AT&T Slowdown of Unlimited Plans ILLEGAL?

[dxhunter]

That would fall under their Acceptable Use Policy.

General Prohibitions: AT&T prohibits use of the IP Services in any way that is unlawful, harmful to or interferes with use of AT&T's network or systems, or the network of any other provider, interferes with the use or enjoyment of services received by others, infringes intellectual property rights, results in the publication of threatening or offensive material, or constitutes Spam/E-mail/Usenet abuse, a security risk or a violation of privacy.

They can easily argue that the few that are using the most data are interfering with the use of services received by others. Look at how much trouble Verizon is having with their LTE network. You think that's not caused by network congestion when you see people boast about using over 10GB a month?

The use of the service I contracted for is a violation of the contract?

The sad part is that this will almost certainly make no difference to network congestion. The new smartphones that at&t sold over the weekend probably erased whatever traffic volume was reduced. It's not about service, it's about money.

 

[I Monarch]

"I use my phone for work" isn't reason enough to argue your way into not getting throttled. If you make money from your phone, pay more money to make sure it's reliable. Overages on guaranteed fast speeds aren't the end of the world if you're that important.

 

[Verdes8891]

The use of the service I contracted for is a violation of the contract?

The sad part is that this will almost certainly make no difference to network congestion. The new smartphones that at&t sold over the weekend probably erased whatever traffic volume was reduced. It's not about service, it's about money.

Of course it is going to all boil down to the money. Money is what keeps these companies in buisness so we can use their cell phone service. Supply and demand can turn any company that set out with good intentions into a greedy one.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Umm, EDGE is 3G.

Source - ITU
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/DocumentsIMT2000/IMT-2000.pdf

 

[gxgs]

Umm, EDGE is 3G.

Source - ITU
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/DocumentsIMT2000/IMT-2000.pdf

It falls under the 3G definition, but EDGE is not UMTS, they are different technologies, which is what is usually referred as 3G which covers HSPA. HSPA+ which is UMTS and at the same time 3G spec, is referred as 4G by some carriers, while LTE is referred as 4G LTE, so actually, 4G is 3G and 4G LTE is 4G, while EDGE is considered pre-3G and referred as 2G because of its slow speed compared to actual UMTS which is considered 3G, and before that comes GPRS which is 2G but never mentioned or marketed anymore because it sucks so they market EDGE as 2G because it holds no ground to UMTS which is marketed as 3G/4G.

How did you come up with that answer to this thread? I didn't see anyone mentioning that

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

It falls under the 3G definition

How did you come up with that answer to this thread? I didn't see anyone mentioning that

Which makes it 3G.

To tell the fellow who was saying it had to always get 3G service, because the box said it's a 3G phone, that technically EDGE is 3G.

If folks want to express their rights against AT&T, I'm all for it. I think the whole mess of carriers in the US needs addressed. But pick the right reasons, so I can enjoy it when you win

 

[gxgs]

Which makes it 3G.

To tell the fellow who was saying it had to always get 3G service, because the box said it's a 3G phone, that technically EDGE is 3G.

If folks want to express their rights against AT&T, I'm all for it. I think the whole mess of carriers in the US needs addressed. But pick the right reasons, so I can enjoy it when you win

If you read the document you posted you would see where it says EDGE, "they offer backwards compatibility to their related 2G technologies and allow evolution to 3G within an operator's existing 2G spectrum allocation". Related 2G tech and allow evolution to 3G does not make it a full 3G technology, but more like a stepping stone, because not even the document says EDGE is full 3G spec.

It may be seen as 3G by the ITU, but not for AT&T, when he means to get 3G is to get 3G from the 3G antenna with the 3G radio, that is UMTS. EDGE is backwards compatible with GPRS and its a completely different technology from UMTS, UMTS is not backwards compatible with EDGE. When you see 2G in an AT&T phone its not that its getting GPRS only but most of the time its EDGE, when you see 3G its because its getting a UMTS signal not EDGE. In fact, in most AT&T blackberry phones, GPRS is separated from 2G which is considered EDGE which is in turn separated from 3G. In the galaxy s2 when it says 2G, you are getting EDGE, when it says 3G you are getting HSPA/HPSA+ which is UMTS, not that its getting EDGE.

Its the right reason, because AT&T does not consider EDGE a full 3G technology, it does not matter if the ITU says so, if you go to an AT&T store and say im not getting 3G, the rep will instantly assume you are only getting EDGE and not UMTS, because thats how the entire company works. Or basically, any GSM US carrier sees it.

If he goes to court with this and AT&T pulls the ITU definition of EDGE as 3G, then they are sol, because they have never told the consumer in any ad that EDGE is 3G, but instead they marketed it as 2G and sell any EDGE capable device as 2G and thats what their branding indicates. They have two completely different networks for UMTS and EDGE and their EDGE network shows up as 2G everywhere, not as 3G. Pretty much the same that is happening with HSPA+ being marketed as 4G, i think it was crackberry where i read a notice from the supreme court? i dont remember from whom, that made AT&T change the branding in some devices like blackberrys to stop showing 4G and instead show H+ in updated firmwares.