[Engadget] AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees

**shiarua** · 2011-03-13 21:27

Ladies and gentlemen, the days of unlimited broadband may be numbered in the United States, and we're not talking wireless this time -- AT&T says it will implement a 150GB monthly cap on landline DSL customers and a 250GB cap on subscribers to U-Verse high speed internet starting on May 2nd. AT&T will also charge overage fees of $10 for every additional 50GB of data, with two grace periods to start out -- in other words, the third month you go over the cap is when you'll get charged. DSLReports says it has confirmation from AT&T that these rates are legitimate, and that letters will go out to customers starting March 18th.

How does AT&T defend the move? The company explains it will only impact two percent of consumers who use "a disproportionate amount of bandwidth," and poses the caps as an alternative to throttling transfer speeds or disconnecting excessive users from the service completely. 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.

We just spoke with AT&T representative Seth Bloom and confirmed the whole thing -- rates are exactly as described above, and the company will actually begin notifying customers this week. He also told us that those customers who don't yet have access to the bandwidth usage tool won't get charged until they do, and that AT&T U-Verse TV service won't count towards the GB cap.

Source

Seriously considering ditching AT&T now. This is absolutely ridiculous.

**Woozie** · 2011-03-13 21:39

I wish I had another option...

Edit: Wait, I do have another option. Does time warner suck?

**Blubbartron** · 2011-03-13 21:39

At least it's $10/50GB. That's not terrible compared to the other bullshit capped internet schemes.

**Akiyama** · 2011-03-13 21:42

I have AT&T's "Fast Access" DSL shit. :/ I'm boned.

**Eliseos** · 2011-03-13 21:48

Originally Posted by Woozie

I wish I had another option...

Edit: Wait, I do have another option. Does time warner suck?

In my experience, Warner has been a lot better/faster than u-verse. We've had three tv boxes fail within a year of having AT&T, and the one I'm using in my room is a piece of shit as well.

**Kurokikaze** · 2011-03-13 21:49

Originally Posted by Woozie

I wish I had another option...

Edit: Wait, I do have another option. Does time warner suck?

I use Time Warner in NYC. Not all that bad, but I'm not sure if it'll be the same where you are. 10 down / .5 up and no caps that I know of..

**Akiyama** · 2011-03-13 21:55

I have 6 down / .5 up, give or take.. and now with these restrictions coming in..

so exactly how is this gonna work? 150GB a month = fucking over those who just download a shit ton? I mean.. I download, at most.. maybe 10GB a month, so would I be impacted much?

**shaddix** · 2011-03-13 22:07

if you download 10gb a month why would you be affected, the threshold is 150

You can still do a lot of damage on 6-8mbps:
This month: 464.67 GB | This week: 180.91 GB
is my usage for march so far. Luckily I don't have AT&T!

**kuronosan** · 2011-03-13 22:13

It's 250gb a month for Uverse people. How exactly are you screwed unless you download a shitload of stuff?

Even if I watch movies on Netflix I never come close to even using 100GB of bandwidth.

**shaddix** · 2011-03-13 22:20

netflix "hd" only goes up to about 4mbit iirc

**Akiyama** · 2011-03-13 22:27

Originally Posted by shaddix

if you download 10gb a month why would you be affected, the threshold is 150

You can still do a lot of damage on 6-8mbps:
This month: 464.67 GB | This week: 180.91 GB
is my usage for march so far. Luckily I don't have AT&T!

eh, honestly? I guess I see 'cap' and think I'm screwed in general, but then I realized how much bandwidth I *actually* use, lol.

**Souj** · 2011-03-13 22:30

I'm still not saying I'm glad I have Comcast.

**Apelila** · 2011-03-13 22:41

150 GB's is 5 gigs a day in a 30 day month. I can't imagine the amount of porn I'd have to torrent to acheive that.

**Eliseos** · 2011-03-13 22:43

Originally Posted by Apelila

I can't imagine the amount of porn I'd have to torrent to acheive that.

Shaddix can.

Demosthenes11 · 2011-03-13 23:38

ya'll need to get some friends or something if you can actually go through 150gb of material each month...

**Souj** · 2011-03-14 00:09

You do stuff while your waiting for things to download obviously.

**Cleverness** · 2011-03-14 00:10

This isn't even that ridiculous, if you're actually going through that much bandwidth in 1 month and 98% of the others aren't, you should pay more for it considering you're probably downloading a shitton ton of movies/porn/etc for free. I download alot and my bandwidth per month doesn't get close to that.

**Correction** · 2011-03-14 00:32

oh no now it might actually become more economical to pay for your blu ray content. the horror.

**FNH** · 2011-03-14 01:08

Comcast has been capped @ 250gb for a long time, and they don't like you going over it. I hit 1tb a couple months ago and they said a second time over the 250g mark would net me a 2 year ban.

**Eaglestrike** · 2011-03-14 02:35

If this is only going to effect 2% of their customer base...is it really worth the policy change?

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