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AT&T throttling...really?

copdocpvd

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I have a grandfathered-in "unlimited data plan" for my iphone 5. I'm averaging 38mbps download, which is significantly faster than my home wireless, so I turned off wireless and have been using only the 4g (happily).

Today I got an auto text from AT&T telling me "Your data usage on your 4G LTE smartphn is near 5GB this month. Exceeding 5GB during this or future billing cycles will result in reduced data speeds..."

Which irritates me, as I have unlimited data.

So a couple questions for the experts...

1. Has anyone really had their data speed throttled by AT&T or is this just a meaningless warning?
2. If they actually do throttle, is it just for the remainder of the billing period, or do they slow you down beyond that?
3. If you've experienced this message, how many GBs of data are you using a month?
4. If I switch to the "Mobile Share Plan" which would spread 12GB a month between the four of us using it, can I go beyond 5GB a month on one of the devices without being throttled?



Thanks much!


P
 
Yes... AT&T can throttle your data. MANY, MANY people have experienced this. This is nothing new either. This has been going on since late 2010 when they cut offering Unlimited data to anyone other than "Grandfathers."

When using a Shared plan you will never be throttled. Only charged extra if the entire plan goes over the 12GB @ $10 per GB.
 
Yes it is true. I have a grandfathered plan and they sent me the same text. I blew it off because I'm unlimited.... Then they slowed my speed down.... It's crazy, because unlimited to me means exactly that....UNLIMITED! So since then, I use wifi when available. They throttle you till the end of that particular billing cycle
 
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... It's crazy, because unlimited to me means exactly that....UNLIMITED!
Well, technically, it is unlimited.. since they didn't "stop" you.. they just slowed you down. I think they get away with this by saying it's unlimited in data, not speed. So, you're still getting all of the data you want.. just at a slower rate. I'm sure there's tons of lawyer-speak they use to justify things.
 
they slow down your speed for that certain billing period, and speeds go back up once the new bill starts.
 
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