All you can eat internet buffet about to get stuffed-AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

[vision63]

Just another step towards me leaving the grid altogether. That day is coming because when we, the customer have to hope that the entity that we pay money to will treat us the way we like instead of the way "they" like, then the whole thing is turned around backwards. I'm sick of it.

[deckeda]

150GB per month for ADSL---funny, 'cause downloading that much from a the typical 1.5Mbps takes real dedication in the first place.

At least they recognize that a faster connection uses more bandwidth, but their limit there of 250GB, in lock-step with Comcast, shows a profound lack of uh, marketing creativity. And a crapload of anti-competitive duopoly.

I don't even know if we come close to 150GB a month, but thank you, AT&T, for giving me the push I needed to actually drop you and sign up with Comcast now. Particularly since you can't be bothered to offer U-Verse in my neighborhood.

[Chakravartin]

...customers strongly believe that only those who use the most bandwidth should pay more than those who don't use as much. That's exactly what this does – and again, 98% of our customers will not be impacted by this.

Translation:
We've found a group of customers that we can charge more without upsetting or scaring off the majority of our customers.

[deckeda]

jdc wrote:
How can I tell how much bandwidth I have used?

As far as I can tell theres nothing on the uverse page.

from the article wrote:
Customers will be able to check their usage with an online tool, and get notifications when they reach 65 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent of their monthly rates.

[RAMd®d]

... and again, 98% of our customers will not be impacted by this.

Translation: We'll get to them later.

[deckeda]

Chakravartin wrote:

...customers strongly believe that only those who use the most bandwidth should pay more than those who don't use as much. That's exactly what this does – and again, 98% of our customers will not be impacted by this.

Translation:
We've found a group of customers that we can charge more without upsetting or scaring off the majority of our customers.

At the fastest of their U-Verse speeds, there's probably some truth to this---despite them NOT mentioning anything about what's happened recently to cause them to be concerned. I still find it amusing that as a 1.5Mbps customer I could in any meaningful way negatively impact their network.

These guys are far quicker to look for ways to charge customers extra, instead of building their fscking infrastructure so that it wouldn't be an issue in the first place. They can't at least lie to us, throw us a bone and claim to be investing in faster speeds, higher usage allowances?

[cbelt3]

You have to wonder WHY they were so happy building fast fast fast 'last mile' infrastructure, and forgetting the big honking pipes in the middle. I mean.. DUH !

Sort of like running 2000 amp lines to every home, and then wondering WHY some houses are actually using more than the old 10 amps ?

Stupid.

[Speedy]

Dry pair.

[Black]

I don't know how much bandwidth a U-verse user would typically use, but the 150 GB cap sounds reasonable to me-- I am not convinced this measure is aimed at more than cutting off the folks who are out-and-out abusing the service, e.g. sub-contracting with neighbors and such.

[MacDoxy]

Black wrote:
I don't know how much bandwidth a U-verse user would typically use, but the 150 GB cap sounds reasonable to me-- I am not convinced this measure is aimed at more than cutting off the folks who are out-and-out abusing the service, e.g. sub-contracting with neighbors and such.

even if this is the current claim, it is the key to charging for every fing byte.
i remember when tv reception was free and taping shows and handing them to friends was easy. this is what we will be saying about the net.

first the limit notification infastructure will be in place, then the limit will stay 250g as time goes by and normal usage becomes in the terras... ack!