“The Federal Trade Commission is suing AT&T Wireless [sic] [recte AT&T Mobility], saying it is seeking millions of dollars in restitution for customers who were promised unlimited data plans by the wireless carrier, only to have their mobile network speeds slowed in a practice known as data throttling,” Christine Mai-Duc and Julie Westfall report for The Los Angeles Times.
“According to a federal complaint filed in San Francisco, in October 2011, AT&T began reducing speeds for customers who surpassed a threshold of monthly data usage, determined by AT&T,” Mai-Duc and Westfall report. “Those customers would see their network speeds diminished for the rest of the billing cycle, regardless of whether there was actually any congestion on the network at the time, the FTC alleges.”
“‘The company has misled millions of its mobile customers … with so-called unlimited data plans that were in reality not unlimited at all,’ FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez told reporters. Ramirez said the practice of data throttling cut speeds for some unlimited data customers by 90% or more, often making Web browsing or GPS navigation ‘significantly slower or practically inoperable,’ Mai-Duc and Westfall report. “According to Evan Rose, a lead FTC attorney on the case, AT&T had approximately 14 million unlimited data customers when it began the practice in 2011. Since then, Rose said, about 3.5 million users, or roughly a quarter, have had their data connections throttled by AT&T at some point, which has used the practice at least 25 million times, according to the FTC. AT&T is still using the practice today.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “David G.” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]