AT&T just got hit with a $100 million fine after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data

a reply to: Answer

I remember when AT&T started the scam of data plans by blaming a small group of users, less than 1%, for slowing down their network. When their data plans went live Verizon followed suit because it meant more money in their pocket. God help you if you went over your limit and weren't paying attention. So it's ironic that AT&T are now purposely slowing unlimited data users download speeds!

I could never be on a data plan, I stream Howard Stern, Twitch, pandora, YouTube, & more daily on my phone. So I've been noticing how awful the connections have been for a long time now. For once, I'm so happy for that the FCC exists!

The fine should role into upgrades of their infrastructure. If they're hurting that bad for bandwidth, upgrade it already. What will it be spent on now? If the company couldn't afford the traffic then, they sure as hell can't now, either.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

They'll be just fine. If they want to save money then they should stop cheating their customers.

mobile.reuters.com...

Revenue was $32.58 billion compared to $32.48 billion a year earlier. This was below analysts' revenue forecast of $32.84 billion.

originally posted by: James1982

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
How does unlimited data equal speed? If AT&T stopped their use of data after so much then that would be limited data. Changing the speed still gives them access to data all day long. Sounds frivolous to me.

Unlimited is unlimited. The word means no limits. Changing speed after a certain amount of data is indeed a limit. You have hit a data LIMIT, so they slow your speed.

Additionally, slowing your speed does in fact reduce the amount of data you are able to download, again limiting your data, going against the meaning of unlimited.

So if they increased the speed after you bought it, would that give you beyond infinity data?

Your argument breaks logic.

Worst internet I've ever had in my entire life was provided by ATT.

They should be put out of business along with the other megacraplords.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: TinfoilTP

Do you always play Devils advocate or do you not understand that my LTE network should be faster than the old Edge network, or worse, dial up? It's literally like paying for broadband and receiving dial up speeds.

Eyes calls em likes eyes sees em.

Switch, there is cable, satellite, other DSL companies. There are always offers to buy out any contracts out there too for switching.

a reply to: TinfoilTP

Ummm you do realize we're talking about phone networks right?

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: angeldoll

Nope, still garbage. They said they sent out letters and emails to us but I received no such thing.

Update! At work now and this is where I suffer the usual slow/no connection blues the most but right now it's the best it's ever been! Thank AT&T for turning off the throttle switch...

a reply to: Swills

That is a good chunk of change!

I got gigapower, they do me well. Super low pings, no enforced data caps, 1gbps/1gbps package, BOOYAH!!

Now the att mobile I got, yea that blows donkey marbles.

You might want to give the full figures, thou:

ATT Profits

That's a pretty low profit margin. Less than 10%. This 100 million fine would put them down a few percent. Do realize att is a huge company with a lot of services. I do think that 100 million puts a dent in them. It's not pocket change.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

It's their own fault and clearly they're not spending the money on upgrades.

Of course they are! Any tech company who isn't constantly upgrading is dying fastly. Talk about besides the point.

Oh you flipped that one entirely 180, LOL! Your flip is even better to counter, as that was my whole point. If they are incompetent as a corporation, you take their pot and do their job for them. Not suck it up into a black hole and say "mission accomplished" lol

T-moblie is the way to go.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

Did a 180? I do believe I've been consistent, I just hate repeating myself.

originally posted by: Swills
www.washingtonpost.com...

The Federal Communications Commission slapped AT&T with a $100 million fine Wednesday, accusing the country's second largest cellular carrier of improperly slowing down Internet speeds for customers who had signed up for "unlimited" data plans.

I knew it! I'm one of the lucky ones who was grandfathered into the unlimited data plan and I just knew my connection was being throttled! Screw you AT&T, but I'll forever be a slave to the unlimited data plan causing me never leave you!!!!!

Have you checked to see how much data you actually use? I had Sprints unlimited data but I had to switch plans because I was by myself and had no need for 1200 minutes or whatever. I rarely used more than 3 gb so that's the plan I got. Not to shabby.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
How does unlimited data equal speed? If AT&T stopped their use of data after so much then that would be limited data. Changing the speed still gives them access to data all day long. Sounds frivolous to me.

It's not frivolous. What is the point of PAYING for unlimited data when for a week you can reliably watch funny videos on YouTube to decompress and give you a chance to enjoy dinner out by putting on Dora the explorer for your child and then all of a sudden, you can't even load Facebook on your 15 minute break? ATT can suck it the eff up. They weren't telling their customers they would be throttled after reaching a certain cap, now let them suffer.

a reply to: chuck258

Every billing cycle I reset my data used. I can use anywhere from 6 gigs to 10+ gigs a month. Like I said, my phone is my media center, especially when I'm in my car. I never use CD's, MP3's, and I hate FM radio. Instead I stream Pandora, Youtube, and Sirius all from my phone. When there's downtime at work I love to read the web or watch streams from Twitch or watch movies/shows from Netflix/HBO Now. I use a lot of data.

I'm not with AT&T, I'm not even in the US, but my ISP does similar. It's sold as 'unlimited bandwidth' but until quite recently, if I downloaded or uploaded more than a specific amount in a sliding time window, they would reduce my speed to 25% of the 'headline speed' for 2 hours.

This practice got them such bad press, they removed the restriction on the download, but kept it on the upload. If I upload more than a set amount within a sliding time window, they reduce all of my speeds, down and up, to 25% of their full speed for 2 hours.

So I feel your pain, and I'm glad that the FCC saw fit to take action in your case.

It does have to be commented however, that there is no such thing as 'unlimited', as there is a very real limit. The amount you can download/upload is limited by the maximum speed of the network, and the maximum speed of the network is limited by the technology in use. In IT circles, these are considered 'natural limits', whereas throttling is considered to be an artificial limit.

So while your ISP shouldn't be applying artificial limits, if they supplied it as 'unlimited', be aware that there are limits in the form of the so called 'natural limits'.