AT&T to throttle unlimited data plan users...

[Dellman87]

This sounds like a good idea! I might do the same.

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RicoLX wrote:

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Dellman87 wrote:

My friend is on Verizon LTE via a Samsung Droid Charge, so far (20 days) he has used 4GB of data. Mostly Netflix.

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Wild Banchi wrote:

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Ann154 wrote:
I recently read of someone using 135+ GB per month on their smartphone. (Hint: They weren't on AT&T.)

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Where ATT will catch you is , by the time a customer receive the 'Data Usage Alert' email, they really have no idea just how much usage it really is since the online amount shown "can be lagged up to 72 hours". I'd like to know how many have been hit with this message so far.

I have a second line that  , was already on a lesser package anyway, and is on one of the capped plans.  It got some additional gigs (due to an issue that ATT resolved and provided as a means of consolation), so, it never went over the limits set on that phone.  This second line recently got upgraded to a second Streak phone.  I am going to "work" the hayale out of it next cycle and see how close i can get to the 2GIG and log daily usage .

I am going to compare that to what ATT posts daily and see: 1. how much lag att displays before its shown on my account onscreen, 2: how long it takes to get to 2Gig, and 3: see how soon i takes to go over the 2g.

I am sure it doesnt take much, once it gets  close to my  second line's allotted "food stamps" limits.

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[brianm523]

Frankly, this really angers me. I am 16 days into my billing cycle, and have already used over 23GB. It's not hard for me to go over 45-50GB per month. I don't have WiFi at home, so I use my iPhone 4 on 3G frequently for things such as Netflix (hook my iPhone to the TV daily for that), Facetime, Skype, Tango, LogMeIn, Slacker, YouTube, and everything else.

I emailed AT&T, and they called me to discuss this issue. Their only options are A) use WiFi (which I don't have at home) or B) Wait and see if I get a text message saying I'm approaching the limit. They couldn't tell me how much data constitutes being in the "top 5 percent" of users. I even asked if they compare my data usage to their customers for the last 60 days, where do I rank? Their response? "We don't have that information." So, if you don't have that information, how do you know who's at the top?

I also asked how much data speeds would be reduced. I even gave options such as half, quarter-speed, EDGE speed, etc. Again, they don't know. So basically, the people who called me don't know a thing. They just spouted out the same rhetoric of how I should connect to WiFi, and they offer over 26,000 hotspots, yadda yadda yadda.

What I get out of the conversation is this: They don't know who the top 5% of data users are, and they don't know how much the data speeds will be reduced. For telling people how you'll treat them, you sure don't know much.

I've been happy with my service up to now. I think it's time to let my friend at Sprint finally talk me into switching so I can have a truly "Unlimited Plan." Not "Unlimited as long as you limit your usage."

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

brianm23

Might want to dig deep into the fair use policy, you maybe surprises with the other carriers.......

[davidusr]

I was thinking the same thing. If Sprint is truly unlimited, they will follow the other three carriers and limit data use eventually.

[wilcre ACE - Expert]

also the info you are asking for doesnt come from customer care it comes from much higher up.

[Dellman87]

I'm so upset with at&t. They first allow us unlimited data then take it away... Then they say, well you can have unlimited to those who you have it, but we are going to slow you down after 2GB to Edge speeds... *sigh*

I went to at&t b/c they had a unlimited plan, if I knew they were going to backstab me and go against their words, I would have gone to Verizon UNLIMITED LTE when I had the chance. I've defended at&t all the time against my friends saying they were a good network.. That they were not business pigs that wanted corperate profits...  Seriously, why do this to your customers.... You seriously have lost my respect.

I'm going to be leaving at&t soon because I do not like being lied to. A company shouldn't lie to their customers. Unlimited Data should be unlimited, not with **** by the title... 

ALSO, they lie about having "4G"

Confusion has been caused by some mobile carriers who have launched products advertised as 4G but which are actually current technologies, commonly referred to as '3.9G', which do not follow the ITU-R defined principles for 4G standards. A common argument for branding 3.9G systems as new-generation is that they use different frequency bands to 3G technologies; that they are based on a new radio-interface paradigm; and that the standards are not backwards compatible with 3G, whilst some of the standards are expected to be forwards compatible with "real" 4G technologies.

AT&T you have seriously lost my respect.

[JFizDaWiz]

the only carrier with truly unlimited is Sprint with 4G, their 3G also has a softcap. also every carrier is lying about 4G so might as well lose reapect for all of them.

[brianm523]

Then why would they knowingly have one of their Customer Care people that knows nothing call me when I clearly wrote out the questions I had in advance? I sent them the questions, got an email saying they would call me to discuss it, then the next day I get someone on the phone with no useful knowledge whatsoever.

[wilcre ACE - Expert]

then may i ask as to it is you are not the one working for ATT Corporate and working in their tech depatment or doing their trasining, by the sound of it you know more than most agents/people that you or others on here would talk to when calling in to ATT? the only way to make sssure everything is correct is to have the proper people doing the traiñing or system enhancements. remember this is just a questionable statement and not meant in any other manor that of this statement.

[RicoLX]

Brian, thats my concern too. This so called "5 Percent" is not a hard code, real number that we can "monitor" our limited-unlimited data (insert my disgust here ). Good ole mamma bell cleverly worded the new adendem "terms" in that the "5 Percent" will change each month cycle. This "5 Percent" will be recalculated and, depending on the highest users per cycle, these persons will get the sledgehammer slamming their "limited-unlimited". So there goes the worry-free unlimited. Now and added worry is that , what we may consider small or moderate useage, then, "if" it just happen that no one used much data and we ueed our normal amount (heres the tricky part....and our normal small to mod usege happen to get posted on mamma's top 5 naughty list,......then.....we get hammered for trying to not go over the imaginary line...... Sad.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Sorry about my post being added here, looks like it was moved from the Uverse Lounge to here.  I never saw the post over here, and intended it for off-topic discussion over there.

I'm wondering if this has to do with T-mo?  I've been hearing radio ads about how they throttle unlimited smartphone plans.  Is ATT adopting this ahead of the proposed buyout/merge?

[JFizDaWiz]

I see a lot of bills and I see people using 35+ GB so more than likely this top 5% is gonna be at least double digit users.

[RicoLX]

Jfizz, if the trend stays in the 35+ range, that would at least provide a general number to estimate useage before slow to no service kicks in. thx

[brianm523]

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JFizDaWiz wrote:
I see a lot of bills and I see people using 35+ GB so more than likely this top 5% is gonna be at least double digit users.

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If it's most likely going to affect "double digit" users, then that scares me. At 40-50GB per month, I'm well over the beginnings of double digits. I really wish Unlimited could just stay Unlimited. I wonder, how many users are still actually on the Unlimited plan? I don't like the fact that AT&T is making me wonder if the pastures are less brown on the other side.

[JFizDaWiz]

you're still getting unlimited access, just slower speeds when you use too much

[Dellman87]

"most likely" isn't a fact it's an opinion. No one exactly knows HOW they fund out who is using what amount of data. They should release a statement saying at what data usage will the cap be set at. 2GB is unfair. I think 10GB would be better.

[Dellman87]

To me 20GB is "too much" for a wireless device. Not 2GB.

[brianm523]

Why do you think 20GB is too much? I use so much mostly due to Netflix which I hook up to my tv on a daily basis. I don't have Internet or a decent computer at home, so I use my iPhone.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Are they still selling the Unlimited plan? 

I know they took iPhone people back, who had previously had the Unlimited plan; but thought it was discontinued to new customers?

[21stNow]

All smartphone customers were grandfathered a little over a year ago.  You're right, no new smartphone customers since that time can get the unlimited data plan.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Thanks for clarifying.  Maybe what I heard was something on a T-mo commercial?

I still have a dumbphone, but am tired of carrying it, plus an iPod Touch 2G, and a camera!  Thinking of going with a new iPhone when they come out, so I've been reading over here and trying to get educated.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

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spd2demun wrote:

Thanks for clarifying.  Maybe what I heard was something on a T-mo commercial?

I still have a dumbphone, but am tired of carrying it, plus an iPod Touch 2G, and a camera!  Thinking of going with a new iPhone when they come out, so I've been reading over here and trying to get educated.

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Verizon killed their Unlimited Data plans earlier last month, I believe. Maybe that's the commercial you heard from?

Anyway, I know what'cha mean. I carry around my smartphone and iPod touch and it's sometimes hard to keep track of both of them. I thought about getting an iPhone 3GS, but, ehh, I like Android better and iPhones are "not authorized" for prepaid plans.

Getting educated, eh? Here's a warm welcome to the Wireless Forum, not like you've never been here before. You can't go wrong with an iPhone!

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Could be it was VZN, and I knew about them recently (think that was why ATT resurrected the Unlimited plan for former iPhone users if they came back?).

Thanks, and go easy on me if I ask something that's been answered, or kindly point me in the right direction.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

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spd2demun wrote:

Could be it was VZN, and I knew about them recently (think that was why ATT resurrected the Unlimited plan for former iPhone users if they came back?).

Thanks, and go easy on me if I ask something that's been answered, or kindly point me in the right direction.

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I didn't know that AT&T had been doing that. Huh.

And don't worry; all you have to do is ask.

[Dellman87]

How much data do you use a month?

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brianm523 wrote:
Why do you think 20GB is too much? I use so much mostly due to Netflix which I hook up to my tv on a daily basis. I don't have Internet or a decent computer at home, so I use my iPhone.

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[Dellman87]

People who had the grandfathered unlimited plans still have them, but for new customers you can not get that anymore. The new rules are that if you go over 2GB you will be throttled - meaning they cut your speed in half or more until the next billing cycle.

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spd2demun wrote:

Are they still selling the Unlimited plan? 

I know they took iPhone people back, who had previously had the Unlimited plan; but thought it was discontinued to new customers?

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[Dellman87]

Verizon did offer unlimited plans, but they stoped that a few weeks ago. They now are also like at&t and Tmobile. The only truly unlimited data plans are on Sprint.

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spd2demun wrote:

Could be it was VZN, and I knew about them recently (think that was why ATT resurrected the Unlimited plan for former iPhone users if they came back?).

Thanks, and go easy on me if I ask something that's been answered, or kindly point me in the right direction.

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[spd2demun ACE - Master]

One big happy family!

I'd guess Sprint will be next, or be grabbed up by Big Red.

Is there a shortage of B/W, or the cell network needs major upgrades?

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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Dellman87 wrote:

Verizon did offer unlimited plans, but they stoped that a few weeks ago. They now are also like at&t and Tmobile. The only truly unlimited data plans are on Sprint.

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spd2demun wrote:

Could be it was VZN, and I knew about them recently (think that was why ATT resurrected the Unlimited plan for former iPhone users if they came back?).

Thanks, and go easy on me if I ask something that's been answered, or kindly point me in the right direction.

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sprint is not truely unlimited either - they have a fair use policy in effect also

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[Ann154]

Sprint has already stated that they could move to a tiered data plan system in the future. I would guess by this time next year, Sprint will have tiered data plans in place.