AT&T On Data Throttling: Blame Yourselves

zacharye writes in with a story about Senior EVP of AT&T technology and network operations John Donovan's blog post detailing why customers with unlimited smartphone plans are getting throttled. "In an effort to justify its policies surrounding data service throttling for subscribers with unlimited smartphone data plans, AT&T on Tuesday issued a brief report regarding data usage on its nationwide wireless network. Senior EVP of AT&T technology and network operations John Donovan wrote on a company blog that data traffic on AT&T's network has grown a staggering 20,000% over the past five years. Usage has doubled between 2010 and 2011 according to the executive, due in large part to the proliferation of smartphones. AT&T sold more smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2011 than in any other quarter in its history. And because its smartphone subscribers use so much data, AT&T seems to suggest it has no choice but to put measures such as data throttling in place."

Re:What? Spend money? Inconceivable!

[PerlJedi]

I don't think that word means what you think it means. :-)

In other news:

[Amphetam1ne]

AT&T buys all you can eat shrimp restaurant. Complains that it attracts too many fat people.

Re:IPhone

[future assassin]

>Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is like selling 5,000 tickets to a show that can only host a thousand people, and blaming the people who complain about not getting what the paid for.

I think this is like selling 5000 tickets to an all you can eat buffet and when you realise all those 5000 people are obese and are about to eat you alive you narrow down the door so only the skinniest people can get it on at a time. Also once in a while you get someone stuck in the door which gives your cook some extra time to cook up new food and get closer to business closing hours. THEN you call all those people fat pigs and blame their weight for you not being able to supply the amount of food that was needed.

Re:blame us?

[Dunbal]

Ahh but they know that most AT&T users are Apple-crack addicts and thus will bend over and take it anyway. Remember these are the people that camp out in a line for the latest cell phone because, well, waiting a whole extra day to get one would be just too much. Apparently Steve Jobs only used to masturbate on the first 1000 phones sold at any Apple Store, so you had to get the first ones.

Re:IPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

No, its even worse than that.

It's like selling users unlimited bandwidth and then throttling them when they try to use it.

Re:It's all the customers' fault...

[PRMan]

One time my family was going to Hawaii on vacation and we were overbooked. This one family was completely rude to the airline staff, screaming profanities at them and making a giant scene in the terminal. They boarded the plane with them still standing there. Finally, after boarding, they brought the family to the front of the plane and said "Can we get 4 volunteers to be bumped to the next flight that leaves in 2 hours?"

I told my mom, "Let's do it! We might get free flights or money off the tickets. It's only 2 hours and we gain time during the flight." So we raised our hands and the flight attendant said, right in front of the rude family, "OK, if you 4 would come up to FIRST CLASS, we can get underway."

That was cold revenge right there, but we had a great flight.

Re:What? Spend money? Inconceivable!

[hal2814]

Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the throttled phone in front of himself or his enemy? Now, a clever man would put the throttled phone in front of himself, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the phone in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool. You would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the phone in front of me.
Man in Black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: Not remotely! Because iPhones use AT&T as a carrier, as everyone knows! And AT&T is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the phone in front of you.

Re:It's all the customers' fault...

[T-Bucket]

I keep volunteering to be bumped, but the gate agents feed me this line about the plane "needing" both pilots.