Once upon a time wireless carriers offered unlimited data plans. Consumers signed the contracts, got their iPhone or Droids and went on to enjoy the smartphone revolution. Along the way streaming video and music hit it big and social media exploded into new demographics. All these things require data, but no worries — the carriers said we had unlimited data. Consume all you want, they said.
But then a glowing lightbulb appeared above some carrier’s executive’s head, suddenly realizing data is an untapped source of massive revenue. Unlimited plans were replaced by tiered data and fear-mongering marketing campaigns were launched to scare consumers into buying more data than they need. Carriers allowed current subscribers to keep their unlimited plans but they aren’t safe forever. Now ATT is aggressively throttling users in an attempt to purge users from the open data bar.
The sad thing? ATT is targeting their best customers with these attacks, many of which have plenty of better options now.
Throttling isn’t new. Verizon and ATT started the practice in mid-2011 in a move they claimed would relieve network congestion. They said a tiny percentage of users were taking advantage of the unlimited plans, consuming dramatically more data than they should. Then yesterday, an ATT big wig blogged about the explosive mobile data growth the company saw over the last five years.
That’s always
THIS IS NOT ORIGINAL CONTENT, BUT RATHER AN ARTICLE I FOUND TO BE AWESOME AND INFORMATIVE.
I'm a 30 year old guy living in Somerville, MA. I work for Intuit QuickBase supporting customer success with the product. I'm a technology junkie with an insatiable appetite for learning about the latest trends and products in the market.
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