Shep Smith outraged to find AT&T is slowing his phone service for using his ‘crap’ data plan
32 replies, posted
[quote]
Shep Smith got a text message yesterday from his wireless provider, AT&T, informing him that because the WiFi at his house is broken, he’d become one of their top 5 percent of data users and would thus be getting slower wireless service. He was not pleased. “I’m not doing anything different than I ever have, but now they’re going to charge me more for the same thing I’ve always been doing. Thanks. Because, you know what, your system is awesome. It really works great,” he said sarcastically.
“I’m going to pay more for this crap? Because it’s crap!” he added.
Smith said, “When I signed up for this plan… and I bought this phone, they told me I could do this. And now that I’ve signed up, and I’ve bought this and I’ve done everything the way they tell me to do it, now I gotta pay more. They changed the rules.” He added, “It’s like giving you crack. It’s all-you-can-eat crack, until you like a lot of crack, and then you’ve got to pay more.
Since [URL="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/15/att-to-cap-users-internet-access-impose-fees-for-too-much-information/"]AT&T[/URL] and [URL="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/05/verizon-prepares-fees-for-mobile-users-who-download-too-much-information/"]Verizon[/URL] switched from unlimited data to a tiered system, users whose contracts were grandfathered in under the unlimited system have discovered that while they still technically have unlimited data access, the companies have slowed that access to encourage them to use less data or switch plans.[/quote]
[url]http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/14/shep-smith-outraged-to-find-att-is-slowing-his-phone-service-for-using-his-crap-data-plan/[/url]
This is good news, hopefully now that someone with influence is publicly bashing data caps we might see change for the better.
If he's using a shitload more bandwidth than normal it's not really surprising they're throttling it.
fucking data caps are the worst fucking thing in the world. shep smith is cool
The real question is: What is he downloading?
Top five percent? What the hell?
Learn statistics. Top five percent = one in twenty. That's not throttling the few outliers who are using terabytes a month. That's throttling a huge portion of your regular customers.
Why does he make a comparison to crack usage?
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;34702750]Why does he make a comparison to crack usage?[/QUOTE]
Guess he's addicted to the Internet.
The only thing he can do is go back in time and get an unlimited data plan from verizon so he can get grandfathered and keep it forever
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;34702750]Why does he make a comparison to crack usage?[/QUOTE]
It's a classic drug dealer trick. They give you the first few hits for free, or at a massive "discount". Once you're addicted, they jack the prices into the thermosphere.
He's saying the mobile providers do the same. They give you a few months of low rates and uncapped access. Then, once you've come to expect decently fast, unlimited internet everywhere, they slap on all kinds of caps and fees.
Anyone who actually knows networking can tell it's a scam. Total usage is pretty much meaningless - it's [i]peak[/i] usage that's problematic, and flat data caps do nothing to fight it.
Say a provider has a total of 200GB/s bandwidth in an area, and they've got 50,000 customers in that area. If every single one of them used their pipes at the same time, they'd get 4 MB/s each. Hardly ideal. But if only half of them were online at once, they'd each get 8 MB/s. And if only five percent were online, they'd each get 80MB/s.
Ideally, people would all use the network at different times, and usage would remain constant throughout the day.
But reality is far from ideal. For much of the day, most networks are under-utilized. It's mainly 5pm-10pm that there's bandwidth issues, because everyone's online, particularly Youtube and Netflix users watching movies and stuff. The lines are practically dead at 2am. That's one of many reasons that sysadmins run backups after midnight - they have more bandwidth to synch to the offsite servers, and it's not like it matters to the servers what time it is.
A system that was actually trying to improve bandwidth for everyone would involve some sort of penalty for heavy access during peak hours, and some sort of incentive for using it at non-peak hours. A flat bandwidth cap just drives off customers (if there's any competition), or funnels in money (if there's a monopoly, or if all the competition is doing it too).
I know with verizon they throttle you by a file located on the phone memory, I'm sure thats the same with ATT. It may be bullshit that they're doing this, but it is an easy workaround.
[QUOTE=Rents;34702310]If he's using a shitload more bandwidth than normal it's not really surprising they're throttling it.[/QUOTE]
The problem is that the top 5% of users only have to use around 2-4GB before being included
[QUOTE=Priori;34704003]I know with verizon they throttle you by a file located on the phone memory, I'm sure thats the same with ATT. It may be bullshit that they're doing this, but it is an easy workaround.[/QUOTE]
AT&T does more than one check, they've been doing it much longer than Verizon has.
There's no good reason to throttle bandwidth other than to make more money off of an already sub-par service. Its not like the system they have can't handle all the data usage, they're just stingy fucks. Fuck corporations, damn you for making me dependent upon you.
[QUOTE=Dr.C;34702860]The only thing he can do is go back in time and get an unlimited data plan from verizon so he can get grandfathered and keep it forever[/QUOTE]
Or he can go with Sprint, I have unlimited.
Um, he must be using a rather large amount of data.
A few months ago I was without Internet so I set up tethering on my iPhone. I didn't get a 5% message until I had hit 33GB of usage, so I think he's illegally tethered on a grandfathered unlimited plan.
all you can eat crack sounds like a good business plan
[QUOTE=Forumaster;34706434]Um, he must be using a rather large amount of data.
A few months ago I was without Internet so I set up tethering on my iPhone. I didn't get a 5% message until I had hit 33GB of usage, so I think he's illegally tethered on a grandfathered unlimited plan.[/QUOTE]
33GB.
Large amount of data?
HA!
I use between about 5GB and 10GB a day on my computer. Fortunately, I have no datacap with Charter.
And 100 Mbps.
What dicks. I sometimes get the idea they're doing that to my DSL as well.
[QUOTE=HorizoN;34706844]33GB.
Large amount of data?
HA![/QUOTE]
On a phone?
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;34702750]Why does he make a comparison to crack usage?[/QUOTE]
internet's a helluva drug
[QUOTE=Dr.C;34702860]The only thing he can do is go back in time and get an unlimited data plan from verizon so he can get grandfathered and keep it forever[/QUOTE]
He HAS a grandfathered unlimited plan
I have unlimited data, but my bandwidth is 256 kB/s
[QUOTE=Rents;34702310]If he's using a shitload more bandwidth than normal it's not really surprising they're throttling it.[/QUOTE]
This isn't the fucking stone age, data caps are retarded.
[QUOTE=HorizoN;34706844]33GB.
Large amount of data?
HA![/QUOTE]
I probably go through at least that every day.
Constant HD streams+internet radio+Games+browsing+Teamspeak+xfire/steam etc.
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;34707896]This isn't the fucking stone age, data caps are retarded.[/QUOTE]
I didn't say they aren't terrible, but everyone knows the companies do it.
1mbit/s of internet connectivity from transit carriers costs between $0.5 and $2 per month on a 20gbit/s commit. Multiply this by 10mbit/s, and you have the price for connecting one client to the rest of the world, not including cost for the mobile infrastructure (Which I might add, is expensive)
So, think of it this way. AT&T buys a 40gbit commit from a cheap carrier - $20000 a month. AT&T offer an average of 9.41mbit/s per customer. This means that they can sell 4250 unlimited data plans in that area without overselling.
Each unlimited data plan costs $10 a month. This means AT&T make $42507 - a net profit of $22507. Assuming an overselling ratio of 4 - which is industry standard in unmetered internet connectivity plans ([b]not[/b] in the mobile market) - AT&T can make $170031 - or a profit of $148k. This can then be spent on the mobile network infrastructure and staffing.
They have no excuse. If someone uses more than 9mbit/s, they should be limited to 10mbit/s. 10mbit/s is approximately 3.3TB a month.
Data caps are a way of life in Australia. Trans-pacific bandwidth aint cheap yo!
$89 for 200gb at 24Mb/s. Stuck on a 24mth contract.
[QUOTE=Rents;34709799]I didn't say they aren't terrible, but everyone knows the companies do it.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't mean they aren't retarded. I mean I can download at max 14mb/sec all I want and nobody will give a rat's ass over here.
[QUOTE=HorizoN;34706844]33GB.
Large amount of data?
HA![/QUOTE]
Sounds like a mythically high number to me. At least over a mobile connection. Somehow I can manage maybe a few hundred MB a day over tethering.
Granted, I don't normally make enormous downloads over 3G, since they take so much time, that you might as well drive to someplace with a good connection since it would be much faster. Plus it cripples the connection so the internet is next to useless until the download finishes. And then you have to worry about phone calls and text messages, since it interrupts all data abilities (lol, EVDO).
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