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AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

johncozen.com

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Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#21

Post by seanp2k2 »

lancewiggs wrote: post #16

While the main thrust of the story is concerning, what really makes me feel ill are the scripted responses. The service agents are just picking responses from a list and hitting send. They appear to have no ability to apply thought to the process, and no authority to delegate up. I'm sure the staff are smart and frustrated, and I'm reasonably sure that they are constrained by their systems and processes. But how good…

All that sounds great and I agree with you 100%...however, since they're a public company, their first priority is to maximize profits, and that is exactly what they're doing here. Since USA citizens are so lazy that they let telco lobbyist groups write the laws and don't riot over them when they're passed by bought politicians, we have to deal with idiotic support as described above.

This is also the reason that the sales drones at Best Buy just read the product packaging when you ask them a question about it. Unskilled labor is cheap, and these days, almost all level 1 support is unskilled (think across industries, not just IT; IT still has some great lvl1 support if you look hard enough.)

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#22

Post by evolve2k »

I would suggest that 'Unlimited' has a very clear meaning to the reasonable person and that they are now breaching their contract as it was initially advertised to the public. Assuming it was initially advertised as 'Unlimited' with relation to speed and data.

Of note; Lets say you were in Australia you could take this case straight to the ACCC or the Communications Ombudsman and from experience I would be fairly confident of you getting what you want.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#23

Post by seanp2k2 »

ghshephard wrote: post #13

I tried to finish - but the author was either being dense or argumentative. I think AT&T has made their position pretty clear - Unlimited doesn't have overage charges, but you get rate limited when you hit the top 5% of usage (currently 2 Gigabytes). AT&T also offers 2 Gigabyte and 3 Gigabyte plans, with overage charges. Happily, AT&T has been prevented from taking over T-Mobile, so we still have at least four provid…

While oligopoly still > than monopoly or duopoly, it's still You think the wireless ISP biz is a free market? Try to start one. Try to get cities and tower owners to give you permission to put your gear up. Who will you get fibre interlinks from for those towers? Who will issue permits to dig trenches to lay fibre all over the cities? Wireless ISPs ("wireless telcos" but I consider them ISPs because ALL their calls, SMS, MMS, and data is now digital) know the game and make no mistake, it is this way on purpose. They have done everything they can to ensure an anti-competitive market.

EDIT: I'm sure someone will mention that you could just resell service as many regional WISPs do. Again though, WISPs know the score here, and they price reseller service so that it basically matches what they're offering direct to consumers. At my old company, we'd resell SBC-ATT-Yahoo-Cingulair-Bell-BellSouth-Ameritech-Edge Wireless-Cellular One-Centennial-Wayport DSL (yes, those are all just known as "ATT" today) and the cheapest we could offer 1.5mbit DSL service was $25/month.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#24

Post by paul9290 »

bryanh wrote: post #7

Anyone have any experience in the process of switching an AT&T iPhone to Verizon? Worth it? Any gotchas?

I would suggest Sprint as they offer unlimited data and voice (text too) for $80 a month.

I have switched to Sprint in Oct. from AT&T. I've had little to no issue with them here in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#25

Post by modeless »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #18
johngalt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't work. Different network and different hardware.

The 4S has CDMA and GSM radios built in. You could just unlock it and move it over if you can find the right CSR to add your IMEI to Verizon.

You can't "just" unlock it. Unlocking is risky: it voids your warranty, makes the process of updating your OS difficult or impossible, and has a very real chance of bricking your phone.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#26

Post by lpolovets »

One particularly nasty thing about automatically throttling the top 5% is that it is completely divorced from costs and level of usage. Over time, if heavy users try using less data, that will just depress the amount of usage required to be the in top 5% -- but 5% of customers will still be affected by throttling.

On a side note, I wonder how the cost of supplying customer service to address the complaints of the top 5% compares to the cost of just letting people consume as much data as they like. I would guess even a few minutes of a CS rep's time is more valuable than letting someone download an extra gig of data per month.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#28

Post by furyofantares »

They didn't throttle mine, they simply changed my plan to the 4GB plan and told me after the fact. They did this to my wife's account as well.

And if I change it to the 2GB plan and then tether using an unofficial tethering app, they automatically change my plan back to the 4GB tethering plan.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#29

Post by jcnnghm »

montecarl wrote: post #12
tomjen3 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are a company and as such is in the business of making money. Of course they want to squeeze every last bit out. In this case the problem is that they offered an unlimited plan and then did stick with their offer.

The problem is that they can get away with it. That is the cell phone market has very little competition.

There really needs to be a movement to address the collusion in the telecommunication industry. I priced out a business cell plan (with > 5 lines), and there was not even a single penny price difference between ATT and Verizon, and both refused to negotiate at all. No matter what options changed, the prices matched to the cent. Strong regulation needs to be introduced, the major players need to be broken up again, or their infrastructure needs to be nationalized. Working, efficient, non-crippled and inexpensive communications infrastructure is too economically important to leave it in the hands of these bozos.

It is unconscionable that wireless communication, which is fast becoming a necessity, amounts to a $100/month/person tax on the citizens of this country, payable to the corrupt interests of two or three companies. The government has laws to prevent this, they should be enforced.

Re: AT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use

#30

Post by josho »

ghshephard wrote: post #13

I tried to finish - but the author was either being dense or argumentative. I think AT&T has made their position pretty clear - Unlimited doesn't have overage charges, but you get rate limited when you hit the top 5% of usage (currently 2 Gigabytes). AT&T also offers 2 Gigabyte and 3 Gigabyte plans, with overage charges. Happily, AT&T has been prevented from taking over T-Mobile, so we still have at least four provid…

The use of limiting the top 5% is quite disingenuous. As over time the limit will shift down to a lower amount as customers become annoyed and move to other plans. Clearly 2gb is not an excessive amount of data either as ATT sells larger tiered plans.

So, this is clearly a breach of the spirit of the contract. A claim with the small claims court and/or FCC seems to be in order.

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