AT&T Offers Unlimited Plan Deal For First Responders, But It Can Be Throttled (theverge.com)

AT&T is offering a new promotion for first responders and their families. Firefighters, paramedics, and police officers can opt for 25 percent off either of the unlimited plans AT&T announced back in June. But in the fine print, as The Verge points out, "AT&T admits it may throttle data speeds 'when the network is congested.'" The promotion comes soon after Verizon came under scrutiny for throttling firefighters' data as they fought wildfires in California. From the report: AT&T says that first responders looking for completely unlimited internet without data speed caps can use FirstNet, the network it recently began operating specifically for first responders. AT&T was contracted by the U.S. government to built out FirstNet, which offers features that specifically cater to first responders. The company says that it's actively promoting FirstNet, but at the same time, its promotion page doesn't make a mention of the superior plan at all. In an email, AT&T clarified that the promotional plans subject to throttling are for first responders' personal use and family plans. "We're offering first responders and their family members a discount on the consumer plans available today for their personal use," a spokesperson said. "These lines and devices are separate than the FirstNet lines purchased and issued by the first responder agencies, which do not have a data limit."

The deal allows first responders to choose between the AT&T Unlimited & More plan or the Unlimited & More Premium plan, which has more entertainment add-ons to choose from, including HBO, Showtime, and Amazon Music. With the ongoing promotion, a single line alone on Unlimited & More will cost $52.50 a month, while four lines on a plan would cost $30 a month per person. Unlimited & More Premium costs $60 a month for a single line, and $35.62 a month per person for four lines.

Comments

Stop calling plans "Unlimited"

[bob4u2c]

When did "Unlimited" start meaning we throttle speed or charge you more if you actually attempt to use what is promised?

If you sell me a 15Mbit connection I should be able to saturate the line at 15Mbit 24/7 for the entire month with no slow down and no extra charges.

Would you accept it if your "Unlimited" rental cars top speed was cut in half if you went more than 200 miles in a day? Or if after 300 miles you had to pay an extra millage charge.

So stop calling it "Unlimited" and call it what it really is, "Extra charges will apply". The argument I usually hear is that the network can't handle that kind of traffic and they "have" to slow your network speed. If that is the case then sell what you can support; stop over selling or stop under providing!

Re:Stop calling plans "Unlimited"

[bob4u2c]

Obviously it is impossible, for a price that anyone other than a Saudi prince can afford, to provide mobile data at high speeds that is truly unlimited AND delivers full speed at all times.

Then stop advertising things you can't promise! Instead they should say this is our 22GB data plan, not our "unlimited" plan.

What they mean by "unlimited" is you don't pay more for more data. As long as they only throttle when needed to avoid congestion and perhaps first to high usage users, this seems quite reasonable.

But isn't that the point, once he reached a datacap he was slowed down. When he then called to complain they offered to upgrade the datacap for a fee? So was this really a case of congestion, or just a money grab?

At this point, every person with at least two brain cells knows that 'unlimited' in mobile plans rarely means "full maximum bandwidth guaranteed 7x24 even if users actually use that bandwidth 7x24". People with only one or zero brain cells can just read the footnote that explains this.

Exactly, everyone now expects their phone plan to be a bold face lie. When did the meaning of "unlimited" change? If I can't use that bandwidth, then you shouldn't be able to advertise it or at the very least you should set a minimum limit. Footnotes are fine for listing exceptions, however then you can't call it "unlimited" because you just imposed a limit.

Re:Stop calling plans "Unlimited"

[uncqual]

They are offering you unlimited data in the sense that you don't pay a different amount for data based on usage.

What they don't guarantee you is bandwidth -- just as they don't guarantee bandwidth on any plan including a 1GB/month plan.

Do you take unlimited to mean "Infinite" since that's what it means in the extreme? Even bandwidth of 100PB/sec 7/24 for a whole month doesn't give you that because 2.7e20 bytes << infinity bytes.

I'm not a big fan of the term 'unlimited' either, but now that everyone understands what it probably means, it really doesn't matter much. Would you prefer "Unmetered Data"? Perhaps "Fixed Price Data".

Re:Stop calling plans "Unlimited"

[kenh]

"Unlimited" means there is no arbitrary limit on the amount of data one can download, it says nothing about the speed of that data.

Re:Stop calling plans "Unlimited"

[kriston]

That's just where the market went. "Unlimited" means you don't get charged more for using too much data. You can use as much data as you want, but speed will suffer past a threshold. On many plans that threshold is between 18 and 22 GB. I recently visited a resort that included a free WiFi Hotspot device (on AT&T) and it had dozens of text messages on it that said, "You have used [redacted] data for this account, so your data may be throttled in congested areas." It wasn't useless, but it was somewhat slower in some areas.

The "unlimited" plans really mean that you won't get $15-per-gigabyte overage charges on your data plan. With my family plan, this was a serious source of stress and annoyance by the 20th day of a billing cycle. With this new "unlimited" plan, I don't have to bother with any data plan overages anymore. My family members who used too much data got throttled in busy areas. Seemed fair to me.

When I'm on a congested cell and have used more than my 22-gigabyte allocation per my plan, of course my data should be de-prioritized, or "throttled" when necessary. That's just common sense and good business logic.

The real problem is that when you are a first responder, your data should never be throttled for any reason even when you are over your 22 (or whatever) gigabyte allocation. That's where Verizon screwed up, and I don't see how the AT&T competitive plan is that much better.

How about the...

[budsetr]

How about the Fuck You We Own the Government Plan? The first 3GB per year are only $1200. Each gig after that is throttled down to 19.2k (2400 baud) and $50 per GB. BTW, fuck Ajit Pai

Re:Emergency services should get a gov't service

[uncqual]

Maybe something like FirstNet which is clearly pointed out? (Except for, perhaps, the "low price" feature.)

Although, since these plans include "Preemption - priority access to the domestic AT&T 4G LTE network", they may not be able to offer them in California if it passes the pending "net neutrality" legislation (or any other state that legislates "net neutrality").

I don't see any reason for such plans to necessarily be "low price". Private enterprises should not be expected to provide governments with "bargains" that they wouldn't offer to other similar volume users. Should Ford sell SUVs to police departments cheaper than they would to a similar volume non-first responder, non-governmental organization? Why?