“AT&T Inc. is effectively ending unlimited data plans, saying that it will no longer let customers use more than a set amount of data per month without penalty,” Greg Bensinger reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Under a new policy, AT&T will slow download speeds for unlimited 3G and 4G smartphone customers who exceed 3 gigabytes and 4G LTE users who exceed 5 gigabytes of data in a given month,” Bensinger reports. “AT&T had previously been slowing speeds, or throttling, customers who were in the top 5% of data users in their respective market. AT&T has been trying to manage capacity on its network in the face of heavy data consumption by Apple Inc. iPhone users and a limited supply of wireless airwaves, or spectrum.”
Bensinger reports, “A spokesman said the new guidelines were necessary because of confusion among unlimited customers over when their download speeds would be slowed. He declined to say by how much the speeds would be decreased… AT&T, and other carriers, has been pushing Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to release more licenses for wireless airwaves, or spectrum, to help stave off a capacity crunch as more customers download video, music and photos to their smartphones.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: 3 GB is the new “unlimited.”
AT&T is banking that those with “unlimited” data plans won’t take them to the only court our contracts allow (small claims court) where, as the related article below indicates, you have a reasonable chance of winning. According to The Associated Press, AT&T has about 17 million “unlimited” smartphone subscribers, most of whom use iPhones. $850 times 17 million equals $14.45 billion.
Make ’em pay.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Jack F.” and “ruben” for the heads up.]
Related article:
AT&T customer wins $850 in iPhone ‘throttling’ case – February 24, 2012
