AT&T Throttling Unlimited Users - VZW Next???

[Garemlin]

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If you have a grandfathered unlimited data plan on AT&T you are about to be throttled. Users with 3G devices will be throttled once they hit 3GB of data in a month. Those using 4G devices will reach their throttle point at 5GB. Once users hit their cap they will be throttled back to Edge speeds for the remainder of their billing cycle. With the fact that VZW allowed many users to stay on unlimited plans before doing away with it in favor of tiered plans, one can only wonder if they will follow suit. Let's hope not.


Here is the full press release:

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.

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.

 

[gmorgan056]

My 4G speeds suck so bad in Seattle, I wouldn't tell the difference.

 

[UrbanBounca]

AT&T has been doing this for awhile now.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[Droid-Xer]

Ya att and tmo do this openly. VZW does it for 3G not 4G data. And sprint doesn't do this yet.

 

[Garemlin]

AT&T has been doing this for awhile now.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

They may have been doing it, but just released the details of what the policy is.

AT&T Adjusts Data-Throttling Policy in Response to Customer Complaints | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

"The reason reduced speeds only apply to unlimited smartphone customers is because their data usage is significantly higher than those on tiered plans. "

... Well, DUH. They have unlimited plans.

 

[combatmedic870]

Of coarse we are next....VZW see that att is doing it and now they will say...something like...due to the demand of the 4g lte network we have to do blah blah....this will only affect .5% of users........blah blah

the question is....if it only affect .5% of the users...then why bother....

 

[wolstonc]

There was an article on yahoo that talked about this. ATT will throttle you to punish you for having unlimited and tell you to switch to tiered if you don't like it. They throttle you even if you're literally the only one on a cell tower, and keep you throttled for the rest of your bill cycle.

Verizon only throttles you while you're on a congested tower, and if you're within the top 5% of the data users on that tower. Once you're on another tower or if the tower isn't congested, you'll be back to normal.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[nemosfate]

i truly hope vzw doesnt go down.this bs path

 

[UrbanBounca]

Ya att and tmo do this openly. VZW does it for 3G not 4G data. And sprint doesn't do this yet.

Where did you hear that? I was never throttled on my D2.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[ChevyNexus]

I don't care if they do this. The only reason I really wanted unlimited was because I didn't wanna worry about going over a data cap an being fined.

 

[justin82]

Where did you hear that? I was never throttled on my D2.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

i have never been throttled i use close to 10 gig a month on all my smartphone lines ( nexus,and 2 tbolts) hardly any of that is on the 4g network most is 3g .. we do very little tethering . a lot of netflix watching and pandora on almost all day 24/7 hooked into house speakers .. ( we dont have internet option where i live so we do use our phones for only internet source)

 

[tjk629]

Wrong info

 

[BenLand150]

I hope not. I use like 7-10gigs because of Netflix/Youtube and Pandora on my Nexus. What's the point of those apps if you can watch one or two movies..

 

[esmier]

its illegal for verizon to throttle block C networks