AT&T’s promise of unlimited data streaming to smartphone owners using its AT&T Motility Service is not what it seems – says the FTC – and it’s taking its complaint before a judge.
Not only did customers not get what they were promised, they were punished if they expressed their dissatisfaction by discontinuing their service.
According to the FTC, customers may have unlimited access to the internet via their mobile devices, but as soon as they reached a certain data point, their access was “throttled” – or slowed down – often by as much as 80%-90%.
“AT&T promised its customers ‘unlimited’ data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited.”
Further explaining their beef, FTC stated, “AT&T’s marketing materials emphasized the ‘unlimited’ amount of data that would be available to consumers who signed up for its unlimited plans. The complaint alleges that, even as unlimited plan consumers renewed their contracts, the company still failed to inform them of the throttling program. When customers canceled their contracts after being throttled, AT&T charged those customers early termination fees, which typically amount to hundreds of dollars.”
The practice has been in place since 2011, and kicks in after as few as two gigabytes of data has been processed. FTC says at least 3.5 million unique customers have been victimized a total of 25 million times.
RBR-TVBR observation: A quick internet search uncovered a few nuggets. Like Netflix uses up to 4.7 gigs in an hour if the streamer is watching hi-def programming. Like a consumer can run through 2 gigs during a busy weekend.
If AT&T loses this one in court, will it have any effect on its pending attempt to acquire DirecTV? Hmmmmm…..
