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Comments on news posted 2012-02-06 13:04:01: After eliminating their unlimited data option in 2010, AT&T grandfathered those users -- though most knew the fun wouldn't last. ..

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CptGemini
Inside your computer
Premium Member
join:2004-11-29
Corpus Christi, TX

CptGemini

Premium Member

Throttling...

sucks... I went over my 2GB plan with t-mobile on purpose a couple of months ago to see if I would get throttled this time because earlier last year in april I went over my 5gb limit I had at the time by like 300 mb and never got throttled even though I got a text saying I was. This time when I got throttled the dialup like speeds were so slow that some apps like facebook wouldn't even work at all, hell most apps didn't even work and had to use wifi hotspots when I was out and about. When I was at the movie theater when it happened someone had their wifi hotspot on their phone turned on and it was open so I went in and used it a bit while i was there .

Justin27
@direcpath.com

Justin27

Anon

No sympathy

I have no sympathy to those fools who continue to pay for throttled services. Sprint may not be the fastest but at least it's truly unlimited.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

for now. Sprint is going down hill rather quickly. Especially with all that $$$ going to Apple. No room to expand really, network upgrades will be where they are most needed for ROI and caps and overages will be coming.

And throttling is still UNLIMITED they are NOT stopping or billing in overages.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to CptGemini

Member

to CptGemini

Re: Throttling...

So at least for you, is it fair to say that regardless of the technical description of what AT&T does, throttling==service interruption?

starcaptor
join:2000-08-19
East Northport, NY

starcaptor

Member

Ironic?

If ATT is making it so that people who use over 2 gigs of data are all part of the top 5% and are therefore burdensome to the network...And they are selling a 3 gig plan for $30...Wouldnt that mean that everyone who is using the allotted data that they actually PAID for and are entitled to...mean that all legitimate users of the 3 gig plan would become part of the 5%? That doesnt even make any sense...

How can you be part of the people "burdening" the network by using over 2 gigs on your unlimited plan...and yet youre totally allowed to go over 2 gigs, and use 3 gigs, so long as your plan is different?

So logically, if everyone went to the 3 gig plan, and all used 3 gigs exactly, would thereby overly tax ATTs network which cant purportedly handle even 2 gigs per person o_O;;

CptGemini
Inside your computer
Premium Member
join:2004-11-29
Corpus Christi, TX

CptGemini to rradina

Premium Member

to rradina

Re: Throttling...

said by rradina:

So at least for you, is it fair to say that regardless of the technical description of what AT&T does, throttling==service interruption?

Pretty much but its in general. 56 kbps on a smartphone is god awful, a lot of apps that need the internet either won't work or take longer than most are willing to wait to load up. Actually during speedtesting the best I was able to pull was about 48 kbps and unthrottled I see up to and beyond 6mbps on my 3G phone.

EDIT: also most of the data used was from the market like updating apps, maybe uploading a backup of the phones data with maybe 1 or 2 downloads of something of a good size.

rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

1 recommendation

rit56

Member

The US of A

The basis for all commerce now is to screw everyone for however much you can get away with. What's the point of using a mobile device if it's going to cost 400 a month? Verizon's LTE plans will be to attack Frontier's area, the area they just sold them with their LTE for the home service. The Frontier dsl which is much slower will be a better deal. I hate them all.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Not transparent, but necessary

They need to make it more transparent, but this is necessary, given that they only have a certain amount of capacity on their air interface. Not getting T-Mo didn't help either.

rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

rit56

Member

Do you work for them? What a load. Four times a week Karl posts a piece here about the myth of limited capacity and how it's total bullshit. They simply want to gouge people. Throttle service, locked phones, terrible plans.

Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One to starcaptor

MVM

to starcaptor

Re: Ironic?

You could also flip it around. If, at 2Gb of usage, you are in the the top 5%, then the other 95% of their customers on the 3Gb plan are obviously over paying for a service they don't use.

JigglyWiggly
join:2009-07-12
Pleasanton, CA

1 recommendation

JigglyWiggly to rit56

Member

to rit56

Re: Not transparent, but necessary

This should be illegel, FCC DO SOMETHING FFS

chunky
@comcast.net

chunky to rit56

Anon

to rit56
Exactly, get everybody off the unlimited plans so we can make more money. The greatest thing in history. I know that if I can get the top 5% off there unlimited plans I can sock them with overages, overages, and overages. My wallet get bigger, my investors have a big on there faces, and my costomers can just get screwed.

Sarcasm, but true of course.

SpaethCo
Digital Plumber
MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

SpaethCo to 25139889

MVM

to 25139889

Re: No sympathy

said by 25139889:

for now. Sprint is going down hill rather quickly. Especially with all that $$$ going to Apple. No room to expand really, network upgrades will be where they are most needed for ROI and caps and overages will be coming.

As a Sprint user I haven't noticed any decline in the network here in the Minneapolis market.

They also put together a site that tracks work orders for capacity upgrades; it doesn't look like they've slowed down much. See: »network.sprint.com

Oh_No
Trogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL

Oh_No to 25139889

Member

to 25139889
said by 25139889:

for now. Sprint is going down hill rather quickly. Especially with all that $$$ going to Apple. No room to expand really, network upgrades will be where they are most needed for ROI and caps and overages will be coming.

And throttling is still UNLIMITED they are NOT stopping or billing in overages.

Says who???
Sprint is the only good wireless ISP as they are unlimited.

I have ATT on a family plan, but I refuse to pay for internet as it is not really needed. I use a knockoff phone running android with wifi only so ATT does not detect it as a smart phone and automatically charge me.

If I needed mobile internet my first choice would be sprint.
Oh_No

Oh_No to BiggA

Member

to BiggA

Re: Not transparent, but necessary

said by BiggA:

They need to make it more transparent, but this is necessary, given that they only have a certain amount of capacity on their air interface. Not getting T-Mo didn't help either.

Caps does not solve that, they are used to make extra profit off already profitable users on unlimited.

If their tower is congested they have no choice but to throttle until they upgrade the tower, but there is no excuse for caps.
Oh_No

Oh_No to chunky

Member

to chunky
said by chunky :

Exactly, get everybody off the unlimited plans so we can make more money. The greatest thing in history. I know that if I can get the top 5% off there unlimited plans I can sock them with overages, overages, and overages. My wallet get bigger, my investors have a big on there faces, and my costomers can just get screwed.

Sarcasm, but true of course.

Most stockholders of a company do not get any benefit from being profitable or more profitable as stock price is not tied to actual company profits. The stock price is set by traders on the stock market. The company profits can go down and their stock price can go up at the same time.

The only shareholders who can benefit from more profits are those that get issued a dividend because profits are up.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska to Justin27

Premium Member

to Justin27

Re: No sympathy

I had sprint in chicago. Worst phone company ever for data. 1-1.5Mb was the fastest i got in DuPage when i wasn't at 1xRtt. lol.
I prefer my 10Gb cap with these speeds than crappy unlimited.
»www.speedtest.net/androi ··· 7450.png
flyingjoey
join:2005-11-07
Jersey City, NJ

flyingjoey

Member

Once again... time for Class Action!

So as long as long as you're on a "TIERED" plan where they can easily charge you for "overages" therefore you won't be throttled.

Why haven't the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Miami Herald, Seattle Times ran stories about AT&T's extortionist, racketeering and mob-like, oh and did I forgot "strong-arm" ways of trying to get customers into more expensive plans.

Furthermore, AT&T's attempt to blame their deficiencies and lack of adequate, planning and infrastructure on those poor souls (me included) who still have unlimited yet limited plans.

AT&T's last class action yielded me a $140.00 check in the mail. Let's see what Sharks I mean lawyers can get out of AT&T's new approach.

At the very least, they should get AT&T to publicly admit that they are: Inadequate and that they suck monkey balls

Who thought that prices would go up... I always thought that as technology advanced and things got cheaper prices would drop. I guess not with cell phones.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry to BiggA

Premium Member

to BiggA

Re: Not transparent, but necessary

They never needed tmobile. Verizon has less available spectrum than at&t and they already cover most of the country.

Chicago_DSL6
join:2003-08-04
South Elgin, IL

Chicago_DSL6 to SpaethCo

Member

to SpaethCo

Re: No sympathy

said by SpaethCo:

said by 25139889:

for now. Sprint is going down hill rather quickly. Especially with all that $$$ going to Apple. No room to expand really, network upgrades will be where they are most needed for ROI and caps and overages will be coming.

As a Sprint user I haven't noticed any decline in the network here in the Minneapolis market.

They also put together a site that tracks work orders for capacity upgrades; it doesn't look like they've slowed down much. See: »network.sprint.com

My friend in Barrington, IL has been using Sprint for phone and home internet access since 2006. He noticed call issues and data issues with both the phone and home internet right after the iPhone was released to Sprint. All I know is that for close to a month, it was lots of hoping and praying to get a Yahoo page to load. My two cents on Sprint's network near me.

In regards to Unlimited users and the cap, I am one of those users and have yet to receive a message. Granted, my last bill showed me using 2.2 GB of data. I stream Pandora all the time, I am sure that has something to do with it. If I get the message, I will leave for sure. I pay almost $200 a month for both my wife's phone and my phone. Top that off with another $150 for uVerse, give me a reason to leave.

Steimes
I make internets
Premium Member
join:2002-01-08
Belle Vernon, PA
·Verizon FiOS

Steimes

Premium Member

I am the top 5%

Well, at least I know I am elite at something...

Has anyone called AT&T up yet? There will always be a top 5%, and the fact that the cut off is below the top tier, I can only assume that as more of us "power" users are effected the cut off will get lower and lower. I know the logic being tossed around in this discussion will only fall on deaf (or unable to make change) ears if I call in.... so will I at least get my cap taken off, money off my bill if I bitch?

chunky
@comcast.net

chunky to Oh_No

Anon

to Oh_No

Re: Not transparent, but necessary

Well, thank you very much for that info, didn't actually know that, (maybe I will think about taking that economics class), but either way they are only doing this to get a money grab and a higher bonus.
milkman82
join:2006-06-19
Cleveland, OH

milkman82

Member

Wait... I am lost here..

Did this go into effect already? If so, I have not noticed it. My last bill said I used 3.9GB and I never received any notification. Yes, my data usage has spiked in January.

that was because I bought the iPhone 4s in December. When I had the 3Gs, the data connection was so slow I hardly ever used the 3G service. When I got the 4s, speed increased dramatically. So now, I use the 3G service more.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

2 recommendations

fiberguy2

Premium Member

Fair Share huh?

So.. let me get this straight...

If you are on a grandfathered Unlimited Plan @ $30 a month with AT&T and use more than "your fair share" (which I guess is about 2 or 3gb a month) then you are urged to use WiFi or risk being throttled or migrated to the 3gb data plan,.. which just happens to be 3gb.

If you are on the current plans schemes of 3gb (or that other worthless plan which basically covers your phone's normal network communications data in the background) and you are at or about 3gb, you're fine.. if you go over, however, you'll just going to experience smooth sailing because you'll just get charged more for the extra data.

If I put this in simple terms then it's clear...

- Go over 3gb on the "unlimited plan" and we can't charge you for it, then your data is throttled. If you PAY for the "overage" (note the word OVERAGE) then you're fine,.. because you're paying for the data.

Anyone care to correct me here? ... Unlimited is already gone. This happened the day they moved the 2bg tier to the 3gb tier and added $5 more for it.

I am ALL for companies making an honest profit, but it's getting out of hand at every turn.

I REALLY wish that just for ONE MONTH, it's not much to ask.. just ONE MONTH that the blind sheep would be willing to call AT&T and take off their texting and data plans.. just one month. That, and turn their voice plans down to the lowest possible tiers available.. ie: starve the company into submission, the way they force their customers into submission with their manipulative policies.
peeps5
join:1999-08-16
Houston, TX

peeps5

Member

The end is near

For grandfathered unlimited iPhone users, the end is near. They'll probably take advantage of the switch to LTE (iPhone 5 presumably) to force people to pick a metered plan. Same happened when the 3G came out.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to rit56

Premium Member

to rit56

Re: Not transparent, but necessary

said by rit56:

Do you work for them? What a load. Four times a week Karl posts a piece here about the myth of limited capacity and how it's total bullshit. They simply want to gouge people. Throttle service, locked phones, terrible plans.

Because Karl calls limitations on capacity a myth doesn't make it so. The capacity limitations exist. Whether they could be corrected more quickly than they are is a discussion of what financial resources an ongoing PROFIT-MAKING private enterprise can devote to correcting it is up for debate. Karl would be all for AT&T skipping making a profit to do a crash course update of available wireless spectrum. The stockholders don't share his cavalier attitude towards profits.

Majestik
World Traveler
Premium Member
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK

Majestik to CptGemini

Premium Member

to CptGemini

Re: Throttling...

I'm prepared to go back to a pay-as-you-go cell phone to keep my number and receive and make calls through my IPad since I rarely make calls.
But so far everything is ok with my iPhone. I'm over 4g every month.
Grandfathered unlimited is still on.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

top 5% my ass

how is it that millions of users are in the top 5% of data users with only 2GB worth of data? I call bullshit on AT&T. Back when I had service, i would use around 4GB without any netflix. Add netflix to that, and it would easily double or more. I think its more like the top 50% of users are starting to see this more and more as the need for more data skyrockets. Hang in there people, stick it out, and eventually, AT&T will get whats coming. Or, better yet, speak with your wallets, and move to sprint, who does offer truly unlimited data.

CptGemini
Inside your computer
Premium Member
join:2004-11-29
Corpus Christi, TX

CptGemini to Majestik

Premium Member

to Majestik

Re: Throttling...

Yea take it from someone who's been throttled. It's not fun lol. It was just a test though since I wasn't sure if I would even be throttled or what I would be throttled at.

NOCMan
MadMacHatter
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO

NOCMan

Premium Member

Bye Bye AT&T Hell Verizon When LTE iPhone Comes

That grandfathered unlimited plan was all that was keeping me on AT&T's service, so it seems it's finally time to part ways.
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