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AT&T To Start Data Throttling Heaviest Users
greymond writes "AT&T has announced that starting on Oct. 1 it will throttle the data speeds of users with unlimited data plans who exceed bandwidth thresholds on its 3G network. AT&T is following in the tracks Verizon and Virgin Mobile in reducing data throughput speeds of its heaviest mobile data users."
I mean, I want my service to work, because it's not overloaded all the time, and this fixes that problem without
a. Hard caps
b. overages.
seems to me, saying you'll get 3g speeds for the first 2gb/mo, and edge speeds after that is the best way to solve the problem. SO long as it's publicized. if you don't like it, too bad, I'm tired of shitty service because some folks use their hacked Iphones to download torrents all day.
that said, if the service still sucks, or the cap it too low, leave.
-and occasionaly a giant moose.
I'm on an unlimited plan and recently I called AT&T to see if I could drop my plan to a lower usage plan and (hopefully) save money. The nice lady on the phone looked up my usage, laughed and said that I was "double" the usage rate of the next lower plan both in terms of voice as well as data. The thing is, yes I live by my phone. (I run my own business.) But really, I very rarely watch any videos with my phone. (Though perhaps every other month I'll watch a video on NetFlix) I mostly use my phone for e-mail and for reading various news websites -- being a news junkie -- and yet I'm a "heavy user".
So, from my point of view speaking as one who rarely uses high-data intensive applications, if you aren't a "heavy user", you don't use your phone at all ....
How about lowering the licensing costs for startup competition to use the spectrum?
I already have a 20Mb pipe available at the office, which is only needed to handle the nightly traffic spikes from updating customers.
I can build a picocell gsm provider big enough to service several hundred people across 1/4 of my town for less than $10,000.
There is a market here for this type of internet connection, I'm certain I could sell it.
However, the fcc license fee for doing this would completely dwarf all other costs.
Additionally, I can easily setup a wired isp for just my neighborhood for less than $5000. (i already have most of the equipment)
The cable is cheap, but the local large isp managed to get city planning to deny my application for access to the right-of way.
Instead, I tried setting up a wireless service using 802.11.
The fcc has come knocking 3 times to measure the signal strength of my radio.
So lets start by relaxing/removing some of the existing laws before we start trying to pass more.
This isn't interesting it's complete bullshit. I pay my ISP to provide the bandwidth and Youtube pays their ISP to provide bandwidth, the bandwidth has been paid for. I don't get money off my bill at the end of the month if my ISP was able to serve me up a cached version, so why on Earth should the ISP get to cheat me like that?
From your post the take home message here is that we need more regulation to clamp down on ISPs' and their fraudulent advertising practices. If they can't provide the advertised speed then they shouldn't be pretending to offer it, it's just that simple.