AT&T to start throttling heaviest data users on October 1st

Are you a data hog? Starting October 1st, AT&T is going to be changing the way it deals with subscribers like you. Those with unlimited data plans who find themselves in the top 5% of the carrier's data users each month will notice that the speed of their data connection will be slower toward the end of the users monthly cycle. AT&T can't cut off those with an unlimited data plan, but what the carrier can do is make the wait for data longer by reducing-or throttling-the speed at which data is sent and received. The goal is to prevent the heaviest data hogs, which historically has been only a small percentage of users, from hogging what is becoming a very crowded and limited mobile network. The carrier says that the 15 million customers using tiered plans and the majority of those with unlimited data will not be affected.

Those AT&T customers in the top 5% of data users end up using 12 times more data per month than the average AT&T subscriber. While those in the top 5% of AT&T data users starting October 1st could see their data speeds throttled, the carrier will first send out multiple notices and give customers a grace period. Once a user's data speed is throttled, it will remain at the lower speed until the beginning of the next new billing cycle.

To be in the top 5% of AT&T data users requires someone to use a incredible amount of data, according to the carrier. What could put you on the list is streaming large amounts of video and music daily over AT&T's network. Sending large video files, and playing some video games use a large amount of precious spectrum. Here is a great tip-data sent or received while on a Wi-Fi network does not count toward computing the list of the top 5% data users. AT&T is trying to conserve spectrum and by throttling data hogs, it is actually giving customers an option. They can decide to slow down on using data or they can continue to use the network with the risk of having to settle for slower speeds for a limited amount of time.

According to AT&T's press release, data throttling will not help solve the carrier's spectrum shortage.The carrier says that the only thing that will relieve the spectrum shortage problem in the near term is allowing its purchase of T-Mobile to be completed.

source: AT&T via PhoneScoop