There's been a lot of noise made lately concerning AT&T customers with grandfathered unlimited data plans and at what threshold they'll have their speeds throttled. AT&T has said in the past that the top five percent of the heaviest data users on its network will see their speeds slowed for the remainder of that billing cycle, but today the carrier took the time to clarify the specifics of its unlimited data throttling policy.
AT&T says that, beginning today, a customer with an unlimited data plan and a 3G/4G HSPA+ device will be throttled once he or she hits 3GB of usage in a single month. Meanwhile, AT&T subscribers with a 4G LTE product will be given a threshold of 5GB of usage in a single month before being throttled for the remainder of that billing cycle. After a threshold has been crossed, AT&T will send customers a text message to let them know when they reach 95 percent of their full-speed data allotment for the month. AT&T continues to say that 95 percent of its smartphone customer base is unaffected by its decision to throttle data speeds.
In a statement explaining the new details of the throttling policy, AT&T explains that spectrum is a limited resource and data usage continues to grow. In response to those two factors, AT&T says that it must throttle heavier users in order to be fair to all customers and ensure that everyone is getting the best possible network experience.
As I mentioned before, there's been a bit of confusion surrounding AT&T's throttling practices since they were introduced last year. AT&T has said in the past that it would throttle the top five percent of heaviest users, but up until now the carrier hasn't offered details on an exact usage threshold at which throttling would begin, though it's been said to be around 2GB. It's good to see AT&T make its throttling policy clear and easy to understand today. Sure, throttling may not be something that AT&T's unlimited data customers love to encounter, but at least now they know exactly at what level of usage the reduced speeds will be kicking in. You can find AT&T's official statement on today's news down below.
With mobile data usage continuing to skyrocket and the availability of spectrum scarce, AT&T, like other wireless companies, manages its network in the most fair way possible so that we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience for all our customers.
How we’re managing the network only affects a small minority of the heaviest smartphone data users still on unlimited plans. Put another way, this does not impact more than 95 percent of our smartphone customers.
Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect. Here’s what customers need to know:
· Customers with a 3G or 4G smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – will see speeds reduced if they use 3GB (gigabytes) of data or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle. For context, less than 5 percent of smartphone customers use more than 3GB per month.
· For customers with a 4G LTE smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – data speeds will be reduced if usage is 5GB (gigabytes) or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle.
Customers will get a text message from us before experiencing a change in speed.
Even with reduced data speeds, these customers will still be able to email and surf the web, and continue to use an unlimited amount of data each month.
Not impacted by this program, launched last year, are customers on our tiered data plans.
The reason reduced speeds only apply to unlimited smartphone customers is because their data usage is significantly higher than those on tiered plans. For example, in January, the top 5 percent of our unlimited data plan customers used an average of over 50 percent more data than the top 5 percent of customers on tiered plans.
Because spectrum is limited and data usage continues to soar, we manage our network this way to be as fair as possible and so we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience to everyone.
We encourage all of our customers to use Wi-Fi whenever possible – especially when watching video, which is the most data-intensive activity.
That’s because data activity over Wi-Fi does not count against the threshold for unlimited customers that triggers reduced data speeds or against customers’ tiered data plans. Customers can find out more at www.att.com/datainfo
