{"id":2622,"date":"2011-08-02T14:33:36","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T19:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=2622"},"modified":"2011-08-26T14:10:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T19:10:04","slug":"the-complaint-department-bandwidth-throttling-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/column\/the-complaint-department-bandwidth-throttling-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complaint Department: Bandwidth Throttling"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jeremy Goldstone\u00a0 explains in each iteration of The Complaint Department why technology isn\u2019t conforming to his specific needs right now and why that sucks<\/em>.<\/p>\n First, AT&T put the kibosh on their unlimited data plans<\/a> in favor of tiers and starting October 1 they are going to begin throttling customers who still have grandfathered unlimited data plans<\/a>. Because apparently Webster’s dictionary defines the word unlimited as “no restrictions or controls, unless a telecom decides you’re using too much of their bandwidth.”<\/p>\n In fairness, the only thing that makes them different from rival Verizon is that Verizon throttled their unlimited plans first<\/a>, and then dumped unlimited plans for tiers<\/a>. That pretty much leaves Sprint as the only nationwide mobile provider offering new unlimited data plans and not throttling bandwidth.<\/p>\n The problem with throttling is that no one knows when they’ve reached the throttle zone. AT&T has some 16 million customers on the unlimited data plan — 31 million smartphone users<\/a>, minus the 15 million on tiered data plans from the press release. Five percent of that base means about 800,000 people — and if you’re reading this, there’s a better than average chance you’re the kind of user who would fit that profile — aren’t going to be streaming Netflix to their phone any time soon. Going to stream music to your phone? Not without constantly having to rebuffer. Want to watch marketing videos of new cell phones on the AT&T website, so you can buy a new phone from them? Looks like you won’t be able to do that either.<\/p>\n