[PCWorld]

Post your comments for AT&T Data Throttling Is Just a Political Stunt here

[mikefxbyt]

ATT needs to spend money upgrading their network instead of lobbying for the TMobile merger which would have terrible effects for customers. The numbers definitely do not add up. Liars can figure, and figures can lie, and ATT manages to do both at the same time.

[robbydek]

Based on what AT&T wants to do with T-mobile spectrum, the problem with only get worse before it gets better, at the very least, that is if it gets better.
T-mobile customers are going to suffer and AT&T customers are going to suffer even more. You can't have 130 million customers on spectrum that can't support 90 million! and you can't have a competitor so that you can build your next generation network!

[MarkBoyle4xu2]

when a company want's to throttle top 5% of consumers, that's alot of people throttling. It's not a data amount, it's a percent of consumers, regardless of how much data they use. What is a reasonable number for unlimited data on a 3g network? 10gb? That seems fair. Over 10gb people will be throttled, but it's not saying that, it's saying whether top 5% is 2.1gb a month or 25gb a month, they will be punished.

[Backcheck5rhs]

ATT is pathetic, service has dropped, constant call drops, I can't even get signal at my house now when I used to. I've put up with their crap for 17 yrs, and as soon as my contracts are up, we are moving to Sprint. I know I can get signal at my house, and I can get all the services, voice, text, AND data for less than I'm paying for just voice and text. I would't recommend ATT to anyone.

[jchris111899]

ATT is the worst. I had Cingular..ATT merged with them. ATT said nothing would change..well guess what.. I started to get all kind of fees added on to my bill. I got all kinds of run around from them. I took is for 6 months..then i toold the to stick it. The the next thing i heard ATT Mobility had a class action Lawsuit.
The short of it..if ATT merge with T-Mobile..I am going to Sprint.

[acman2k5]

I hear that they need to purchase T-mobile to help this problem with there network. Will it in affect stop them from this throttling

[acman2k5]

My guess is that it will not. I have had AT$T since 2004 with 3 phones on my plan also I have AT$T U-verse and my home wire line was AT$T. I know that they have good service,but this reminds me of the Ma Bell days when she split up. It was and did help the public to a point with phone service. This purchase that AT$T wants with T-mobile is two steps backward and one forward for us consumers. Not good!

[wierdninja]

If the iPhone ever goes to Sprint, AT&T loses me as a customer. I've been an AT&T customer even before the iPhone came out, and, their service was always bad. Data capping and now throttling their long time customers that still have unlimited data. How could this company be allowed to but T-Mobile.
Monopoly comes to mind, easily. I love my iPhone, and, use very little data on my unlimited plan, and think this latest move is bull. Sprint here I come when you get the iPhone.

[wierdninja]

wierdninja, on 30 July 2011 - 01:26 PM, said:

If the iPhone ever goes to Sprint, AT&T loses me as a customer. I've been an AT&T customer even before the iPhone came out, and, their service was always bad. Data capping and now throttling their long time customers that still have unlimited data. How could this company be allowed to buy T-Mobile.
Monopoly comes to mind, easily. I love my iPhone, and, use very little data on my unlimited plan, and think this latest move is bull. Sprint here I come when you get the iPhone.

Corrected from "but" to "buy"

[Grrreath3lg]

AT&T's logic:

If you combine two networks that have both coincidentally introduced throttling, then by obvious logic, combining two heavily crowded networks equals one magical rainbow of bandwidth love.

[AlexHumva]

I find it hilarious and very, very, sad how America is working with this.

I mean, the Europeans have mobile networks running at twenty mb/s+, unlimited data, AND it's cheaper. Now, admittedly, that isn't entirely fair; America is a huge country, whereas Europe is a bunch of smaller countries with their own network budgets. Nonetheless, the idea applies; instead of attempting to create monopolies and throttling/limiting data, the companies should be investing in, horror of horrors, their networks.

I mean seriously, if they would stop building fortresses out of green, they'd be able to actually sustain their networks and improve them. I'm not saying make the CEO have minimum wage; he is a CEO, he deserves a decent amount of money. Decent being the key word.

So while the rest of the western world goes forth into the twenty first century, America lags behind. In Europe they're in BETA for gigabit internet; in a few years, the Europeans are going be chilling with gigabit landlines, while we Americans are going be stuck paying the same amount for twenty five megabit, and only in select locations.

And people wonder why America is getting laughed at.

[DRDarke5pxn]

Since when did AT&T *ever* "support" either Net Neutrality or FCC Oversight?

What a sellout article!

[DRDarke5pxn]

Since When did AT&T *ever* "support" either Net Neutrality *or* FCC Oversight? This article reeks of false "fair-mindedness" rather than the activist anti-Bit Telco Truth!

[jdelaro19]

AT&T will do whatever it takes to merge with T-Mobile. All this data network nonsense is absurd. When cell carriers make you have a data plan and then complain about their limited bandwidth and cry about the top 5% using too much, are we supposed to think this is the consumers fault? They are the ones who make everyone with a smartphone get a data plan and not everyone wants/needs one. The average smartphone user uses less than 1Gb of data per month and most of the time they could use WiFi instead.
If this merger gets approved put a stipulation in there that data plans are optional, the way it should be anyway, and make AT&T sell data by the Gb and not monthly. Then lets see how much they want this merger. Data and Text is a cash cow for the cell carriers and they will do whatever it takes to keep it that way. I would be more than happy to pay $50 for 5Gb of data for my smartphone as long as I get to use the data that I paid for whenever I want and however long it takes to use that 5Gb. Get rid of monthly data plans and let the consumer buy their data and use it however they see fit. That would solve all their bandwidth problems and consumers would save a ton of money. Give consumers more choices instead of making them get unlimited data plans and then changing the unlimited data plans and throttling heavy users that you created in the first place by making everyone get an unlimited data plan then changing your mind because you created the bandwidth problem. Where are my choices? Why is there no prepaid data? Do we have to be charged for data every month? Give consumers more choices and this problem can go away. Let this merger go through and watch prices continue to rise and service get even worse. Consumers need to get away from contract plans, this is the only way this lucrative business can change for the better. Cheers.

[unbound]

So, I guess very few people have noticed that AT&T didn't put an actual bandwidth value on when the throttling will occur. They just state the top 5%, and even their notice states that it varies month to month.

It appears very likely that even if the top 5% of data users drastically cut their bandwidth, they will still be throttled since they will likely remain in the top 5%.

This is nothing more than a ploy to move legacy unlimited customers to the newer (and much more profitable) data tier plans.

[MichaelMadere]

Leaveim sick of at&t. i only used between 4 and 6gb a month. i pay for 4 phones, over $400 a month. one phone goes over and then its useless for what i use it for. i've decided to do a reverse boycott. now when i get home or go to bed, i set my phone on the charger, turn on netflix, find a long movie and keep replaying it over and over. even slowed down i use 50mb an hour. now this month im going to use about 19 to 20gb. if more people do this maybe they would rethink their punishment and fix what is really wrong in the first place. their shitty network. i hope this spreads. 5%er

[MichaelMadere]

Leaveim sick of at&t. i only used between 4 and 6gb a month. i pay for 4 phones, over $400 a month. one phone goes over and then its useless for what i use it for. i've decided to do a reverse boycott. now when i get home or go to bed, i set my phone on the charger, turn on netflix, find a long movie and keep replaying it over and over. even slowed down i use 50mb an hour. now this month im going to use about 19 to 20gb. if more people do this maybe they would rethink their punishment and fix what is really wrong in the first place. their shitty network. i hope this spreads. 5%er

[Dw10Jr]

unbound, on 02 August 2011 - 08:07 AM, said:

So, I guess very few people have noticed that AT&T didn't put an actual bandwidth value on when the throttling will occur. They just state the top 5%, and even their notice states that it varies month to month.

It appears very likely that even if the top 5% of data users drastically cut their bandwidth, they will still be throttled since they will likely remain in the top 5%.

This is nothing more than a ploy to move legacy unlimited customers to the newer (and much more profitable) data tier plans.

I was victim of the 5% this billing cycle, I used 2gigs.. OMG! My speed is currently .06-.12 mbps. Basically my service is shut down, how can this be considered unlimited? They have a data play that costs $30 a month for 3gigs, I'm currently paying $30 for my grandfathered unlimited plan. I don't see how this can be legal!! F' AT&T

[Quantum0718]

Sign the petition to try and stop ATT from throttling us!

http://www.change.or...-data-throttle#