Sudden Data Usage increase

Sort of.  I assume you mean the unlimited plan, not the new tiered plan Mobile Share Advantage plan.

Both the old and new unlimited plan are not throttled, they are reprioritised once the reach 22 gigs.  Some users report no slow down in service well past 22 gigs.  Some report immediate slow down, others report sporadic or localized slow down.  Since these customers are reprioritised, they would be slowed to only 3G speed at the end of this year.

The new Mobile share advantage plan is truly throttled to 2G speeds once the account reaches the allowance. 

I am a lawyer and I can tell you that AT&T did, in fact, get fined $100 million by the FCC in 2015 for "throttling" (slowing down) their data on supposedly unlimited plans.  Specifically, AT&T got in trouble for deceptively failing to disclose this critical drawback to customers when they bought their unlimited plans. Don't listen to the person on this thread denying this. There are dozens of articles on it. Just do a google searich on it. 

AT&T seems to be at something like this again. I have been a wireless customer for well over a decade.  And a little while back, they made a big push to move many customers (including me) off of one of their original unlimited dara plans -- telling them they would never go over 10 gigs of data. 

But, of course, soon after the switch, the data usage on my plan suddenly jumped even though the way my family used their phones did not!!!  I was suddenly hit with a bunch of $15 overage charges.  I called to complain and I was moved to a new15 gig plan at no extra charge. I was told that the15 gig plan was the same price as the old 10 gig plan but that you had to know to ask to be switched. (They have now changed their plan structure again.)

Having been armed with 15 gigs of  data, I assumed the issue would be resolved.  And for months, we were consistently well under that new limit. 

But then in August 2016, my data usage supposedly mysteriously jumped from well under 15 gigs to 27 gigs!  I even turned off the data on a couple of the lines but kept incurring charges. There is no way on earth that we actually used that data. I find it interesting that other customers on this thread  have had the same experience recently. 

I intend to complain to AT&T and, if it is not resolved properly, the FCC.  I encourage others to do the same. It is a shame that the FCC is very slow to oversee AT&T.

@Perseus700 ATT was not fined for throttling. They were fined for not adequately informing customers when they would be throttled. The practice of throttling has long been upheld by the FCC as an accepted network management technique. 

@imjustanumbr

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@imjustanumbr wrote:
"ATT does no throttle at all anymore, hasn't for more than a year." Just so I understand we should just refer to throttling as "reprioritised."

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They have different terms, because it is not the same practice at all.  

Throttling is done by computer and is purposely slowing speeds to 2G.  This practice is used on the Gophone plan and the new Mobile Share Advantage Plan.  These plans slow to 2G speeds even though 2G is shut down in most markets.

Reprioritised means rather than getting first serve with tiered plans, when you hit 22 gigs, you are dropped below tiered data, and I assume below all prepaid using the same network.  This means your data is slow if the network is congested.  

Some unlimited users experience occasional slow down, some not at all.  Others slow down on and off BEFORE they hit 22 gigs.   

@docstinger

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@docstinger wrote:
This sudden surge in data increases for increased billing fir many of us with no increases for years Is in Conjuntion with AT&T aggressively marketing a new unlimited data plan. I have requested consumer protection to investigate. Check out similar maneuvers by Wells Fargo

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I don't buy that at all, or the increase would be universal;  Every customer on AT&T would have the same complaint.  Especially those on older, cheaper plans.  The complaints would only be on AT&T, not Verizon, not Sprint, Not T-mobile.  But that isn't the case.  The common threads are iPhones and iOS updates.  

While my sons do use more than I do, my data usage has only increased as my usage has gone up.  I still use between 1-2 gigs total, between my 3 devices.   My mother and ex husband use essentially no data.  

But it when we got rid of my olders sons iPhone, his usage dropped from 8 gigs a month to 2.5 gigs.

I just changed my younger son to android and his usage has also dropped.  I can't wait to see what his total is after a full month.  He has been using about 11 gigs a month.