AT&T Throttles on a Curve, Punishing Low Data Usage

Feb 7, 2012 // by RobertMiller // Blog // No Comments

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What can a carrier do to keep their data networks running smoothly when the appetite for bits keeps growing? One method is called “throttling”. This simply means slowing down a user’s access to the network when that user passes a certain threshold of data used. The theory behind this is that heavy data users, once throttled, cannot continue to consume massive amounts of data when the pipe is made narrower, leaving more bandwidth for everyone else.

Last summer, AT&T announced new restrictions for users on their unlimited plan. The restrictions look at the top 5% of the heaviest data users who are grandfathered in to the plan, and throttle them for the rest of the billing month. The problem is that the amount of data used by the top 5% changes every month. So, for example, if the top 5% all used around 2GB of data, that’s where they set the threshold. Any user approaching that threshold would be warned, then throttled once they pass it.

With this plan, it seems that AT&T would end up punishing users for using less data in the long run. To put it in perspective, here’s what it would sound like as a conversation:

AT&T: Hey guys, you gotta stop using so much data each month.

Guy #1: Oh, ok. I’ll cut down.

Guy #2: Yeah me too.

AT&T: Thanks guys.

[TIME PASSES]

AT&T: Now that everyone has cut down their data use, we’ll reset the throttling threshold to the amount of data the top 5% use.

Guy #1: Hey! Now I’m getting throttled at 2.1GB whereas before the limit was at 3GB! No fair!

Guy #2: What the?

AT&T: Umm, yeah, I gotta take this call now…

This is what has actually happened to AT&T subscriber John Cozen. He was throttled after using only 2.1GB of data in a month, and after a series of calls to AT&T, they basically told him he could upgrade to a tiered plan if he didn’t want to be throttled anymore. While his unlimited plan costs the same as the 3GB tiered plan, only the unlimited plan gets throttled.

Obviously, this has less to do with managing their networks than it has with trying to get unlimited users to switch to a tiered plan. AT&T discontinued their unlimited plans for a reason, and the more people they can get to switch to a tiered plan, the sooner they can stop supporting the old plan.

If it were me, I would switch…to another carrier.

source: johncozen.com
via: pocketnow

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