A few years back, AT&T ticked a lot of wireless customers with so-called “unlimited” plans by announcing that it would throttle data speeds for users who passed certain monthly thresholds. Though customers tried to sue in response, AT&T’s terms of service generally prevent class action suits from customers and force users into private, binding arbitration. But even though millions of customers can’t sue, the federal government can.
Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had filed a lawsuit [PDF] against AT&T Mobility for allegedly misleading customers by charging them for unlimited plans but reducing their speeds when they passed certain thresholds.
According to the FTC, AT&T failed to adequately disclose to customers that this throttling could occur, and that it could have a drastic impact on a customer’s use of the service. Some unlimited users’ access to AT&T data was allegedly slowed by as much as 90%.
And when customers attempted to cancel their service because this throttling, AT&T would charge hefty early termination fees for those who were still under contract with the company.
While AT&T repeatedly made the argument that it was only throttling data for those users responsible for gobbling up the most data each month, the FTC estimates that at least 3.5 million AT&T customers were throttled some 25 million times since the program began in 2011.
According to the FCC, by changing the terms of customers’ unlimited data plans while those customers were still under contract — and by failing to adequately disclose the nature of the throttling program to consumers who renewed their unlimited data plans — AT&T violated the FTC Act.
“AT&T promised its customers ‘unlimited’ data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. “The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited.”
We’re reaching out to AT&T for comment and will update if we hear back.
by prakash chandra via Consumerist
No comments:
Post a Comment