AT&T data issues

For those of you who are having data throttling issues with various companies I'd highly recommend Sprint. We switched from AT&T about a year and a half ago and we have had a better experience overall and we pay a fair bit less than we did before. I use a ton of data on my phone and have had no issues with tethering it to either my laptop or even letting my daughters watch Netflix on long car rides. Rooting my Android phone and installing a tethering app took only about 15 minutes.

Just for some of the others here - if you are indeed grandfathered with unlimited data I believe that it only covers 3g data and not 4g in many cases - I know that was the case with my old iphone contract with AT&T.

Lastly if you are having issues you probably want to stay away from any sort of streaming - Netflix, Pandora, etc - they are absolute data hogs.

 

The AT&T of today is a different company - the original company was bought out about 6 or 7 years ago by one of the baby bells. This was back when Cingular became AT&T. The company that bought the old AT&T was the baby bell that served Texas (I believe that it was SBC) and then they took the AT&T name and stock symbol.

 

Interesting. They sure seem to have the same business philosophy as the old AT&T.

 

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but there's almost no legal options, short of cancelling the contract and paying the termination fee. I had the same problem with Cincinnati Bell a couple months ago, which began throttling my data after about 2 gigs. Mind you, I have an "unlimited" data plan which was grandfathered in.

I contracts customer service about the issue, and they gave me the run-around, so I simply asked for a copy of the terms and conditions. When they asked why, I said I was looking to see if throttling constituted a breach of contract.* They replied that "all carriers do it" and then promptly hung up.

I looked at the contract, and there's really nothing you can do. Here's a few excerpts from Cincinnati Bell's wireless contract [and it's reasonable to believe that most major wireless carriers have this or similar]:

So, they can change the contract at any time, at their whim, and you have zero legal options outside of binding arbitration. They, on the other hand, reserve the right to go to court. You also waive any class-action standing by signing the contract:

In short, they've got their butts covered.

*As a disclosure, I'm a full-time law student. (Insert legal disclaimer here.)

 

Occasionally, contract clauses may be determined by a court to be unenforceable. I suspect that waiving your right to class-action lawsuits may be such a clause. I also wonder about the clauses which give them the right to change any and all terms of the contract. IOW, You agree to pay us, and we can choose to stop providing any service, but you have to keep paying.

Of course, the bottom line, as I've said before, is that they have more and better lawyers than you do.

It's often possible to research a company's reputation before entering into a contract with them. Where possible, it's a good idea.

I just got lucky as regards cell phone service. At the time I got my first cell phone I had no credit rating, because at the age of 50, I had never borrowed money in my life and didn't have a credit card. A debit card does not count, and paying your utility bills on time every single month for 30 years does not count. Without a credit rating, Verizon was the only company that would sell me a phone! They figured that no credit history meant I had no bad credit. I've never had any trouble with them.

 

Switching to Sprint will keep you from using too much data as their service coverage areas have a lot of hole in it. I also have an AT&T iPhone with the unlimited data plan. I haven't hit the limit to be threatened with throttling, yet. But I have discovered that the iPad pre-paid unlimited data plans are not subject to throttling. I hit 5 GB last month on it. So if you have or can get a iPad that still has the unlimited you can connect that to your car instead of your phone.

 

I looks like you can sue them too:
The Associated Press: Judge awards iPhone user $850 in throttling case

 

Can't read that article without signing in to Google.

 

That's odd; I can.

 

Okay. It turns out I can read the article in Safari, but Chrome demands I sign in. That pisses me off. I don't want to sign in. I'm going to write to the Chrome design department about that. But at least now I know I can get around it, though I don't much like Safari.

Thanks.

 

I was looking at the T-mobile ad on youtube. Their unlimited data plan has a small print that states "Includes 2GB per month of full speed data."

 

I believe that particular clause, forbidding class action, is no longer enforceable in Washington State, but haven't heard of other states with similar rulings.

 

Interesting. Are you sure you're not signed in? I think if you sign in once you are signed in forever, unless you sign out.

I even tried disabling ScriptNo and quitting Chrome and launching it again, and it still wouldn't let me see the article.

 

I don't even have a Google account, and can see it.

Firefox, NoScript, and Google Analytics OptOut turned on.