Re: AT&T to throttle unlimited data plan users...

Wild Banchi · ‎12-11-2009

As long as you haven't been notified in terms of being a user in the top 5% of highest data users, you can continue doing exactly what you do.

Remember that Wild Banchi... 1993-2010

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

Wild Banchi wrote:
I suppose that 2GB sounds fair since there is such a large gap between using 2GB and 5GB.

It's just silly that we're all arguing in this thread over something so simple as a data plan for smartphones. As long as people have one, they might as well be happy even if it's not completely what they wanted. They still have access to the cellular data network.

+1 right in one

Wade1077 · ‎09-25-2010

I am SOOO frustrated, I can no longer listen to music or watch you tube. I may have to stay with ATT until end of contract, but then adios.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

Wade1077 wrote:
I am SOOO frustrated, I can no longer listen to music or watch you tube. I may have to stay with ATT until end of contract, but then adios.

you can still listen to music or watch you tube, you just need to practice moderation. As far as waiting to end of contract - there is only one carrier that still offers "unlimited data" (there is still a enforced fair use policy) - that is Sprint, according to the 5th estate reports Sprint maybe dropping unlimited soon also. Besides their bandwidth is worse then the throttled att bandwidth.

Wild Banchi · ‎12-11-2009

Wade1077 wrote:
I am SOOO frustrated, I can no longer listen to music or watch you tube. I may have to stay with ATT until end of contract, but then adios.

You can try using Wi-Fi if it's available around you. That would be a great alternative to using the cellular data network. You could stream music and YouTube videos all you want, amigo.

Remember that Wild Banchi... 1993-2010

PKslime · ‎12-04-2011

My data usage just got throttled.

I have used 2gigs of data.

I have an unlimited plan and I wear it like the badge of a long term customer. AT&T doesn't view it this way. They want to get rid of their customers who they signed unlimited contracts with. They strong-arm us with this data rate limit and weasel out of their initial contracts with customers like me. What's worse they turn around and call us "data hogs" and bring onto us the criticism of other customers. An offensive slander and an excuse for AT&T's inability to provide sufficient service to everyone. The top 5% will roll throughout this month, today 2gigs, tomorrow 3 and every day more and more people will get throttled by AT&T. By the end it won't be just 5% anymore. How many will really be effected by this policy? People like me, people like you. Paying customers.

We all pay monthly, a lot, to this company. Getting throttled after using 2 gigs of data with an "unlimited" plan: That's abuse.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

PKslime wrote:

My data usage just got throttled.

I have used 2gigs of data.

I have an unlimited plan and I wear it like the badge of a long term customer. AT&T doesn't view it this way. They want to get rid of their customers who they signed unlimited contracts with. They strong-arm us with this data rate limit and weasel out of their initial contracts with customers like me. What's worse they turn around and call us "data hogs" and bring onto us the criticism of other customers. An offensive slander and an excuse for AT&T's inability to provide sufficient service to everyone. The top 5% will roll throughout this month, today 2gigs, tomorrow 3 and every day more and more people will get throttled by AT&T. By the end it won't be just 5% anymore. How many will really be effected by this policy? People like me, people like you. Paying customers.

We all pay monthly, a lot, to this company. Getting throttled after using 2 gigs of data with an "unlimited" plan: That's abuse.

Sorry no it it not. they don;t have to "weasel" out of anything, the fair use policy has been around for a long time. Only one top tier company offers unlimited data anymore - and they strictly enforce their fair use policy also, rumor from the 5th estate shows that that company will be dropping unlimited data in the future also.

Paying customer here, both business plans and multiple family plans and have not been affected as of yet by it, if I am, oh well it is in the agreement so it really does not bother me.

Windylou33 · ‎12-04-2011

With so many AT&T customers who have smartphones, and 80% of them use their phone as a computer, checking and sending emails, google interest, Facebook, online games. I know myself as a faithful iPhone user I would most defineality purchase the unlimited package. I was told by AT&T customer service that the reason they done away with the package is because customers were complaining about the price, at that time they only had one package to choose from. Now they have a $15.00, $25.00, $45.00, packages for people to choose from. Why cant they add the unlimited as a choice for customers.

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

Its all really just a way to force people into the tiered plan. Bandwidth congestion is a myth in relation to how much one is downloading. Its not HOW MUCH one downloads...its when. There isn't like a bucket of bytes that one can use up...its infinite. There is an finite amount of bandwidth IF everyone is downloading at the same time... If I down load a 2 gig file at 2 a.m. in the morning, its going to have very little impact, but if someone is streaming You Tube at 5:00 p.m. it is gonna have an impact on all users. So the logic of throttling my speed because I've hit a phony "5%" limit is nonsense. If they really want to prevent "congestion" they would throttle people that consistently use their data during peak time..or just throttle everyone during peak hours...which they probably already do. This throttling thing is just a money grab....but I've found a work around so throttle away AT&T

JFizDaWiz · ‎10-27-2010

got throttled at 10GB, but then again I was seeing how much I would have to use to get it, worst part, I was only 8 days into my cycle, this is going to be a long month.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

Windylou33 wrote:
With so many AT&T customers who have smartphones, and 80% of them use their phone as a computer, checking and sending emails, google interest, Facebook, online games. I know myself as a faithful iPhone user I would most defineality purchase the unlimited package. I was told by AT&T customer service that the reason they done away with the package is because customers were complaining about the price, at that time they only had one package to choose from. Now they have a $15.00, $25.00, $45.00, packages for people to choose from. Why cant they add the unlimited as a choice for customers.

Becasue unlimited is a dieing breed - there is only one top 3 provider that still has one avaialble, it is controlled tightly by their fair use policy and it has been rumored that they are dropping it also.

Even broadband providers are limiting data consumption, know at least one that if you exceed a 250GB limit for multiple months, service is suspended for 6 months and they will not open a new account to that address for the people using it.

Don;t compare the 45.00 plan in this mix, the plan authorized tethering of the phone, tethering was never authorized for a unlimited plan. So prices are reduced for the regualr data plans.

Checking email, facebook and the such are not what consumes the data, those applications are designed to reduce bandwidth usage, what is consuming the data is the streaming of Pandora, You Tube videos, Netflix, Blockbuster and any other application of the such. On the business phones the only time data usage is heavy is when the people attend WebEx meetings on their phones, for normal usage data consumption is minimal.

November usage on my business iphone - heavy email, some research no webex meeting 600MB I average 300 or more emails a day that are downloaded to my phone, a lot of them have proposal and contract attachments on them. Personal phone is even less for the month, but I don;t stream anything, if I watch a movie when I travel I use one loaded to my laptop.

Data usage can be controled, it just takes discipline and understanding

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

Once again, data usage has nothing to do with bandwidth congestion. How can people not see this. If you use email during "peak times" then you are contributing to bandwidth congestion. If I download a 2 gig file at 2 a.m., I have no impact on bandwidth. Bandwidth is not a bucket that can be emptied. CONSUMPTION OF DATA IS NOT the same as BANDWIDTH CONGESTION.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

cipherdiaz wrote:
Once again, data usage has nothing to do with bandwidth congestion. How can people not see this. If you use email during "peak times" then you are contributing to bandwidth congestion. If I download a 2 gig file at 2 a.m., I have no impact on bandwidth. Bandwidth is not a bucket that can be emptied. CONSUMPTION OF DATA IS NOT the same as BANDWIDTH CONGESTION.

reqally? Put 20 people streaming audio and video on a 1MB pipeline - then benchmark normal browsing as the 21st person, now shut off the 20 connections streaming video and audio and benchmark it again - that is what throttling will resolve, the basic crux of the matter

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.

tken · ‎11-21-2011

cipherdiaz wrote:
I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.

+111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111...

Being throttled last month was just aweful and that's not going to happen again. This month I'm going to be limited my data usage (only half the own3d.tv streaming) for the first two weeks then bump it up a little more for the remaining weeks.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

cipherdiaz wrote:

I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.

Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable

tken · ‎11-21-2011

wingrider01 wrote:
cipherdiaz wrote:
I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.
Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable

You can't grasp the concept of removing 1 user from a pool of 20? That one user represents the top 5% and are throttled. Sooo... the other 19 users are still soaking up as much bandwidth as the 1 user that's throttled making your example invalid.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

tken wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

cipherdiaz wrote:

I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.

Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable

You can't grasp the concept of removing 1 user from a pool of 20? That one user represents the top 5% and are throttled. Sooo... the other 19 users are still soaking up as much bandwidth as the 1 user that's throttled making your example invalid.

Don;t understand the comment becasue it is illogical, I doubt that one user is being throttled, if there are 20 all 20 are throttled (or in tis case the top 5 percent of the over achievers) so it will make a difference in real world application of the policy.

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

wingrider01 wrote:
tken wrote:
wingrider01 wrote:
cipherdiaz wrote:
I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.
Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable
You can't grasp the concept of removing 1 user from a pool of 20? That one user represents the top 5% and are throttled. Sooo... the other 19 users are still soaking up as much bandwidth as the 1 user that's throttled making your example invalid.
Don;t understand the comment becasue it is illogical, I doubt that one user is being throttled, if there are 20 all 20 are throttled (or in tis case the top 5 percent of the over achievers) so it will make a difference in real world application of the policy.

I think your comment is the illogical one..how can you throttle all users if only top 5% are causing the issue. You would only throttle the top 5% of ALL USERS. So if all Users = 20..then 5% is only 1 Person being throttled. You are acting as if no one else ever is using bandwidth. So you don't even understand your own argument. Once again you are proving my point..thank you.

spd2demun · ‎07-28-2007

Does anyone remember dial-up? Once people got home from work, everything would slow to a crawl.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

cipherdiaz wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

tken wrote:

wingrider01 wrote:

cipherdiaz wrote:

I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.

Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable

You can't grasp the concept of removing 1 user from a pool of 20? That one user represents the top 5% and are throttled. Sooo... the other 19 users are still soaking up as much bandwidth as the 1 user that's throttled making your example invalid.

Don;t understand the comment becasue it is illogical, I doubt that one user is being throttled, if there are 20 all 20 are throttled (or in tis case the top 5 percent of the over achievers) so it will make a difference in real world application of the policy.

I think your comment is the illogical one..how can you throttle all users if only top 5% are causing the issue. You would only throttle the top 5% of ALL USERS. So if all Users = 20..then 5% is only 1 Person being throttled. You are acting as if no one else ever is using bandwidth. So you don't even understand your own argument. Once again you are proving my point..thank you.

top five percent means there is more bandwidth for the other 95 percent of people that don;t hit the cap. Personally would have rather seen it locked to email and limited web browsing only until the next billing cycle instead of throttling line another carrier does

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

wingrider01 wrote:
cipherdiaz wrote:
wingrider01 wrote:
tken wrote:
wingrider01 wrote:
cipherdiaz wrote:
I'll post the same reply in this one..because you seem to not understand. You are throttling top 5%..so you would remove 1 person from your scenario, which would do nothing to help bandwidth congestion. once again. DATA CONSUMPTION does NOT do anything to BANDWIDTH CONGESTION. You are making my argument for me. Its far more important to control usage a peak hours..(which the majority of people use at this time of day) vs. data usage. 20 people all using data, regardless of how much data they've used for the month has far more impact on everyone else. Its of no matter how much they've downloaded, its when. So thank you for making my argument. Maybe AT&T will read your post and change their policy.
Don't understand your comments - I support what they are doing and hope they never change it, throttling to users is perfectly accepatable
You can't grasp the concept of removing 1 user from a pool of 20? That one user represents the top 5% and are throttled. Sooo... the other 19 users are still soaking up as much bandwidth as the 1 user that's throttled making your example invalid.
Don;t understand the comment becasue it is illogical, I doubt that one user is being throttled, if there are 20 all 20 are throttled (or in tis case the top 5 percent of the over achievers) so it will make a difference in real world application of the policy.
I think your comment is the illogical one..how can you throttle all users if only top 5% are causing the issue. You would only throttle the top 5% of ALL USERS. So if all Users = 20..then 5% is only 1 Person being throttled. You are acting as if no one else ever is using bandwidth. So you don't even understand your own argument. Once again you are proving my point..thank you.
top five percent means there is more bandwidth for the other 95 percent of people that don;t hit the cap. Personally would have rather seen it locked to email and limited web browsing only until the next billing cycle instead of throttling line another carrier does

That is not at all what it means. There is no such thing as "more bandwidth"...its very difficult to try to explain it in non technical terms about packets..etc, but I'll try to use the car analogy again. If you and I are on a road with 20 other drivers and we all are driving 10 miles an hour..but because I drive all day everyday, I am forced to now drive 5 mph, guess what...there are still 19 other drivers on the road...there is STILL congestion. How much I drive (how much data I consume) does NOT stop congestion. I agree something needs to be done about congestion, but throttling heavy data users isn't the answer. Not only that...many of the people they are throttling are on LTE, a NON CONGESTED network at the moment. The 3G network is what is clogged..so once again, this is about forcing unlimited data people into tiered plans and about people that have no understanding of how data transfer works making policy in AT&T. I guarantee this idea for throttling didn't come from the NOC, it came from billing people. Yes At&T should do something about 3g congestion...but throttling won't fix it. What it will do is cause people to leave the company, because sure, they will get throttled by someone else..but they will leave AT&T on principal.

Wild Banchi · ‎12-11-2009

tken wrote:
Being throttled last month was just aweful and that's not going to happen again. This month I'm going to be limited my data usage (only half the own3d.tv streaming) for the first two weeks then bump it up a little more for the remaining weeks.

That's great to hear!

With AT&T throttling heavy data users, it looks like we are already seeing a decrease in data consumption. It will make the customers think twice about using large amounts of data, and if they continue to do as they have been, well, they know the consequences. It's a good way to manage your data usage.

Think about it - would you rather use less data and have normal speeds, or consume large amounts of data and be throttled to a snail's pace?

Remember that Wild Banchi... 1993-2010

Z3950 · ‎12-04-2011

I received the text and an email about this. I have also only used just over 2 gb so far this month. I will see what happens next month, but I may just have to send them my own warning! Clearly, this is a ploy to move unlimited data people to higher $$ plans - in my opinion. If you pay $45 for 4 GB (with tethering) instead of $30 for unlimited, they say your speeds will not be slowed - BUT you'll be charged $10 a GB overage for amounts over 4 GB. AT&T customer service says I should use more data on wi-fi - yeah, but I am paying for 3G data. Maybe they would prefer to lose the $360 a year I am paying and get nothing - which is what it is coming to - for me.

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

search around dude..there is a work around to prevent from being throttled....then DOWNLOAD everything and push that 5% way up. Though i'm pretty sure the 5% is a lie because you can't set a policy like that in the ERX. They probably set it based on an actual number..whatever they decide for that period.

Z3950 · ‎12-04-2011

thanks - I asked about being in the top 5% and they said it means the top 5 in my market (at 2 GB!) - well, there's no way I can verify that of course! I think it's a lie too! Will check out "workarounds" and will see how things go next month. :-0

cipherdiaz · ‎11-27-2011

I just checked with a friend of mine that works at VZW..and while they don't have unlimited anymore they are offering a "work around" for people that don't want to be throttled...they suggest you buy and LTE phone, because that network isn't congested and they DO NOT throttle LTE customers. (yet). So take notice AT&T, you should be doing the same. Those of us already on LTE with the 2 phones you have are on a non congested network, yet you are still throttling us. So I wonder if we are 5% of LTE users or 5% of 3G users....its all lies. Verizon is gonna get business outta this...good job AT&T.

Stryderjess · ‎11-27-2011

Do you know of a work around for iPhone because I cannot find one, by the way love your posts.

JFizDaWiz · ‎10-27-2010

Ok kids, don't talk about work around here. they'll catch on and patch it

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

Z3950 wrote:

I received the text and an email about this. I have also only used just over 2 gb so far this month. I will see what happens next month, but I may just have to send them my own warning! Clearly, this is a ploy to move unlimited data people to higher $$ plans - in my opinion. If you pay $45 for 4 GB (with tethering) instead of $30 for unlimited, they say your speeds will not be slowed - BUT you'll be charged $10 a GB overage for amounts over 4 GB. AT&T customer service says I should use more data on wi-fi - yeah, but I am paying for 3G data. Maybe they would prefer to lose the $360 a year I am paying and get nothing - which is what it is coming to - for me.

Soo, where do you plan on going?

Verizon - no unlimited plans any more, metred only

Sprint - unlimited plan but their throughput is worse then a throttled line and a strict adherance to the fair use policy, and rumors they are dropping the unlimited plan in th upcoming future

Cricket - Unlimited data plan but a strict adherance to the fair use policy

As you can see, the unlimited data plans on mobile devices are going the way of the dodo bird - extinct, as to the people that "claim" a "work around" don;t sell the carriers short, they are a lot smarter then you assume - they will win in the end