After Complaints, AT&T Solidifies, Increases Data Limit

New submitter rullywowr writes "After many users expressed anger, AT&T has moved the slowdown throttling bottleneck from 3GB of data to 5GB of data for users of 4G LTE smart phones. 'Previously, AT&T slowed speeds for subscribers who reached the top 5% of data users for that billing cycle and geographic location. Customers were outraged, arguing that the percentage method meant they had no way to know what the limit was — until AT&T informed them via text message that they were in danger of exceeding it.' AT&T still maintains the position that less than 5% of its users exceed the 3GB threshold each month."

Comments

"Unlimited data"

[Anonymous Coward]

So "unlimited data" means 3GB/5GB now?

Re:"Unlimited data"

[tripleevenfall]

It's still unlimited. They should have to advertise this truthfully, though.

"Unlimited data, with 3G speed for the first 3GB."

"Our unlimited data plans feature 4G speed for the first 5GB you use each month!"

Re:"Unlimited data"

[the_fat_kid]

here is to hoping that they "do not change the terms of our deal again"
well, you deal with the sith and you get what you expect.

Re:"Unlimited data"

[icebraining]

Then all plans are and always have been unlimited, they just reduce your bandwidth to zero! (Or to 1kbps).

Calling that unlimited makes it lose all meaning.

Bandwidth Calculations

[AnotherAnonymousUser]

Anyone in the industry or in the know want to take a stab at where the numbers come from? It seems that 5GB is a common enough number for phone carriers. Is that just a metric that was settled upon, is it arbitrarily set, or are they crunching numbers and coming out with 3GB/5GB as a theoretical "optimal" limit for a network? Feedback welcome from people who know how/why such decisions are made!

Re:Bandwidth Calculations

[Sponge Bath]

I'm not in the industry, but I don't doubt that they crunched numbers... not network capacity, but how little can you give a consumer and how much can you charge before they leave.

Re:Bandwidth Calculations

[hawguy]

The smart thing about their 95% percentile calculation is that the bar keeps getting lower.

If the 95% mark is at 5GB today and they throttle back anyone that exceeds 5GB, no one will be able to go beyond 5GB of usage, so next month the 95% level might be 4.9GB. Then since no one can go much beyond 4.9GB, the next month it becomes 4.8GB. And so on.

Until finally, they are throttling once you hit 100KB of bandwidth and they can advertise the world's fastest wireless network since no one can use it. You can get one hit to speedtest.net to test your bandwidth and see your blazing 25mbit of bandwidth before they throttle you to 144kb of bandwidth.

Sounds like a good strategy.

Re:Bandwidth Calculations

[AddictedToCaffine]

They're not "hogs" if they paid for "unlimited".

It still accomplishes their goal

[nweaver]

For 3G (read, ALL iPhones) its still 3GB.

So for iPhone customers on the old unlimited plan, they still have a choice:

For the same amount of money, either stick with the "Unlimited" plan which goes useless at 3GB, or go to a metered plan where you get 3GB and above that its $10/GB in overages...

As for the 4G/LTE phones, those are in a much smaller minority, as the big grandfathered ones that AT&T dislikes are the iPhones.

Re:It still accomplishes their goal

[Eponymous Coward]

Their goal is much more devious.

They are going to keep the data caps as low as they possibly can. I'm convinced that throttling the heaviest users is just a way to reinforce this idea that using the network costs money. The truth is, the only problem on the network is peak time congestion and throttling the heaviest users has the same effect as throttling any user during peak time.

So, AT&T gets people used to the idea that data caps are normal and necessary. Step two is about approaching companies like Pandora, Netflix, and Google and make them this offer: if you pay us a lot of money, data transferred from your service won't count in the data cap calculation. They want to be paid two times for a single user's network usage. It's so obvious to me that this is what they are working on and it's disgusting.

Re:It still accomplishes their goal

[afidel]

BS, bulk transport is the cheapest part of any internet connection and prices per GB are falling about 10x faster in that segment than they are in last mile. Plus AT&T is a Tier1 so they aren't paying anyone for peering agreements.

Still not unlimited

[Anonymous Coward]

I've avoided AT&T and Verizon for this reason. I should be able to use my phone all I want.

Sprint is definitely in a winning position.

AT&T Lies.

[geekmux]

"...AT&T still maintains the position that less than 5% of its users exceed the 3GB threshold each month."

Really? Seems to me AT&T is causing an awful lot of pain and bad publicity for themselves by creating such limitations around what supposedly accounts for only 5% of their consumer base. Seems like the effort would be worth a hell of a lot more than 5% of revenue.

Re:AT&T Lies.

[MacGyver2210]

"Here at AT&T we have a long, rich history of screwing our customers. From the original days of our telephone monopoly, to our sub-standard yet overpriced DSL service and its associated lawsuits, we strive to charge you at least 10 times the value of the service you receive. This is our promise to you.

It has come to our attention that a tiny fraction of our cellular data customers are using more than the rest, even though they are within the data amount we promised upon signing their contract. We simply cannot allow even the smallest portion of our clients to actually receive what they pay for, or have service at the level they expect. This would set a terribly hard-to-follow precedent of giving customers what they want and what they pay for. We simply cannot handle that.

On this note, we have today decided to return to bill-per-hour internet access. Based on the 1997 AOL dial-up rate, we are now charging $3.67 per hour* for your cellular data bandwidth. We still consider this to be 'unlimited' as you are able to use as much data as you are willing to pay for. We thank your for your continued subservience, and your willingness to put up with us constantly screwing you. We truly believe you don't have any choice in carriers, so your resistance is futile."

*Any time over one second is billed as a full hour. No prorating or refunds allowed. An additional 30 pages of terms and conditions that none of you will read also apply.

buy a smartphone they said

[Anonymous Coward]

buy a smartphone they said
watch tv, movies, videos they said

you can't use that bandwidth we advertised and sold you they say

Need competition and regulation.

[JustAnotherIdiot]

Leave the market alone, it'll be just fine they said.
Bullshit, we're getting robbed blind by these people, costs should be nowhere near this high.
If they took one day of bonus away from the CEO, they'd probably be able to upgrade their infrastructure enough to handle all of the current users without breaking a sweat.
Oh, but no, CEO man has to have his 7 yachts and 5 mansions. We would be terrorists if we wanted him to go without just one yacht.

Calm Down... A LITTLE

[CMYKjunkie]

AT&T user here. I was more pissed off about these limits until I started using an app that shows me my data usage during the month and I had a surprising result: I only use 200 MB a month!! I thought I was someone who would be near the 2GB cap I have, but I am quite wrong. During my afternoon commute (~2 hours) on Amrtrak I use my phone to Facebook (including a lot of picture uploading), Twitter, web browsing, e-mail, light gaming and app downloads & usage. All of this is on 3G (or "4G" if I am to believe AT&T's marketing speak that HSPA+ is 4G). Weekends out around town is the same profile, though evenings and such at home I am on Wi-Fi. So to be using only 200MB was a shock to me. All I am saying is that we should all look at our usage before we are outraged. Yes: it is RIDICULOUS that they market "unlimited" data when throttling is, by any reasonable definition, limiting. But how many of you are really at or near the caps? I would really like to know!! I wonder how many of you are like me, thinking you use more data than you do.

Re:Calm Down... A LITTLE

[LoudNoiseElitist]

How sure of that app are you? Have you been comparing it with what AT&T says you're using? Try dialing *3282# and see what the text message you get says. I'm willing to bet it's a *lot* more than 200mb, especially if you've been uploading images (assuming they aren't tiny).

Furthermore, people were originally angry because this throttling wasn't being applied to people necessarily going over their limits, it was people in the "top 5% of data usage", whatever that means. And there isn't a way for an app to tell you that, hence the outrage.

Re:Calm Down... A LITTLE

[Zerth]

I listen to pandora/spotify/etc during my commute, plus google maps+nav, youtube videos, random webpages. I'm 8 days into my billing cycle and I'm at 1241 megs, so probably about 4gigs/month. More like 6 or 7 gigs if I use google hangout or ustream for any serious amount of time.

You're using your phone like you are on dialup, so it isn't surprising your data usage matches that.

You are paying for the last mile

[tepples]

Why would it matter where you connect to the Internet from - whether your phone or a Coffee Shop WiFi point?

Because it costs more to send bits over cellular last mile than over Wi-Fi to a wired last mile.

It all goes to the same internet

Over different last miles. Different last miles have different costs per bit. That's why Comcast can afford to charge the same for 250 GB that a cellular carrier charges for 5 GB.