Who here has received a throttling warning? Cause I have :devil:

[milan03]

I think you're completely confused with both concepts. The term "unlimited" solely refers to the amount of data used. It does not matter if that data arrives onto your device at 6Mbps, .8Mbps due to congestion, or .2Mbps due to throttling, it is referred to as unlimited.

Correct, but what speeds AT&T guarantees to their customers, and if there is a throttle point, at what exact GB point they start throttling.
I bet your local AT&T rep can't answer this either...

[-banned-]

why would it be ok for AT&T to throttle my speeds if I'm an unlimited data subscriber

because throttling you is NOT changing your data plan that they sold you / that you are paying for. You are paying for a finite amount or an infinite amount of data, you are NOT paying for speed or a specific amount of speed.. that is the difference that most of you guys cannot seem to quite grasp yet :-)

and AT&T doesn't even state where the throttling point is?

cause it does not matter where they throttle you, they can do that at will and not break their TOS…

[-banned-]

i think you're completely confused with both concepts. The term "unlimited" solely refers to the amount of data used. It does not matter if that data arrives onto your device at 6mbps, .8mbps due to congestion, or .2mbps due to throttling; it is referred to as unlimited. Throttling, on the other hand, is legally actionable on at&t's part because there is no stated guarantee for speeds. For example, if you were throttled at 2gb and had speeds actively limited to .2mbps, you could still browse the web for x amount of gb without being subject to a charge.

Trust me, i could get a lot more in-depth with the legalities, but in essence that should suffice.

finally someone understands the difference…!!!!

[-banned-]

Correct, but what speeds AT&T guarantees to their customers, and if there is a throttle point, at what exact GB point they start throttling.

AT$T does not guarantee any speeds to anyone :-) and they do not have a set point of where throttling will begin, more than likely it will be those that fall into the 2% category which means probably those that exceed 2gb per month… It is up to them to decide where that throttle point will be and can be different from one account to another..

[milan03]

AT$T does not guarantee any speeds to anyone :-) and they do not have a set point of where throttling will begin, more than likely it will be those that fall into the 2% category which means probably those that exceed 2gb per month… It is up to them to decide where that throttle point will be and can be different from one account to another..

Sounds like a win-win deal for them!
... and lose-lose for customers...

[sodpen03]

I called AT&T today and they told me its still unlimited because they aren't restricting the amount of data I am using, well my response blew the guys mind.

I said "Imagine AT&T is a 4 lane highway, normally traffic flows at 60MPH, or 6mbit/s and flows at a variable rate depending on reasons beyond AT&T or the highways control. But imagine then you add a caution light or stop light in the middle of the interstate slowing all car's down to 20mph or 160kbit/s, sure you're not completely stopping traffic, but you ARE limiting the amount of cars that can travel through the interstate in that month vs. whatever the interstate allows because you have direct control over the speed vs. reasons beyond control."

Therefore, that is not unlimited because you have direct control over how much data flows through the network by limiting it at a set rate.

My thoughts exactly with regards to a hard bandwidth limit. AT&T bandwidth capped me down to 120 kbps regardless if the traffic is congested or not. Throttling implies lowering your bandwidth priority only when traffic is congested, so I am going to avoid using that term.

[-banned-]

Sounds like a win-win deal for them!

pretty much.. Its their way to in-directly limit your total amount of data usage without changing or removing your existing unlimited data plan..

Think about this. At full 3G speed for an entire month with lots of usage, you can probably suck down 60 gb per month… now if they throttled you down to EDGE once you hit say ~5gb… now your projected 60gb for the month is now shot down and now your total usage has now been dropped to about ~7gb IF LUCKY… cause i know when i had my SE W810i EDGE only phone… i could only suck down ~500mb on the phone alone using opera mini & with LOTS tethering i got it to about 1.7gb for the month… EDGE sux and its slow compared to 3G.

Its no different than how T-mobile is doing to ALL their current "unlimited" customers, full 3G/4G speed data up to 2GB, then throttled down to EDGE (~256kb down at most if lucky)… and we all know EDGE cannot support video streaming cause 3G can barely support it unless your like the only one on the tower at that time.. So what good is 3G/4G after you hit 2GB..??

They want us on WiFi as much as possible and they are winning… Or you can go to Sprint/Boost and get full speed with unlimited* data (for now lol)

throttling sux but id rather have unlimited edge than to be capped at 2gb and paying overage fee's…

[veriztd]

I bet the courts would think differently

And you would be incorrect, it is enforceable.

Works the same with customers using iPhones without data features (in or out of contract). In that case, At&t can add the missing feature at will and has been doing so for at least 3 years.

[-banned-]

AT&T bandwidth capped me down to 120 kbps regardless if the traffic is congested or not. Throttling implies lowering your bandwidth priority only when traffic is congested, so I am going to avoid using that term.

that is cause they are throttling you based on how much physical data you consume regardless of traffic on your cell tower… You may be the ONLY person on that tower for a week straight and they will throttle you simply cause you are consuming more than the average user..
It has nothing to do with how much traffic their is at that time from that tower, if you use up a lot of data, they will throttle you down cause they assume you are a strain on their network REGARDLESS of current traffic at that current time….

I don't agree with their methods, but its their game… You either play their game or try a different carrier.

[milan03]

pretty much.. Its their way to in-directly limit your total amount of data usage without changing or removing your existing unlimited data plan..

Think about this. At full 3G speed for an entire month with lots of usage, you can probably suck down 60 gb per month… now if they throttled you down to EDGE once you hit say ~5gb… now your projected 60gb for the month is now shot down and now your total usage has now been dropped to about ~7gb IF LUCKY… cause i know when i had my SE W810i EDGE only phone… i could only suck down ~500mb on the phone alone using opera mini & with LOTS tethering i got it to about 1.7gb for the month… EDGE sux and its slow compared to 3G.

Its no different than how T-mobile is doing to ALL their current "unlimited" customers, full 3G/4G speed data up to 2GB, then throttled down to EDGE (~256kb down at most if lucky)… and we all know EDGE cannot support video streaming cause 3G can barely support it unless your like the only one on the tower at that time.. So what good is 3G/4G after you hit 2GB..??

They want us on WiFi as much as possible and they are winning… Or you can go to Sprint/Boost and get full speed with unlimited* data (for now lol)

throttling sux but id rather have unlimited edge than to be capped at 2gb and paying overage fee's…

Exactly, but at least on T-Mobile you know that your 4G cap is 5GB, and on AT&T you have no clue. You could be traveling, no WiFi, and when you really need that bandwidth, it may be throttled down to unacceptable smartphone speeds... How can you even manage your data if you have absolutely no idea where the limit is?!
I just signed up with T-Mobile's prepaid $30/month unlimited 4G (5GB then edge), unlimited texting and 100minutes plan, loaded it on galaxy nexus, and tethering is built in out of the box, no tethering guard of any kind. Speeds are 8-16mbps all day long, and i know that 5GB is where the speed drops so I can manage my usage.

[sodpen03]

throttling sux but id rather have unlimited edge than to be capped at 2gb and paying overage fee's…

How about forcing us on EDGE speeds even when there is bandwidth available?

[sodpen03]

that is cause they are throttling you based on how much physical data you consume regardless of traffic on your cell tower… You may be the ONLY person on that tower for a week straight and they will throttle you simply cause you are consuming more than the average user..
It has nothing to do with how much traffic their is at that time from that tower, if you use up a lot of data, they will throttle you down cause they assume you are a strain on their network REGARDLESS of current traffic at that current time….

I don't agree with their methods, but its their game… You either play their game or try a different carrier.

You saw my screenshots right? Does 2.8GB (2811MB) of data on my 30 of 31 day of my billing cycle considered "a lot"?

[-banned-]

How can you even manage your data if you have absolutely no idea where the limit is?!

i don't think they care less about you and your bandwidth needs to be honest with you..!!
But yea with T-Mobile, you know when your cap is gonna hit so you can be prepared….

But here is a question, when do you really NEED true 3G speeds when you are on your smartphone that is so important that EDGE cannot take care of..??

[milan03]

i don't think they care less about you and your bandwidth needs to be honest with you..!!
But yea with T-Mobile, you know when your cap is gonna hit so you can be prepared….

But here is a question, when do you really NEED true 3G speeds when you are on your smartphone that is so important that EDGE cannot take care of..??

Whenever you're commuting, traveling, on the go, in one word mobile. I can totally understand that if you sit home or office all day long, you probably wouldn't need bandwidth, but in that case, feel free to downgrade to 2GB a month or 200MB plan...

[-banned-]

You saw my screenshots right? Does 2.8GB (2811MB) of data on my 30 of 31 day of my billing cycle considered "a lot"?

well i do not work for the evil empire so i cannot give you a straight answer but i can tell you that 98% of the their customers stay below 2GB per month and anyone that exceeds that number falls into that 2% minority which use more than 2GB which are what they call the data "hoggers" or the ones that abuse the network, which are the ones they are supposed to be throttling..
I personally average 10 GB per month and as far as i know, my speeds are still going strong cause i know for a fact how S L O W edge speeds are and I'm tethering right now and its not S L O W at all and I'm at about 8.2GB as i type :-)