Man Wins Throttling Case Against AT&T

Maura · Feb 25, 2012

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MacRumors reports today on an AP story about a man who has just had a judgment in his favour in the small claims court against AT&T. The unemployed truck driver and student, Matt Spaccarelli, took AT&T to court after AT&T started throttling the data to his iPhone after he had used 1.5 to 2 gigabytes of data in a billing cycle. This made web browsing extremely slow, and rendered video streaming on his iPhone virtually useless. When making the ruling at Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley on Friday, Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel said that it was not fair of AT&T to slow down Spaccarellis iPhone on purpose when he was on an unlimited data plan. The judge went on to award Spaccarelli $850 in damages. The AP report said that according to AT&T spokesperson Marty Richter, AT&T will appeal against the ruling: [/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]At the end of the day, our contract governs our relationship with our customers, said Richter.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]Source: iPhone User Awarded $850 in Judgment Against AT&T Over Throttling - Mac Rumors[/FONT]

pianoman · Feb 25, 2012

I'm always suspect of a report on MacRumors. And a judgement of $850 wouldn't be newsworthy and would be settled out of court. Very sketchy report.

Maura · Feb 25, 2012

pianoman said:
I'm always suspect of a report on MacRumors. And a judgement of $850 wouldn't be newsworthy and would be settled out of court. Very sketchy report.

MacRumors is usually pretty reputable, and the story is sourced from the Associated Press, which is usually very reputable as well. Judgement was in small claims court.

pianoman · Feb 25, 2012

Maura said:
MacRumors is usually pretty reputable, and the story is sourced from the Associated Press, which is usually very reputable as well. Judgement was in small claims court.

If it's accurate, then it's NATIONAL news - not little stuff for a Rumors site. When I see it on the national news - then I'll be VERY happy. Because "unlimited" should be "unlimited". AT&T is being stingy with this throttling thing. Maybe even "illegal". Yes, I agree - MacRumors is one of the better ones.

Thanks!

iHolophyte · Feb 25, 2012

pianoman said:
If it's accurate, then it's NATIONAL news - not little stuff for a Rumors site. When I see it on the national news - then I'll be VERY happy. Because "unlimited" should be "unlimited". AT&T is being stingy with this throttling thing. Maybe even "illegal". Yes, I agree - MacRumors is one of the better ones.

Thanks!

I read this in another forum so it's right I think. Only thing I don't understand is what throttling is, or grandfathered. Both alien to me.

iHolophyte

pianoman · Feb 25, 2012

iHolophyte said:
I read this in another forum so it's right I think. Only thing I don't understand is what throttling is, or grandfathered. Both alien to me.

iHolophyte

Throttling = turning down the available speed of the connection
Grandfathered in = allowing people who had this service originally to keep it - but not allowing any new people to join.
No new people, using AT&T have the option of choosing "unlimited data". You must choose a 2Gb plan or 4Gb plan now. Many of us joined AT&T wireless a long time ago when they offered an unlimited plan. We've been allowed to "keep" that plan. But they want to 'limit' it - if we use a lot by 'throttling' our service.

iHolophyte · Feb 25, 2012

pianoman said:
Throttling = turning down the available speed of the connection
Grandfathered in = allowing people who had this service originally to keep it - but not allowing any new people to join.
No new people, using AT&T have the option of choosing "unlimited data". You must choose a 2Gb plan or 4Gb plan now. Many of us joined AT&T wireless a long time ago when they offered an unlimited plan. We've been allowed to "keep" that plan. But they want to 'limit' it - if we use a lot by 'throttling' our service.

Thank you for that piano man. I'm just glad one lives across the pond on this little remote island called Great Britain. Great because we don't get these pressures!

iHolophyte

Pinkpoison · Feb 25, 2012

i think that some broadband providers here in the UK do throttle services at peak times.

iHolophyte · Feb 25, 2012

Poisonivy said:
i think that some broadband providers here in the UK do throttle services at peak times.

Well it must be called something else if they do. More in name as to what it does. "limited plan" maybe? Throttle here means when you put your hands around someone's neck and throttle them. (or maybe this is what the carrier is doing)

iHolophyte

Pinkpoison · Feb 25, 2012

maybe some of our UK members can let us know if they have experienced this from UK Broadband providers?

iHolophyte · Feb 25, 2012

Poisonivy said:
maybe some of our UK members can let us know if they have experienced this from UK Broadband providers?

Ok I'll start off. I was with orange which was unlimited with no fair usage. I recently changed to sky which is also unlimited with no fair usage. In 1999 I was with NTL via Ethernet and that was no fair usage either.

iHolophyte

Pinkpoison · Feb 25, 2012

i just did a quick google and theres a Which report thats says Bandwidth throttling does indeed happen here and suggests that the UK are the worst.......in fact there are many reports about it in a similar vein.

iHolophyte · Feb 25, 2012

Poisonivy said:
i just did a quick google and theres a Which report thats says Bandwidth throttling does indeed happen here and suggests that the UK are the worst.......in fact there are many reports about it in a similar vein.

Funny how IF it does happen as "Which" report it does, how come not one of us knows about it?

iHolophyte