The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AT&T is going to cap unlimited data plans. Truth to tell, it’s not much of a change because they were already slowing download speeds for the top 5% of their bandwidth consumers. Now they will slow download speeds for anyone exceeding 3 gigs/5 gigs for 3G/4G users. In view of the study that I wrote about last week that showed there is essentially no difference between the data usage of “the top 5 percent” and the top tier of the metered users, it’s hard to see how this is justified.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see some push back. After all, AT&T sold their customers an unlimited data plan and charged more for it. At the time there was no talk of capping the plans or slowing speeds. Just pay us the extra money please. That arguably amounts to a contract to provide the unlimited service as sold. It certainly amounts to a moral obligation.
If AT&T feels that they can’t make money with their current plans then they’re free not to offer them but they’re not free to simply abrogate those contracts—even partially—simply for their own convenience. And certainly not as a device to force all their customers onto a tiered plan as the researchers that I wrote about last week suspect. Back in the old days, everyone hated Ma Bell. This is the kind of behavior that reminds us why.
Update: According to a Wired Gadget Lab article, the change was in response to customer complaints that the “top 5% rule” was catching people who were using no more data than the tiered customers, who weren’t being throttled.