If you’re still clutching to a grandfathered AT&T unlimited data plan, there’s some good news for you today.
It’s been discovered that AT&T recently changed the wording on its unlimited data info page, suggesting that the big blue carrier is easing up a bit on its throttling of those customers. Previously, the page explained that unlimited customers with a 4G LTE device would be throttled after their usage exceeded 5GB, regardless of network congestion. The page was recently updated with the following information:
“As a result of AT&T's network management process, customers on a 3G or 4G smartphone or on a 4G LTE smartphone with an unlimited data plan who have exceeded 3 gigabytes (3G/4G) or 5 gigabytes (4G LTE) of data in a billing period may experience reduced speeds when using data services at times and in areas that are experiencing network congestion. All such customers can still use unlimited data without incurring overage charges, and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle.”
The big change is that 4G LTE customers are now treated like 3G/4G customers used to be, meaning that once they hit a usage threshold — 3GB for 3G/4G customers and 5GB for 4G LTE users — they “may” be throttled when they’re in an area that’s experiencing network congestion. The old statement said that unlimited 4G LTE customers “will” be throttled after using 5GB.
AT&T hasn’t made any announcements regarding this change, but the new wording seems to suggest that unlimited 4G LTE customers may be throttled less frequently going forward. That’s exciting news for anyone still clinging to an unlimited data plan, and it’s a nice move by AT&T, even if it may have only been made because the number of unlimited data customers continues to decline.
Are any of you on a grandfathered unlimited data plan?
