AT&T broadband users will soon face a cap on the amount of internet data they can download a

[macchug]

This move by ATT is absolutely outrageous. A 150 GB cap is unrealistic to say the least! I have the following equipment in my home:

4 computers

Streaming enabled Blu-Ray player with Netflix, Vudu, etc

AppleTV for buying and renting movies online

X-Box 360 for online gaming and Netflix

DirectTV HD DVR with VOD through internet

Internet connected Plasma HDTV

I also use my computer at home to do some consulting and tech support/troubleshooting which also adds to the load.

I have been experimenting with usage in my home using the ATT usage website for one week. I have NOT used more than 1 computer to check email and light web surfing and the X-Box to online game and Netflix. My usage so far has been averaging about 8GB a day. That would put me at 240GB for the month alone with very little usage of my equipment. My past usage has been averaging about 320GB+/- a month and it will continue to climb as more streaming services become available. I did a system software update and an iPhone software update that were 1.5 GB by themselves. At 150GB I would only be allowed 5GB a day! The 2 updates would burn up a third of that!

This is nothing more than a money grab on the part of ATT to get at some of the revenue stream from Netflix and other streaming services.

ATT ARE YOU LISTENING! I personally have NO problem with paying a little more for more bandwidth if I use it. To discriminate against non-U-Verse customers is unconscionable and if not illegal, it should be. Cap me at 250GB and charge me a reasonable fee for overage. $5.00 a GB is NOT reasonable! At the 150GB cap I would double my cost for internet access. A deal breaker to say the least!

If ATT does not modify this position before May I will dump anything that has ATT name on it. I will also make sure that all family members dump all ATT services EVEN if I have to pay out of my own pocket to get them set up with new services. That is 5 households that I can effect a change in. I am also the President of a computer user group with around 100 households as members. I will do everything in my power to suggest other services other than ATT and do everything I can to bad mouth your company. I will also do everything I can to get my consulting customers to change their businesses and homes to other services. 

I suggest that everyone reading these discussions consider doing the same with everyone you come in contact with on a daily basis. If every ATT customer can effect at least 10 or more ATT customers to switch that can add up to a lot of $$$$$ in lost revenue and customers.

I am not one to be treated badly by any company I deal with. I had a bad experience with Canon years ago and I pass it along to everyone I know and have effectively cost Canon money. It may not be a lot individually but when you sour people on a company it makes a difference over time.

I have written my Congressman and Senators over this along with a complaint to the FCC.

ATT ARE YOU LISTENING!

DO YOU WANT A CUSTOMER REVOLT?

[cap_my_net_lose…]

I will absolutely be leaving AT&T once this happens. This is pure garbage! AT&t, upgrade your internet architecture to handle the bandwidth, don't milk us for your corporate mistakes and bad decisions. Do you really think your customers will stick around once they get hit with an increase on their monthly statement? Have you not seen the news lately with the economy still trying to recover and gas prices rising everyday? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN MINDS!!!

[EOC_Jason]

I find it almost comical that ATT is content on ticking off the other 98% of their customer base, loosing lots of customers that obviously use less bandwidth than the 2% / 20% usage group... So they are going to end up with less money coming in, but still those people eating up their network....  *thumbs up* to AT&T...

I got a letter yesterday from the FCC about my complaint. I also got a call from AT&T today about my FCC complaint. I didn't get to talk to them but they left a message. I might call them back and give them a piece of my mind.

Stand up and fight? If AT&T hasn't gotten a clue from these message boards, why should we continue to fight them? That's why there is a free market out there. I can switch to a competitor and reward them with my loyalty (and money) for doing a better job than the competition...

[orubin]

Hi Jason,

Can you tell me where you filed this FCC complaint and which form you used. Others here may want to do the same. 

I am bothered here by a few things:

1). AT&T has not replied or commented here. Cowards

2). This is a circumvention of the network neutrality rule. Instead of charging the companies, they have just moved the charge to the user, but the effect is the same, streaming providers "pay more". If the providers themselves had to pay, they would have passed it on to consumers in the form of higher prices. AT&T has simply done this for them. 

3). In regard to your message Jason, I suspect the number of people who complain here is small, and we probably ARE the 2%, not the 98%. AT&T knows that we will complain, but IF AT&T's decision is allowed to stand, as it appears to be the case, then this will just become standard operating procedure for ALL internet providers. So much for network neutrality holding. AT&T has cleverly found a way to walk around it.

4). Like so many here, this is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth for AT&T. Between home phone, business phone, internet, and a pair of iPhones, we spend $300 to $400 a month with AT&T. As many here have stated, I will start moving these services off when I have an alternative.

5). As much as I hate AT&T for this, I hate Comcast more, yet I am now in talks with Comcast Business to try their service for a month. Currently, their business service is unlimited useage, and right now, over twice the speed down, and 3 times the speed up for their starter service. The cost is about 50% more, but then I will not have to meter, it is faster, and there are no limits.

If this pans out, my internet service moves. And they also offer phone service, which means my two phone lines may move as well, or maybe I go to Magic Jack or Vonage or some other internet phone and drop landline all together. 

Way to set loyalty AT&T.

To repeat others, I have no problem with caps and/or rate increases that make sense, but this is just an arbitrary increase to bolster your own services. 

Be nice if you could actually respond to people here AT&T. 

[anorman711]

I'm sure you all have read the updated terms of service that went out this morning concerning the implementation of use limits for internet service:

http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB409045#fbid=AInuBaWbMxZ

It's interesting to note that we can not currently check our usage in all areas, I for one, can not.  I can only calculate the traffic since my router was reset, about 36 hours ago, which indicates roughly 10 gb of data.  That pretty much shows that I will be over the limit by around 16gb, and to be honest, I've not done very much online, but I rely heavily on my internet connection.  To sum this up, this is a deal breaker for me, and this being the suggestion forum, I'd simply like to suggest that AT&T not do this-  other service providers are not doing it, so I'll simply switch. 

Increasing the limit to something reasonable, or adding the option to increase this limit may be acceptable, but 250 gigabytes a month can be easily topped on my ipad, hence the service plan indicative of that expectation.  The observation that the average user uses 18gb per month isn't at all accurate for anyone with a reasonably fast internet connection;  why have a 25208 kbs connection if you only use 18gb a month?

I would also like to suggest that AT&T not trivialize the arbitrary decision to do this by masking it behind a "terms of service" update, this is a big deal, and you should let people know what you are doing so that they can respond to your decision.  Do not forsake the good will of your customers, it's not easily gained.

[anorman711]

I'm sure you all have read the updated terms of service that went out this morning concerning the implementation of use limits for internet service:

http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB409045#fbid=AInuBaWbMxZ

It's interesting to note that we can not currently check our usage in all areas, I for one, can not.  I can only calculate the traffic since my router was reset, about 36 hours ago, which indicates roughly 10 gb of data.  That pretty much shows that I will be over the limit by around 16gb, and to be honest, I've not done very much online, but I rely heavily on my internet connection.  To sum this up, this is a deal breaker for me, and this being the suggestion forum, I'd simply like to suggest that AT&T not do this-  other service providers are not doing it, so I'll simply switch. 

Increasing the limit to something reasonable, or adding the option to increase this limit may be acceptable, but 250 gigabytes a month can be easily topped on my ipad, hence the service plan indicative of that expectation.  The observation that the average user uses 18gb per month isn't at all accurate for anyone with a reasonably fast internet connection;  why have a 25208 kbs connection if you only use 18gb a month?

I would also like to suggest that AT&T not trivialize the arbitrary decision to do this by masking it behind a "terms of service" update, this is a big deal, and you should let people know what you are doing so that they can respond to your decision.  Do not forsake the good will of your customers, it's not easily gained.

[Flybye]

Here's me putting my voice in.

Yeah, times are rough, and companies need to make money.  But guess what, if enough people jump ship from AT&T, times will surely get even rougher.  Problem is internet service is one of those things you don't have many options on.

What can we possible do about it?  Some of the more proactive customers may find some type of hole somewhere that will give them a valid reason to someone sue AT&T.  Us others, well, we can state our opinions, and not just on the forums, but by calling AT&T.

I just got of the phone with AT&T, I was advised they they have had a very large number of customers already calling in, and they know its only going to get worse.  They have a rep that will be calling me back today.  Let's see how that goes.

But seriously, caps on the internet in AMERICA?  Come on.  I know plenty of countries arcross both ponds have lots of internet caps, but we have the might and infrastructure to not have to do the same. 

The internet started with no caps, and it should move forward not backwards.

[EOC_Jason]

---

orubin wrote:

Can you tell me where you filed this FCC complaint and which form you used. Others here may want to do the same. 

 

---

Here's the form I used, filled out section #1....

https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form2000.action?form_type=2000A

It is obviously deceptive because on their web page they clearly say "We don't limit your bandwidth to a particular amount"....  Errr... ummm... then what are they doing?

[EOC_Jason]

---

Flybye wrote:

Here's me putting my voice in.

Yeah, times are rough, and companies need to make money.  But guess what, if enough people jump ship from AT&T, times will surely get even rougher.  Problem is internet service is one of those things you don't have many options on.

---

Hard to say times are rough when companies like AT&T are making record profits... Haven't you seen their bid to buy T-Moblie for like $39 BILLION?

[sigmaman]

Exactly...AT&T how about you spend that $39 billion upgrading your equipment to keep current customers happy? How do you expect customers to stay loyal to you when you screw them like this? You know that DSL slows down to a snails pace during peak times. You know that DSL gets disconnected many times. You know that these caps are rediculous. You know that this will pi$$ off a lot of customers. Wait I know the answer....you just don't care. You don't deserve our loyalty. Do what I did everybody and switch carriers for DSL, home phone, and cell service. We need to teach this horrible company a lesson. 

[daddybroussard]

I just checked my usage for last month using the usage tool AT&T setup.  I really find it hard to believe that "Our average DSL customer uses only about 18 GB per month".  Almost everyone I know streams Netflix and there is no way that can be just 18 GB per month.   We used 100 GB during the last billing cycle.  We stream Netflix (freely without giving it a second thought), surf the internet, and my wife works online 4 hours per night, 5 nights per week making and receiving calls via USB headset.  I guess we are very close to being a "2% high usage customer".  What's sad is that where I live, we have no options other than AT&T to consider because we live in a rural area.  Is there any hope for AT&T cancelling this?  If so, what can we do? 

[daddybroussard]

I forgot to mention... My wife called inquiring about this and none of the customer service reps seemed to know anything about this.  She was on the phone for 45 minutes being transferred from place to place and then the call was mysteriously dropped.  It seems like they would want to make this easier for us.  I don't have another choice for high speed, but I can see those that do have a choice will consider dropping AT&T!

[orubin]

Thanks for the link. Sadly, I am not a uVerse customer (or maybe happily) so I cannot claim deceptive advertising. But I do want to complain on the grounds of Net Neutrality here. They have basically the same thing as if they charged the service like Netflix or Hulu more. In that case, they would have raised prices (or charged a fee to recover the cost) and the consumer would have paid more. Now, AT&T has simply done this for them, charging the consumer directly, as the people who will go over are the ones who use those services.  This is not net neutrality, but rather a clever way around it. 

Still waiting for AT&T to chime in here.

[Pake]

"We use the Internet with computer networking to bring HD television right into your home."

Considering this, U-VERSE content should then count against a users internet usage. By excluding their own internet content and penalizing non-AT&T services, they are prioritizing their content over competing services.

[sunsetgrill]

Receiving the email talked about changes to the TOS. Reading the entire TOS there is only one small 3 line paragraph concerning "usage". It states nothing informative whatsoever and the link it contains for supposed information is dead.

The TOS for new accounts states absolutely nothing about the upcoming cap, so new customers are buying blind into the service.

I truely find it beyond belief that a huge corporation like AT&T can be so misleading, undermining, and unprofessional in their business operations. Simply disgusting!

[deltona2781]

Before May, I will drop AT&T.And go cable.Enough is enough.I have already gave up my landline and wireless I went with Magic-Jack and StreightTalk. These services are better than AT&T.at lease they don't  cheat you.they are up & up.This is a fare well letter to AT&T. AT&T I will fire you.You are not good for me. I am going to Road-runner.

[rbuck9]

---

deltona2781 wrote:

Before May, I will drop AT&T.And go cable.Enough is enough.I have already gave up my landline and wireless I went with Magic-Jack and StreightTalk. These services are better than AT&T.at lease they don't  cheat you.they are up & up.This is a fare well letter to AT&T. AT&T I will fire you.You are not good for me. I am going to Road-runner.

---

to see what happens when companies are allowed to start capping,one only has to look at the mess canada is in

it's a downward spiral out of control.

the answer isnt just leaving AT&T, but contact your state rep,senator and the fcc and bbb,

let them know how you feel about these caps.

it's time for our elected officals to start working for the people not the overly greedy monopolies

[macville]

The best part of this crap is that all the regular DSL customers get the same amount of bandwidth. Why should someone on a 768k plan get the same GB's as someone on a 6 mpbs plan? It's MUCH easier to go through 150 GB's at 6 mpbs than at 768k! Or that U-Verse customers get an extra 100 GB's.

The good news is if everyone leaves ATT for cable, then maybe my internet speeds will go up to what they used to be!

[rbuck9]

no your speed wont go up, check the new tos if you have lets say a 3mbs connection you can 

get anywhere from 1.56mbs to 3.0mbs and still be within limits so around half of what you pay for.

and the reason behind the caps isnt the 2% of users they claim.

the reason is very simple in theyre infinite wisdom AT&T sold service and continue to knowing full well

they didnt have the capabilities to handle in hopes no one would use the bandwith they pay for.

in the past that wasnt a problem but now more and more people use theyre connection for more than just

email and web browsing.

here lies the bigger problem,AT&T isnt making an effort to increase theyre capacity but continue to add

customers. so these caps are just the start they will continue to get smaller,as AT&T is betting on

wireless broadband being the norm

[sprs2150]

Are you kidding me, ATT? Got the email and skimmed over it on 3/27. Saw that there was now different tiers, but had no idea they were capping internet usage. The title in the email should have been "ATT to cap internet usage", now that would have gotten my attention! I actually found out about this on another forum, and not believing it, I researched it and found out it's true. It's not enough that these are hard times for many people, but Att is kicking you in the stomach while down! I went to the usage tool and got the message that they can't track internet usage on all customers, bla bla blah...Really???. Then how are you going to be able to impose the overage fees you plan to impose?. In our household we stream a lot through Netflix, do online gaming and watch you tube videos. I am guessing we will pass the allotted usage, and will be charged overages. I'm not going to stick around to find out. I hope ATT has prepared themselves for customers to leave en masses, because that they will. I'm sure  a lot of customers just skimmed the e mail as I did, and ATT plans to catch them off guard. Shame on you ATT, you have just lost a long time internet and voice customer! Hear me..Step into my office, YOU'RE FIRED!. PS, I hope your proposed merger with T Mobile bites the dust.

Sincerely,

Disgruntled soon to be EX customer...

[Sunnyface35]

I'm sorry, I did not have time to go through all the posts, but I thought I had seen a link somewhere that explains how much you'll supposedly still be able to do even with the caps (x number of song downloads, etc.)?

[oracularone]

I did the math. 

Any increase in DSL service = zero for AT&T

I like watching movies on Netflix and listening to music on YouTube.  Living in a shared environment, I'm not the only one who enjoys these simple pleasures.  I won't let AT&T penalize my recreational choices.

[Lord_Satan]

I, also, will be looking for an alternative to AT&T for both internet and cell phone. Goodbye, AT&T.

In addition, if I WASN'T meeting the cap before, I will be now. (I'm thinking daily downloads of Linux distributions and other such things. Perhaps I'll try every flavor of Linux available (including versions), to see which one I like the best.)

I'm not certain that people replying to a thread will hammer home the anger that AT&T has caused many of it's customers. Perhaps each person should start a new thread letting AT&T know his or her feelings.

[corlosb]

I am totally against the capping of bandwidth. If AT&T does not have the network to handle the bandwidth which they sale they need to upgrade their network. AT&T is supposed to be a leader in technology, however, they seem to be lagging behind.

[Per Guidelines:  Keep it Spam Free].

[chong67]

150 gb per month is not enough.

Comcast is 250gb for the same price and faster speed too.

I cant get Uverse here only DSL.

I am going back to cable.

[HLTIMCS]

At this point I pay a ridiculous amount of money every month for my 2 wireless accounts and the u-verse which is landline, internet and tv bundled, through at&t. I have been a customer since 2006 and you would think that would count for something. I see page after page of customers mad about this new crap they are pulling yet are they doing anything about it, no. It's all about money and we are nothing but a number to them. I called to disscuss this issue with someone who of course could actually do anything about it but told me to be sure to take the survey that I would be called with and at the end I should record any other comments I had. I wasted my time taking it and there was no option at the end to leave any further comments. It's not even like I have fabulous service to begin with and now you want to take it and make it even worse? This is what I'm hearing from you at&t "Thank you so much for being such a long time loyal customer and to show how much you mean to us we are now going to treat you even worse and give you crappier service." Well as much as I appreciate that I'm gonna have to say, no thanks, since being a loyal customer doesn't mean jack to you guys I'll just cancel my u-verse account and go to the nearest cable company. And then once the wireless contract is up we'll be kissing that good-bye as well. Unfortunatly even if every person that said they are going to canel actually did it still wouldn't make a difference, they are big business and don't care about the little people that helped make them what they are.

[paradoxik]

If the cap 'officially' starts on 05/02, but my billing cycle (as indicated on that inaccurate 'myusage' site) is 04/17 - 05/18, does this mean that my bandwith meter is ALREADY running?

[jt4703]

I have this question as well. Mine is running from 15-16. It would be smarter to have the meter count from the first of the month to the end. The meter needs to show daily totals in a real time basis as well; this 4 days of may or maybe not counted data usage is useless.

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy y'all,

"we're at&t. we don't _have_ to care."

or, as lily tomlin's "ernestine" used to put it ...

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76aphonecompany.phtml

didn't we have at& broken up for pretty much this very same behavior?

take care,

lee

[sunsetgrill]

Good post  Lee_Dailey,

I cant help but wonder what Alexander would feel about all this.

AT&T wrote the book on how to screw people and the telephone had barely advanced from inception only a few years before the pen started spreading ink. I find it pretty amazing that anyone in 1907 was that intelligent to already know exactly how to screw people (starting with antitrust in the 19 00's) with the telephone to generate max profits for the next 104 years and beyond.

I guess many corporations got their hands on AT&T's book through the years, because that seems to be the code of honor amongst the profit mongers.

I actually "dont care" how many gazillion dollars AT&T makes in profits, I just plain and simply want to receive what I pay for but I dont think the Federal Gov understands that anymore then AT&T does.

Why did business take the model of "screw for profit" while having to dump billions, when simple great service would probably double those profits [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

I guess screwing people around just makes the job a heck of a lot more fun and keeps things from getting into boredom.

[cstanleytech]

I have been a loyal AT&T (formerly bellsouth in my area) customer since around 1995 starting in chattanooga and now in augusta ga both for my home phone, long distance and internet (first dialup and later DSL as soon as it came out in my area) and even though comcast has made me better offers in both price and far better speed over the years I have stuck with AT&T largely because of the no caps but if they do this I will switch and cancel all my AT&T accounts.

Furthermore I will also be writing my senator and congressman to oppose  the AT&T /T-mobile merger because of this.