AfterDawn: News

AT&T starts data caps for U-Verse and DSL

AT&T has started its DSL and U-Verse bandwidth caps today, two months after announcing the move.

DSL users will have a 150GB cap while U-Verse subscribers will have a 250GB cap.



Anyone who exceeds the limit three times will be charged $10 for every extra 50GB of data consumed.

The new policy goes into effect today for new and existing customers.

AT&T says it will send notifications when you reach 65 percent of the cap, 90 percent and finally when you hit the full cap. The company will also give all subscribers software to help them track their usage.

The caps will affect under 2 percent of users, says the ISP, subscribers who use "a disproportionate" amount of data and slow down networks for others.

AT&T notes that the average subscriber uses 18GB of bandwidth per month.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 2 May 2011 13:18

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• 30 comments

• stuntman_

  lame but reasonable
  

  
  
  
  

  2.5.2011 13:28 #1

• duomax007

  lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume?
  

  2.5.2011 13:43 #2

• shortybob

  Originally posted by duomax007: lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume? None, the PS3 doesn't have online :P
  But I'd say maybe 50 or 70 Gigs a month

  2.5.2011 13:59 #3

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by duomax007: lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume? I'm sure you'll still be under 100GB for the month, honestly.
  

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  2.5.2011 14:00 #4

• 21Q

  I'm actually a bit surprised. The caps are very reasonable. Even the rates of going over is fair.
  

  If you want a nice icon for your iPhone for afterdawn click on the link below. There is a two second delay before the redirect so act fast! http://www.freewebs.com/21qz/afterdawn.html
  
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  2.5.2011 14:07 #5

• dibe

  Originally posted by duomax007: lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume? I work from home over the internet and stream a lot of Netflix and play games online as well. I was just checking over my bandwidth usage over the past few months (dd-wrt yay!) and during the heavy months I used no more than 110 gigs.
  
  I do not agree with this policy and I am a ATT DSL customer for many years now. We should not have to pay more because they can not get their network up to par. I for one will be canceling my service if I go over they cap and they try to make me pay the extra fee.

  2.5.2011 14:11 #6

• baxter00

  Last month I used 399 gigs. Constantly watching Netflix and gaming. Did you know if you leave your Netflix on the main screen, not watching a movie or show, it still runs bandwidth? Sad, but true. This is the link I use to get the bandwidth information.
  
  http://goo.gl/YxrYN
  
  Yeah, it works. It will tell you some of your past usage as well.
  Sorry it's so long, I'm a noob with links.
  
  Edited by DVDBack23: Edited your link, hope you don't mind, it was messing up the margins of the page.

  2.5.2011 14:46 #7

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by 21Q: I'm actually a bit surprised. The caps are very reasonable. Even the rates of going over is fair. 250GB is only reasonable when you consider that it would take two months to download that much from one of AT&T's crummy connections. It would be insanely with Verizon; I think I have downloaded more than that in 24 hours.
  

  
  

  2.5.2011 16:10 #8

• snardos

  The rates are reasonable. Much, much better than what Bell Canada wanted to force on everyone. But this won't help the network at all. People will still use their connections just as much, and AT&T will make a bigger profit. The only way I could see this being good is if they took the extra income from overages, and used every cent of it to upgrade the network in the areas where there is congestion. Once the problem is fixed it should go back to being unlimited.
  
  Of course they won't admit there is a problem, just that people are using the network too much. In my opinion, if everyone can't use their connection at full speed, all at the same time, there is a problem.

  2.5.2011 16:58 #9

• Skiz

  F... AT&T!! I cant wait for Google fiber!

  2.5.2011 17:08 #10

• ThePastor

  At their speeds I would be suprised if anyone ever hit those caps. Their crap is so slow

  2.5.2011 18:28 #11

• ZC (unverified)

  I'm dropping AT&T just out of principle.

  3.5.2011 13:36 #12

• H0bbes

  In my area, AT&T has been reliable. There's only been MAYBE one outage a year, and they lasted no longer than 3 hours. I could move to Charter I suppose and go from 6Mbps to 20Mbps, but at the cost of inconsistent service.
  
  As far as the caps, I don't see why people think that there's a principle being broken here. AT&T is in business for profit. They offer a service, and you agree to the conditions of the offered services when you sign up, which normally means that you agree to accept reasonable changes. I think that 10 bucks for 50 gigs is pretty cheap, especially when mobile overages are in the realm of $1000/GB [I think, feel free to check my math on that]. I honestly have no complaints except for the 6Mbps speed.

  3.5.2011 15:07 #13

• IguanaC64

  @Hobbes - Really? You're comparing mobile phone overages with landline overages? Apples and platypuses.
  
  If you go by file sizes, I'd guess data rates for movies looks about like:
  
  Standard definition - 350m/hour (actually seems like 350-550)
  720P - 1g/hour
  1080P - 4g/hour
  
  (my highly unscientific guesses)
  
  If you watch only 1080P content, that's 62.5 hours of TV before you hit your cap. I know for a fact, my family watches more than that between movies and TV shows.
  
  At 720P, you have a much more reasonable 250 hours/month.
  
  Standard def? I'm not convinced in the age of Blu-ray pixel perfect pictures on huge TV screens that people are watching standard def shows on their 60" TV's.
  
  Then add your normal Internet usage on top of that...
  
  As long as we make excuses for our Internet service providers, we will be way behind countries like Lithuania and South Korea.

  5.5.2011 17:02 #14

• fmj77

  I would love to have a 150 GB cap. I live in a rural area and have Wildblue satellite as my isp since it's the only broadband available to me. My monthly bandwidth is limited to 17 GB downloads and 5 GB uploads and it sucks during primetime due to slowdown. Ya'll don't have any reason to complain about usage limits!
  

  6.5.2011 07:22 #15

• shpion

  Nice, AT&T makes it easy not to switch to them. I was thinking about it before they decided to make caps. Thanks AT&T for making a hard decision easy. People that work from home in the IT business that stream movies and play games easily go over those caps.
  Good luck getting more market share, lol.

  6.5.2011 08:10 #16

• shpion

  <multiple post>

  6.5.2011 08:10 #17

• shpion

  <multiple post>

  6.5.2011 08:10 #18

• shpion

  <multiple post>
  

  6.5.2011 08:10 #19

• shpion

  <multiple post>

  6.5.2011 08:10 #20

• shpion

  <multiple post>

  6.5.2011 08:10 #21

• shpion

  <multiple post>

  6.5.2011 08:10 #22

• adre02

  Originally posted by duomax007: lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume?
  With all due respect that sounds like either a teeny-bopper or someone that has nothing to do with their lives. 12 a day seven days, 365? Unless your under 17 or it is your job then that is borderline loser material.
  

  This is superman

  6.5.2011 11:00 #23

• Sontiago

  I switched the minute I found out they were starting caps. I've been paying at and t for 8 years and now they want to tell me what I can do with my service? Well I take that back.. not what I can do, just that I need to pay them more money...I switched to TWC and went from 3 down to 30 down for 7 dollars less a month.. and NO CAP... at least so far...
  
  So glad they forced my hand...(at and t)

  6.5.2011 12:52 #24

• adre02

  Yeah, better to get more for a cheaper price.

  6.5.2011 13:03 #25

• adre02

  Originally posted by dibe: Originally posted by duomax007: lets say someone plays games online on ps3 for 12 hours a day everyday... downloads maybe 10 1gig movies a month, plus downloads patches and updates for ps3 games and buys DLC/GAMES from the PS store 2-3 times a month as well as surfs the net alot (no downloading though just going to myspace and otherwebsites without DLing stuff) how much bandwidth does that consume? I work from home over the internet and stream a lot of Netflix and play games online as well. I was just checking over my bandwidth usage over the past few months (dd-wrt yay!) and during the heavy months I used no more than 110 gigs.
  
  I do not agree with this policy and I am a ATT DSL customer for many years now. We should not have to pay more because they can not get their network up to par. I for one will be canceling my service if I go over they cap and they try to make me pay the extra fee. If they do "get their network up to par" you are going to be paying a considerable amount more. I'd rather pay less and stick with a cap OR switch to someone else.
  

  This is superman

  6.5.2011 13:06 #26

• adre02

  Originally posted by fmj77: I would love to have a 150 GB cap. I live in a rural area and have Wildblue satellite as my isp since it's the only broadband available to me. My monthly bandwidth is limited to 17 GB downloads and 5 GB uploads and it sucks during primetime due to slowdown. Ya'll don't have any reason to complain about usage limits! That is the problem with the most common of humans. Give them an inch and they will want to sleep with your wife.
  

  This is superman

  6.5.2011 13:07 #27

• raphaelc

  I cannot believe what ISPs in America do. I couldn't even think about a time when caps would be reintroduced to internet subscriptions. In the time of Blu-ray when easily a hd rip is between 4GB and 16GB and the uncompressed file is between 25GB and 50GB that's unthinkable of. Here in Romania I have a 100Mbps connection, FTTB, and at this speeds I would easily go over that limit... I do hope they get a huge backlash from it's subscribers, this is no way to go forward!

  7.5.2011 07:18 #28

• ddp

  adre02, 3 posts in a row again?
  

  7.5.2011 22:26 #29

• Xplorer4

  *BUMP* Just a heads up for people forced to use ATT for one reason or another, the Small Businesses DSL Plans cost $5 more and they are not capped. A small price to pay if you ask me!
  

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  24.5.2011 16:59 #30