Verizon backs off plans to throttle unlimited data users:
http://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-backs-off-on-plans-to-throttle-unlimited-data-users/
Awesome news.
Sweet victory! Perhaps the FCC finally did its job?
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Honestly I think it may have been a good idea, after all why should data hogs get to slow everyone else's speeds down ? If someone is using a ridiculous amount of data why should everyone else have to suffer for it ?
Roefastford said:
Honestly I think it may have been a good idea, after all why should data hogs get to slow everyone else's speeds down ? If someone is using a ridiculous amount of data why should everyone else have to suffer for it ?
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Or maybe, since some customers are entitled to unlimited data, Verizon should keep their infrastructure updated and upgraded to handle the demand rather than blame someone for using a service they're paying for.
dante020 said:
Or maybe, since some customers are entitled to unlimited data, Verizon should keep their infrastructure updated and upgraded to handle the demand rather than blame someone for using a service they're paying for.
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I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long. With all their customers it would be nearly impossible to be able update that much to where the data hogs dont affect all the others using data, they can only do so much its not like they can just pull those kind of updates out of there arse.
I"am talking realistically that is why verizons data is slower than at&t's because verizons is already congested enough then add on data hogs and everyone else feels the effects of the over users, which its the ones that brag about how much data they use like they are proud of it and try to use as much as they can and have no reguard for anyone but themselves.
Roefastford said:
I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long. With all their customers it would be nearly impossible to be able update that much to where the data hogs dont affect all the others using data, they can only do so much its not like they can just pull those kind of updates out of there arse.
I"am talking realistically that is why verizons data is slower than at&t's because verizons is already congested enough then add on data hogs and everyone else feels the effects of the over users, which its the ones that brag about how much data they use like they are proud of it and try to use as much as they can and have no reguard for anyone but themselves.
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Streaming videos all day long should be an acceptable use of unlimited data. The real problem is people torrenting and tethering and racking up 100+GB/mo. Even then, those people are a vast minority and I doubt they have a realistic effect when looking at the big picture.
Roefastford said:
I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long.
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Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
To me, it's obvious this was nothing more than a ploy to try to force those that still have unlimited data to get off it. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it if they'd do the same with everyone. But to just single somebody like me out when the guy who has a 10 gig plan uses more than I do is, well, like I said, it's obvious what it is.
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
Can anybody tell me how my 4-6 GBs a month congests the network anymore than the guy who has a 10 GB plan and uses the same does? I didn't think so.
dante020 said:
Streaming videos all day long should be an acceptable use of unlimited data. The real problem is people torrenting and tethering and racking up 100+GB/mo. Even then, those people are a vast minority and I doubt they have a realistic effect when looking at the big picture.
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I think they should be cut to at least half speed when they go over 5 gb's that is fairly reasonable. I think they slow things down more than people realize, you have to take in to account how congested a lot of towers can be in populated areas and they are infringing upon the rights of others, Why should they be able to slow everyone else down ?
Roefastford said:
I think they should be cut to at least half speed when they go over 5 gb's that is fairly reasonable. I think they slow things down more than people realize, you have to take in to account how congested a lot of towers can be in populated areas and they are infringing upon the rights of others, Why should they be able to slow everyone else down ?
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I think you're missing the point - if you're sold an "unlimited" service it should be unlimited. It's fully Verizon's responsibility to provide the infrastructure that can support the service they sold. If they can't support said service then they shouldn't have it as an option.
robocuff said:
Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
To me, it's obvious this was nothing more than a ploy to try to force those that still have unlimited data to get off it. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it if they'd do the same with everyone. But to just single somebody like me out when the guy who has a 10 gig plan uses more than I do is, well, like I said, it's obvious what it is.
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
Can anybody tell me how my 4-6 GBs a month congests the network anymore than the guy who has a 10 GB plan and uses the same does? I didn't think so.
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I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.
robocuff said:
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
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There are actually people out there with unlimited contracts. In fact, I renewed my contract several months ago and kept my unlimited data. There are still ways around it.
Roefastford said:
I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.
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The only fair solution here is to throttle everyone equally. As stated by robocuff, throttling unlimited plans is just a ploy to get people to move over to metered plans.
dante020 said:
I think you're missing the point - if you're sold an "unlimited" service it should be unlimited. It's fully Verizon's responsibility to provide the infrastructure that can support the service they sold. If they can't support said service then they shouldn't have it as an option.
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Cellular providers have a different definition of unlimited, most providers have a 2 to 3 gb limit even on unlimited plans. I think sprint capped theirs at 5 gb's at some point not sure anymore. They have to limit or you have people using their cell data plan for their home internet and use 100 gb's or more tethering to computers.
I"am not talking about saving them money what I"am talking about is how these abusers affect the other data users why should the normal user be affected by these data hogs, how is that fair to the average user ?
They should be slowed to 1/2 lte speed if they are affecting others as they have no right to abuse and affect everyone else.
---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------
dante020 said:
There are actually people out there with unlimited contracts. In fact, I renewed my contract several months ago and kept my unlimited data. There are still ways around it.
The only fair solution here is to throttle everyone equally. As stated by robocuff, throttling unlimited plans is just a ploy to get people to move over to metered plans.
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If they hog the data then they should be slowed down, that would not be fair to the average user. Why should data hogs be allowed to put their needs over everyone else ?
Roefastford said:
Cellular providers have a different definition of unlimited, most providers have a 2 to 3 gb limit even on unlimited plans. I think sprint capped theirs at 5 gb's at some point not sure anymore. They have to limit or you have people using their cell data plan for their home internet and use 100 gb's or more tethering to computers.
I"am not talking about saving them money what I"am talking about is how these abusers affect the other data users why should the normal user be affected by these data hogs, how is that fair to the average user ?
They should be slowed to 1/2 lte speed if they are affecting others as they have no right to abuse and affect everyone else.
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The solution is for Verzon to upgrade their infrastructure or stop offering unlimited plans. Aside from that, I think we should agree to disagree since this is going in circles.
dante020 said:
The solution is for Verzon to upgrade their infrastructure or stop offering unlimited plans. Aside from that, I think we should agree to disagree since this is going in circles.
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It all boils down to fairness abusers should not be able to affect the use of others.
Roefastford said:
I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.
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I understand that but the problem with it is Verizon isn't talking about just those that you're talking about. They're including those that may use less data than somebody on a tiered plan. I fail to see how that can be optimizing anything when they allow others to use more and not throttle them too.
robocuff said:
I understand that but the problem with it is Verizon isn't talking about just those that you're talking about. They're including those that may use less data than somebody on a tiered plan. I fail to see how that can be optimizing anything when they allow others to use more and not throttle them too.
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Yeah maybe they should just throttle anyone to half lte speed after they use so much data in one day, such as limit each one line to a data limit of 1 gb then over 1 gb in a day and lte speeds go to 1/2 speed of the others that used less than 1 gb.
That would be extremely reasonable and fair and would slow down the hogs using 100 gb's and such so even on unlimited they could still get up to 30 gb's in a 30 day period all at full speed and anything over the 1 gb per day goes to 1/2 the lte speed of others.
Roefastford said:
If they hog the data then they should be slowed down, that would not be fair to the average user. Why should data hogs be allowed to put their needs over everyone else ?
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One more response and then I'm done. Data isn't a limited resource, although bandwidth sometimes is. Consider the case where someone with an unlimited plan uses 5GB of data on an uncongested tower and affects nobody. Then, they move to a different and congested tower. Is it fair that, according to you, they should be throttled simply because they have "unlimited" data and already used their allowance of unthrottled data? Keep in mind that Verizon has no problem letting a limited plan run as fast as possible. In fact, if a limited plan passes its limit, service isn't interrupted - the account is charged and data keeps on flowing. It is beneficial for Verizon to keep all limited plans running at full speed so that they can maximize revenue.
Bottom line is, this is just a money-making ploy. You can still be a "data hog" with a limited plan so long as you keep your wallet open so your argument of "fairness" isn't valid.
dante020 said:
One more response and then I'm done. Data isn't a limited resource, although bandwidth sometimes is. Consider the case where someone with an unlimited plan uses 5GB of data on an uncongested tower and affects nobody. Then, they move to a different and congested tower. Is it fair that, according to you, they should be throttled simply because they have "unlimited" data and already used their allowance of unthrottled data? Keep in mind that Verizon has no problem letting a limited plan run as fast as possible. In fact, if a limited plan passes its limit, service isn't interrupted - the account is charged and data keeps on flowing. It is beneficial for Verizon to keep all limited plans running at full speed so that they can maximize revenue.
Bottom line is, this is just a money-making ploy. You can still be a "data hog" with a limited plan so long as you keep your wallet open so your argument of "fairness" isn't valid.
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They should just throttle anyone to half lte speed after they use so much data in one day, such as limit each one line to a data limit of 1 gb then over 1 gb in a day and lte speeds go to 1/2 speed of the others that used less than 1 gb.
That would be extremely reasonable and fair and would slow down the hogs using 100 gb's and such so even on unlimited they could still get up to 30 gb's in a 30 day period all at full speed and anything over the 1 gb per day goes to 1/2 the lte speed of others.
robocuff said:
Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
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This right here. The only instance where 4.6 gigs is the "top 5 percent" is when you factor in ALL data plans, including the cheap ones. I'll bet you any money that's how they arrived at that number.
It should've been the top 5 percent of unlimited data users only.
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Div033 said:
This right here. The only instance where 4.6 gigs is the "top 5 percent" is when you factor in ALL data plans, including the cheap ones. I'll bet you any money that's how they arrived at that number.
It should've been the top 5 percent of unlimited data users only.
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My thoughts exactly. I'd be willing to bet they're including those who aren't using smart phones. So called dumb phones. They use data too.
Related
So I just signed up for at&t right after the unlimited data plan was retired.. But I heard the at&t unlimited data plan might be pulling a jay-z (comeback) ..
Does anyone know if this is true? Its all I need to be 100% happy/satisfied with my captivate..
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
francous said:
So I just signed up for at&t right after the unlimited data plan was retired.. But I heard the at&t unlimited data plan might be pulling a jay-z (comeback) ..
Does anyone know if this is true? Its all I need to be 100% happy/satisfied with my captivate..
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
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To add to this question: If it were to come back, would it cost more? That will be BS if it does! What sly corporation skills for taking away something people like, and then giving it back for a higher cost. D:
HERE ya go
bigsmitty64 said:
HERE ya go
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Thanks for the info...sucks "new users"like me who were never on a unlimited plan can't have the option tho :/hopefully some day.. I hate being limited!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
francous said:
Thanks for the info...sucks "new users"like me who were never on a unlimited plan can't have the option tho :/hopefully some day.. I hate being limited!
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lol, I feel ya. Sort of...I have the unlimited plan
But you'd be surprise how many people don't even come close to the 2gb plan. I use the tethering moderately and stream pandora quite a bit, and there's only been a handful of times that I went over the 2gb mark. I'd say for the majority the 2gb is enough, plus they are offering another extra 2gb. I just don't like how they are charging extra for the tethering.
I also have the unlimited and I can admit I never come close to the 2GB.
There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.
Lancered said:
I also have the unlimited and I can admit I never come close to the 2GB.
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Same here - never reachd 2gb... but I need it for peace of mind. I don't have even check what I've used on my phone. I have to worry constantly about my wife and daughter going over their limits. In fact, my wife accidently went over her 200mb limit by using DroidTV and not having it set for "Wifi Only", coupled with her WIFI settings still at the default setting of "Turn off WIFI when screen goes off" instead of "Never". Even if she was set at 2gb I could see an accident like this happening and costing extra money.
AT&T claims that they notify you when you reach 60%, 90% and 100% of your limit. This is bullsh*t. They don't. First, data use reporting is about 12 hours behind. You can blow your cap by quite a bit in 12 hours. Next, when she went over 200, they sold her another 200 for $15 without any text. I believe this can happen up to 5 times ($90 for 1.2gb). 12 hours later she got a text and I got an email saying she was nearing her limit - but the limit she was nearing was 400mb (the second set of 200mb). We were never informed as she blasted right past the first 200mb. Thank goodness she only had a couple movies set to download. If she had a series recording it would have cost a fortune.
I want to set a hard limit and then have data shut off at that point. Don't sell me extra data automatically. Maybe for technical reasons, they don't know for 12 hours... so they once they find out turn off my data and don't charge me for the overage. Until they can and will do this, I don't think they should be selling limited data plans. Until they can send you warnings in a timely manner, they shouldn't be selling limited data plans.
To AT&T's credit, I was able to retroactively change her data plan to the 2gb plan back to the beginning of my billing cycle - so the mistake cost me $10. Now out of piece of mind I will probably have to keep her at the 2gb plan even though in the past she's never even come close to the 200mb.
RE: Verizon "unlimited"... I can understand temporarily throttling back a heavy user maybe for few hours or days, but not for the rest of the billing cycle and definately not for the next billing cycle. Can you imagine you make one mistake like my wife did and have your speed crippled for up to 2 months? How can they even legally cripple service for a future billing period?
This is important for us to follow because AT&T is probably watching this approach closely and will eventually adopt it for us as well.
foxbat121 said:
There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.
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5% is a huge number of customers - probably a lot of them being business customers. Once enough people get throttled back Verizon may have to rethink this approach. Consider what Comcast did. They went from unlimited to 250gb. That's a very reasonable limit that certainly doesn't catch 5% of their internet customers. Of course as time goes by they will have to adjust that 250 up or they will start catching more and more customers.
I don't think they've defined what they consider heavy users yet. It must be pretty low to include 5% of data users.
An even better option would be data buckets, where your unused data rollsover. I've gone near the 200mb cap quite a few times since the default settings cleverly turn off wifi when the phone sleeps :rollseyes:
Sent from my Captivate using XDA App
"Demographic Research" is why we have the 2gb plan in the first place.
That's why I believe the unlimited plan will be eventually phased out also. Yea, their offering the unlimited plan again, but to me that's mostly PR to get more customers because cases like this: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/04/verizon-breaks-first-day-sales-record-with-iphone-4-pre-orders/ I don't really know how truthful that is, since corporate tend to inflate stats for the press.
But competition is good for the consumers, as long as both these billion dollar companies are in high competition, it should be easier on the wallet for us. Hoping...but still believe they are ripping us off as consumers (and I will keep the reasons why to myself, I've seen what it did to the other threads )
These are all opinions, and I take your posts as opinions. So...can we keep this civil. The other threads I've seen regarding this subject matter tend to get heated, which I do avoid (I have enough drama in my life
I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
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crystalhand said:
I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
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I don't think the limited plan is a bad idea, but I do see the amount going up and up. Since mobile internet access will exceed home internet access in the future, in my opinion. Which in turn costing us more and more.
As richb500 said, it is important to follow this and see what AT$T does.
When I was following the Fuze/Tilt2 forums it was pointed out that the is no true unlimited plan. The plan is called unlimited but in the TOS it states that over 5G of data transfered ATT can terminate your service.
All carriers have that clause in their respective TOS.
I have the old unlimited plan and have gone ovef 5G once but repeated go over 4G and never got any warning messages about my use.
Just a word of caution.
Sprint seems to be very loose with enforcement. A co-worker has an EVO and uses upwards of 20G a month using it has a hotspot and has never been warned about abusive use which is again in the Sprint TOS.
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foxbat121 said:
There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.
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shouldn't have to terminate it.
if they weren't greedy and shortsighted they could get most to move over voluntarily with the right incentives.
For Example - Anyone with unlimited who is willing to Renew a new 2 year contract on their voice and take a capped data plan gets to choose any At&t Phone @ no cost with the upgrade. Couple this with informing users that stay on the unlimited they will face throttling if it is abused....(soft cap of 5 or 6 gb).
75% or more would likely take advantage if they could get the latest phone for free (iphone, atrix, whatever else comes down the pike).
Couple it with a marketing campaign to the effect of TETHER AWAY. No charges for tether as we respect your right to use the full potential of your phone. Give 250mb data free to all smartphone users. Offer 2gb @ $25 and 4GB @ 45$ (same as tether pricing but removes the stigma and bad taste of being charged for something that costs them nothing and is a native capability of the OS/Device). Keep the $10 overage charge per every GB of data over the cap.
crystalhand said:
I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
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Damn you guys are making me feel like I have a problem lol...
I go over 2 gigs almost every month and have to pay the additional 10$ for another gig..came to the point I have to turn off my data and use it only when I need to just to stay under.. (when I'm not home under wifi)
Il trade with you unlimited ppl any day!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
francous said:
Damn you guys are making me feel like I have a problem lol...
I go over 2 gigs almost every month and have to pay the additional 10$ for another gig..came to the point I have to turn off my data and use it only when I need to just to stay under.. (when I'm not home under wifi)
Il trade with you unlimited ppl any day!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
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Do you have your wifi set to never turn off? A lot of people think they're safe at home on their wifi... But as soon as the screen turns off, so does the wifi. They default this way to save battery.
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richb500 said:
Do you have your wifi set to never turn off? A lot of people think they're safe at home on their wifi... But as soon as the screen turns off, so does the wifi. They default this way to save battery.
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mine stays on all the time.. but i turn my Data Off while my wifi is on so if wifi were to cut out it wouldnt use my data anyway
UPDATE: i called AT&T just for kicks to see if there were a unlimited data plan no one knew about.. turns out there isnt for us smartphone customers but there is for NON Smartphone customers because they use less data.. wtf..
Can we LIE and say we are not a smartphone, say we're on some ol' school slidey phone or something and get that plan!? lol..
Good for us consumers, but anyone that is like me that uses 1GB a day with ease "when you are at work with nothing better to do then surf the net, and watch movies" it becomes a problem, lucky I have unlimited data though and I don't see why they don't sell it to more customers because most who have it don't use nearly that much so its extra money in the pocket
francous said:
mine stays on all the time.. but i turn my Data Off while my wifi is on so if wifi were to cut out it wouldnt use my data anyway
UPDATE: i called AT&T just for kicks to see if there were a unlimited data plan no one knew about.. turns out there isnt for us smartphone customers but there is for NON Smartphone customers because they use less data.. wtf..
Can we LIE and say we are not a smartphone, say we're on some ol' school slidey phone or something and get that plan!? lol..
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The unlimited data plan offering is not official, and I don't think customer service will know anything until Verizon iphone official launch date. What I've been reading (ex.) http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/at-t-quietly-matching-vzws-unlimited-data-plan-for-iphone/9317
But this is only a business move, in my opinion, since there are certain criteria you must meet to get back the unlimited plan.
And for your question: No you can't lie about not having a smartphone, when actually you are using a smartphone, they will know.
Is it possible to change the tethering application built into most roms so that it won't deincrement the ttl value?
where did you get this info at?
http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/17/att-cracking-down-on-unofficial-iphone-tethering-mywi-users/
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/03/18/att.clamps.down.on.unofficial.tethering.users/
If you dig through the comments on those articles, it appears that the people who receive the letters are using in excess of 5GB on their unlimited data plan.
Case in point: One of the comments was from a guy who said that his wife was sent the notice from AT&T. From what he says, she hasn't ever tethered, but she's always listening to streaming audio or watching streaming video.
This is nothing new for AT&T. They have long held that 5GB is 'effectively unlimited' for a smartphone, and that anyone who uses more must be using a computer tethered to the phone. With the phones we have now, that simply is not the case anymore. But AT&T is using that as an excuse to try and get people off of the unlimited plans and on to something where they can charge customers more money.
Krynn! said:
If you dig through the comments on those articles, it appears that the people who receive the letters are using in excess of 5GB on their unlimited data plan.
Case in point: One of the comments was from a guy who said that his wife was sent the notice from AT&T. From what he says, she hasn't ever tethered, but she's always listening to streaming audio or watching streaming video.
This is nothing new for AT&T. They have long held that 5GB is 'effectively unlimited' for a smartphone, and that anyone who uses more must be using a computer tethered to the phone. With the phones we have now, that simply is not the case anymore. But AT&T is using that as an excuse to try and get people off of the unlimited plans and on to something where they can charge customers more money.
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I hope you're right.
Also just saw this......I personally dont tether much but have used mobile AP. Might be worth looking into for those that do tether.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/03/18/att-shutting-down-unauthorized-tetherers/
cnigro1279 said:
Also just saw this......I personally dont tether much but have used mobile AP. Might be worth looking into for those that do tether.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/03/18/att-shutting-down-unauthorized-tetherers/
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If they are using ttl to detect tethering, then mobile ap would be effected. I'm not sure if usb tethering does deincrement ttl. All the reports seem to be mentioning WiFi tethering.
i think its a scare tactic.
I don't think they are detecting tethering. I think they are targeting people going beyond a certain threshold of usage as suspected tethereres (4gb or 5gb or more likely)
bames said:
i think its a scare tactic.
I don't think they are detecting tethering. I think they are targeting people going beyond a certain threshold of usage as suspected tethereres (4gb or 5gb or more likely)
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+1
Just a scare tactic. I'm on my 11th day of this months cycle, and between tethering, mobile ap, and downloads, I'm sitting at 9gb of data usage and haven't heard anything from AT&T. Yet
vunuts said:
+1
Just a scare tactic. I'm on my 11th day of this months cycle, and between tethering, mobile ap, and downloads, I'm sitting at 9gb of data usage and haven't heard anything from AT&T. Yet
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WOW what are you doing to use 9gb of data lol.
Even though i think its more of a scare tactic i think it can be done...its just not cost efficient to do it wide scale unless their is a huge red flag...like oh say 9gb of data usage . I won't be surprised if you get a letter if your usage rates continually reach anywhere near that later as i suspect that is the type of red flag that may cause them to actually take the time to audit the account and look at the ttl/packet data more closely.
if you have a 2gb or even unlimited and tether never going over 2gb i seriously doubt you would received letter or raise an eyebrow.
This goes back to my initial thought on how stupid their marketing team and management decisions are.
ALLOW FREE TETHERING
Pay for the extra data you need. It breaks down to the same cost...they are just being short sighted and greedy hoping people will think oh...2gb more data for 20bucks and then continue to not even fully use the 2gb they already had paid for on their smartphones plan (they are playing on peoples ignorance of how much data they are actually using). Part of good business and sales is fitting the client with their needs so they can afford it and continue to be a good longterm customer rather than bilking them for services they don't need or use (much like requiring all smartphones to have data plans when some smartphone users could be completely happy with a smartphone and wifi only usage).
If i have $25 2gb plan and want to tether and don't go over 2gb DON'T CHARGE EXTRA or REQUIRE TETHERING. If i go over charge me by the GB just like you would if i used all the data on my smartphones. 2gb Plan + 2gb overage =$45 for that months data (shouldn't matter whether it was used tethered or untethered). If i have a 2gb plan and tether and only use 3gb for the plan why not allow my to pay for 3gb data instead of forcing me to pay for 4gb/tethering. Let people police and pay for their usage. DATA IS DATA and it doesn't cost more for att to deliver 4gb to a tethered user than it does to someone using the 4gb downloading torrents or streaming movies on their smartphone.
Seems like it would be great customer relations, marketing, and a blow to verizon if ATT and came out with a marketing campaign that said Free Mobile AP/Tethering. Use as much data as you need....pay for the data you use. If those still grandfathered under unlimited plans are the concern you could easily audit those accounts if the usage is excessive and either throttle or require tethering for unlimited plans only which might encourage more people to give up the unlimited and take one of the tiered plans. They talk about tethers using all the data while i suspect those doing a combination of significant streaming and downloading torrent using in an untethered state.
A good question is why is one industry being allowed wipe their A** with net neutrality (with so little backlash)
bames said:
WOW what are you doing to use 9gb of data lol.
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Lol, I just opened my own auto shop, and we have yet to get internet hooked up in there, so I'm tethered to my desktop there for about 5-8 hours a day. I wouldn't be surprised if I do hear from AT&T, but they can't do anything to me. They've tried before and I fought them and won. I have unlimited text and data and I'm going to use it to my advantage. If they want to try and blow smoke up my ass, go for it. I'll blow it right back
Funny how this coincided with the new bandwidth cap for cable customers... AT&T is slowly trying to eliminate all unlimited customers. I wish they spent as much time working on increasing signal strength across the US as they do finding ways to squeeze more money from their customers.
vunuts said:
+1
Just a scare tactic. I'm on my 11th day of this months cycle, and between tethering, mobile ap, and downloads, I'm sitting at 9gb of data usage and haven't heard anything from AT&T. Yet
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I thought my 3 -4 gb / month was a lot.
Isn't a byte of data still a byte of data no matter how you view your porn.
what they are doing with tethering would be akin charging us $10 per month to use google navigation.
They could say "hey our navigation per att nav with your device is $10 per month.....if you want to use navigation on your phone you must have a navigation plan add on and if you try to use another free navigation program we can tell and will change your plan without your permission"
I don't get any letters, but I get a "friendly call" from AT&T about every other month asking why I use so much data. I've been on unlimited since it first came out and I'm taking full advantage of it. When I get the call about my usage, I start downloading on my phone, just to eat more data. I've downloaded several ISOs of Linux distros and MS ISOs from the MSDN. Is it my fault I signed up for 'unlimited data' or is it there fault they didn't look into the future? ComCast tried to complain when I pulled down over 300gb in a month and wanted to charge me for it. Sent off a copy of the original contract and there was no bandwidth cap in it. It becomes a breach of contract if you haven't physically signed anything new accepting and agreeing to the new changes.
If you don't mind switching carriers (which isn't that attractive because they all suck and use the same ploys pretty much)
but if they change your plan (for example adding a tethering plan to your account) you have 30 days to cancel your contract WITHOUT penalty no matter how many months you have remaining.
bames said:
If you don't mind switching carriers (which isn't that attractive because they all suck and use the same ploys pretty much)
but if they change your plan (for example adding a tethering plan to your account) you have 30 days to cancel your contract WITHOUT penalty no matter how many months you have remaining.
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This is true. You can avoid any early termination fees and essentially end your contract in good standing credit wise.
pbclst said:
I don't get any letters, but I get a "friendly call" from AT&T about every other month asking why I use so much data. I've been on unlimited since it first came out and I'm taking full advantage of it. When I get the call about my usage, I start downloading on my phone, just to eat more data. I've downloaded several ISOs of Linux distros and MS ISOs from the MSDN. Is it my fault I signed up for 'unlimited data' or is it there fault they didn't look into the future? ComCast tried to complain when I pulled down over 300gb in a month and wanted to charge me for it. Sent off a copy of the original contract and there was no bandwidth cap in it. It becomes a breach of contract if you haven't physically signed anything new accepting and agreeing to the new changes.
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Click to collapse
For every time they call and ask you you should place 20 calls to their customer support line asking them why someone called you again and telling them you just wanted to make sure they knew you had an unlimited data plan because someone keeps calling.
vunuts said:
Lol, I just opened my own auto shop, and we have yet to get internet hooked up in there, so I'm tethered to my desktop there for about 5-8 hours a day. I wouldn't be surprised if I do hear from AT&T, but they can't do anything to me. They've tried before and I fought them and won. I have unlimited text and data and I'm going to use it to my advantage. If they want to try and blow smoke up my ass, go for it. I'll blow it right back
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I'm sorry, but this attitude just rubs me raw. Cell phones were never designed to be ISPs. It's abusers like you that have made it hard for the rest of us by forcing AT$T to eliminate unlimited plans and by slowing down the network with your extreme usage. Why do so many feel the need to squeeze whatever they can however they can out of a company? If you think they're screwing you then simply take your business elsewhere.
People receiving the letter today are iphone users? am i correct? Did any android user receive it?
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/2...-verizon-july-7-packages-start-at-30-for-2gb/
zax10 said:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/2...-verizon-july-7-packages-start-at-30-for-2gb/
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Data plans:
2GB – $30/month
5GB – $50/month
10GB – $80/month
God...so effing ridiculous. :/
I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???
zax10 said:
I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???
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Click to collapse
AT&T prices are just $5 less, and they don't have LTE.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
DirgeExtinction said:
AT&T prices are just $5 less, and they don't have LTE.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Agreed.... To this day I don't understand the uproar. It is no different then AT&T really and they have had tiered for a yr now almost. IE VZW & AT&T have the same pricing across the board with $5 of each other. I guess my thing is everyone talks about leaving VZW over this but where are you going to go and save that much money really. T-Mobile limits full data speed after 2Gb anyways. Sprint has terrible coverage on a whole. And hell they were stupid and went WiMax so what go is that going to do you over the long haul.
And I'm not going to even go into the fact TM and AT&T scam with there claiming of 4g service
I just signed up with Verizon for a two year plan. I should receive my Droid Charge later today. Naturally, I will activate the phone the moment I get it. So, how does the new pricing rules affect me? Will I have unlimited data at $30 for the next two years, or on July 7th will I have to suffer with the crazy tier pricing?
-Greymarch
I write about technology, especially android smartphones, at my website.
http://www.greymarch.com
According to the article I read on engadget, "These new plans wouldn't affect anyone currently under contract, though it's still unknown if customers can hang onto them when it's time to renew."
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/verizon-tiered-data-plans-coming-july-7-starting-at-30/
I've always thought it was lame to force people into tiered data plans, regardless of the provider. This is going to place the providers in a wonderfully profitable position once we start getting applications that can truly start utilizing increased bandwidth, but it's going to cost a fortune for us to use those applications. So I understand why they're doing it, but I think it's messed up to charge that much from a user's perspective.
I think having tiered pricing for your low-need subscribers is great, so they have the option of not paying for full-on data, but having an unlimited choice for high-need subscribers is necessary to me.
$30/mth for 2GB is kind of mind-boggling to me. I got in on the unlimited for $30 plan, but I'll be none too happy when I have to switch over.
I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets
If this causes them to ditch the MS Exchange data surcharge, then I am all for it.
greymarch said:
I just signed up with Verizon for a two year plan. I should receive my Droid Charge later today. Naturally, I will activate the phone the moment I get it. So, how does the new pricing rules affect me? Will I have unlimited data at $30 for the next two years, or on July 7th will I have to suffer with the crazy tier pricing?
-Greymarch
I write about technology, especially android smartphones, at my website.
http://www.greymarch.com
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Click to collapse
you are find as long as you do not change your current plan. As an example until a couple of weeks ago when I upgraded to my Charge I had not bought a device threw VZW since 2005. That said for the past 4 years at least I have been using a smartphone on my line with the old school unlimited vPak. Mind you this included using my D1, D2, D2g, Driod Pro, Droid X, and Napoleon on the same account/line. The key is I never bought threw VZW I just left the line/account as it and swapped my phones out.
well I am just glad I got my phone before this happened...I worry though that at some point they will make us change....I know they are reporting they wont but I feel like they will do it anyways just to make that extra money
brandonaspencer said:
I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets
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Click to collapse
What the hell? Really?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
zax10 said:
I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me as a former employee of that company (worked there for 6 years) I left because their business practices are crud. They treat you like crud, don't care about the their employees and have very questionable ethics. Think twice about asking that question
brandonaspencer said:
I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets
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Lol I work in a call center for Verizon Tech Support and you really cant trust much that you hear from them. I've heard reps telling customers information that is totally wrong(not on purpose) around me before. like someone telling you its just for tablets cause they probably don't even know what your talking about with tiered data coming soon and just told you about our current data plans for tablets to get you off the phone. We don't hear about stuff until you do. So you usually have just as much training as we have.
woohoo! lets hear it for being "grandfathered in" !!!!! unlimited all the way. and if they think they can make me change it and pay 80 bucks for 10gbs, im gonna put a brick through their store window with a big **** your tiered **** sticker on it mwahahahahahahaaaaaaa
Well you may be grandfathered in for unlimited data, but if you signed up after Feb 2011 Verizon reserves the right to throttle your speed once you go over a certain amount much like Tmobile does now once you go over 2gb.
I have read scattered reports of Verizon throttling back heavy uses between 5gb - 9gb, but to date I don't think they are implementing this that much until they get the 4g network a bit more stable and they implement the tiered pricing.
I would expect in a couple more months they will be enforcing throttling to a much greater extent. Below is a article from CNET explaining the change.
Verizon Wireless will begin throttling the data speeds of customers who use an "extraordinary amount" of data, according to a document posted on the company's Web site.
First reported by BGR.com, the PDF on the Verizon site says the new rules will not affect the majority of the company's customers. However, if you are a heavy data user, you should be aware that your speeds will drop.
"If you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand," states the document.
Verizon said it is taking the steps "to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users."
The company doesn't say how much data constitutes an "extraordinary amount," only that the new rules will affect the top 5 percent. Theoretically, that means you could be affected one month, but not the next even though you consume the same amount of data.
hrdc69 said:
Well you may be grandfathered in for unlimited data, but if you signed up after Feb 2011 Verizon reserves the right to throttle your speed once you go over a certain amount much like Tmobile does now once you go over 2gb.
I have read scattered reports of Verizon throttling back heavy uses between 5gb - 9gb, but to date I don't think they are implementing this that much until they get the 4g network a bit more stable and they implement the tiered pricing.
I would expect in a couple more months they will be enforcing throttling to a much greater extent. Below is a article from CNET explaining the change.
Verizon Wireless will begin throttling the data speeds of customers who use an "extraordinary amount" of data, according to a document posted on the company's Web site.
First reported by BGR.com, the PDF on the Verizon site says the new rules will not affect the majority of the company's customers. However, if you are a heavy data user, you should be aware that your speeds will drop.
"If you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand," states the document.
Verizon said it is taking the steps "to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users."
The company doesn't say how much data constitutes an "extraordinary amount," only that the new rules will affect the top 5 percent. Theoretically, that means you could be affected one month, but not the next even though you consume the same amount of data.
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Click to collapse
Here are the numbers of how they base the choices on throttling. So unless you are using over 15Gb a month it is highly highly unlikely you'd ever get throttled.
1] 2gb+ average user
2] 7gb-15gb travel user
3] 15gb+ heavy user [monitored by vzw]
4] 20gb+ excessive user [monitored by vzw fraud]
I use 10+gb a month
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Tiered will kill me
I went through 1 GB yesterday using my Charge as a hotspot to run my computer playing DC Universe Online and doing my normal computer stuff all day.
Not sure if this was the same as the thread lower but hey... we won.. so get your money before att takes that away!
AT&T loses data throttling case - http://pulse.me/s/6kpUr
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
No he won. I didn't get a check for 850
. However all jokes aside. I feel like streaming Netflix for a few days straight and filing a small claims case when I get the throttled message.
Sent via smoke signal
Hahah go for it!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
Yay!! We won.. Now everyone should start constantly streaming netflix, pandora, and etc. Pretty soon our network will be as slow and useless as Sprints network. Yay!!!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
This gives the right to top 5% of the users to ruin the network for 95% of the people. Probably by running Netflix and leaving the room.
Yeah, total win.
Lucidmike said:
This gives the right to top 5% of the users to ruin the network for 95% of the people. Probably by running Netflix and leaving the room.
Yeah, total win.
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Click to collapse
Well said throttling is not evil.
It is not like they say 1 or 2 Gig you are throttled, you really need to abuse the network.
FYI Maximum I ever used in a Month is 2 Gig and with that I was tethering my laptop.
I think the above posters are missing a huge point.. if the top 5% of the users were actually abusing the network, then fine, throttle reasonably away..
However, ATT was arbitrarily applying any user using 2G as a top 5% using some seriously fuzzy math and throttling them to a point where a dialup modem was faster.
My understanding is that the 5% value came about in some bull**** research paper payed for by ATT that stated 2G is the avg amount of data all users are using (some use 300 meg, some use 5G, etc), just an avg amount, but rather then taking the actual value of the top data users (some use close to 20 to 30 gig a month), they chose to take the avg amount, 2G, and apply that to every user that hit to 2G mark, and label them a top 5% user and throttle them..
That is evil, and unreasonable, they are using the fuzzy math in the same way they butchered the dictionary meaning of unlimited.
jvanbrecht said:
That is evil, and unreasonable, they are using the fuzzy math in the same way they butchered the dictionary meaning of unlimited.
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As I understand it, the average 2GB of use was done in a survey about 4 years ago, when the smart phone market wasn't as big as it is today.
So AT&T should back off and stop saying that the average users ONLY uses 2GB or less because that is totally bs.
I myself have always used between 30 to 50GB on average per month for the last 6+ years
Its stupid you should at least get 3 or so gigs to equate the amount you pay to the price equivalent tiered plan IMHO I'm not unlimited but am on your guys side on this that the way they are conducting business is wrong
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Lucidmike said:
This gives the right to top 5% of the users to ruin the network for 95% of the people. Probably by running Netflix and leaving the room.
Yeah, total win.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guy doesn't get it.
(and sounds like the annoying, ignorant ranting from the OWS crowd)
AstroDigital said:
Well said throttling is not evil.
It is not like they say 1 or 2 Gig you are throttled, you really need to abuse the network.
FYI Maximum I ever used in a Month is 2 Gig and with that I was tethering my laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guy doesn't get it.
jvanbrecht said:
I think the above posters are missing a huge point.. if the top 5% of the users were actually abusing the network, then fine, throttle reasonably away..
However, ATT was arbitrarily applying any user using 2G as a top 5% using some seriously fuzzy math and throttling them to a point where a dialup modem was faster.
My understanding is that the 5% value came about in some bull**** research paper payed for by ATT that stated 2G is the avg amount of data all users are using (some use 300 meg, some use 5G, etc), just an avg amount, but rather then taking the actual value of the top data users (some use close to 20 to 30 gig a month), they chose to take the avg amount, 2G, and apply that to every user that hit to 2G mark, and label them a top 5% user and throttle them..
That is evil, and unreasonable, they are using the fuzzy math in the same way they butchered the dictionary meaning of unlimited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guy gets it.
What people don't understand is AT&T knew this was going to happen and they did nothing at the time because they wanted subscribers. Now could they have forseen that netflix and hulu and things like that were going to be apps and eat up huge chunks of bandwidth(most likely not)
With the new 3GB and 5GB thresholds they announced for the unlimited users, I think we will see more of these kind of suits.
Now, imo, AT&T needs to get people OFF of the unlimted plans. Why?
1) the network is too congested and they need to get people to understand this
2) we already know unlimited is not "unlimited"
So, to save face, what they should do is make a small offering to the top 5% to try and get them away from the unlimted data plan(really just offer it to all unlimted people)
For those grandfathered in, offer 3GB of HASPA+ for $10 and 5GB of LTE for $10. This will #1 get those abusers of the system to watch their downloads a little more closely, and 2, if they go over they still have a little give in the terms of $$.
Now will AT&T ever do this, seriously doubt it.
Wrong. m4570d0n doesn't get it and sounds like the people who abuse bandwidth slowing it down for the rest of us. If you don't like the bandwidth cap, leave AT&T.
awesome that im not on att. There are people abusing the network and top 5 or 3 percent sounds about right. For the mathematically challenged its 1 in 20 or 33 data users.
Att changed their throttling policy or 'clarified' it according to news blogs
It's now at 5gigs for LTE, 3 FOR '4G', AFAICR
Sent from my 727
robor007 said:
Wrong. m4570d0n doesn't get it and sounds like the people who abuse bandwidth slowing it down for the rest of us. If you don't like the bandwidth cap, leave AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given that you joined in 2007, yet this is one of only 3 posts you've ever made (none of which carry any meaningful content), please enlighten me. I'll make some popcorn.
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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?