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AT&T Caps Have Arrived
150-250 Monthly Caps, $10 Per 50 Gigabyte Overages

Back in March we exclusively were the first to report that AT&T would be imposing usage caps and overages on their terrestrial broadband users. Those caps have officially arrived, with DSL users now facing a 150 GB monthly cap, and U-Verse users now facing a 250 GB monthly cap. Both DSL and U-Verse users must pay $10 per every 50GB above the cap they travel. As our original report noted, only users who exceed the new usage cap three times -- across the life of your account, not per month -- will be forced to pay these new per byte overages.

Click for full size
AT&T had previously trialed significantly lower caps in portions of Texas and Nevada. Those trials involved caps as low as 20 GB a month, though AT&T backed off the idea after the public beating that Time Warner Cable took for imposing similarly low caps and high overages.

While it's true most customers likely won't initially cross AT&T's significantly higher caps, there's numerous problems with AT&T's plan. Consumer advocates fear AT&T is simply getting the public used to the idea of overages, and will over time trend the caps downward and overages upward, far out of line with the real costs of providing fixed line bandwidth. There was already no economic justification for imposing such limits on wired broadband users given the fact that flat-rate pricing is perfectly profitable, and most ISP costs for providing bandwidth are fixed or dropping.

There's also concerns that AT&T won't be capable of metering consumer usage accurately. We've cited time and time again how ISPs are so eager to impose these new limits they can't be bothered to ensure their meters work properly, and there's no regulatory oversight of these limits. AT&T is no exception, our users already noting problems with AT&T meter accuracy, which AT&T tells us they're working on.

You can track customer reaction to the caps in our AT&T forums (broken down by region). A number of users note that despite this supposedly being "D-Day" for AT&T caps, they can't access any usage meter whatsoever. Note that many of these users can't vote with their wallet due to limited competition (the very thing that allows such pricing to exist in the first place), but some users may find they're able to sign up for AT&T business DSL -- which does not (for now) come with these new restrictions.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Pathetic

How will customers be able to verify that AT&T isn't lying to them about their consumption? Will government hold AT&T accountable if it mistakenly applies overages to customers' accounts when it is not warranted?
jkeelsnc
join:2008-08-22
Greensboro, NC

jkeelsnc

Member

Re: Pathetic

Don't count on anything from the government these days. Those guys look out for themselves. LOL

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Re: Pathetic

said by jkeelsnc:

Don't count on anything from the government these days. Those guys look out for themselves. LOL

Agreed. But ISPs are known to lie outright about customer usage. As we've seen, these lies always seem to favor the provider in terms of applying overages.

With any metered service, you have reasonably good confidence that the meters used to calculate the amount you will pay are in good working order and can be verified to ensure that you pay for what you used. Metered broadband service should be no different.

outrageous
@hfi-pgh.org

outrageous

Anon

Re: Pathetic

If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous.

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

Camelot One

MVM

Re: Pathetic

said by outrageous :

If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous.

And they can do that, individually. But don't count on a class action!

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

FFH5 to outrageous

Premium Member

to outrageous
said by outrageous :

If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous.

That overage fee was corrected. It is $10/50GB. Does that change your opinion?
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

1 recommendation

rradina

Member

Re: Pathetic

Isn't basic DSL cheap? Doesn't it cost $19.95/month? That means the initial cap costs roughly $1 per 7.5GB data or $6.66/50GB. I believe my gas, electric and water bills include some kind of base charge for service or the first X units is priced higher. This is designed to make sure the consumer pays a minimum to offset infrastructure costs. If that's factored into the base cost of DSL, the first 150GB is even cheaper? Why isn't it priced at $6.66/50GB (or even cheaper) when you exceed the cap? Let's face it, this isn't metered billing. AT&T is punishing you when you don't conform not unlike the credit card agreements.

I recently purchased a new Dell laptop using their free financing offer. I read the credit agreement and if you have a late payment, they'll sock you with a $35 late fee and raise the interest charges from 21.99% to 25.99% until you pay on time for at least six consecutive payments.

If this was metered billing, AT&T would not provide three grace overages for the life of the account. That tells you right there that it doesn't cost them anything. Can you imagine the other utilities crafting deals like this?

This isn't metered billing. This is a penalty. If you use more than your cap, you get yelled at three times and then you get punished. I guess this is kind of like some state's three-strike laws.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

Re: Pathetic

You bought a laptop on a loan? What the... heck?

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

1 recommendation

SpaethCo

MVM

Re: Pathetic

said by sonicmerlin:

You bought a laptop on a loan? What the... heck?

Using 0.0% financing when it doesn't affect the price of the product can actually be a very smart thing to do.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to rradina

Member

to rradina
This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others? Cell phone companies do it. You get X amount of usage included in the base price and after that you pay the extra. This is the way the phone companies have worked for YEARS ever heard of a metered line? there are still a TON of people on those lines as they're a HUGE fan from the Co-Op companies. You pay X per month for X amount of usage and after that you pay well under a half cent per minute. The bills come out cheaper than if you have an unlimited line with a major telco.

Either way- this is the way billing should be done and this country is used to it. NOTHING is unlimited. If so my electric bill would ALWAYS be $50 per month.

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

Camelot One

MVM

Re: Pathetic

said by hottboiinnc4:

This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others?

The difference is that water, gas, and electric meters are regulated and required by law to be accurate. AT&T can't even be bothered to TRY to be accurate.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Pathetic

do you know how often they're even checked? LOL. my gas meter is in my basement should be read every year to make sure it is correct. Yah that's really enforced and accurate. Water? LMAO! Yah mine is off about 10th of a gallon- still not accurate. The Gov't doesn't enforce that either.

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

Camelot One

MVM

Re: Pathetic

If at any time you felt those meters weren't accurate, you could request a free check. And even without the free check, the possibility of it motivates the companies to at least TRY to be accurate. AT&T isn't.
Kamus
join:2011-01-27
El Paso, TX

Kamus to hottboiinnc4

Member

to hottboiinnc4
LOL, obvious troll is obvious.

Bandwidth is like water --hottboiinnc

But enough about this troll. This next comment is to the masses that might actually believe stuff like this, so just to educate you masses:
If water, electricity or gas were anything like computer data, it would look something like this by now:

"in 1920, it took 2 days to fill a pool, but now, in 2011 i can fill my pool the millisecond i turned the water on"
This is why people that believe this is a valid analogy are either Trolls, ignorant or just dumb.
The telcos are just pissed that the glory days of the 70's to early 90's are long gone now, and are trying really hard to get them back.
It's too bad for them that progress doesn't care about that, and it never will. They are simply trying to negotiate the terms of their defeat.

I do find something quite disturbing though:

In the past, the US has been a leader because, even though it would do nasty stuff to other countries to get ahead, they would never do it to themselves.

But now the big corporations have finally done it. They've turned on their own people. Something that led to the economical meltdown and will no doubt help China surpass them even faster than expected (this was going to happen eventually, but it's almost like the US can't wait to be second place soon enough)

Why do i say this?

I say this because in a time of exponential growth, it's nothing short of retarded to resort to these measures instead of trying really hard to get ubiquitous gigabit internet access across the nation.
The US did this very well back when the freeways were conceived, which helped them leapfrog other countries.

And now, with a project that isn't nearly as complex as national roads and freeways the US is letting other countries with far less money than them, be in the forefront of this crucial infrastructure.
But, the Telcos will fail, no matter how hard they try to bring back the old business model it won't work, at least not for a long time.
But in the meantime, i feel bad for the people that are stuck with these Canadian and American companies (or any other country that has decided this is the future, completely ignoring exponential growth)

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

r81984 to hottboiinnc4

Premium Member

to hottboiinnc4
said by hottboiinnc4:

This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others? Cell phone companies do it. You get X amount of usage included in the base price and after that you pay the extra. This is the way the phone companies have worked for YEARS ever heard of a metered line? there are still a TON of people on those lines as they're a HUGE fan from the Co-Op companies. You pay X per month for X amount of usage and after that you pay well under a half cent per minute. The bills come out cheaper than if you have an unlimited line with a major telco.

Either way- this is the way billing should be done and this country is used to it. NOTHING is unlimited. If so my electric bill would ALWAYS be $50 per month.

Are you stupid????
This is purely to prevent competition with online video services. ATT start caps as they now offer TV with uverse.

The cost of your connection to your house is almost 100% fixed. It would not be fair to let someone pay less for using their connection less. Then everyone else will be paying for burying a cable to their house and all the equipment to connect their house to the network.

The only fair way is to charge a fixed cost to everyone so everyone pays their fair share of the cost to build the network.
You can't expect people who actually use their connections to subsidize those that choose not to use high bandwidth websites.
This just makes no sense at all.
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

Rekrul to outrageous

Member

to outrageous
said by outrageous :

If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous.

The new terms of service forbid you from taking any kind of legal action against them. It requires that all disputes be settled by private arbitration.

Jon J
join:2000-06-12
Nashville, TN

Jon J to pnh102

Member

to pnh102

Justify usage

said by pnh102:

How will customers be able to verify that AT&T isn't lying to them about their consumption? Will government hold AT&T accountable if it mistakenly applies overages to customers' accounts when it is not warranted?

When my reported usage quadrupled according to them I spent over an hour on the phone and spoke with three ATT reps none of whom were able to prove the usage they claimed. In fact, their attitude was that their word is law, they have to justify nothing and we (the customers) have no redress.

lady in red

Anon

Re: Justify usage

Hey Id like to see you in a red -dress
sparc
join:2006-05-06

sparc to pnh102

Member

to pnh102

Re: Pathetic

get a good DD-WRT router so you can match it up to your billing.

I just checked mine against the AT&T meter. The first month in January is off by 30 GB, but the February and March amounts match up almost exactly with a few GB. My billing cycle isn't exactly at the end of the month, which might explain the few GB discrepancy.

Either way, i consider my usage to be reporting fairly accurately right now by AT&T.

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

terrestrial broadband

terrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite?

LA Dude
@aero.org

LA Dude

Anon

Re: terrestrial broadband

Yes. Satellite already has rather severe usage caps with incremental (if you call driving off a cliff incremental) backoffs after a very low (Mb, not Gb) threshold. But federal law BTW; designed to assure the available bandwidth is shared by all users, not just us porn junkies.
viperlmw
Premium Member
join:2005-01-25

viperlmw to AVD

Premium Member

to AVD
said by AVD:

terrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite?

Also as opposed to wireless (3g/4g).

C_Chipperson
Monster Rain
Premium Member
join:2009-01-17
00000

C_Chipperson to AVD

Premium Member

to AVD
Technically "Terrestrial" includes anything that is not delivered directly by satellite (including 3g/4g)

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

Re: terrestrial broadband

said by C_Chipperson:

Technically "Terrestrial" includes anything that is not delivered directly by satellite (including 3g/4g)

which has no meaning in terms of the OP, since ATT has no significant retail celestial services.

C_Chipperson
Monster Rain
Premium Member
join:2009-01-17
00000

C_Chipperson

Premium Member

Re: terrestrial broadband

That was intended for viperlmw..........

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

Re: terrestrial broadband

mine was direct at Karl Bode through you and viper...

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven to AVD

Member

to AVD
said by AVD:

terrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite?

Um.. Large difference between Terrestrial and Satellite.

Not to mention, Satellite isn't really considered "broadband".. and (almost) everyone in here that was tortured by it will agree.

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

AVD

Premium Member

Re: terrestrial broadband

i forgot the sarcasm tag

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

jgkolt

Premium Member

regulation

Sounds like they need to regulate the caps by some government body to ensure accuracy. Will we start to see the county auditor seal of approval sticker on our modems like we see at the gas pump?
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: regulation

Sorry. The Gov't has NO control over the internet. Been said and been sued over this. Time to move on. TWC has caps already so why not ATT? At least ATT discloses their caps unlike TWC who says "more than normal usage". In ALL of their TOS/AUPs. But their customers are blind and believe everything a piss ant CSR tells them. When the Customer clearly agreed to the cap when signing up and activating that modem for the first time.

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

r81984

Premium Member

Re: regulation

said by hottboiinnc4:

Sorry. The Gov't has NO control over the internet. Been said and been sued over this. Time to move on. TWC has caps already so why not ATT? At least ATT discloses their caps unlike TWC who says "more than normal usage". In ALL of their TOS/AUPs. But their customers are blind and believe everything a piss ant CSR tells them. When the Customer clearly agreed to the cap when signing up and activating that modem for the first time.

I have had unlimited internet since 1995.
I have used ATT dsl for about 11 years.
I never agreed to caps.
BTW the government/american people did heavily subsidize the building of the internet with our tax dollars.

The costs of the network are almost 100% fixed especially when ATT is a tier 1 isp (aka their network technically is the internet). It makes no sense to make people who use their connection more to pay to bury the lines and pay for the equipment to hook up people who barely use their connections.
Caps make no sense for internet.
jkeelsnc
join:2008-08-22
Greensboro, NC

jkeelsnc

Member

AT&T caps

Yeah, this is all BS for sure. I am glad I cancelled my ATT account last fall. And TWC, you are forewarned. If you try this with me I'll leave you guys in the dust as well. I am not paying to worry about caps on my internet. Its nothing to cry or whine about. Just cancel the service and do without if necessary. No big deal.

TWC has already taken a gigantic hit in NC when they tried to implement caps right here in Greensboro in the past. And they will again. But it won't be me calling them. I'll just cancel the service like I did with ATT.

Have a nice day.

•••••••••••••

Duramax08
To The Moon
Premium Member
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX

Duramax08

Premium Member

I think

We are the only ones that care at the moment. Most consumers dont give a shit but id wait a few months for people to get outrageous bills, then something might change i.e. everyone rasing hell, government getting involved. Till then drink the koolaid.

•••••••••••••••••••

Maxieh
@spcsdns.net

Maxieh

Anon

Still no

Just checked tool again and still shows under construction. Chicago SW Burbs

EUS
Kill cancer
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
canada

2 edits

EUS

Premium Member

And here I thought Canada

Was the testbed for this type of shyte.
*Price/GB correction?
notovny
join:2010-03-08
Toledo, OH

1 recommendation

notovny

Member

Correction

Overage is $10/50GB, not $10/GB as mentioned in the version of the article I'm seeing.

Still sucks, though.

Also noticed that the historical daily bandwidth measures from January, February, and March dissappeared wen I went to check my usage recently, leaving only the monthly aggregate amounts.

••••••••••••

BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Nite-Owl
join:2007-01-11

1 edit

BabyBear

Member

1 less customer

Signed up with DSLExtreme last night(fingers crossed for a smooth transition). It's adios and good riddance AT&T. I was with them for 5 years (for DSL) price when I started was $14.95 for 3mbps ends at $38 for 6mbps(150gb cap).

Edit: Forgot to mention AT&T's usage page was completely off on my last months usage.

Usage for:
03-18-2011 to 04-17-2011 119.30 GB Total
111.75 GB download
7.55 GB upload

In reality was closer to 260gb. Lowballing at the start to make it look I don't have to worry about going over the cap?
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: 1 less customer

you do realize that you still have to deal with ATT. They're the ones that say you get to change ISPs and if you don't and can make it pure hell. They also have the right to kick DSLX off their network. DSL is NOT required to be shared any longer and as soon as T gets pissed off enough about something; be sure they will go. VZ has already stopped their Resellers in their tracks and ATT will be the next. You also must have missed the memo about being forced to move to U-Verse when the services are available at your home when you're on DSL. Great way to kill off that DSLX line right?

Gotta love doing business with a company that is at the mercy of the company you hate. You didn't really avoid anything since they can impose the caps on DSLX next.

Atlantaguy
@bellsouth.net

Atlantaguy

Anon

meter doesn't work

For the last 6 weeks I've tested their online meter as well, and every time I log on and ask for my current usage, it says "We're sorry but we're unable to display your usage at this time". Early into the month it also doesn't display your last month's use - only the month before. So much for being able to monitor your use.

•••
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

CANCEL -THE- ACCOUNT

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· nvtpENoQ


Next up, AT&T!

Ads
@hfi-pgh.org

Ads

Anon

Will customers start boycotting resource intensive websites?

When someone visits a website they have no idea how many bytes that site takes to load. What about all of the intense advertizing? Maybe those companies who advertise all over the internet should start putting pressure on ATT.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Will customers start boycotting resource intensive websites?

T's Network ;they do what they feel like. T should maybe tell those ad-ridden websites to start taking of their interactive ads and use text or tell their readers to pay up. DSLR has been around FOREVER without those big HUGE annoying ads. So do other sites need them?

Liaa
@comcast.net

Liaa

Anon

payoffs take away our rights to at&t

ATT will win takeover on TM so now we have to live with no rights to competition. Hint for ya all the money they send on dc lobby and buy out TM could have been used to upgrade the customers service on their networks wireless and DSL. But its better to just pass the cost to you and not lift a finger do the right thing. And all ATT customers READ THE TOS for ATT for a change that way you know what else you lost this month in your rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>

••••

rickovery
@charter.com

rickovery

Anon

caps

We dropped AT&T as soon as we found out about the new caps.
sparks
join:2001-07-08
Little Rock, AR

sparks

Member

Re: caps

what will next year bring.
50GB cap and $10 a GB overage.
Then the next year will be $10 a GB usage fee.

YOU CAN BET that we will get it deeper each year and the only gov regulations are in place to see that we do.

jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle to rickovery

Premium Member

to rickovery
said by rickovery :

We dropped AT&T as soon as we found out about the new caps.

they are money grubbing thieves
they hijacked the dsl industry
monopolize everything and now trying to squeeze more money then they are suppose to get.
the speed remain the same for most 1.5mb to 6mb
which is only 1.2mb to 4.8mb due to pppoe crap overhead 15 percent
nanaki333
join:2010-08-11
Chantilly, VA

nanaki333

Member

shouldn't they have

had the tool ready to go at LEAST a month prior to launching this for EVERYBODY? doesn't seem very fair that some lucky users are able to see it right away, while others are still left in the dark, even on the first day of implementation. users shouldn't have to use 1 of their 3 get out of jail free cards on the first month if they could prevent it before hand.

Thunderlips
Get It Up Fly A Hull
join:2001-12-07

Thunderlips

Member

Absurd

Anyone else that tried to charge someone like this with no way for the customer to measure their usage would have Uncle Sam's boot on their throat. Best bulls###, and politicians, money can buy. Glad I canceled every service I had with these thieving scum last year.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

Who Do Duopolies Benefit Again?

While AT&T's game is disgusting, this is the whole problem. What choice do we really have? Don't like AT&T's UBB game? Go to Comcast/Charter/Cox in many areas who will be happy to shut your internet off or force you into backdoor UBB with high-priced business accounts.

We've got to give credit to TW, Cablevision and Verizon for now for being the biggest holdouts. Any of them could have used the excuse to go here, but haven't yet even in the face of big profits. It's especially surprising considering TW's public statements, as well as their own UBB scam a couple years ago. But let's hope they remain cap-free long-term.

McShaken
Premium Member
join:2006-02-20
Olympia, WA

1 edit

McShaken

Premium Member

More Providers Needed

When companies start acting like this, it's obvious there's not enough competition. Time and time again, we see this type of behavior... The big get bigger, set up their territories, corner the market or collude with what little competition is left (usually with another bully on the block). It's then they squeeze the customers for whatever they can get away with.

Sure, we can cancel our service and go without, but it doesn't fix the initial problem unless there's a big collective push by citizens for change. So they (corporate bullies) slowly introduce things like metered billing with high caps to get us used to the thought, and push forward by slowly lowering the caps and increasing (or creating) fees...

Comcast just bought NBC, and AT&T is trying to put it's fangs into T-Mobile. Without a doubt, there's room for more competition.

/rant

Edit: Removed boiling frog analogy. Thanks for the snopes article! Rant still stands...

••••••••
Albert71292
join:2004-10-31
West Monroe, LA

Albert71292

Member

Dropped AT&T like a hot potato...

I dropped AT&T DSL as soon as the caps were announced. Now with a small, local DSL provider. Funny thing, the local provider is giving me improved download performance over AT&T.

When with AT&T 6Mbps plan, I usually got around 5.2Mbps down. With the smaller company, I'm getting 6.7Mbps on average. Makes me even more glad I switched!

Ultibeam
join:2008-05-27
USA

Ultibeam

Member

Corporate Greed

I cannot believe they are expecting customers to bend over for anything they impose. The audacity of at&t is troubling, should say shareholders. Technically, DSL should be truly unlimited because of the immense fiber optic backbone capacity. At the consumer end it's bottlenecked by copper so capacity is there. Punishing everyone because of a few heavy users is darn right idiotic.

Canada stopped UBB so lets do the same. Not only is it anti-consumer it's a ploy to get more people off Netflix and onto their own services. Very dirty!
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

Re: Corporate Greed

Kill the at&t tmobile deal.
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