AT&T to cap U-Verse, DSL broadband services

By on Mar 14, 2011 at 8:36 AM
General March 14, 2011

A new report on Sunday states AT&T will soon introduce data caps to its wireline broadband subscribers nationwide. AT&T has confirmed the move, which will go into effect on May 2nd. The caps will be set at 150GB per month for DSL customers and 250GB for U-Verse subscribers. AT&T will charge $10 for every 50GB over the cap, though overages will not be charged until customers exceed the cap in three separate months over the life of an account. The carrier states that only 2% of DSL subscribers will be affected by the change, though it does not specify what percentage of its U-Verse subscribers might be affected. AT&T also confirmed that it will implement a notification system that will “proactively notify customers when they exceed 65%, 90% and 100% of the monthly usage allowance.”

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  • Agg2001

    total b.s… if i kept an hd channel on constantly, i’d be boned. thanks again for trying to screw me at&t

    • Anonymous

      So you’re trying to say leaving an HD channel playing 24/7/365 is good use of your bandwidth?

      • Geokaplan

        The dogs prefer to have the Weather Channel in HD left on during the day when they’re home alone, apparently.

  • Chut Pata

    Time to dump AT&T and move to Comcast. I am already suffering from dropped connections on DSL, and this cap is going to be the last straw.

  • http://www.brooskie.com Broo

    Goddammit AT&T; I have been telling everyone for years that you are the only provider that doesn’t put stupid bandwidth caps on people- and now you pull an asinine stunt like this.

    Guess I will now need to switch back to Comcast (with a 250GB cab) so I can watch Netflix/Hulu without less fear of ‘over-using’.

  • http://www.closetheborder.com Johnny Test

    Hey ATT go EFF yourself. You are evil. Douche bags!

  • Grumpy619

    ARE U SERIOUS! First capping the iPhone now THIS. REALLY!! How greedy are u! It’s home Internet. Who really puts a cap on this?? I hope they give the same grandfathered in policy like they did the iPhone. I have uverse, love it. But this blows. Thanks alot AT&T. Just another way you show love back to loyal paying customers !!!!

  • MrDSL

    Looks like I will also be dropping my over priced UVERSE and switch to Comcast!! Smart move AT&T..

  • Hm Crespo

    Wow….. I don’t know what to say. AT&T is going backwards!! Ugh!! I’m dumping AT&T before the month is up. This is BS!!!

  • Anonymous

    Its been like this in the UK for years however most cap limits are 2GB, 10GB, 40GB, 50GB, and some still offer unlimited.

  • Eric

    I looked at my U-Verse bill last night and it was already $10 higher then previous months (haven’t figured out where the extra charge is…. yet).

    I like the U-Verse service, but I am not paying $202 per month for phone, Internet, and U-450 service. Seems a tad expensive if you ask me.

  • Jeans94621

    For everyone that are saying that they will switch to Comcast because of the data cap should know that Comcast started this last year. You have 250gb but if you go over to many times they discontinue you instead of charge you.

  • Anonymous

    Trying to understand what the big deal is here. There’s a relatively small number of folks who regularly use more than 250 Gigs. Of that number, the VAST majority are going over by downloading / uploading torrents of pirated material.

    Although it’s theoretically possible to go over with legitimate activities, those activities are few and far between. And if you happen to be one of those folks with a high-bandwidth hobby of some kind, then simply upgrade to business class service. You’ll get better service and support, first priority on trouble tickets, and no caps. Simple.

    • Mjosbun

      And upon what data are you basing these “facts”… ermmm.. assumptions? The idea that only people doing “illegal” things use a lot of bandwidth? Now I have to think twice about *legally* downloading Linux distros, *legally* streaming Pandora, *legally* updating my home PC operating systems, *legally* watching Netflix, and *legally* watching Hulu.

      You work for an *IAA, don’t you.

      • Anonymous

        I do all those things too, and have never used more than a fraction of 250 Gigs. 250 Gigs is a lot of bandwidth. Assuming you don’t torrent, have you ever actually measured how much bandwidth you use in a month? You might be surprised how little it is.

        You could listen to Pandora every minute of every day for an entire month and STILL watch high-definition (!) Netflix for 7 hours a day, every single day of the month and not hit the cap. 250 Gigs is TONS for the vast majority of folks. That’s even if you could even find that much Netflix HD content. A lot of Netflix content is still standard-definition, further increasing how much Netflix you can watch.

      • http://twitter.com/BuckWheaties Duhwayne D’Zyre Reed

        I gave up cable for awhile and came damn near 250 GB just by watching netflix. Im on Comcast and they also impose this limit. This is bad news because rather than investing and upgrading infrastructure they’d rather limit our use. Things aren’t going to get any better down the road.

      • BigMixxx

        I think the point here is, “only provider that is not capping utilization”. I’m in vegas, I’m waiting on Centurylink to make their announcements as well. of course we know that Comcast (and affiliates) imposed limitations on their service. Cox here in LV has tiered bandwidth caps, with an upper limit at 400 gig but will charge a nice premium. This is for folks like me who wish not to use television service and stream EVERYTHING over the internet.

        I don’t really care as I don’t use close to 100 gig (Max in a month ever has been near 100). The point of it all is that there is a limitation on internet use.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JPZRIPXGFSWDFXWERC6V7O6RTA maksim

        250GB is like good but not for all people, like for me its not good – because in our house we have three comps(laptops) and everyone use for looking something like me, I watch netflix, youtube, share files with my friends even it could be over 1GB. My mom looks all day her Russian site for which she is paying $40 each month. My step-father is like me, sitting by a comp and watching youtube videos + listening online music! So, I have counted that we are using up to 500GB (400GB is 100% we use) so no, 50GB for each person? not my friend = PEOPLE! I CAN BE A LEADER OF A PROTEST AGAINST THE AT&T CAP WITH 150GB! I hope that this 2% is not going to be larger and not put us to their list of cap!

    • ppafford

      You don’t stream Netflix? I ditched cable long ago and opted for Boxee w/ Netflix.

      • Anonymous

        Me too. Haven’t had cable in years. Still don’t come close to the limit. Admittedly I don’t watch much TV, but as I said earlier, you can watch 8 hours of high-definition Netflix every single day of the month and still be under the 250 Gig limit. That’s a lot of TV for most households.

        I do somewhat sympathize with large tech-savvy households with several kids. If they are “cable-free,” I could see 3-4 simultaneous Netflix streams in those households which would eat up the bandwidth allotment very quickly.

        Of course, in that case since that household is saving a lot of money by not having cable, the extra fee to go up to business class service would not be that onerous (only about $20/month more for Comcast).

        BigMixxx above makes a good point – AT&T apparently was the last bastion of “cap-free” policies, at least among the major providers. It makes sense that the heaviest users would have gravitated to that server, and I can understand them being upset.

  • Chris Nichols

    So let me get this straight. They are capping DSL at 150 GB a month. Aren’t they loosing enough customers to cable and fiber already? Why take the slowest “broadband” services (and I use that term loosely) and making it even less appealing? It makes no sense to me.

    • Dert

      Phasing the shower service out through attrition?

      • Dert

        Meant slower. Gotta love swype :)

      • Janetreisig

        magic jack is good to one twenty dollars are year for phone service. with the break down it is 1.70 a month you cant beat that. then paying a monthly service for a landline.

  • http://www.facebook.com/matt.mingkee Matt Tsui

    F’ you AT&Suck!!!
    The most hated 3G network.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UTNIRWA7IIFXBXPBD3JAKZBVVE Gerry Frawley

    Only 2 percent now….but AT&T sees the writing on the wall…now that the corporations and their lacky Republicans have defeated net neutrality and with the growing use of internet in every way, they can gouge the consumer even more.

    Yes, let’s elect some more republicans and blue dog democrats…..

    • Chut Pata

      Elect everyone that Corporate media suggests. Elect guys whose legislation will crush mama-papa-shops, screw small businesses, let medium business alone, and then pay large corporations from our tax dollars. Pretty soon, the definition of Capitalism would be what communists say i.e. “Monopoloy of a Big Businesses”.

      Then these corporations will pay you handsomely for your patriotism by outsourcing all I.T. jobs to India, and all manufacturing jobs to China.

  • Anon

    Why would AT&T make a policy change that affects 100% of users to attempt to set controls on only 2% of their subscribers? That doesn’t sound very sound to me.

  • Anonymous

    U-verse just went though a price increase, and now this.. total bs!

  • Reyg25atx04

    If AT&T is allowed to do this with no fight from their customers Cable providers will follow suit very soon!!!

    • Anonymous

      Don’t they already? Both Comcast and Cox have caps. If Time Warner doesn’t then I agree; I’m sure they will soon.

  • Reyg25atx04

    If AT&T is allowed to do this with no fight from their customers Cable providers will follow suit very soon!!!

  • Nucklehead

    Look at this way…. If there is a cap, then they are putting a per gig cost on their network. If thats the case, should you not get money back if you don’t go over and are considerably less?

    How about if i cancel my $225.00 a month uverse and go with a 150 Gig DSL line, stream my tv, and voip? That way i would pay the 50 to 65 bucks a month, and only pay more if i use more than that.

  • Anya Sinclaire

    I don’t mind it on my iPhone but on DSL & U-Verse?
    Are you kidding me?
    Thank goodness I have comcast!

  • hoboX10

    What the fuck do they think they’re doing?! This isn’t Australia with their shitty bandwidth cap! Fuck you AT&T! I use far more than 250GB a month!

    • Anonymous

      Quit stealing other people’s livelihood (i.e. pirating) and I’m sure you’ll be fine.

  • http://frosch.livejournal.com/ xf

    why does everyone use the Batman building as an icon for AT&T? It’s not like they’re headquartered in Nashville.

  • Anonymous

    Will the users that have unlimited be grandfathered in?

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