AfterDawn: News

AT&T loses court case over data throttling

AT&T has lost a court case to 39-year-old Matt Spaccarelli, over smartphone data throttling.

Spaccarelli is an iPhone owner who has AT&T's grandfathered unlimited data plan. In 2010, the carrier discontinued the plan and moved to tiered pricing. In 2011, the carrier began to throttle heavy data users down from 3G to 2G. Spaccarelli says his device began to see the slow speeds after just 1.5GB of data used in a billing cycle by early 2012.



In his interview, Spaccarelli showed off horrendous 0.31 Mbps speed in California, down from the nationwide average of 1.7 Mbps. The iPhone owner claimed that due to AT&T's actions, he cannot stream video or even browse the Web without complications.

Judge Russell Nadel of small claims court has ruled this week that AT&T violated the terms of the unlimited data plan and must pay $850, "an estimation of the data usage over the remainder of Spaccarelli's contract, plus $85 for court costs."

The elated iPhone owner says he will use the money to get a new smartphone on a better carrier and also travel to the AT&T stockholders meeting in April.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2012 13:53

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• 8 comments

• plutonash

  Good for him.
  

  "Cable thief is a victimless crime."

  18.3.2012 15:11 #1

• HxCMANIAC

  This is the definition of first world problems.
  
  Quote:The iPhone owner claimed that due to AT&T's actions, he cannot stream video or even browse the Web without complications. Oh god this is too much.

  18.3.2012 16:17 #2

• nbfreak2

  Finally the little guy wins one.......Or did he??????lol
  

  18.3.2012 16:34 #3

• 21Q

  So hey can I get in on this o_o?
  

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  18.3.2012 17:12 #4

• xaznboitx

  Originally posted by 21Q: So hey can I get in on this o_o? do you have a contract before they made the move to throttle people?
  
  i wonder who's idea to throttle internet speed... i bet it's the media due to copyright files

  18.3.2012 19:46 #5

• Blessedon

  Originally posted by xaznboitx: i wonder who's idea to throttle internet speed... i bet it's the media due to copyright files You are certainly right to distrust the media, however, as it is not in the media's best interest to throttle data, they would only do so when the government ordered them to.
  In fact, throttling, for the time being, is a reasonable business decision; the carriers tried to roll out 4G faster than they could update the system, this led to complaints of slow speed because of the limited bandwidth. Updated equipment takes time to manufacture and install, until this is done - throttling is the only option.
  That's cool, I can wait - it will be worth it.
  

  19.3.2012 12:07 #6

• xboxdvl2

  if your paying for a service and dont get that service you are entitled to sue or be refunded for the service which wasnt what you paid for.glad he won the case and i think the judge made the right decision.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  19.3.2012 20:47 #7

• Blessedon

  Originally posted by yournamehere1: Originally posted by Blessedon: Originally posted by xaznboitx: i wonder who's idea to throttle internet speed... i bet it's the media due to copyright files You are certainly right to distrust the media, however, as it is not in the media's best interest to throttle data, they would only do so when the government ordered them to.
  You actually believe that the government ordered at&t to throttle their bandwidth? I hope your not that ignorant, but I guess there always has to be someone standing up for corporate America.
  Good thing the Judge didn't agree with you. Sorry if I was not sufficiently clear in my post. I said that the govt. did NOT tell them to throttle bandwidth.

  19.3.2012 21:37 #8