AT&T Customers Surprised By 'Unlimited Data' Limit

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Oh come on, are you really "surprised" by a limit on your unlimited data plan? If you are really surprised, why not return the favor and "surprise" AT&T with a class action suit? :D

What's surprising people like Trang is how little data use it takes to reach that level — sometimes less that AT&T gives people on its "limited" plans. Trang's iPhone was throttled just two weeks into his billing cycle, after he'd consumed 2.3 gigabytes of data. He pays $30 per month for "unlimited" data. Meanwhile, Dallas-based AT&T now sells a limited, or "tiered," plan that provides 3 gigabytes of data for the same price.
Click to expand...
 
So you get throttled after 2 gigs on your unlimited plan or you can "upgrade" and pay through the nose after you hit your 3 gig limit. Sounds reasonable to me. You still have access to the data stream it's just not at full speed and you're not paying any more money for it so how is it a problem?
 
I would love to see these companies get hit with a massive class action suit for this kind of stuff. It's a pretty shady move to offer people unlimited data, have them stick with you for YEARS (while missing other "unlimited data' promos from their competitors) because of it, and then treat them like they're downloading TB's worth of data for using what they've paid for.

I didn't really have too much of an issue with them throttling "top tier" data users, but I've read about numerous instances of people getting throttled for using 1-3GB of data a month. That's absolutely ridiculous.
 
1. Unlimited data does not means fast speeds.
2. Don't like, switch providers.
3. Ya, looks like At&T is the sucks.
4. I use Tranfone.... yeah:(
 
Throttling after 2-3gb is ridiculously low for an unlimited smart phone plan, especially on 4g. I am on Verizon 3g and have 1.33gb data use after a week on this billing cycle, I would be extremely upset if I was throttled for 2-3 weeks of my billing cycle!

Its not the fact that you are not paying any more for it, and you still have access, but you pay for a 3g or 4g phone and the service to be able to use those features. Paying for an unlimited plan, they should not throttle you at such low bandwidth caps.
 
Deceptive advertising FTW.
When corporations own the government they can do things like this with impunity, get used to it there is more to come.
 
Typical quarter to quarter view.
AT&T is attacking the very users that probably got millions more users on board.
That 5% 'heavy user' are the ones that do not stop talking about their cursed phones.

Target them sure, I guess they will move to another company, but if its another company that is smarter, as Verizon seems to be, then fine, they will get more heavy users, but also the people that 'sell' their phone whenever possible.

Their targeting is horrible to begin with, I don't think it would be to hard to make an algorithm that would throttle you down slowly, and starting in order of heavy user, meaning if you are the heaviest user in an area you would be the very first to be throttled down by a fraction when things are congested, then, more and more of the heavy users in order all by a fraction, down to a person that used say 1 GB, then if needed still, slowdown by another fraction, in order so on and so forth.

What they are doing right now, is a terrible long-term choice.
 
So here's AT&T' claims over the years:

-Most people use well under 2GB.
-Yeah, our wireless revenue is up 19%, blowout quarter except for one time penalty related to our attempt to become the GSM monopoly carrier.
-We've increasing the price everybody pays for data, don't worry we're increasing your cap from 2GB to 3GB. Wait...how is that NOT a downgrade in value when AT&T themselves claimed virtually nobody uses over 2GB?

Here's the kicker, even after they've increased prices, forced people to get 3GB instead of 2GB (tried to sell it as extra value), they STILL insist only the top 5% use even 2GB and justify throttling because of that at 2GB? Talk about incompatible talking points!
 
I got Verizon's unlimited before they dropped it last summer and I used 15 gigs last month after we moved and didn't have a Comcrap yet, seemed like their 4G only got faster...
 
The PR person actually suggested he switch to tiered data instead of his unlimited plan YET earlier in the article he said it was necessary network management.

Talk about BS. Guy is on unlimited, pays $30, gets throttled at 2GB. Guy is on 3GB plan, pays $30, and doesn't get throttled at 2GB? Yet it's a network management/congestion issue?

Quote: "By contrast, once AT&T has decided to throttle your phone, it will be slow for the rest of the billing cycle, even if it's 3 a.m. and there are no other cell phones competing for the capacity of that particular cell tower."

So much for the 'we only do it to people in congested areas'.
 
Metrocall said:
I got Verizon's unlimited before they dropped it last summer and I used 15 gigs last month after we moved and didn't have a Comcrap yet, seemed like their 4G only got faster...
Click to expand...

You know I wonder how much energy, those 15gig cost. Clearly the infrastructure is what it is, the cost on that is somewhat fixed I suppose, but I wonder if the electricity is a lot, I wonder the $/GB in power that is.
 
Dwango said:
So you get throttled after 2 gigs on your unlimited plan or you can "upgrade" and pay through the nose after you hit your 3 gig limit. Sounds reasonable to me. You still have access to the data stream it's just not at full speed and you're not paying any more money for it so how is it a problem?
Click to expand...

They put you at GPRS speeds, which pretty much makes your smartphone a brick. Even sending texts at that speed is painful.


If they feel they need to throttle, it should be the top 5% on that particular tower, when the traffic is above a particular congestion level. Your speed should be dropped by a few MB/s, not back into the stone ages. Also increase caps to 10GB or do away with them all together.
 
Not that shocking. It's buyer beware in this economy. This is exactly like advertising you have "the best widget in its class (in a class of one)" That said anyone using att by choice not because they're forced to by coverage issues deserves to be gouged.
 
az_max said:
They put you at GPRS speeds, which pretty much makes your smartphone a brick. Even sending texts at that speed is painful.


If they feel they need to throttle, it should be the top 5% on that particular tower, when the traffic is above a particular congestion level. Your speed should be dropped by a few MB/s, not back into the stone ages. Also increase caps to 10GB or do away with them all together.
Click to expand...

You say that as if network management is really their goal. It's clear that they're using this as a tactic to get the remaining "unlimited" plan users to change over to one of their tiered plans. Like I said, stick with your "unlimited" plan and suck it up or make the switch to a tiered plan or another carrier. AT&T has thrown down the gauntlet to it's customers here. I don't see that as a bad thing. They never promised maximum speeds at all times when they sold their unlimited plans all they promised was access. Don't like the minimum speed access? Then the ball is in your court.
 
az_max said:
If they feel they need to throttle, it should be the top 5% on that particular tower, when the traffic is above a particular congestion level. Your speed should be dropped by a few MB/s, not back into the stone ages.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY! This is what I've felt for a while. I have no problem being throttled if I'm using 7 GB or more. I understand spectrum isn't unlimited. What I do have a problem with is the point they start throttling you is so friggin low. Even if the "cap" was at 5 gigs, and they cut the speeds down at peak traffic hours, not even when load was high. I would understand that.

Also increase caps to 10GB or do away with them all together.
Click to expand...

I think 10GB is a little high. If customers average in the 2 GB area, make the limit around 5 gigs.

Or sell me a 2 gig plan for $15, 3 gig for $25, 5 gig for $35. Incentivize , not penalize.
 
Dwango said:
You say that as if network management is really their goal. It's clear that they're using this as a tactic to get the remaining "unlimited" plan users to change over to one of their tiered plans. Like I said, stick with your "unlimited" plan and suck it up or make the switch to a tiered plan or another carrier. AT&T has thrown down the gauntlet to it's customers here. I don't see that as a bad thing. They never promised maximum speeds at all times when they sold their unlimited plans all they promised was access. Don't like the minimum speed access? Then the ball is in your court.
Click to expand...

If it wasn't for the fact that in my area AT&T is the only one with a remotely servicable network, I would switch.

Better pricing, better phone selection, and I get to tell AT&T where to get off.

What the US market really needs is more competition.
 
Dwango said:
So you get throttled after 2 gigs on your unlimited plan or you can "upgrade" and pay through the nose after you hit your 3 gig limit. Sounds reasonable to me. You still have access to the data stream it's just not at full speed and you're not paying any more money for it so how is it a problem?
Click to expand...

I think a good case could be made that you are no longer able to access unlimited amounts of data at the much slower speeds. The fact they also like to advertise how much you can use your phone for, and how fast it does it, also could be something to help a lawsuit.
 
I could see 2GB getting slurped up pretty quick on most smart phones in this day and age. I'd bet I could go through that with basic web browsing, netflix and pandora in a few days.
 
I know that this is talking about unlimited plans but for the non-unlimited data plans out there I think T-mobile's is the best setup in that you have unlimited data BUT limited high speed data (the amount depends on the plan you get) so while you will in effect be throttled after you hit your 5 or 10 GB limit you wont end up getting billed extra for that extra data.

With that said, I have Verizon with a 4GB plan, mainly because locally the Sprint signals suck (I'm talking 0.12 Mbps top data speed and voice calls sounded like old broken up radio transmissions with more dropped calls then completed ones.)
 
I have an unlimited international data plan -- and I can promise you that when I roam overseas, I use the shit out of my data...
 
Yet another reason why I switched from ATT and will never switch back. I'll quite bashing ATT as soon as they quite being one of the worst telecommunications providers out there. Their internet sucks(both price and speed), Their land line service is overpriced, their billing department always screws up bills, their customer service sucks(trying to get all their billing mistakes sorted can take hours each and every month, most of it sitting on hold), and their smartphone data plans suck along with the speeds on said data plans. The only thing they have is a little better coverage than their competition and to me it's not worth dealing with them to get it.
 
AT&T involved with surprise customer butt secks??!! What a SHOCKER, who would ahve thought?
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
I think 10GB is a little high. If customers average in the 2 GB area, make the limit around 5 gigs.
Click to expand...

WRONG! The data rates they quote are based on older phones w/o the advent of the apps explosion and most importantly w/o 4G (HSPA+ or LTE). The idea that you will only use 2GB in this day and age with today's phones based on measurements of bandwidth from the "stone ages" of the technology is just stupid.

Use the NFL app to watch highlights on your Verizon phone? That's 400MB per week as you can't be on your wireless and access it. You like Hockey better? The NHL app isn't quite that bad, more like 200MB...Point is, Average Joe/Jane numbers without taking such things into account, just makes no sense.
 
TheWeazmeister said:
WRONG! The data rates they quote are based on older phones w/o the advent of the apps explosion and most importantly w/o 4G (HSPA+ or LTE). The idea that you will only use 2GB in this day and age with today's phones based on measurements of bandwidth from the "stone ages" of the technology is just stupid.

Use the NFL app to watch highlights on your Verizon phone? That's 400MB per week as you can't be on your wireless and access it. You like Hockey better? The NHL app isn't quite that bad, more like 200MB...Point is, Average Joe/Jane numbers without taking such things into account, just makes no sense.
Click to expand...

ya I agree, I only use like 1gb/month on my phone but I don't use it for the internet a lot... my MOM uses over 4gb on the average month, my girlfriend even more/month
 
Tmobile has a teared data pricing that is 4G speeds and then throttles after that but is still unlimited data. The tears are 200MB, 2GB, 5GB and 10GB for $10, $20, $30, and $60 respectively. I cant comment about the speed as I use next to no data (I used less than 10MB last month) and my phone is a low end smart phone and only gets 3G.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
If it wasn't for the fact that in my area AT&T is the only one with a remotely servicable network, I would switch.

Better pricing, better phone selection, and I get to tell AT&T where to get off.

What the US market really needs is more competition.
Click to expand...

You should call T-Mobile and see if they cover your area. They almost exactly overlap with AT&T as far as coverage area. Thats the upside. The downside is they usually use the same towers. But they tend to have better pricing and better customer service and that alone is worth switching. I have a 1.5 year old galaxy with t-mobile, and it even does wifi hotspot for free. The data is unlimited but throttles if you use more than some certain amount. (I'm on the 5gb for $30 and its more than adequate)
 
dr.stevil said:
I would love to see these companies get hit with a massive class action suit for this kind of stuff. It's a pretty shady move to offer people unlimited data, have them stick with you for YEARS (while missing other "unlimited data' promos from their competitors) because of it, and then treat them like they're downloading TB's worth of data for using what they've paid for.

I didn't really have too much of an issue with them throttling "top tier" data users, but I've read about numerous instances of people getting throttled for using 1-3GB of data a month. That's absolutely ridiculous.
Click to expand...

What a game. All this tech,as is explained to us,was to make our lives more richer and fulfilled. It seems to be a struggle for most. I say go back to basics and use your cell phone as a phone, its obvious that it doesn't cut it as a computer. It was put their as an after thought to bring untold wealth to the telcos. I mean would you pay fifty to a hundred bucks a month for strictly a cell phone, I doubt it, and so did the telcos.
 
How is this a hidden item, it's plain as day on the website, the first data plan is 2GB, the second one is unlimited (if unlimited now means 4GB).
 
This makes my glad I use a pre paid cell phone service.....these data caps and bandwidth throttling is so stupid.

They advertise FAST 4G SPEEDS.....surf the web, watch videos, download music....all that at BLAZING FAST 4G right??!

Watching netflix movies would take up alot of that 2GB I imagine...oh sorry you watched some movies and sent PDF emails for business use since people actually do work related things on their phones too....and you are over your limit.....that's the whole point of having a smartphone and a 4g data plan.....you know, to actually use the phone?

Sorry but no one is going to have a car that goes on the highway, and you have 30 dollars a month for "unlimited" toll fees....but if you drive on the highway more than 10 times a month you are using it more than other people so we will kick in the governor that makes you drive on the highway at 15MPH??? People should sue the crap out of all the companies that have these caps....it's BS.
 
az_max said:
They put you at GPRS speeds, which pretty much makes your smartphone a brick. Even sending texts at that speed is painful.


If they feel they need to throttle, it should be the top 5% on that particular tower, when the traffic is above a particular congestion level. Your speed should be dropped by a few MB/s, not back into the stone ages. Also increase caps to 10GB or do away with them all together.
Click to expand...

My Sprint unlimited 3G plan is always the speed of GPRS (2G). :p
 
Dear AT&T,

Oh you mean unlimited doesn't mean unlimited because you don't follow the English definition of 'unlimited', but instead make your own up definition of the word that nobody else would know or infer from standard communication? Well, since we are in an agreement where we are able to redefine the meanings of words, I don't follow the English definition of dollars, instead I'll send you 29 pesos, because to me dollars means pesos.

Thanks,
Have a nice day.
 
There is always a trade-off...

Sprint - Unlimited Data, but CRAPPY coverage, and NEVER 4G.
ATT/Verizion - Limited Data. Throttled speeds, but good coverage and reasonable 4G.
 
Honestly I'm not defending them, but after all the shit all the carriers do to us it's pretty much no big deal to me anymore. Oh everyone says jump ship to T-Mobile now because of X and Y. Oh look now T-Mobile has a ton more subscribers so they now enact the policy that the other carriers did before them when they reached that subscriber number. It's just a big round-robin of getting fucked and it's not over by a long shot unless something drastically changes the way the smartphone industry functions.

Basically calling out one carrier for shitty practices is ridiculous because they're all screwing us. They just take turns.
 
I don't understand how sprint hasn't completely taken over the market yet. They now off the same models of phones, have very competitive pricing, and their data plans are 4g speed AND unlimited.
 
lloose said:
I don't understand how sprint hasn't completely taken over the market yet. They now off the same models of phones, have very competitive pricing, and their data plans are 4g speed AND unlimited.
Click to expand...

What 4g? Are you talking about the VERY limited WiMax areas, or the non-existant LTE? Unless you live in a WiMax market, or one of the pilot LTE rollout markets, Sprint's unlimited data actually means crap.
 
Metrocall said:
I got Verizon's unlimited before they dropped it last summer and I used 15 gigs last month after we moved and didn't have a Comcrap yet, seemed like their 4G only got faster...
Click to expand...
Wow, that's pretty impressive, but I realize it's a lot easier to rack up the BW consumption w/ 4G vs. 3G. I have 3G and racked up over 1 GB/mo. the last few months but less than 2 GB. I'm also grandfathered in the unlimited plan and hope that gets re-grandfathered in 2013 when I get a 4G phone in my next contract renewal.
 
Brantoc said:
There is always a trade-off...

Sprint - Unlimited Data, but CRAPPY coverage, and NEVER 4G.
ATT/Verizion - Limited Data. Throttled speeds, but good coverage and reasonable 4G.
Click to expand...


My work phone is from sprint. I travel monthly between Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, and Nevada. I never see a difference between the coverage on my AT&T iphone and my sprint blackberry bold. If anything when I go to football games or other heavily congested areas, my data completely shuts down on AT&T, but I'm still able to get 4g speeds with sprint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top