My unlimited plan gets throttled after 5GB usage. From what I understand, a 30GB family data plan won't get throttled until the 30GB are used up. If this is still true, how is it that throttling at 5GB is for "network management"?
AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
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Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#12[Sorta OT...] Ugh, now we just need goad Comcast into improving their peering.
It's pretty sad when the TV viewing experience is better via torrents than Netflix. Comcast is doing some serious throttling.... For me, the Netflix stream is all pixelated, yet we can pull the entire hour-long HD content via torrent in ~5 minutes. Something is amiss.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#13T-Mobile throttles my "unlimited" family plan. The main number gets 3G and each additional gets 1G and then is throttled. Are they also on the radar or is it less of a problem for them because they give you the throttle data up-front (while still using the unlimited word). In reality, however, when you hit your limit it becomes almost unusable.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#14We should stop lawyers from re-defining words like unlimited. We should make sure that if somebody says unlimited in advertisment or product description it really means unlimited. I know, I am an idealist. :)
So what does unlimited mean then in your definition? Even before they throttle, you will be limited by the throughput of the cell tower.
FYI, "unlimited data" != "unlimited throughput". No one's asking for unlimited throughput. What people who signed up thought they were getting was pretty straightforward - unlimited data at the throughput promised. Period.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#15T-Mobile throttles my "unlimited" family plan. The main number gets 3G and each additional gets 1G and then is throttled. Are they also on the radar or is it less of a problem for them because they give you the throttle data up-front (while still using the unlimited word). In reality, however, when you hit your limit it becomes almost unusable.
They tell you up front, so I don't think it's an issue. Technically it IS unlimited.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#16My unlimited plan gets throttled after 5GB usage. From what I understand, a 30GB family data plan won't get throttled until the 30GB are used up. If this is still true, how is it that throttling at 5GB is for "network management"?
Because at that point the distinction is an arbitrary hand-wave, and they can just drop the point at which they start throttling lower and lower to save money.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#17> But consumers are unlikely to receive any money from the fine, which will go instead to the U.S. Treasury, said the agency official.
Well why the hell not?? If we were the wronged party, should we not benefit from the settlement directly?
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#18We should stop lawyers from re-defining words like unlimited. We should make sure that if somebody says unlimited in advertisment or product description it really means unlimited. I know, I am an idealist. :)
So what does unlimited mean then in your definition? Even before they throttle, you will be limited by the throughput of the cell tower.
I would define it as without limits imposed by the company. Limits imposed by nature are fine. I'm not going to complain about unlimited talk time when there are only so many seconds in the month.
I'm even ok with prioritization for congestion control since you're hitting a natural limit of available bandwidth. This is apparently what AT&T is doing now according to Ars Technica.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#19It'll be a cold day in hell before this sticks. They'll use every slippery tactic in the book to justify it and to fight it, they'll bribe^Wlobby the appropriate parties to legally define "unlimited" as "limited", and even if they are stuck with it, they'll just not pay.
I mean, what, are they going to arrest executives? Give me a break. There's no recourse either way.
Re: AT&T fined $100M after slowing down its ‘unlimited’ data
#20> But consumers are unlikely to receive any money from the fine, which will go instead to the U.S. Treasury, said the agency official. Well why the hell not?? If we were the wronged party, should we not benefit from the settlement directly?
Because its a fine, not a lawsuit. Even for a lawsuit, that would be like 50 cents per person, and most people would never claim it, especially former customers.