AT&T is taking cues from Time Warner Cable and Frontier Communications by implementing a tiered broadband service for customers in Reno, NV – whether they like it or not. Lucky them, eh? Broadband customers will be limited with certain caps depending on their tiered pricing plans and will be charged per gigabyte exceeding their plan. According to AT&T, this has been a long time coming and it has already begun ironing out details with the FCC. Per the filing:
In particular, AT&T plans to initiate a broadband Internet access usage trial in Reno, Nev., beginning in November. Consistent with AT&T’s belief that consumers should have clear information about the capabilities of their broadband Internet access services and any meaningful limitations on those service, AT&T will be providing written notice to customers involved in the trial explaining that their broadband service will be subject to a certain monthly usage tier for the total amount of data they may send and receive, as well as a per gigabyte charge in the event they exceed the usage tier.
Meaningful limitations on services? Right. The tiers are going to range from 20 GB to 150 GB per month and exceeding those caps will cost $1 per gigabyte over the limit. While these caps are far greater than the ones offered by some competitors, AT&T customers might feel a little constrained despite the fact that hitting numbers like 150 GB per month can be pretty difficult (you’d have to do a lot of video, downloading and torrents). The consolation? If you don’t want to be part of the trial, you can get booted from AT&T’s services without having to pay an early termination fee.
