AT&T to throttle unlimited data plan users [ Edited ]

[Captain Quantum]

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JFizDaWiz wrote:

No one expected streaming large videos and music daily when the unlimited plan came out. And it has to be managed or else it will just go down the toilet.

Not sure where you plan on young though as only sprint has unlimited and honestly have fun steaming Netflix over their 3g.

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See this just erks me! By "no one" you mean AT&T...so then why did they have commercials about the 1st iphone streaming pirates of the Caribbean whilst finding nearest calamari joint and then playing all your fav tunes? And that's just one single 30 sec spot. So they are selling a product to be used on their network and touting that this device can do all these things, and pushing unlimited data as a selling point but they didn't expect people to USE IT HOW THEY ADVERTISE? That's all I EVER did, was exactly what they told me I could and should do...

Also, on almost every page an ATT employee seems to say "sprint is horrible..." My wife has an iphone on sprint and does everything I do only her bill is less. I've never felt less cared about in regards to being a customer then with at&t, and especially with this issue. :-/

[Moonbaseone]

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Captain Quantum wrote:

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JFizDaWiz wrote:

No one expected streaming large videos and music daily when the unlimited plan came out. And it has to be managed or else it will just go down the toilet.

Not sure where you plan on young though as only sprint has unlimited and honestly have fun steaming Netflix over their 3g.

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See this just erks me! By "no one" you mean AT&T...so then why did they have commercials about the 1st iphone streaming pirates of the Caribbean whilst finding nearest calamari joint and then playing all your fav tunes? And that's just one single 30 sec spot. So they are selling a product to be used on their network and touting that this device can do all these things, and pushing unlimited data as a selling point but they didn't expect people to USE IT HOW THEY ADVERTISE? That's all I EVER did, was exactly what they told me I could and should do...

Also, on almost every page an ATT employee seems to say "sprint is horrible..." My wife has an iphone on sprint and does everything I do only her bill is less. I've never felt less cared about in regards to being a customer then with at&t, and especially with this issue. :-/

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I will admit, Sprint was in fact horrible for me years ago but I've heard they've gotten better. Now its funny hearing a ATT working saying how bad another service. To be honest, here in Chicago, ATT works fine when I'm on the southside. But when I go north, ATT is then terrible. I live south and rarely go north in the city. I think any service will be terrible depending on if they have coverage where you need it or not. And, this is not directed as any kind of attact on you because you made a good point. I was really agreeing at how funny it is that the ATT reps keep saying Sprint, or anyone else, is terrible. They are far from great themselves.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Just had a thought if this throttling was in preparation for the 4G bombardment with the (upcoming) release of iPad (3)?  I read an article a few days ago that hinted at this, something about new iPad users would not be pleased with throttling.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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Captain Quantum wrote:

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JFizDaWiz wrote:

No one expected streaming large videos and music daily when the unlimited plan came out. And it has to be managed or else it will just go down the toilet.

Not sure where you plan on young though as only sprint has unlimited and honestly have fun steaming Netflix over their 3g.

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See this just erks me! By "no one" you mean AT&T...so then why did they have commercials about the 1st iphone streaming pirates of the Caribbean whilst finding nearest calamari joint and then playing all your fav tunes? And that's just one single 30 sec spot. So they are selling a product to be used on their network and touting that this device can do all these things, and pushing unlimited data as a selling point but they didn't expect people to USE IT HOW THEY ADVERTISE? That's all I EVER did, was exactly what they told me I could and should do...

Also, on almost every page an ATT employee seems to say "sprint is horrible..." My wife has an iphone on sprint and does everything I do only her bill is less. I've never felt less cared about in regards to being a customer then with at&t, and especially with this issue. :-/

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Guess that att was the only one that was caught short - oops some of the other vendors - including the lowley cricket already had hard throttling caps in their agreements, gasp even t-mobile with there "unlimited everything" plans have hard caps for throttling, gee who wouldav thunk that!!!

If your wife has a sprint phone and it works for her, it does everything you want it to do then your choice seems clear on what has to be done to make you happy.

By the way I am not a Att employee, have a decent number of sprint phones on a business contract, I carry one and the general consensus is their service in pretty poor in a lot of locations tha they claim coverage. YMMV in serivce, both in coverage and customer service will vary, it takes the people that handle the bill 3 times as long to handle billing problems - and they occur frequently

[Dellman87]

I know many people who have Sprint, and 1 person did not like it, but the majority of them love the true unlimited data, and their wireless support.

I promise you when Sprint goes to LTE, I'm switching.  :-)

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[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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Dellman87 wrote:

I know many people who have Sprint, and 1 person did not like it, but the majority of them love the true unlimited data, and their wireless support.

I promise you when Sprint goes to LTE, I'm switching.  :-)

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your mileage may vary depending on your location - prefer cricket over sprint, they have better coverage.

 Hope it works out for you. If you wait for LTE from sprint you will be waiting awhile given their financials and recent market set acks. ETA for 4 markets is mid 2012 -  rumor is Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and San Antonio. Given the failure of clearwire this can be delayed, sprint owns 54 percent of clearwire - they can;t win for losing recently with the debacle of nextel and now clearwire.

Also recall that Virgon Mobile just annouced data plan changes - VM is totally owned by Sprint - maybe a  furute look inot Sprints changes in marketing and usage? VM clocks it at 2.5 GB before they locked it down

[bmsrn]

If your going to cripple you customers paying you for unlimited data then make sure your other services work so they don't have to use so much data{word filter evasion}{please keep it courteous} . I have been a customer for 6 years and the whole time paying nearly $300 a month. Unlimited data plans on 4 phones and until 2 months ago we used a combined data of less than 2 gb.. COMBINED !! We moved to an area that only offers ATT DSL and it sucks. It drops regularly and some days you cannot even get on. I had to revert to using my daughters phone for internet because we home school her. Her data exceeded 1 gb for the first time ever and we get an email warning about reducing our speed. Thats a slap in the  face . That many years of unlimited data never exceeding a combined 2gb and one time we have to use more data because your other  service sucks and we get warned for it. I can tell you this. We have always upgraded and renewed contracts but that trends going to change immediately at the end of this contract.. if we do not decide to drop out early.

[4sskyrocket]

TECHNOLOGY Updated March 21, 2012, 4:58 a.m. ET
Video Speed Trap Lurks in New iPad
Users Find the Superfast 4G Link Carries a Big Cost: Churning Through Data Limits in Mere Hours

[4sskyrocket]

Users burning thru their data plans in a few hours. Good artical. Must read! The future is ......

[drumn_bass]

Were you gonna post it?

[4sskyrocket]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812904577293882009811556.html

[cindywang]

yes,i know that ,it is 2GB

[carrier_scam]

Same hire, I with att since 2005 and had unlimited plan since iphone 3G came out , i have 2 lines on my account

been customer for 7 years and get a spit in a face from them by limiting the UNLIMITED data plan and saying that I still have unlimited data plan, do a math how much data can you download in 1 hour at 15Kb/s  vs. 350Kb/s

ATT think that there customers are (edited for word filter evasion) or?

People with self-esteem should not think it's normal

small claim court is the answer

Definition of UNLIMITED for those of you who don't know or forgot what it means

1. Not Limited; Unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.

2. Boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.

3. Without Any Qualification Or Exception; unconditional.

[jamileh]

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bmsrn wrote:

If your going to cripple you customers paying you for unlimited data then make sure your other services work so they don't have to use so much data{word filter evasion}{please keep it courteous} . I have been a customer for 6 years and the whole time paying nearly $300 a month. Unlimited data plans on 4 phones and until 2 months ago we used a combined data of less than 2 gb.. COMBINED !! We moved to an area that only offers ATT DSL and it sucks. It drops regularly and some days you cannot even get on. I had to revert to using my daughters phone for internet because we home school her. Her data exceeded 1 gb for the first time ever and we get an email warning about reducing our speed. Thats a slap in the  face . That many years of unlimited data never exceeding a combined 2gb and one time we have to use more data because your other  service sucks and we get warned for it. I can tell you this. We have always upgraded and renewed contracts but that trends going to change immediately at the end of this contract.. if we do not decide to drop out early.

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 It sounds like this incident occured about 6 weeks before we updated our policy. AT&T recently announced updates to data speed reduction. Your daughter should be able to use up to 3GB (on our 3G network - 5GB on our LTE network) before she's impacted by reduced data speeds.

Here is a link with more information regarding data usage: http://www.att.com/esupport/datausage.jsp

[htc-davis]

It is not illegal to tether!

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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htc-davis wrote:
It is not illegal to tether!

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It is not illegal to tether you are 100 percent correct, it IS however a violation of usage terms to tether without the correct data feature attached to your service. Tether on the grandfathered unlimited plan or any tiered plan that does not include tethering they will alter your feature set to adhere to the policy if you do not cease and desist when warned.

[thepaulses]

Now if you use more than 3GB data you are part of the mysterious top 5% users.

The customer services guy was justifying this breach of contract by saying the number is small.

Sounds like something the National Socialists would say about their victims.

What part of breaching contract is not understood here?

I have so much negative feeling for this greedy corporation that no amount of discount will persuade me to renew my contract on my 3 lines.

Shame on you AT&T

[thepaulses]

Reducing the speed at 3GB is a breach of contract. 

I don't care how much you say its in there in section 6.2,  IT IS NOT THERE.

The contract mentions prevention of abuse. How can I abuse the network at 3GB when you go around and sell 5GB data plans?

Shame, Shame.

I am so unhappy with this company that no amount of candy (discount on new phones) will trap me into another 2 years.

and by the way. when renewing a contract, we are waving all rights to "collectively complain" <--AT&T sensorship

Shame on you.

[dirtyharry]

Not the point! If you sell someone something it's wrong to change it to something else!If they would reimburse me for the amount I've spent I would go to another company.!!! And from your response I take it you work for or make money from at&t.

[MJB0188]

Your preachin to the choir on this one.  What's the matter got throttled for the first time today?  

[Djmurph05]

So I received a text message this morning from AT&T saying that I am reaching 3GB in data and during this or future billing cycles will result in reduced data speeds, though you will still be able to email and surf the web. I called AT&T customer service and they gave me the explanation that they are reducing the speed but not the access to the data. I told them that I have been an ATT customer for years and it was based on the unlimited data I receive and the speed and quality of it. Now that they are reducing the speed, in terms lowering the quality, why should it be the same price of $30 a month? And how can you put a limit on a service that you saying is "Unlimited"? I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what was the answer they received? I feel that this is completely unacceptable business practices. If they want to reduce the quality of their service, they should in turn reduce the cost of it as well. Otherwise, do not limit the unlimited service I pay for and I would continue to be happy.

{post merged}

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

This topic has been discussed to death in multiple other threads in different forums. Network Coverage is probably NOT the appropriate place for this. 

Of the 4 largest carriers, only Sprint retains anything that looks like a true "unlimited" plan, and I've heard reports that they throttle the top 1% of data users. AT&T is NOT going to reduce the cost of the plan because you're unhappy. Either learn to live within 3GB, or face the possibility of having your speeds reduced. There are no 2 ways about it.

{post merged}

[RedSlushy]

It amounts to false advertising. I bought an UNLIMITED plan and just started getting the text message saying I am in the top 5%. I have recently upgraded to the new iPhone 4GS and use about 2-3GB per month. That is not much at all considering those of us with grandfathered plans have been customers for years (and Cingular before that). Now this is how they treat us? Shame shame AT&T. You have yet another unhappy customer who will spread the word about your poor business practices to others.

[MJB0188]

You tell me whcih carrier doesn't throttle with the exception of Sprint whos speed are about what AT&T is when throttled.    I have an unlimited plan and am glad they throttle because this stop the data hogs from using tons of data.  I do disagree with the 3GB limite though, I believe it should be 10GB for both 3G and LTE.  

Before AT&T throttled SOME people were using 20GB+ a month which is beyond ridiculous for a phone.  

[Netsniper14]

Wow, AT&T is a joke! Unlimited with limitations, just another way att rips off it's "values costumers". Good job att, you really know how to screw people over. What a joke for a company.

[MJB0188]

^ What about T-Mobile and Verzion?  They do the same thing, so aren't they ripping their customers off too?

[Bipets]

O.o I'm shock by this answer "^ What about T-Mobile and Verzion?  They do the same thing, so aren't they ripping their customers off too?" so two wrongs make a right? Sooo if other people jump out of a bridge are you gonna jump too?? So if T-mobile and Verizon are doing the same wrong does that make AT&T right? NO IT DOES NOT! It's a reason why we have AT&T and we are here complaining because it was never like this before and now it's doing something wrong!! So AT&T should assume responsibility and figure out how can they find a way to please the old costumers that obviously are upset!!

[Bipets]

I been a AT&T costumer since Cingular 2005..! I have always been very please with the company until today when I call to qask uestion about this "limited" unlimited data service that I now have and i didn't like how the representative was sooo freaking rude and talking to me with a strong tone of voice telling me how I need to use more WIFI signals and how im using so much data? And for what reason?? That's NOT there bussines! And I'm upset about how disrespectful they were! Im considering to switching to another company!

[MJB0188]

^ I'm going to be blunt here... The main reason all companies do this now is because everyone and their mother now has a smartphone.  There just isn't enough bandwidth for everyone.  When I signed up with unlimited back in 2009 bandwidth wasn't an issue.  T-Mobile begain to throttle first, which was before Verizon and then AT&T follwed in Oct 2011.  No two wrongs don't make a right here, but you missed the point.  The point is... AT&T can do whatever they like, its their network.   The $30 Unlimited plan was intended for web and e-mail, NOT STREAMING 8 hours of audio and video.  Of course, eventually, there was going to be some limit placed on the plan.  Now it would be a serious problem if AT&T shut your internet off completely at 3GB but you still have access.  I believe throttled speeds increased a little bit.  One guy on MacRumors reported getting 600K down which will get the job done.  Think of that as a really good day on Sprint.

We all have to face the truth sooner or later, if we want more data, we're going to have to pay for it.  Perhaps try switching to an LTE device so you can get 5GB of high speed data instead of 3GB.  

I know I'm going to get get slammed for my opinion so go right ahead.  I DO NOT work for AT&T in any way, shape or form.  I am a subscriber just as you who has an unlimited smartphone data plan.  

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

I'm with you, and some here have already stated they don't have Internet at home, probably no TV (service) either!  Why should others pay for services at home, while the Unlimited crowd can use their phone for TV, HSI, and everything else for just $30/mo.?  ATT screwd up big time when they didn't think this one through!