FTC sues AT&T for misleading customers on unlimited data

[David Mackler]

People who have hung on to unlimited on AT&T and VZW through all the changes and much cheaper plans coming around do so for a reason.  They use it in massive quantities.  Because AT&T prices back in 2011 were much, much higher than they are today.  You would need to use more than 30GB per month to justify staying on AT&T unlimited.

 

As one of those people, I pay $5 more per month for unlimited than for the 2GB data plan. In practice, that $5 would buy only another half GB. I keep running the numbers on the new plans, but the old grandfathered plan we have is still the most affordable option, at about $135/month for five lines, two of them iPhones, with corporate discounts.

 

Truth be told, I am on WiFi most of the day at home and at work, and rarely ever hit even 2GB most months. So why do I keep unlimited? For times when I travel heavily and do rely on cellular, I have the option without overage charges, to use more than my average. Second, with web pages and apps become more data heavy, I see it as insurance that I won't have to pay significantly *more* per month than I do now as monthly usage climbs.

[joshnys8913]

But AT&T hasn't offered unlimited plans for years and does not have to keep them forever.  These are all grandfathered customers who's unlimited contracts expired a long time ago.  AT&T can cancel all unlimited plans tomorrow and be within their rights.  I expect if the FTC keeps pushing them, that's what they'll do.  They'll just drop the grandfathered unlimited plans.

 

These people all agreed to revised changes in terms over the past few years.  They all have had opportunities to cancel their contracts at renewal periods if they didn't like the new terms instituted back in 2011.  Yet they agreed to them.  I hate defending AT&T, but I'm still amazed they kept unlimited plans even grandfathered.  And they even still allowed upgrades, unlike Verizon who made customers pay full cash price to keep it.  This will just be the catalyst to scrap unlimited completely.

 

As for AT&T doubling the data now...it's not a sign they have a lot more capacity.  It's a sign of desperation to keep from losing customers.  Speeds are going down noticeably with these new higher data caps.  My 40-50Mbps is now 15-25Mbps in just the past 3 weeks or so on the 10MHz channel.  And it's now dropped from 5-8Mbps to 1-3Mbps on the 5MHz channel.  AT&T didn't want to give up their capacity, but they have no choice.

 

They will be able to rebound in time with their network.  But it will cost billions just to pay for the additional capacity needed in the long run.  At least these new double limit customers still at least have a finite amount of damage they can do to the network.  Unlimited customers can do far more damage to capacity than double bucket customers.  

 

People who have hung on to unlimited on AT&T and VZW through all the changes and much cheaper plans coming around do so for a reason.  They use it in massive quantities.  Because AT&T prices back in 2011 were much, much higher than they are today.  You would need to use more than 30GB per month to justify staying on AT&T unlimited.

I USED to be one of the people that had an AT&T unlimited plan and it was getting expensive, so I came back to Sprint and have NEVER looked back. I have a friend who works for AT&T and he said even him/other employees can be booted off unlimited so its not just the general customer.  I never had any big problems with AT&T other then dropped calls or calls that would not connect.  I have way worse issues with big red V, constant loss of service, calls/ and texts wouldn't go though I broke my contract with in a year it was so bad, and all my friends seem to thing big red V is so great, well not at my place its terrible lol.  

 

I just wish Sprint could afford more towers for more coverage, even though I dont travel outside Sprint native coverage much, but I hate roaming. Sprint it the best call quality compared to every other carrier (except T-mobile since I have never even tried them).  My speeds are generally consistent with Sprint, I dont get throttled, but I do notice during peak hours speeds slow SOME, but not noticable to a normal customer I would say. 

[BenChase7]

(except T-mobile since I have never even tried them).  

 

I can't speak for the rest of your post but, I don't doubt you.  I can say, T-Mo has the worst voice/sound quality I've ever experienced. My sister is an iPhone 5s user and, talking to her on T-Mo via my Sprint phone (from PHX to SFO) is horrid. T-Mo has the worst call quality I've ever experienced. Be glad you haven't tried them. 

[Ascertion]

I can't speak for the rest of your post but, I don't doubt you. I can say, T-Mo has the worst voice/sound quality I've ever experienced. My sister is an iPhone 5s user and, talking to her on T-Mo via my Sprint phone (from PHX to SFO) is horrid. T-Mo has the worst call quality I've ever experienced. Be glad you haven't tried them.

Can confirm. Any of my friends using T-Mobile has very bad voice quality compared to other providers.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980

[joshnys8913]

Glad to know I have never tried T-mobile then, and yes the other post I made is what I experienced, shockingly out of the big two carriers AT&T was overall better at performance for MY area and needs, but still Sprint rocks either way. I am not bashing any carrier, just putting in my experience in lol. 

[S4GRU]

I'm not happy with AT&T voice quality. Atrocious.

[bigsnake49]

Yeah I have no problem with AT&T canceling unlimited contracts...

[The_Chemist]

Can confirm. Any of my friends using T-Mobile has very bad voice quality compared to other providers.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980

 

 

I'm not happy with AT&T voice quality. Atrocious.

CDMA is supposed to have much better voice quality than GSM.  Do you think this is a CDMA vs GSM issue?

[S4GRU]

CDMA is supposed to have much better voice quality than GSM. Do you think this is a CDMA vs GSM issue?

No. It's a voice compression issue. AT&T tends to favor codecs that are of the lowest bandwidth to maximize capacity. At the expense of quality. If they used the best possible, it would be completely different. And AT&T has not really embraced HD voice. It is only available in Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. I haven't tried it yet.

[joshnys8913]

No. It's a voice compression issue. AT&T tends to favor codecs that are of the lowest bandwidth to maximize capacity. At the expense of quality. If they used the best possible, it would be completely different. And AT&T has not really embraced HD voice. It is only available in Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. I haven't tried it yet.

Funny how #2 (AT&T) is just getting to HD voice and #3 (Sprint) has had it for what a year now (maybe not everywhere/nationwide but the roll out was pretty fast for Sprint once they got a market up and running with NV 1.0 complete if I am not mistaken).  I think Sprints standard voice call quality is top of the line best between all carriers and has been for years in my opinion. 

[The_Chemist]

Funny how #2 (AT&T) is just getting to HD voice and #3 (Sprint) has had it for what a year now (maybe not everywhere/nationwide but the roll out was pretty fast for Sprint once they got a market up and running with NV 1.0 complete if I am not mistaken).  I think Sprints standard voice call quality is top of the line best between all carriers and has been for years in my opinion. 

Yeah, Sprint's voice call quality is really good.  In addition, I've experienced HD voice a few times and it is amazing.  I wish Sprint would get it to the point where when you meet all the requirements, you get HD voice every time.  Now I only experience HD when meeting all the requirements 1 in every 20 calls or so. 

[Deval]

Yeah, Sprint's voice call quality is really good.  In addition, I've experienced HD voice a few times and it is amazing.  I wish Sprint would get it to the point where when you meet all the requirements, you get HD voice every time.  Now I only experience HD when meeting all the requirements 1 in every 20 calls or so. 

 

Interesting, in my market, almost 90% of my calls are HD voice, even when calling other markets.

[The_Chemist]

Interesting, in my market, almost 90% of my calls are HD voice, even when calling other markets.

It's a rare treat to get an HD call at this point in time.  Even though both my GF and I meet all criteria to determine what establishes an HD call.  Maybe Shentel is still working on the system...At this point it's about 1 in every 20 calls. 

[Fraydog]

Reminder: Sprint's HD Voice is on EVRC-NW codec transmitted through CDMA 1X Advanced. Any call to a T-Mobile cell will be through EVRC 4GV, which could very well be the pain point between Sprint and T-Mobile customers. Or the pain point could be the interconnect between Sprint and T-Mobile. On the rare occasions when I got to try T-Mobile to T-Mobile calls through AMR-WB WCDMA HD Voice or VoLTE to VoLTE which is even higher quality, the call quality was outstanding.

AT&T call quality is substandard because they don't use HD Voice except on VoLTE which is only in three markets, as Robert already covered. AT&T, for the most part, uses AMR EFR Half Rate that is bad, as is Verizon's 4GV, which might be the worst call quality of the whole bunch.

[utiz4321]

If the throttled speeds were usable, you would have a point.

 

But when the throttling essentially blocks or makes unusable any connection, then that is called service affecting.

The speeds are usable for web browsing. Look unlimited data you have you just don't get unlimited 4g data.

[dedub]

neither att's, nor tmo's 'throttled' speeds were usable for anything, when I was a customer.

 

maybe your experience was different.

 

In any case, I am reasonably happy where I am on sprints network and plans, although there are still too many prime locations where service is spotty and/or stuck on legacy 3g, granted I fully understand things are not complete yet.

[WiWavelength]

On the rare occasions when I got to try T-Mobile to T-Mobile calls through AMR-WB WCDMA HD Voice or VoLTE to VoLTE which is even higher quality, the call quality was outstanding.

 

John Legere has announced that T-Mobile calling will soon add Dolby Atmos.  #uncarrier

 

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

John Legere has announced that T-Mobile calling will soon add Dolby Atmos.  #uncarrier

 

 

AJ

 

But T-Mobile never deals with proprietary standards like Sprint!