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User Successfully Sues AT&T For Throttling iPhone Data
An anonymous reader writes "Matt Spaccarelli has won a judgement of $850 from AT&T for data throttling. From the article: 'Nadel's ruling could pave the way for others to follow suit. AT&T has some 17 million customers with "unlimited data" plans that can be subject to throttling, representing just under half of the company's smartphone users.
AT&T stopped signing up new customers for those plans in 2010, and warned last year that it would start slowing speeds for people who consume the most data. In the last few months, subscribers have been surprised by how little data use it takes for throttling to kick in —often less than AT&T provides to those on limited or "tiered" plans. Spaccarelli said his phone is being throttled after he's used 1.5 gigabytes to 2 gigabytes of data within a new billing cycle. Meanwhile, AT&T provides 3 gigabytes of data to subscribers on a tiered plan that costs the same — $30 per month.'"
They claimed they needed to limit usage on their network, so they throttled users. What they forgot was the part where they're supposed to compensate the affected users for this.
The Judge understood fine. Spaccarelli didn't go to arbitration, so why should the clause that pertains to damage awards in arbitration apply in court?
That already exists (at least in the US). Any time your provider changes the contract, read the fine print of the contract. You'll find you have a certain time period (usually 14 or 30 days) in which you can discontinue your service without any early termination fee. The person you talk to to try to end the service will generally lie and say that the clause doesn't apply to you, but ultimately the company is bound by the terms of the original contract until such time as you agree to the new contract by paying your next payment.
They don't change the contract. t-mobile and AT&T just redefine "unlimited data" to mean "all the data you can get, but at 5% of the maximum speed that your 4G device can deliver it".
Which may keep them in the letter of the law and contract, but absolutely not in the spirit. Especially if you take into account the inherent and explicit promises of their advertisements.
Check your premises.
This has been successfully done many times. The law states if one party changes a contract the other party does not have to agree to the terms and may chose to cancel the original contract. Of course with cell phones that means you may not get to keep your original number which can be a deal breaker for some.
"But this one goes to 11!"
I used to have a Sprint phone under contract. They upped the monthly cost less than six months after I signed the contract and I told them to piss off. They said the change wasn't material and charged the early termination fee to my credit card. I explained the situation to my credit card company and they reversed the charge and told Sprint to piss off. Sprint pissed off and never bothered me again.
There's nothing naive about my post. I simply refused to take "it's immaterial" as an acceptable response and I know how to deal with companies that do shit like that.