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Saturday, April 23rd, 2016 11:12 AM

Throttling for unlimited data

I am a new customer and have the unlimited data, talk and text plan for my Galaxy S7. I read that Att may throttle my data speeds during periods of congestion.

Please explain this to me. Does that mean that after 22 gbs of data in a billing cycle, Att will automatically throttle my data, or that in certain circumstances they may throttle my speeds and then return the speeds to normal?

So if my area is not considered congested, I may not get throttled at all?

Teacher

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14 Messages

6 years ago

Hay look!

Why not just put the goods on the table!!  Let the product sell on its own merits.  Never mind saying "unlimited" when we all know it's not real.  How about a more positive approach and put actual the information about the service offered, where customers can more readily get at it, instead of digging around and find out you feel somehow cheated. With the Go-Phone right now, 4G data is at 6 gigs.  The cards on the store shelves all say "unlimited".  How about a clearly advertised deal on that high speed, with actual unlimited lower speeds, making clear what one is buying, and have that be part of the selling features, letting the valued customer know exactly what those speeds are and under what conditions they can be obtained??!!  Whether it's called reprioritization, throttling, or corn flakes, it's still the same:  Unlimited is unlimited and a myth when applied to phone service.  Truth in sales still works.  Deceptive and/or misleading advertising doesn't rule, even though the internet has given it a substantial boost.

 

Not lauding them but at&t DOES actually have a good product.  If one does their homework, it's easy to see who has the actual "best" service, OK.  As an IT person, I've had lots of projects where I could see the inner workings of all the big telcos.  Their customer service is in the US, producing jobs.  There are a lot of complaints about the customer service of the other big players partially due to their having farmed out their phone support, for instance, to foreign countries.

 

 

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

6 years ago

@bbhank  

All plans are advertised with details on ATT.com. All you have to do is read.

The $45 plan is advertised as 6 gigs of full speed data.   Talk and text are unlimited.  

 

 As for “farming out”, ATT has most definitely done so.  I have maybe a 50% success rate with Support.  The phone tree is horrible.  My service quality has degraded 3 times in 3 years.   Th3 lack of Wifi calling for prepaid puts them in LAST place.  

Teacher

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14 Messages

6 years ago

Who is looking on a web page when they go in a store to buy a phone card?!  Even on that web page this information is printed in small print after an asterisk disclaimer.  This is vital information and needs to be prominently and clearly displayed as such. 

 

In addition there is no mention of any minimum, just a maximum, data speed which itself is less than 1/10 of old time 14,400 modems.  This is ridiculous.  It's the minimum that's important, that speed where your data access is EFFECTIVELY useless.  This is not mentioned.  Makes no difference whether or not one is tethering or using the device as a wi-fi hotspot.  What you do with YOUR data is YOUR business!  I have measured speeds down to 0k.  Is 0k (zero data speed) still data?  Is effectively unusable still data?  This is the issue.  They do not say that after 6 gigs or whatever, your data will be EFFECTIVELY cut off.  Whether or not  its trickling, the overall effect is that pages will not load.  When this happens, no matter what the speed, there is no connectivity  that works.  Again the "service" is EFFECTIVELY turned off. 

 

I don't use my phone for entertainment.  I'm not downloading videos.  It is a work tool and a phone.  A lot of my internet is text based and accessed by tethering to the wi-fi hotspot.  Network speeds can be monitored closely.  When throttled there are many "server resets while page is loading" messages.  This is a no-connection situation.  Internet is EFFECTIVELY denied, period, once throttled.

 

With this in place, the ads are, at a minimum, deceptive advertising, and actually, false advertising.  Unlimited means exactly that.  No ifs!  There is no defense.  The definition of "unlimited" has not changed.  Use of this term needs to be taken out of all telephone ads unless they are true, unless unlimited data is a reality, which it is not.

 

Plus this is bad customer service.  There is enough bad customer service already.  Why not try and do something positive, like being open and truthful?  at&t will sell more data without throttling.  The positive press will more than offset all the negative press caused by throttling.  Doing this is causing many of us to refuse to buy into it.  The company is not making money that way.  A lot of us aren't going to buy it, especially when we can go to many places that offer free high speed.  Even fast food restaurants offer this.  In some areas even the city governments offer hot spots.  C'mon at&t.  Get on the stick!  Quit fighting your customers.  There are also customers who aren't made of money, who just plain can't afford the extra data price, but need that kind of service anyway.  What about them?

 

In my case, the extra price of data is more than the price of running a low end data network by land to my house.  DSL is faster than the throttled speeds, a much better deal than buying extra, overpriced, data,  further supporting this farce, and there is no throttling or vague language.

 

What ever happened to the customer being right?  Is the internet exempt?  Business has gone that route.  Today, the customer is never right.  What's this, a new business model?

 

And. NO, this issue is NOT "solved".  It won't be until throttling is eliminated and unlimited becomes unlimited, as the standard definition insists.

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

6 years ago

@bbhank You don’t have an unlimited data plan, you have a 6GB plan. If you want unlimited data, you need to switch to the unlimited data plan. Customers on an actual unlimited data plan do not get slowed to 128kbps. 

Teacher

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14 Messages

6 years ago

goPhones do not offer this.  I can't afford the expensive plans due to exorbitant deposits and prices.  The issue is throttling period while the store shelf card clearly says "Unlimited".  D*** the small print.

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

6 years ago


@bbhank wrote:

With the Go-Phone right now, 4G data is at 6 gigs.  The cards on the store shelves all say "unlimited". 

Please show me what you mean by the above. They must say what is unlimited: data, calls, texts?

 

 

Whether it's called reprioritization, throttling, or corn flakes, it's still the same:  Unlimited is unlimited and a myth when applied to phone service. 

That's why you need to read the offer.

 

If anything says "every" or "all" it's almost always going to be followed with an exception (or it's false); do you see how I added almost in front of the always?

 

So, if I see "unlimited" I know I need to read and see what the limits are.

 

Who is looking on a web page when they go in a store to buy a phone card?!  Even on that web page this information is printed in small print after an asterisk disclaimer.  This is vital information and needs to be prominently and clearly displayed as such. 

 This is pretty big print and it's above the fold on my tiny 11" screen.

Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 10.38.54 AM.png

That's the prepaid unlimited plan.  https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans.html

 

In addition there is no mention of any minimum, just a maximum, data speed which itself is less than 1/10 of old time 14,400 modems. 

It seems like you're shifting gears (again) to a NON-unlimited plan: 128Kbps is what the 1GB and 6GB plans slows down to after you get the data you paid for. It is unbearably slow in my opinion. While THIS speed is hidden in the footnotes, on the page I linked to, going over your data isn't really mention until the footnote, so the slow speed isn't really a hidden issue (it's kind of a bonus if you don't know it's there).

 

This is ridiculous.  It's the minimum that's important, that speed where your data access is EFFECTIVELY useless.  This is not mentioned.  Makes no difference whether or not one is tethering or using the device as a wi-fi hotspot. 

Yes, after you hit fixed numbers (1GB, 3GB) of your prepaid plan or the 10GB hotspot number, it's incredibly slow. 

 

Are you confusing this with the 22GB deprioritization number? That doesn't slow that much automatically when you hit 22GB. It's rare I drop below 4Mbps even when deprioitization kicks in, often much faster. When I'm out of the city the speeds are way higher.

 

What you do with YOUR data is YOUR business!  I have measured speeds down to 0k.  Is 0k (zero data speed) still data?  Is effectively unusable still data?  This is the issue.  They do not say that after 6 gigs or whatever, your data will be EFFECTIVELY cut off. 

Where / Who is this they. Unless you read the fine print, the plan only offers 6GB.

 

I agree it's unusable, they aren't marketing it as very usable. It's mentions as "After high-speed data allowance is used...", after the amount of data you've paid for. I'd expect to get no data after that amount or have to pay for more.

 

They also say:

"You will have basic data use for viewing a web page or checking email. Audio and video streaming, picture and video messaging, select apps and other services, as well as other usage, including sponsored data, will be impacted and may not be fully functional." http://about.att.com/story/att_introduces_mobile_share_advantage.html

 

They aren't pushing this very hard. That's an undersell. 

 

It is a work tool and a phone.  A lot of my internet is text based and accessed by tethering to the wi-fi hotspot.  Network speeds can be monitored closely.  When throttled there are many "server resets while page is loading" messages.  This is a no-connection situation.  Internet is EFFECTIVELY denied, period, once throttled.

Clearly this plan is NOT for you.

 

It sounds like you need a really fixed data plan that has the amount of data you need. If that's a 30GB plan or a 50GB plan. Certainly not a 6GB prepaid plan for work.

 

With this in place, the ads are, at a minimum, deceptive advertising, and actually, false advertising.  Unlimited means exactly that.  No ifs!  There is no defense.  The definition of "unlimited" has not changed.  Use of this term needs to be taken out of all telephone ads unless they are true, unless unlimited data is a reality, which it is not.

I'm confused you're talking about "unlimited" but you're also talking about "6 gigs or whatever".


It's not clear which plan you are talking about. Plus you're posting in a thread about about unlimited plans.

 

 

In my case, the extra price of data is more than the price of running a low end data network by land to my house. 

Wireless data has traditionally cost more than wired data. You're paying for access so that you have it other places than at your house.

 

DSL is faster than the throttled speeds, a much better deal than buying extra, overpriced, data,  further supporting this farce, and there is no throttling or vague language.

Yes. It is.

 

 

It won't be until throttling is eliminated and unlimited becomes unlimited, as the standard definition insists.

That's never going to happen.

 

Even the "all you can eat buffet" has limits. You can't take it with you, it's all you can eat right now. I'm sure some places limit it to a number of hours you can sit there. No 8 hour days with your laptop eating three meals.

 

 

 

 

 

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ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

6 years ago


@bbhank wrote:
goPhones do not offer this.  I can't afford the expensive plans due to exorbitant deposits and prices.  The issue is throttling period while the store shelf card clearly says "Unlimited". 

There is an unlimited data prepaid plan. The other plans have Unlimited texting and calling.

 

We really need to see the shelf card you are referring to...

 

 

ACE - Expert

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64.7K Messages

6 years ago

@Gary L I believe there was a short time when ATT actually advertised the various limited plans, both Mobile Share Advantage and prepaid plans as “unlimited data” even though that only meant no overages and the 128kbps speed restriction was always there. So it may be possible there are prepaid cards that still say something to that effect. That stopped when the new unlimited plans were introduced. 

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

6 years ago


@sandblaster wrote:

@Gary L I believe there was a short time when ATT actually advertised the various limited plans, both Mobile Share Advantage and prepaid plans as “unlimited data” even though that only meant no overages and the 128kbps speed restriction was always there. 

If you recall, the plans came out in August 2016 and they weren't slowing down when you passed their hard limit. It seems like it wasn't until early/mid-December 2016 that those plans started slowing down to 128kbps. It seemed to vary, so I'm not sure if it was based on billing dates or signups or just when AT&T got around to it.

 

So it may be possible there are prepaid cards that still say something to that effect. That stopped when the new unlimited plans were introduced. 

I don't remember advertisements saying "unlimited", more like "no overages". 

See http://about.att.com/story/att_introduces_mobile_share_advantage.html

 

I remember people saying sales reps were selling it as unlimited back then and correcting people (telling them to read the offer) and I'm pretty confident we were pointing out how unbearably slow that would be.

 

I even remember some "shhh"-type comments when people would say it wasn't slowing down when they broke their limit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

6 years ago

Here are the terms they were tossing about:

"Worry-free data" and "No overage charges"

 

 From October 2016. Can't find anything that varies from this significantly (in Sept., Nov. or Dec.).

 

Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 12.10.29 PM.pngBanner ad.

 

Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 12.10.34 PM.pngPlan data description.

Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 12.11.02 PM.pngSee header and smaller print. 

 

 

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