FCC stands up for us on unlmtd vzw - General Topics

verizon is planning to throttle some of us on unlimited in a couple months. the fcc is having none of it.
read about it here.
comments welcome
(mods move please if this doesn't belong here)
thanks

VZW will respond in their typical manner, by stalling for as long as possible, then making up more technobabble regarding "network optimization / prioritization / certification / [insert your term of choice here]". When they finally cannot drag their feet any longer, they will force unmlimited users onto tiered plans, or give them the option to leave with no ETF.
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i dont think etf's are an issue. i believe it has been long enough, no one should be under contract any more.
they cant throttle us as it would violate the 700mhz agreement. so there must be some other legality thats keeping them from kicking us off, or they would have already done it, at least im hoping there is anyways.

My HTC one has been stuck in 3g for a couple of days now...I think these greed mongers found their loop
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Primevyl said:
My HTC one has been stuck in 3g for a couple of days now...I think these greed mongers found their loop
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During my last 6-8 months with VZW, my LTE speeds were getting progressively slower to the point it was barely faster than 3G. YouTube videos always buffered, even when I had 3+ bars of LTE. I am pretty sure they began throttling users long ago, but only now made it "official" policy.
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sublimaze said:
During my last 6-8 months with VZW, my LTE speeds were getting progressively slower to the point it was barely faster than 3G. YouTube videos always buffered, even when I had 3+ bars of LTE. I am pretty sure they began throttling users long ago, but only now made it "official" policy.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
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I noticed the same thing, but I didn't have Unlimited. Where I work, there's apparently a tower not far, yet my speeds were mediocre (3-9Mb/s) At home, there is supposedly equipment from all of the big 4 providers, yet my my Verizon speeds weren't any better. Now, with T-Mobile, at work where the signal is weak (at the farthest point between 2 towers), I get 10-16Mb/s, and at home I get high 20's during the day at the slowest, and at night upwards of 40Mb/s (sometimes more). I don't know if they're throttling on purpose or they're just constantly bottlenecked due to traffic. Either way, I'm glad I switched. Much faster speeds and Unlimited for the same cost.

It's too bad 1GB costs like 10$, these people are so out of touch in regard to the value of data

Tqr said:
It's too bad 1GB costs like 10$, these people are so out of touch in regard to the value of data
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The issues isn't that they don't know the value of data but rather they know that people will pay whatever they charge for it. If they didn't know the value of data they wouldn't resort to moves like throttling unlimited plan users to get them to switch to a capped plan.

Related

Well... I am now being throttled

So I never have come close to using my 5 gb of data but it seems that it happened for the first time last night. I was under the impression that throttling was only used under extreme conditions for repeat offenders seeing as how "some people" have managed to exceed the limit without being hit. My data stands at .01 kbps download and .001 kbps upload. I'm pretty annoyed right now and am giving more and more thought into another carrier and another phone. I am noticing that this phone officially bores me now. Sad because I did like it...til now.
Edit: I've jumped to 45 kbps download and 70 kbps upload. That seems to be the max now..
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well thats what you get for going over 5gb. its life on any carrier and any phone. so if your bored of the phone ok get another phone but your throttled life isnt going to change.
syaoran68 said:
well thats what you get for going over 5gb. its life on any carrier and any phone. so if your bored of the phone ok get another phone but your throttled life isnt going to change.
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Any carrier? Last time I checked, Sprint is the only carrier to have true unlimited data. Rumors have stated Verizon is reconsidering. AT&T continues to honor grandfathered unlimited plans and T-Mobile has done what? Lowered everyone's data allowance regardless of previous plans or time with the company.
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Well I have unlimited android web since last march and I've always had unlimited, no throttle, nothing, I've downloaded unlimited amounts and still no throttle.
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jonathan3579 said:
I'm pretty annoyed right now and am giving more and more thought into another carrier and another phone. I am noticing that this phone officially bores me now. Sad because I did like it...til now.
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I've hit the data throttle points a few times so i can speak from experience.
Just because you've hit the throttle point doesn't mean that the phone in itself sucks. The phone is still the same phone that had good download speeds. If you want to go to another carrier then fine. I'm not going to even attempt to stop you. But keep in mind 5Gb is a fair amount of usage. And other carriers will charge you for going over your limit, not just throttle you.
And for new customers AT&T doesn't even offer unlimited anymore. it's $25 for 2gb and $10 for every gb you use after that.
Sprint has unlimited, but their speeds suck for now. And they have horrible CS.
Verizon is still setting up their LTE network, and I believe once they are up and running they will be great. They don't even have any 4G phones yet. When the Thunderbolt comes out they'll have one, but who knows what you'd think of that phone. I haven't read any reviews.
I also heard some chatter about T-Mo re-raising their limit to 10gb. I hope they do that. IMO t-mo has amazing devices and excellent service, atleast where I live. We have all the major carriers in Spokane, and t-mo has by far the fastest data. CS speaks for itself. JD Power speaks for their customer service too. They speak good things.
In general, I think it's ridiculous for carriers to offer more and more bandwidth intensive apps like Netflix and all the streaming music apps, not to mention the ability to hook into an HDTV via HDMI or DLNA, and then lower the cap on our bandwidth to 5gb. So I hope they increase it again. It would be nice if one day they offered true unlimited and were OK with tethering and all that for us users who'd like to nix our home internet all together.
Either way, welcome to the throttling world. I don't think you'll be happier if you switch to a new carrier. Just suck it up until your next cycle. and next month, use wifi whenever humanly possible to save your data.
Cheers!
jonathan3579 said:
Any carrier? Last time I checked, Sprint is the only carrier to have true unlimited data. Rumors have stated Verizon is reconsidering. AT&T continues to honor grandfathered unlimited plans and T-Mobile has done what? Lowered everyone's data allowance regardless of previous plans or time with the company.
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Clearly you haven't read Sprints terms of service. Go to their website and at the bottom of the page click it and read it.
TJBunch1228 said:
And for new customers AT&T doesn't even offer unlimited anymore. it's $25 for 2gb and $10 for every gb you use after that.
Sprint has unlimited, but their speeds suck for now. And they have horrible CS.
Verizon is still setting up their LTE network, and I believe once they are up and running they will be great. They don't even have any 4G phones yet. When the Thunderbolt comes out they'll have one, but who knows what you'd think of that phone. I haven't read any reviews.
I also heard some chatter about T-Mo re-raising their limit to 10gb. I hope they do that. IMO t-mo has amazing devices and excellent service, atleast where I live. We have all the major carriers in Spokane, and t-mo has by far the fastest data. CS speaks for itself. JD Power speaks for their customer service too. They speak good things.
In general, I think it's ridiculous for carriers to offer more and more bandwidth intensive apps like Netflix and all the streaming music apps, not to mention the ability to hook into an HDTV via HDMI or DLNA, and then lower the cap on our bandwidth to 5gb. So I hope they increase it again. It would be nice if one day they offered true unlimited and were OK with tethering and all that for us users who'd like to nix our home internet all together.
Either way, welcome to the throttling world. I don't think you'll be happier if you switch to a new carrier. Just suck it up until your next cycle. and next month, use wifi whenever humanly possible to save your data.
Cheers!
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Yeah, one of my good friends has discovered the wonderful fees from AT&T which I would fight. He crosses 2 gb within a week or two every bill. (And he doesn't know how to tether either...)
I have seen some relatively good speeds from Sprint here in Houston. And their $69 plan seems to be a pretty good option as well.
Verizon is the carrier that interests me the most and like you said, I believe they will be good once they finish with LTE. I am sure that I would like the Thunderbolt BUT I don't believe it to be anything groundbreaking. Let's face it, the specs are last year's best. (Actually, I don't think that even counts since the LG Optimus 2X was released in December albeit in another country.)
I have enjoyed T-Mobiles customer service however I feel that the company as a whole is making too many mistakes in exactly what you said - Promoting apps that use up a helluva lot more data with streaming and the like. On a side note, the data increase has been confirmed for the hotspot devices but nothing as far as I know of when it comes to phones. Disappointing really.
I guess this whole thing pisses me off because I have never come close to reaching the cap. In fact, I typically don't ever cross 2 gb of data so when I finally decide to dig into streaming music, tv, and movies then I get hit slowing my phone to a near complete stop. The phone isn't completely useless but it's just a fragment of what I loved about it. And syncing is taking forever thus draining my battery faster. I know there are plenty of people who have passed the threshold numerous times with no recourse but I cross it once (and haven't even checked by how much) and don't even so much as receive a data warning? I dunno....it just makes me think.
I'm always on WiFi so I never worry about this
*Sent from Carmen diva*
BTW, you may want to make sure the data they claimed you used was actually used. They seem to have some issues with their metering system. I ran into this problem last week with Tmob. They claimed I used 5.2GB in 6hours in the middle of the night while my phone was on wifi. Took forever, but they eventually unthrottled me.
More info here: http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Inter...lse-being-wrongly-throttled/m-p/755761#M23072
were you Downloading torrents?
sent from my rooted mytouch 4g
carmeng4evr said:
I'm always on WiFi so I never worry about this
*Sent from Carmen diva*
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Me too so this is a non issue for me
sent from my rooted mytouch 4g
surfnhawaii808 said:
were you Downloading torrents?
sent from my rooted mytouch 4g
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I'm not sure if that was directed at me or the OP, but no, I don't use my phone for torrents. I've got a mac mini server that I download everything on. I just use transdroid remote control to monitor them from my phone.
I download music and apps I buy,i also play a lot of youtube and surf all day long.
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Data responsibility
Don't get pissed at T-Mo
People that are at the top users of T-Mo will get throttled so that "you guys" don't ruin it for the rest of us.
I don't want my download speeds / latency affected because a small subset of people eat up the bandwidth thinking that T-Mo can replace their ISP. I surf, stream, communicate, etc on my phone, but I'm responsible enough to use WiFi when possible as to not lag the network.
Not sure about everyone else, but when I want my mobile data, it needs to be quick. So I use wifi when available to keep my traffic off the towers, so others that need it won't be hampered.

Att/LTE observation

Ok so I have been reading different post on several message boards and forums about how Att is the Devil for throttling there grandfathered Unlimited customers. Now, you would think coming from Sprint only four months ago I would be siding with these customers but thats not the case.
I started with Spint in 2008 and for the first two years it was great. Then came Android. Now I love Android, but after people really started getting into android and mobile browsing, and then with the introduction of the HTC Hero and definetly after the Htc Evo data speeds dropped significanltly. I went from Youtube videos loading fast to them taking up to 30 seconds to load short videos. Wimax was an even bigger joke, my Iphone 4s which I returned for the Skyrocket yielded higher speed scores just on a Hspa+ network.
Now everyone wants to praise Verizon for allowing there customers keep their unlimited plans unthrottled. Now this is a good thing, but many speedtest that I have seen on YouTube and also today on Engadgets quick review of the new Nexus phone on Verizon, using a mifi device the Nexus got download speeds that my old Iphones 4s could easily double.
So whats the point of me writing this. Its written as a beware what you wish for story. Yes it would be nice to have anything unlimited but the truth is that many people abuse the system. I have read of people who have used up to 60 gbs of data in one month. What could you possibly be doing that would take up so much data. Im in a LTE area and last month I hit 1.4 gbs, I have wifi at home but not at work. Moreover, it really isnt fair that I am paying practically the same thing that an unlimited customer is but using far less data. An before anyone says that im just jealous not to have unlimited the fact is I really dont care who has it. But when your overendulgence of data slows down mine then we have a problem.
I get your complaint and in the same time I don't get your complaint. does it make sense?
I refuse to see it that way. As a whole we paid for the lines.. with lte its been documented the system is perfectly capable of handling all we throw at it at no additional cost.. Why penalize one who uses it more. 60gb is abuse for sure but the 5-10 range can be hit pretty easily)
It is going to be sad to see net neutrality come to an end ...its coming. We will see pay per use solely for the fact that they will make more
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Im not really complaining. Really if I was At&t I would move all Unlimited customers to a 10gb plan so they still get a lot of data but they also wont abuse it.
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Its not fair.. I use 100kb a month and I want it all for free.. Damn Att&t for not wanting to lose money!.. lol
I'm amazed they don't charge extra just for having hspa+ or lte. My Cox internet at home is tiered by speed. I would have thought they would have implemented a pricing system similar by now.
Yeah I think that's how most home internet providers do it. I'm on att uverse and I believe I have the 10 mbps plan. The problem with a cell phone company trying to do this is they can't always guarantee the speed your going to get because it varies by your location.
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I am just learning about/reading about net neutrality so I could be way off here ...but I "think" the FCC prevents them from billing wireless this way (by speed)
If and when that changes (lots of speculation it will) it is speculated we will see tiers based off usage AND speed
swedishcancerboi said:
I'm amazed they don't charge extra just for having hspa+ or lte. My Cox internet at home is tiered by speed. I would have thought they would have implemented a pricing system similar by now.
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[Q] AT&T new throttle policy

I'm just trying to figure out Att's new throttle policy.
Someone started the rumor that while talking to att's throttle department, they were told that it would be based on a person's last month's usage.
Each one of us was interpreting this differently. Some say you will only be throttled when you hit your last month usage. meaning if you used 30 gb then you can use up to 30 gb the following month. I thought it would be if your previous month's usage was in the top 5% then you are screwed this month. It seems counter productive for att to follow this policy. Everyone will be using as much data to have more speed the following month.
I did some research and could only find that att's policy was always to base the top 5% users on the previous month's statistics of their whole consumer base.
Can you guys confirm this? Especially for those who have been unthrottled. what is your previous months stat compared to this month?
Here
PC Mag article from today with some good information.
I don't see how they could fairly base it on how much you personally/individually used the prior month/billing period. That could be even worse for some that don't use that much data even though they have an unlimited plan, as they could conceivably get throttled at 500 MB - maybe less. And furthermore, it flies in the face of their supposed concern which is the alleged "data hogs" on the network. Plus, if that were the case, wouldn't you just stream Pandora or something every night while you sleep and eventually get your "allowed" GB limit way up after a few months?
To me, if you are going to go with the ambiguous top 5% (as opposed to a sort of soft "cap" like T-Mobile's 5 GB throttle threshhold) the only fair way to do it is to base the 5% from the previous month/billing cycle on a nationwide standard of all UNLIMITED plan users (those on tiered plans should not be used in the calculation). A nationwide standard seems more equitable than punishing or rewarding people based on where they live and establishing the 5% "for a person's region." Why should I be punished or rewarded just because I live in Dallas when compared to someone who lives in Atlanta or NY.
To me, if they are going to insist on throttling and claiming it is based on bandwidth/spectrum concerns (which it is clearly not, since I'm sure they would gladly let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB in a billing period and just charge them $170 more that period - and someone using 20 GB of data on a tiered plan uses the same amount of bandwidth/spectrum as someone using 20 GB on an unlimited plan), then a reasonable policy would be something like:
1) If you are unlimited, you get up to 5 GB without having your LTE speeds throttled...ever (similar to T-Mobile's policy)
2) Once you go over 5 GB in a billing period, you can be throttled to 3G speeds if you are on a congested tower, but once you are connected to a non-congested tower (whether because you are on the same tower when you got throttled, but it is no longer congested, or you changed towers because you left the house, got home, etc.) you are back to LTE speeds (similar to Verizon's policy)
No more of this ambiguous, inconsistent 5% nonsense. Put something concrete and transparent in place. And in my opinion, either #1 or #2 above would be better than what they do now.
However, I doubt they would ever put a policy in place that combined #1 and #2 above because it would likely not help achieve AT&T's goal with the throttling, which is clearly to "encourage" people to drop their unlimited plans for tiered plans so AT&T can make more money.
does anyone know the phone number to the throttle department?
AT&T’s policies are broken. First they decide to throttle the top 5% without releasing any information on what that is. Soon after we realize those using
Netflix, hulu, and slingbox were being throttled at around 2GB when others were being throttled much later (probably more closer to the real “top 5%” of the area)
Then AT&T stopped penalizing people using their phones to stream movies and tv shows and started throttling everybody at 2GB or less
Now, there are rumors of a “press release” which hasn’t been seen anywhere yet that says they will base throttling off last month’s data usage.
However things are about to change again, as a judge recently awarded a throttling customer $850 stating “it wasn't fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an "unlimited data" plan.”
This opens up a whole can of worms for AT&T, one they will feel. If even a fraction of those throttled gets a similar payout this would be very bad for AT&T. lets pretend 800,000x$850= $680,000,000
AT&T’s next move could quite possibly hurt the company more than any scandal it could ever imagine.
My guess is they will do less throttling and even that will be at higher levels then we have seen over the last few months, maybe around 5gb? 10gb? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stopped throttling all together.
Im sure after dude won his $850, at least 10’s of thousands of people have already filed small claims suits against the company already, when more of those articles come out, you will see that number jump to the hundreds of thousands.
if you haven't read about the small claims suit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...data-throttling_n_1300212.html?ref=technology
http://www.examiner.com/technology-in-national/at-t-iphone-user-wins-data-throttling-case-850
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/att-throttling-customer/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mickeym...this-two-big-consumer-small-claims-victories/
I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
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Happy someone did it. I was forced to switch to a tiered plan from my unlimited because I was being throttled at around 2gb. That lasted maybe a week and a half then my new lte skyrocket was pretty much useless data wise. I'm on the 3gb plan for the same price. I hope more people sue att.
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00mred00 said:
I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
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How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?
I'm more curious about their throttling department, I WOULD love to talk to them, since my last throttling was around 7 gb and now I'm being threatened around 3 gb, total bull****.
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I was warned in December at 4 1/2 gigs and then throttled in January at 2 gigs....BUT I was up in NY with LTE speeds in December but live in a non-LTE area so I think they considered me in the top 5% for where I live NOT where I was using the data. My fastest d/l speed at my house is 4mb. I think 4mb is throttled compared to people that have LTE so I think I shouldn't be throttled at all.
Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O
scott14719 said:
Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O
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While the tiered pricing may theoretically encourage people to use less spectrum, AT&T would happily let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB and change them an extra $170 that period.
The thing is that that tiered user takes up just as much spectrum to get to that 20 GB as an unlimited user who also uses 20 GB - the $10 charged for each additional GB of usage in a tiered plan does does not magically create additional spectrum. The ONLY difference is that the unlimited would essentially be paying $1.50/GB, while the tiered user would be paying $10/GB, and AT&T does not like that because they aren't making as much money as they could.
So while they can say that tiered plans encourage people to use less data (which to some extent it probably does/would) and that is a good thing because spectrum is limited, at the end of the day, the heart of the matter boils down to money...plain and simple. And AT&T wants to get people off unlimited plans, not because of a spectrum issue, but because they want to make more money.
privatewarrior1 said:
How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?
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I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
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You need to report this. From what I understand it is not supposed to be throttling at that low of usage AND if you are throttled, it should only be down to 3G speeds from LTE speeds.
I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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astang99 said:
I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.
obliv said:
Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.
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that's correct. throttle speeds are edge speeds.
00mred00 said:
I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
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I wonder if their new policy will begin next month and will be used on this month's use. I'm just debating whether I should raise my usage. I'm still below 2gigs unthrottled with some 10 days left.
btw I remember you were the one who said that this would be their new policy.
do you happen to have the throttle dpt direct #?
BTW i was thinking. should someone start a thread about the lawsuit on the att forums?

AT&T Clarifies Its Policy On Data Throttling, Allows 5GB Of Unaltered Data Flow For L

AT&T Clarifies Its Policy On Data Throttling, Allows 5GB Of Unaltered Data Flow For L
With mobile data usage continuing to skyrocket and the availability of spectrum scarce, AT&T, like other wireless companies, manages its network in the most fair way possible so that we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience for all our customers.
How we’re managing the network only affects a small minority of the heaviest smartphone data users still on unlimited plans. Put another way, this does not impact more than 95 percent of our smartphone customers.
Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect. Here’s what customers need to know:
Customers with a 3G or 4G smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – will see speeds reduced if they use 3GB (gigabytes) of data or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle. For context, less than 5 percent of smartphone customers use more than 3GB per month.
For customers with a 4G LTE smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – data speeds will be reduced if usage is 5GB (gigabytes) or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle
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Customers will get a text message from us before experiencing a change in speed.
Even with reduced data speeds, these customers will still be able to email and surf the web, and continue to use an unlimited amount of data each month.
Not impacted by this program, launched last year, are customers on our tiered data plans.
The reason reduced speeds only apply to unlimited smartphone customers is because their data usage is significantly higher than those on tiered plans. For example, in January, the top 5 percent of our unlimited data plan customers used an average of over 50 percent more data than the top 5 percent of customers on tiered plans.
Because spectrum is limited and data usage continues to soar, we manage our network this way to be as fair as possible and so we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience to everyone.
We encourage all of our customers to use Wi-Fi whenever possible – especially when watching video, which is the most data-intensive activity.
That’s because data activity over Wi-Fi does not count against the threshold for unlimited customers that triggers reduced data speeds or against customers’ tiered data plans. Customers can find out more at www.att.com/datainfo
But some people were getting throttled even when they didn't go over 3gb. I believe they shouldn't throttle for the whole billing cycle. Only when someone is abusing it when there's a lot of traffic in the network, and restore it after that period. But that would probably require a lot of work. I dunno just my opinion.
Never been throttled, I don't use a lot of data.
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jayson94538 said:
But some people were getting throttled even when they didn't go over 3gb. I believe they shouldn't throttle for the whole billing cycle. Only when someone is abusing it when there's a lot of traffic in the network, and restore it after that period. But that would probably require a lot of work. I dunno just my opinion.
Never been throttled, I don't use a lot of data.
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Did you read it?? That all just changed.
Well.. That sucks. Only one month did I use 6 gigs. Typically don't use over 1 though. Meh. Let the angry comments come in. I'd be pissed if there wasn't wifi at my house, and I lived in good cell reception, and depended on it. ATT.. You're full of crap.
Atleast LTE users get a break. I'll get an LTE phone next time around the block.
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It's still bull. I bought my phone because AT&T said that I was buying a 4G phone and said I was told how fast it was.
They put YouTube, a web browser, an email app and a text messaging app, just to name a few, on my phone.
Truckerglenn said:
It's still bull. I bought my phone because AT&T said that I was buying a 4G phone and said I was told how fast it was.
They put YouTube, a web browser, an email app and a text messaging app, just to name a few, on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're still getting unlimited data. When you signed up, did the contract guarantee you unlimited data at speeds greater than or equal to XXmb/s, or just unlimited data?
Maybe a better way to "CLARIFY" is to change the Plan name from UNlimited to " LIMITED "
That would clear it all up would'nt it?
Geez....ATT you are way too big.
Erik_T said:
Did you read it?? That all just changed.
Well.. That sucks. Only one month did I use 6 gigs. Typically don't use over 1 though. Meh. Let the angry comments come in. I'd be pissed if there wasn't wifi at my house, and I lived in good cell reception, and depended on it. ATT.. You're full of crap.
Atleast LTE users get a break. I'll get an LTE phone next time around the block.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol and how will it change my opinion? Oh well. Like I said, I don't use that much data anyways.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997
Erik_T said:
Did you read it?? That all just changed.
Well.. That sucks. Only one month did I use 6 gigs. Typically don't use over 1 though. Meh. Let the angry comments come in. I'd be pissed if there wasn't wifi at my house, and I lived in good cell reception, and depended on it. ATT.. You're full of crap.
Atleast LTE users get a break. I'll get an LTE phone next time around the block.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no reading for most people is pretty freaking hard
CheesyNutz said:
no reading for most people is pretty freaking hard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Evidently... Lol. Still think it's horse****. I might actually think about Verizon... WOW.
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using data with limited speed is NOT unlimited.
using data with limited speed BY hardware specs, however, is different.
basically, people should just sue att for false advertisement.
tjy8tim said:
using data with limited speed is NOT unlimited.
using data with limited speed BY hardware specs, however, is different.
basically, people should just sue att for false advertisement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea because its in the contract you sign that they the right to throttle you and any point they choose too
Hmmm.. So what's the default APN on LTE??
I just wanted to throw it out there.. I will probably look this up later myself..
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CheesyNutz said:
yea because its in the contract you sign that they the right to throttle you and any point they choose too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. Didn't sign a contract. Though I did feel the need for an iPhone 2g for a few hours.. While I had my infuse and somehow almost used up my whole 2 gigs in 2 days. Something went funky with ATT servers.. Or the infuse. Lol.
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Erik_T said:
Hmm.. Didn't sign a contract. Though I did feel the need for an iPhone 2g for a few hours.. While I had my infuse and somehow almost used up my whole 2 gigs in 2 days. Something went funky with ATT servers.. Or the infuse. Lol.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying that you have no service agreement with them?
Then you shouldn't be complaining.
Sent from my AT100 using xda premium
apallohadas said:
So you're saying that you have no service agreement with them?
Then you shouldn't be complaining.
Sent from my AT100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Lol. There's a flaw where if you had the original iphone then you could set it up in iTunes and get unlimited data.
In two days, at the beginning of a cycle, when I was on my 2 gig planned (had just got the phone a month or two before..) It decided to go through the roof with my usage. 2 gigs. 2 days...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
So what qualifies as a "LTE phone"? Is the Infuse not an LTE phone??
And does anyone know if this 3GB cap just started?
Because this month I got throttled at 2040mb ... which is... roughly.. 2GB.. right.
I think 5GB sounds fair for an "unlimited" (limited) plan.
I would never go over that!... 3GB... I hover around that every month for sure.
hollywood528 said:
So what qualifies as a "LTE phone"? Is the Infuse not an LTE phone??
And does anyone know if this 3GB cap just started?
Because this month I got throttled at 2040mb ... which is... roughly.. 2GB.. right.
I think 5GB sounds fair for an "unlimited" (limited) plan.
I would never go over that!... 3GB... I hover around that every month for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No
Today
Yes
Me too
Cool...
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Erik_T said:
No. Lol. There's a flaw where if you had the original iphone then you could set it up in iTunes and get unlimited data.
In two days, at the beginning of a cycle, when I was on my 2 gig planned (had just got the phone a month or two before..) It decided to go through the roof with my usage. 2 gigs. 2 days...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you do have a service agreement. A contract. I can guarantee that if you've gotten a subsidized phone from them since your iPhone that you either signed or clicked through a new contract binding you to updated agreements but keeping your unlimited plan.
Sent from my AT100 using xda premium
apallohadas said:
So you do have a service agreement. A contract. I can guarantee that if you've gotten a subsidized phone from them since your iPhone that you either signed or clicked through a new contract binding you to updated agreements but keeping your unlimited plan.
Sent from my AT100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably when I finished setting it up in iTunes, it sealed the dev. Idk. Whatever. My contract expires next year. ill have this phone for a while, and keep the plan. And then onto the next phone..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Here's the deal. Less than 5% of AT&T users have unlimited data. They want the unlimited people gone. They are trying to monetize power-users while managing bandwidth (which is a finite resource) to keep the average users happy. If you had a business and had to choose between keeping 5% of your customers happy, or 95% of your customers happy... you would make the same choice. These decisions aren't about the users today... it's about 2015 when the average smartphone user will use alot more data... and there will be more smartphone users.... etc, etc.
Not saying I condone these decisions... but after all they are a business. They have a finite resource (bandwidth) and have to make as much profit as possible with that finite resource. Bandwidth doesn't grow on trees, and neither does money. End of story.

AT&T Rant

I understand but don't agree with AT&T's throttle policy. But this is just ridiculous (see screenshot below).
.01 Mbps!!! Ridiculous... speeds this slow make my phone practically unusable!! And this is "unlimited" data... haha.
I know there is nothing I can do except grind my teeth and take it or go elsewhere.. I hope AT&T loses a lot of business because of this.
I understand throttling to an extent... but to throttle at 3gb with technology today. HD videos, Netflix, YouTube, internet radio, posting pictures with the phones 8mp camera.. of course data usage is getting bigger and limits are getting smaller.
I don't go far over 3gb, its hard to with these speeds.. but its normally the last week of the month that I get throttled. So I would most likely use 4gb, maybe 5gb. I read that 4g phone plans have a 5gb limit... and honestly I thought the Infuse was a "4g" phone... any way for an enormous and very profitable company to stick it to the little guys.
I also noticed that I get throttled at different usage. I use data monitor to track my usage and I've been throttled as low as roughly 2.5gb and at max I'll get to maybe 4gb.
Does anyone know how exactly we are throttled? It can't be automatic if it varies this much, can it? I imagine some well paid old man in a suit counting his stack of money, laughing and randomly hitting a big throttle button. Haha.
I apologize for a semi useless post and ranting away.. it's just been one of those days and needed to blow some steam.
Thank you for listening and everyone who contributes to this forum.
Now I'll sit here while I wait for this post and screenshot to upload on my ATT throttled BS. I wonder if a dial up connection would be faster.. haha. Do they still have dial up internet available? Remember all those AOL CDs? Haha.. sorry... I'm done...
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
I feel your pain, but from a different direction.
We only have the 200MB per month AT&T plan for each of our 5 Infuse phones and don't go over that.
Most of our internet activities occur at home where we use our Wifi router.
But that single Wifi router feeds up to 5 phones, a pc, and three laptops.
After somewhere around 5GB in a month and our ISP (Clear) starts throttling us slower.
It definitely kills the experience when you can't watch a video from start to finish without waiting for it to buffer a few times.
Unlimited Text, Talk, and Data, only $45/mo: Prepaid Straight Talk SIM Port your number over, and tell ATT to go fornicate themselves.
I am rated at 7.2mbit up to 360mb. I will grab another test once I'm throttled. This is o2 in Munich Germany. They say throttled speed is 64k. We will see.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
I feel for you, but at the same time all carriers are doing this or will be doing it in the near future.
If you look at the current growth of mobile data usage and consider the spectrum they have to work with it's not sustainable. You can only fit so much information in a certain amount of bandwidth.
I am almost always near wifi, so my monthly data usage rarely excedes 200-300 mb. I'm on the 2gb plan but have never even used half of it.
Personally I wish companies would charge for what you actually use. (at a reasonable rate of course)
That will never happen, because they can't do the legal gymnastics to call it "unlimited" and they would scare off the early adopter and trendsetter types.
I left AT&T for Straight talk and left my 400 Meg twice as expensive plan behind for unlimited talk, text and data and now happily tether my Thrive Tablet to my phone on the back woods farm of my grandparents in Kentucky for Christmas where AT&T couldn't even connect! :good:
The thing you are forgetting is Straight Talk isn't true unlimited either. I have them and I'm talking from experience. I've gotten lucky and used almost 5gb and not been throttled but they are getting worse about it lately. I only used 1.6GB this month and they throttled me. There is no rhyme or reason to how they do it but they do it. 2GB and less you are usually fine on ST but if you goto howardforums.com and goto the Straight Talk section they have a thread on the throttling. Some people use 4-5GB and have no issues but some use a bit over 1GB and get throttled. It's honestly still WELL worth the cost because to even get CLOSE to this on AT&T for a single line will be around $110 a month.
I have 3 GB data plan and I think that's enough for me
If you are on single person plan, I also think that straight talk will be better choice for you
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
I hate the fact that they make you have a data plan with any smart phone. But their new family share plan helps a lot.
Going to look into Straight Talk, thx
If you upgrade your phone to LTE phone, you will get 5 GB and get throttled.
You should upgrade your phone to get more and faster data from AT&T
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zpzp96 said:
If you upgrade your phone to LTE phone, you will get 5 GB and get throttled.
You should upgrade your phone to get more and faster data from AT&T
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But then I will have to sign another two year contract if I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a phone
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Throttling never makes sense just like the family share plan it's an excuse to get more money. I got fed up with ATT and left for t mobile. The plans are cheaper and I get true unlimited. With a rooted phone I tether and sure it's not true Lte but I still average 8-10 Mbps and that's perfect for me.
no 2 yr contract nexus 4 and T-Mobile best option out there
hollywood528 said:
But then I will have to sign another two year contract if I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a phone
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I don't know will enough about AT&T, but I believe you party same amount of money even you are under contract or not right?
Then all you need to pay is phone cost. There are some good phones with LTE and under $100.
Or you have choice of straight talk which gives you pretty good amount of data with super cheap cost.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
tmobile is true unlimited. also has month to month plan no contract. i'm gonna switch over soon when my contract is done with att...
Just wanted to chime in for a second. I had Straight Talk on my Infuse 4G for almost a year and while the service is pretty decent, I noticed that in a crowded AT&T cell I get kicked off. Also, I notice that (very rarely) in some places I don't have access to 3G service whereas other people with contract AT&T do (might be a modem thing, though, not 100% sure). There is supposedly an unspoken limit of 2GB of data per month (and some say even 100MB per day at most), but I have been careful to stay under both of those limits, the maximum I have used in a month on ST was 1.4GB.
Now I'm back on AT&T with 6GB Mobile Data Share and 2 lines (our Skyrocket i727s) and I have to say that the service is more consistent than I had on my time with straight talk (I've witnessed at shopping centers and malls I got kicked off of the data network more than a few times in favor of AT&T customers due to crowded cells), that and the LTE is great and the Skyrocket is just an all around awesome phone. I know the i727 is long in the tooth, but $.97 for a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S3, 1GB of RAM, LTE and that great 8MP camera is too hard to pass up. If you're broke like I was, it's a good deal.
Just my two cents. I know AT&T is a PITA but it could always be worse...you could be stuck on Sprint paying for 4G in an area with no 4G like I used to, lol.

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