AT&T unlimited data top 5% question

[Mr. Ed]

I dunno. I just don't treat my phone as a multimedia entertainment device except under very limited and controlled circumstances. I don't want to be stuck in an airport, unable to send a text saying I've been held over for 6 hours because my battery went dead streaming video. Things may have gotten better but my streaming video experience has never been particularly good anyway. If I want to watch a video on my phone, I do it where I can be plugged in and I have the video stored on my phone. I always carry a dozen or so with me. I also carry a 64G iTouch... which I can watch in airports all day until the battery dies... and then I can still use my phone for calls and I haven't ticked off the data monitors. I don't appeciate network overload caused by a ton of 16 year olds streaming YouTube "fail" videos all day. FAIL!

That's the problem tho....you do realize that it is nearly impossible to overload the late network right?

And in my defense....I am 35

We travel alot and take tons of video and pics...the new tech allows us to watch recorded shows even live TV while out in about ...why should we not use it


We are paying for it! Lol

K mean yes, there are abusers out there of all ages using 30gb of data a month but seriously...the few that are getting hit at 2gb or less or even us who used right at 4gb solely while on vacation uploading pics bids etc


Its a bit ridiculous

The answer is simply that they want us to pay more. Plain and simple

As noted above in the copied letter, tiered customers will not be throttled

 

[Ynomrah]

Being honest with you guys, i think its all based on your market. I use to to work for at&t directly and still actively work for them via a 3rd party, and i honestly believe they throttle you according to amount of data traffic in your market. i live in Michigan atm and use on average 20gb a month (not kidding), and only receive the text after about 10gbs. Even afterwards i don't really notice much throttling. So yeah go figure.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Being honest with you guys, i think its all based on your market. I use to to work for at&t directly and still actively work for them via a 3rd party, and i honestly believe they throttle you according to amount of data traffic in your market. i live in Michigan atm and use on average 20gb a month (not kidding), and only receive the text after about 10gbs. Even afterwards i don't really notice much throttling. So yeah go figure.

Thanks for chiming in!

It has already been established that the total is based on market
The issue at hand is the lack of measurements given by att

That and my new list of operations that 100% can not operate over wifi

 

[Mr. Ed]

Wanted to bump this back up....the guys on xda have found a work around for this.

Take an older non lte phone and call in and do an imie swap and change the data plan to the non lte plan. Give it a bit then call and swap back.

This switcheroo resets the data tally

The

 

[tedj101]

A class action isn't going to work. AT&T wrote the book on avoiding class actions (They won at the Supreme Court level in Conception v. AT&T Mobility. The court upheld AT&T's individual arbitration clause even in the face of state consumer protection laws designed to prevent such a result).

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

<TED>

 

[BravoGolfTango]

I appreciate the rant. I am looking into solutions but as of right now I don't have the resources to find out anything about or initiate a class action

I have a dealing that once the appropriate powers that be realize the vagueness involved along with the severety of the throttle that the throttle issue will go away.

I mean hell. . I remember a time when I paid for text and minutes on an each basis..but then again...they have those tiered too

I also appreciate this rant as likely millions are outraged @AT&T for hitting CNN, Fox, etc regarding their throttling nonsense. Learned today that Verizon was also going to this. My understanding is if you were grandfathered with the Unlimited Data Plan with AT&T and you are in the top 5% blah blah blah even at the beginning of the billing cycle, then you get throttled down for the rest of the billing cycle. Utter nonsense, but good business in their eyes, hence Verizons greediness and plans to start tiers.

Not sure how good Sprint is, used them years ago, they sucked, ditched them, but at least they offer Unlimited Data Plans and they don't plan to change which will give them an edge.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I also appreciate this rant as likely millions are outraged @AT&T for hitting CNN, Fox, etc regarding their throttling nonsense. Learned today that Verizon was also going to this. My understanding is if you were grandfathered with the Unlimited Data Plan with AT&T and you are in the top 5% blah blah blah even at the beginning of the billing cycle, then you get throttled down for the rest of the billing cycle. Utter nonsense, but good business in their eyes, hence Verizons greediness and plans to start tiers.

Not sure how good Sprint is, used them years ago, they sucked, ditched them, but at least they offer Unlimited Data Plans and they don't plan to change which will give them an edge.

Verizon already moved to tiers a while back.

They currently do not throttle grandfathered unlimited accounts when connected to lte. They do throttle all 3g connections to a speed that is usable as needed.. not a disabling speed like att

 

[NativeTxn]

Verizon already moved to tiers a while back.

They currently do not throttle grandfathered unlimited accounts when connected to lte. They do throttle all 3g connections to a speed that is usable as needed.. not a disabling speed like att

And only until congestion is relieved. Not for the remainder of you billing cycle...

 

[BigCiX]

....makes me want to just use my phone on 4g and not my wifi just to be a data hog.

If I get throttled again this month (which I know I will) I plan on streaming the Power 106 radio app every night while I'm sleep til my new cycle begins.

 

[Mr. Ed]

On my call to att yesterday they claimed it has now changed...top 5% will be based off of PREVIOUS billing cycle.

In my case i was throttled due to current usage. They changed it on the 13th and I am now throttled again based on that same usage

 

[NativeTxn]

On my call to att yesterday they claimed it has now changed...top 5% will be based off of PREVIOUS billing cycle.

In my case i was throttled due to current usage. They changed it on the 13th and I am now throttled again based on that same usage

So is that previous billing cycle of users in your region? Nationwide? Just you?

 

[Mr. Ed]

So is that previous billing cycle of users in your region? Nationwide? Just you?

Thats the problem...no one has any idea...there is nothing in writing and we are told something different each time we call

 

[jslanger]

The thing that I think is unfair is, how do they decide how to calculate it. I got throttled at 1.8gb....immediately after/during streaming a tv episode via Netflix (which I think is part of it, actually). I was 10 days into my cycle, and I will admit that for 10 days, my data usage was a little high. However, I know in just previous months, I have used plenty more data....so my question is: do they determine what the "top 5% data amount" cut off is, divide it by 30? That's the only way I can figure how they can justify throttling me at so low a number...

The other thing I can't get is how they can justify throttling for the rest of the entire billing cycle...I think it would at least be reasonable to throttle for a couple days to put you back "on track" whatever their calculation is. But the current throttle makes the phone nearly useless...On second thought, it sounds like that is the AT&T plan in order to put pressure on us unlimited data holdouts...

 

[Mr. Ed]

So get this...as I mentioned, I called in Sunday to complain about being throttled at 2gb...and shortly after talking to tier 2 and 3 tech support I got that text message "you have been pinged as being in the top 5%, we are working to resolve the issue"

now a few days later, I am at 8gb and unthrottled

 

[jslanger]

Mr. Ed, interesting that you mentioned being unthrottled again. I didn't call, and got the original throttle text back on Feb 12th (10 days into my billing cycle at 1.8GB). This morning, I noticed that all of a sudden web pages were loading much quicker again. Speed tested, and back to unthrottled speeds.

Hmm, well thats odd. Just signed on to my ATT account, and it's saying that I've used 32.57 (I'm assuming MB, which is bizarre). I haven't rolled over to the next month.

ATT, although I don't mind being unthrottled, you're pissing me off with this. Plus, when I do need my phone for work (I often pull up patient x-rays, labs, etc) I can't get the data I need with any reasonable speed.