AT&T Faces $100M Fine Over “Unlimited” Data Plans

Consumerist

AT&T Faces $100M Fine Over “Unlimited” Data Plans

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission sued AT&T over its alleged failure to disclose to subscribers of “unlimited” data plans that their data might actually be throttled. The future of that case is in limbo right now, but today the Federal Communications Commission announced its intention to fine AT&T $100 million over its unlimited data plans.

When AT&T was the exclusive launch partner of the Apple iPhone, many subscribers signed on to data plans that put no limits on monthly data use. But when the iPhone became available on other carriers like Verizon, AT&T eventually stopped offering these plans but allowed existing unlimited subscribers to continue under certain conditions.

However, users who actually tried to utilize the “unlimited” aspect of their plans found that they faced the threat of having their data speeds heavily throttled by up to 80-90%.

Following thousands of complaints from AT&T customers, an investigation concluded that AT&T failed to adequately notify its customers that they could receive speeds slower than the normal network speeds the company advertised.

One issue for the FCC is that AT&T didn’t just slow down speeds to normal network rates, but at speeds as slow as 1/20 that of normal speeds, leaving the service effectively unusable. Additionally, throttled customers were penalized for upwards of 12 days out of a month, meaning subscribers were paying full price for unlimited data plans that may not have been available for nearly half a month.

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http://consumerist.com/2015/06/17/att-faces-100m-fine-over-unlimited-data-plans/