FTC Says AT&T Misled Consumers About Data

[Us_out_West]

WASHINGTON (AP) - AT&T is being sued by the government over allegations it misled millions of smartphone customers about its unlimited data plans.

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[wintersun]

Verizon and AT&T are only trying to maximize profits. That is why they have stopped expanding even DSL service to instead build 4G towers where they can charge outrageous rates for data. All these companies have ads showing use of devices for video streaming and selling people on the benefits of switching to 4G service and these towers are connected to the internet using fiber so bandwidth is not a problem, it is only a problem with greed.

We were paying $180 a month for 40GB of 4G service until last week. We now pay $400 a month for T-1 which is a third the speed of 4G but we have no data usage cap.

It is no different than the land line long distance price gouging that went on for decades. The actual cost for AT&T to provide a long distance call in the USA was less than one cent a minute. Large corporations paid 3-4 cents per minute and the average customer was paying 12 cents a minute or more.

Corporate greed is more American than apple pie.

[paulcardoza]

There's one fact everyone with unlimited plans needs to face.......

If you read the "legalese" in your contract, AT&T CAN force changes in your deal at pretty much anytime. Wireless carriers have traditionally not forced such changes and allowed customers to keep outdated plans indefinitely, but they have the clause that gives them other options.

If they lose this battle with the FTC, they have the option of invoking the clause and forcing everyone off the grandfathered unlimited plans. Yeah, it will create an uproar and yeah it will cost them customers. It all comes down to the finances of how much of a problem high volume unlimited users will cause them.

Until the rapid increase in demand for bandwidth subsides and wireless carriers can implement infrastructure to supply enough bandwidth for true demand, wireless carriers will do everything possible to curb high volume users. If infrastructure can get ahead of the demand curve as some point, we may see it return. My guess is that's a looooong way down the road though.

[jorbill2or]

I have one of the original 5 GB unlimited data plans they only ran for a short time ( came with the original iPhone in '07) and then decided they didn't want to offer anymore . so if you make any major changes to the plan ,any changes at all, it is canceled and refer to a metered plan. they tried very hard to get you off the unlimited plan. I stream a lot of audio and some video and I have gone over the 5 GB limit several times. They throttle you almost down to edge or just above dial-up speeds it's very slow.! AT&T is right most people don't use 5 GB in a month but I do I use it as a connection while I'm waiting for my work to be ready. When throttled you can stream audio but just barely.
I for one hope AT&T is forced to honor their unlimited. Un- throttled data plan! this will enable me to stream video and audio to my iPhone phone and as I plan on full-timeing soon think this would be a great solution

[paulcardoza]

Many with the grandfathered "unlimited" plans have experienced throttling with AT&T when exceeding 5gb. I had it happen one month and it was throttled terribly, so I was not a happy camper.

This was on my company plan, so we have recently changed to pooled data plans (corp plans) which pool everyone together. Solved the problem with a significant savings to boot!

[vermilye]

I have an iPhone on the $30.00 unlimited plan & while traveling I have run into the 2GB slow down. They send a text letting you know that you are over their "limit" (on unlimited?) and will be throttled next month.

Generally only a problem if I'm in an area that doesn't have Verizon coverage since I have a Verizon based hotspot. With AT&T's far worse coverage in most of the country, it is rarely a problem.

[Ron3rd]

The unlimited plan went away a while ago but some where still grandfathered in. My son was on the unlimited data plan for over 4 years with his iPhone, ie, he was grandfathered in and would still be on it if he had not changed plans. The catch was if you upgrade or make certain changes, the unlimited deal goes away. Don't think he ever experienced the "throttling" that the article describes.

[Ron3rd]

Us out West wrote:
WASHINGTON (AP) - AT&T is being sued by the government over allegations it misled millions of smartphone customers about its unlimited data plans.

Read story

My son was on the unlimited data plan for over 4 years with his iPhone, ie, he was grandfathered in and would still be on it if he had not changed plans. The catch was if you upgrade or make certain changes, the unlimited deal goes away. Don't think he ever experienced the "throttling" that the article describes.

[wa8yxm]

I did not know AT&T offered an "Unlmited" (But throttled) plan I thought all their plans were limited.

T-mobile however does offer such a plan, Advertised as UNLMITED, the fine print says that while the total data is not limited, only the first x.y Gigs are full speed (4G) I have ask them if it counts toward my limit if I'm on 3-G or less, they say ALL data usage counts but I'm not sure the girl knew what she was talking about.

I've only hit the limit a couple times and never noticed a slow down (But then it was late in the last day of the billing period and most of what I do at that hour is TEXT not Graphic so I'd not notice).

This I do know.... I remember when I got my first modem, a 300 baud dial up.. I used a service, best international network out there at the time (Still use it) and a short message might take as much as 5 seconds to download.

Well, they scrapped all their old servers and software and sold out to another Internet enabled company (America Off Line) and now operate as a web only service (Community.compuserve.com, or commmunity.netscape.com) and that same short message, at high speed DSL speeds, now takes a mear 7 seconds to download due to all the added garbage (Graphics I never see).

Oh, the graphics are on the screen.. .I just Tunnel-vision them out automatically. (Do not see them less I desire to look at them).

Same here. I simply do not see the ads, even if they are there.