Actually I do, mine is the newer digital meter. You don't have to convert everything but I do check the usage vs what i see here on the meter and if there is a discrepency or I see a particularly large bill I call consumers to find out why? If it cannot be resolved there I contact the Michigan Public Utilities Commission who will FORCE an audit of the meter and MAKE sure everything is running correctly. The same goes for my gas. My water is well water and is not metered. What people are trying to say is that if the monitoring tools can be off by such huge swings then there are serious issues and yes we should be worried about being overcharged. Even if ATT wasn't profit driven this type of metered service has way to many variables to consider when you get into pricing for a capped service. There are simply way to many ways variables to be able to do this in a way that would be fair for your average american. I mean if you all you do is check your email and look at websites you are probably going to be ok. The bulk of the people now though are moving over to streaming video and audio via web radio and tv. Services like pandora, netflix, hulu, vudu, amazon on demand, etc, etc, etc, all consume massive amounts of bandwidth.

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I agree with you that the ave user will not be affected. We have to consider this fourm and that the posters here, represent a minority of subscribers. I don't think however, that the bulk of people are moving over to, like you posted, streaming video and audio via web radio and tv, Services like pandora, netflix, hulu, vudu, amazon on demand, etc, represent the majority of users. Sure some if not all stream data, but not 24/7 and only for a while before they move on to something else. I think those users are the minority, IMHO! I may be wrong, we'll see. I just don't think the sky is falling.

I've read a lot of drama over this on the FB page as well. There are a lot of people jumping off the cliff over there.

I read where if they are giving usage notifications at 60% and 90%. But haven't seen anyone on here say that. I also read if a custome exceeds, they get a warning sent to them the first time and not charged. But I haven't read that on here either, it was on the web site. (yes an at&t web site) I got slammed for believing what the at&t web site said.

I've read some stuff like, "thanks now I can't watch TV" "Thanks, I'll have to tell the spammers to stop spaming me because at&t is charging me for spam, thanks" so the rhetoric is heated up! LOL

I just got my iPhone bill. I use the internet a lot, pandora, FB, Google ect and I was at 10% usage of my 2G plan I signed up for. I may have to lower that plan since i'm no where near what I pay to use. I suspect the internet usage at home will end up the same, but again It is my opinion. We will see in may right! Maybe we should wait and see.

DPR

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DPR,

    I understand where you are coming from. But at the same time we have five kids and four of them live with us. One is a teenager, two are tweens and another is 10. We have two streaming Netflix boxes here one in the living room and one in the bedroom. I run pandora here on a regular basis as well as streaming netflix movies and tv episodes and I am looking to hulu plus. In other words all of that and we run on average of 12 to 15 computers, not to mention internet tablets, and other network devices. I would be amazed if I didn't go over the cap. However you do get 3 violations before they charge you. So I will see what my usage looks like once the UVERSE meter comes online. but I am also looking at other service providers already. The other side of this coin is the principle of the matter. I DO NOT believe in caps on internet services. I never will. I DO NOT WANT  METERED usage. EVER. So in the end I will probably leave just to make a point.

[dgoddard1]

OMG!

I read it on that inter-web thingy, so it must be true.

Everyone still has the ultimate vote in this matter.

[woodscomp]

This thread needs to go viral to get the message across to whomever at att is trying to line there deep pockets with even more of our green.

[MarsATCell]

I find this VERY Interesting.

According to AT&T's FAQ on the Broadband Usage Cap... Found here: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB409045#fbid=g0uY-ZQ-6zJ

If you watch Full Length Movies it would only take 20 SD movies or 10 HD Movies a month to hit the DSL cap of 150GB... I have 5 kids, a wife, a live in Father, and myself all using my internet.... 20 SD moveis or 10 HD movies a month with 3 TV's that have internet streaming apps built into them... I see this as a direct attack against Internet Streaming as a whole. I can't see this as anything else. (I only use a fraction of what my In-Laws use down the street... They hit over 500GB because they have no Cable TV service and can only watch things online!) Unfortunately, where I live, there are NO alternatives to high speed internet. SO I guess I will have to tell the kids they can't watch a movie before bed now. Thanks AT&T.

[7-Cha0s]

They are being punished for not using AT&T's TV service. They have found a way to make you pay for the TV even if you do not subscribe! And they will get away with it because too many people just won't leave because it will be too much work for them to change providers. AT&T is counting on these people.

[flhthemi]

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Dread Pirate Roberts wrote:

I read where if they are giving usage notifications at 60% and 90%. But haven't seen anyone on here say that. I also read if a custome exceeds, they get a warning sent to them the first time and not charged. But I haven't read that on here either, it was on the web site. (yes an at&t web site) I got slammed for believing what the at&t web site said.

DPR

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Maybe you should go back and read the original post! Notifications at 60 and 90% WERE mentioned and I KNOW I read here, earlier post, that they would let us go over 3 times before they started charging us. Just sayin'....

If they cap me, and I'm sure they are going to, I'm gone. 180.00 a month for Uverse and 130.00 a month for cell service. Already drained to the point of cutting back due to a fixed retirement income and no job availability in the area right now. So, {Keep it Appropriate} AT&T!! I love the service but it's costing me waaaaaayyyy too much and capping ME is the deal breaker!

[sandman__1]

AT&T's reasons for the cap are illogical. If 2% are using 20%, there still wouldn't be congestion because DSL/ADSL is not like cable. Back in the day, if everyone jumped on the net at the same time in your neighborhood and you had cable broadband, you saw a dip in your bandwidth, a noticable dip. You would never see that with DSL since it is a dedicated line to your house from the node. Another thing, what kind of logic is it to punish the other 98% because 2% people supposedly abuse the system? Doesn't the current TOS cover for those type of situations? I think it does. Also I have enough things in my life to worry about than have to worry about some meter and usage, ridiculous especially when you consider a bit which is just an electrical signal through a wire that costs less than a penny per GB to transfer in the first place.

I think most people here, {Keep it Courteous} know what this is for: an attempt to stop or diminish competing services, i.e. Netflix, Hulu, Cloud Storage.

I have 24/3Mbps service and no Uverse TV. My family cut-the-cord a few months ago and now just have Over-The-Air TV, which has better HD by far anyway. We get nearly 30 channels in our area that come in  at 720p/1080i 5.1 DD. Cable TV is just getting too expensive. Even the bottom of the line U100 TV is too expensive, especially if you consider that on average people watch maybe a total of 15-20 channels at most. It is a waste of money to be subsidizing channels that you have neither interest nor need to watch. 

If push comes to shove, we will just downgrade our service to somethings like 3 or 6Mbps and I would suggest people do the same. AT&T will get less money. I was willing to pay for a premium residential line but now what is the point if it is just going to get me to a cap quicker. My other option is Time Warner, fortunately they have upgraded to DOCSIS 3 in my area so who knows might switch instead. 

[7-Cha0s]

I too will be trying Time Warners "Wideband" out at 50/5mbps since it will be available in my area in apr/may. Will be pretty sweet if they remain uncapped!

[bld522]

A little light reading for a Tuesday morning:

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=38671&p=254432#p254432

[jmsherman8]

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sandman__1 wrote:

AT&T's reasons for the cap are illogical. If 2% are using 20%, there still wouldn't be congestion because DSL/ADSL is not like cable. Back in the day, if everyone jumped on the net at the same time in your neighborhood and you had cable broadband, you saw a dip in your bandwidth, a noticable dip. You would never see that with DSL since it is a dedicated line to your house from the node. Another thing, what kind of logic is it to punish the other 98% because 2% people supposedly abuse the system? Doesn't the current TOS cover for those type of situations? I think it does. Also I have enough things in my life to worry about than have to worry about some meter and usage, ridiculous especially when you consider a bit which is just an electrical signal through a wire that costs less than a penny per GB to transfer in the first place.

I think most people here, {Keep it Appropriate}, know what this is for: an attempt to stop or diminish competing services, i.e. Netflix, Hulu, Cloud Storage.

I have 24/3Mbps service and no Uverse TV. My family cut-the-cord a few months ago and now just have Over-The-Air TV, which has better HD by far anyway. We get nearly 30 channels in our area that come in  at 720p/1080i 5.1 DD. Cable TV is just getting too expensive. Even the bottom of the line U100 TV is too expensive, especially if you consider that on average people watch maybe a total of 15-20 channels at most. It is a waste of money to be subsidizing channels that you have neither interest nor need to watch. 

If push comes to shove, we will just downgrade our service to somethings like 3 or 6Mbps and I would suggest people do the same. AT&T will get less money. I was willing to pay for a premium residential line but now what is the point if it is just going to get me to a cap quicker. My other option is Time Warner, fortunately they have upgraded to DOCSIS 3 in my area so who knows might switch instead. 

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Actually Sandman, with DSL you will see slowdowns. It is a dedicated line between the DSLAM and your home, not a dedicated line to your home. The DSLAM is the router that manages all of the incoming DSL connections and the primary bandwidth (usually provided by fiber nodes for both up and downstream traffic). This bandwidth is divided up among the users online by the DSLAM. So the bottleneck occurs at the DSLAM in this case and that is where congestion slows down peoples connection. However, they would have been much better served just using bandwidth throttling on the DSLAM during peak hours for those who are using the most, rather than risk the anger of there entire DSL/UVERSE customer base. Those who don't get it now, will get it soon once they get there first violations. 

[woodscomp]

Since I started reading about this I have installed the Uverse Realtime program on my pc and have been paying attention to what everyone is using.  All I do on my PC is read emails, and surf websites (mostly news etc..) with limited watching of on-line videos I have used over 50GB of data alone in the past 34 days. I have one other wireless computer that uses the same type of bandwidth.  And two teens who watch a lot of videos and skype etc...  Then we have the Roku.

In all we used 387GB over the past 34 days.  I do not think we are too far off the normal household.  Top 2% I do not think we are, however according to ATT's definition we are among the top 2%.

[sandman__1]

@jmsherman8

If that is the case, then a simple upgrade could fix the problem and also it brings to question how much they have oversold their network.

"However, they would have been much better served just using bandwidth throttling on the DSLAM during peak hours for those who are using the most, rather than risk the anger of there entire DSL/UVERSE customer base. Those who don't get it now, will get it soon once they get there first violations. "

100% with ya there.

[Garthilk]

This is all about bolstering their Uverse services and cutting off competition like Netflix, Hulu, etc. You could stream 1000 gb of uverse data and it's okay, but stream 300 gb of Netflix and you're goign to pay the price.

[Garthilk]

Why do unwanted At&t advertisements count against my data cap?

Why does reciving my email bill count against my data cap?

Why does using the support website count against my data cap?

[Stormer99]

What amazes me is other countries (primarily Asia) have much faster unlimted internet for less.  There are numerous articles out there exposing AT&Ts true motivation and network congestion is not one of them.  These article rebuffs AT&Ts claims very thoroughly and in technical detail.  Bottom line is in my opinion and in the opinion of many other tech savvy professionals, they are placing the caps to limit our access to internet based video sources (Netflix, etc) and to force us into paying for thier TV/Video services.  I feel this is very underhanded and shows the lack of morals this company has.  I further think it demonstrates the inherent conflict of interest there is when a company provide TV/Video and internet access and how they can manipulate one to profeit from the other.  BTW COMCAST provides 600GB per month.  A family of avid computer users, who routinely watch internet video and play on-line games can burn through 250 pretty quickly (the games aloan are 6-9 GB per download). 

[Roha1234]

Netflix (in Canada) reacts to Canadian ISP caps:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-slashes-data-usage-canadian-172219


U.S. video streaming giant drops Canadian data usage by two-thirds to stop major Internet service providers from charging steep overage fees.

TORONTO – Check this out: Netflix has dropped the bandwith usage for its Netflix Canada subscribers by an average two-thirds.

“We made these changes because many Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) unfortunately enforce monthly caps on the total amount of data consumed,” Neil Hunt, chief product officer at Netflix, said on the company’s blog site.

In answer to Netflix expanding into Canada in September 2010, major ISPs like Rogers Communictions and Bell Canada ended unlimited data packages for heavy users.

The major ISPS have also angered Internet users and the federal government by proposing to force third-party ISPs to follow their lead and end unlimited data packages for bandwith-hogs.

With Internet usage now a hot-button issue north of the border, Netflix said Canadians can now watch 30 hours of streaming video from Netflix Canada in a month and consume only 9 GBytes of data, short of most data caps that lead to huge overage fees.

Until now, Canadians that viewed 30 hours of Netflix Canada film and TV programming in HD could use up as much as 70 GBytes.

“While there is some lessening of picture quality with these new settings, the experience continues to be great,” Hunt blogged.

Netflix Canada subscribers that choose not to sacrifice picture quality can reset back to the higher data usage level.

Netflix’s move to reduce data consumption comes at an opportune time: Canada is in the midst of a federal election and the governing Conservatives have threatened to stop major ISPs from punishing heavy Internet users by ditching their unlimited data plans through third-party providers.

Feeling the political heat, Bell Canada on Monday offered a compromise that would allow third-party ISPs to determine how they bill their customers, as long as they covered data overages.

“By enabling wholesale ISPs to purchase network capacity based on overall volume of usage, rather than on a per-customer basis, the new model gives wholesale ISPs greater flexibility to offer service packages based on their own business objectives and requirements," Bell Canada said in a statement.

Smaller ISPs have fought attempts by major carriers to force an end to unlimited data plans because they argue they require flat-rate pricing for unlimited Internet data packages to attract subscribers.

[EOC_Jason]

If they are going to charge $10 for every 50GB per month of overage... I just checked my DSL usage (of which now I only get 150GB a month)... I'm only using about 45GB a month... Why can't I pay just $10 for internet then instead of like $40?  AT&T care to lower my DSL bill?

AT&T certainly doesn't gripe about people that use extremely SMALL amounts of bandwidth, or cut them any breaks... hmmm...

[Kong57]

Broadband Usage FAQs

Are there any usage limits for my broadband service?

Yes.  As of May 2, 2011, AT&T's residential DSL High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 150 Gigabytes ("GB") per month, and its residential U-verse High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 250 Gigabytes ("GB") per month.  The usage allowance is the amount of data you can send and receive each month.

Why is AT&T implementing a usage allowance?
AT&T has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of data that is sent and received over its wireline broadband networks.  This dramatic increase is driven primarily by a small fraction of our customers.  In fact, the top 2% of customers use about 20% of the total capacity on our network.  A single high traffic user can utilize the same amount of data capacity as 19 typical households.  Lopsided usage patterns can cause congestion at certain points in the network, which can slow Internet speeds and interfere with other customers' access to and use of the network.

What is a gigabyte?
A gigabyte is a unit of measurement of the amount of data that is transmitted over the Internet.  Approximately 50,000 single-page e-mails (without attachments), for example, equate to about 1 GB.  It is important to remember that a GB represents the amount of data sent over the network, and not the amount of time spent using the Internet.

How much is 150 GB?
150 GB is far more data than most customers ever use in a month.  Our average DSL customer uses only about 18 GB per month.  In fact, less than 2% of DSL users utilize more than 150 GB per month.  We estimate that 98% of our customers will not be affected by this change because the monthly usage allowance includes so much bandwidth.

How much do I get with 150 or 250 GB?
You can do a lot with 150 or 250 GB. Here is an example.

Monthly Activity	150 GB	250 GB
Send/receive one page emails	10,000 emails  -and-	10,000 emails  -and-
Download/upload a medium resolution photo to social media site like Facebook	3,000 photos  -and-	4,000 photos  -and-
MP3 Songs downloaded	2,000 songs  -and-	3,000 songs  -and-
Stream a one-minute YouTube video (standard quality)	5,000 views  -and-	5,000 views  -and-
Watch hour-long TV Shows (high quality)	100 shows  -and -	200 shows  -and -
Stream full length movies (Standard Definition: SD; High Definition: HD)	20 SD or 10 HD movies	25 SD or 13 HD movies

 Usage examples are estimates based on typical file sizes and/or duration of file transfer or streaming event.

Will spending a lot of time on the Internet cause me to exceed my monthly usage allowance?
Time alone is not the determining factor; it is the activity that matters.  You could spend several hours reading e-mails, for example, and use less than 1 GB of data.  You could spend 30 minutes downloading a movie, on the other hand, and use 2 GB of data.  It is important to remember that it is what you are doing on the Internet, not how long you do it, that determines the amount of data that you use.

Can anyone other than someone in my immediate household affect my bandwidth usage?
If you have not secured your wireless gateway/router, someone nearby with a computer or Wi-Fi enabled device could access your home network and use your High Speed Internet Service, which could increase your monthly usage.  AT&T recommends that you secure your wireless router/gateway to prevent others from using your High Speed Internet Service.  We suggest that you use common encryption protocols, such as Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) for security.  Check www.att.com/esupport for support with AT&T provided devices, or your manufacturer's support website for help with securing your wireless router/gateway. 

What will happen if I exceed my monthly usage allowance?
You will receive a notice the first time your usage exceeds the applicable monthly allowance.

In the following months, we will send you additional notices each month when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance.  If you exceed your monthly allowance a second time, AT&T will send you a notice advising you that the next time you exceed your allowance - the third time - you will be billed $10 for each 50 GB of data over your allowance.

We will continue to send you courtesy notifications when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance to keep you informed about your usage patterns.  All of these notices will remind you of what your monthly usage allowance is, provide you with information to help you understand broadband data usage, offer you tips on how to effectively control your usage to stay below your monthly allowance, and explain what your options are if you exceed your allowance in future billing periods.  For example, you can modify your usage patterns to stay below your monthly usage allowance; continue your normal usage patterns and pay $10 for each additional 50 GB of data over your monthly allowance; or terminate your service, consistent with the terms of any special pricing offer that you previously accepted.

Importantly, if you do not receive a notice from AT&T, it means that you have not exceeded your monthly usage allowance.  In some cases, it may mean that we cannot measure your usage yet.  Either way, you should not be concerned about your usage patterns for billing purposes.

Where will I receive notices about my broadband usage?
You will receive notices about your broadband usage at the primary e-mail address that you set up when you registered for Service.  We will send a letter by U.S. mail if we cannot reach you by e-mail or do not have your e-mail address.

How will AT&T help me to monitor my usage? 
AT&T will provide a website with two options to assist customers in managing their High Speed Internet usage.

 
First, AT&T will provide a personal usage report at www.MyUsage.att.com where customers can view how much actual data they have used in a given month from the January 2011 bill cycle to the most recent billing cycle.  To protect confidential customer information, this site is password-protected.  The login process requires your Internet access login and password.  The login is your AT&T primary account email address (e.g., John_smith@att.net).  The password is the same password used to access your att.net homepage and primary email account.

AT&T initially will report usage data on a weekly basis.  When a customer uses 70% of their monthly usage allowance, we will supplement their personal usage report on a daily basis.  A customer's usage will be posted on the website within 1 - 4 days after it is collected.

Second, AT&T will provide a website with examples of what kind of Internet activity can impact your actual usage.  In addition, on the same site AT&T will provide a usage calculator, which will enable customers to input data about how they typically use their Service and calculate an estimate of how much data they are likely to use in a given month.  This website will be available in late April 2011.

I can't seem to access the usage tool. What should I do?
Many of our customers have access to this tool already. For those who don't today, until your usage is available for viewing on www.MyUsage.att.com, you should not be concerned about your usage patterns for billing purposes. Once the tool is available, you will be notified if you exceed your allowance.

[ScottMac]

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Garthilk wrote:

This is all about bolstering their Uverse services and cutting off competition like Netflix, Hulu, etc. You could stream 1000 gb of uverse data and it's okay, but stream 300 gb of Netflix and you're goign to pay the price.

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U-verse is multicast within their network, branching only at the last switch (CO/IO); as such, it takes a minimal amount of bandwidth throughout most of the distribution network (national channels), and only VHO->CO/IO in the regions.

Regualr Internet traffic (Netflix, Hulu, etc) are all unicast and each stream consumes bandwidth throughout its entire path on the network. Much more resource is consumed as a result.

[ScottMac]

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Garthilk wrote:

Why do unwanted At&t advertisements count against my data cap?

Why does reciving my email bill count against my data cap?

Why does using the support website count against my data cap?

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Who said it would?