pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty Premium Member join:2002-05-02 Mount Airy, MD |
pnh102
Premium Member
2011-May-2 9:30 am
PatheticHow will customers be able to verify that AT&T isn't lying to them about their consumption? Will government hold AT&T accountable if it mistakenly applies overages to customers' accounts when it is not warranted? | |
|
| |
Re: PatheticDon't count on anything from the government these days. Those guys look out for themselves. LOL | |
|
| | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty Premium Member join:2002-05-02 Mount Airy, MD |
pnh102
Premium Member
2011-May-2 9:44 am
Re: Patheticsaid by jkeelsnc:Don't count on anything from the government these days. Those guys look out for themselves. LOL Agreed. But ISPs are known to lie outright about customer usage. As we've seen, these lies always seem to favor the provider in terms of applying overages. With any metered service, you have reasonably good confidence that the meters used to calculate the amount you will pay are in good working order and can be verified to ensure that you pay for what you used. Metered broadband service should be no different. | |
|
| | | |
outrageous
Anon
2011-May-2 10:41 am
Re: PatheticIf ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous. | |
|
| | | | |
Re: Patheticsaid by outrageous :If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous. And they can do that, individually. But don't count on a class action! | |
|
| | | | FFH5 Premium Member join:2002-03-03 Tavistock NJ |
to outrageous
said by outrageous :If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous. That overage fee was corrected. It is $10/50GB. Does that change your opinion? | |
|
| | | | | rradina join:2000-08-08 Chesterfield, MO
1 recommendation |
Re: PatheticIsn't basic DSL cheap? Doesn't it cost $19.95/month? That means the initial cap costs roughly $1 per 7.5GB data or $6.66/50GB. I believe my gas, electric and water bills include some kind of base charge for service or the first X units is priced higher. This is designed to make sure the consumer pays a minimum to offset infrastructure costs. If that's factored into the base cost of DSL, the first 150GB is even cheaper? Why isn't it priced at $6.66/50GB (or even cheaper) when you exceed the cap? Let's face it, this isn't metered billing. AT&T is punishing you when you don't conform not unlike the credit card agreements.
I recently purchased a new Dell laptop using their free financing offer. I read the credit agreement and if you have a late payment, they'll sock you with a $35 late fee and raise the interest charges from 21.99% to 25.99% until you pay on time for at least six consecutive payments.
If this was metered billing, AT&T would not provide three grace overages for the life of the account. That tells you right there that it doesn't cost them anything. Can you imagine the other utilities crafting deals like this?
This isn't metered billing. This is a penalty. If you use more than your cap, you get yelled at three times and then you get punished. I guess this is kind of like some state's three-strike laws. | |
|
| | | | | | |
Re: PatheticYou bought a laptop on a loan? What the... heck? | |
|
| | | | | | | SpaethCoDigital Plumber MVM join:2001-04-21 Minneapolis, MN
1 recommendation |
Re: Patheticsaid by sonicmerlin:You bought a laptop on a loan? What the... heck? Using 0.0% financing when it doesn't affect the price of the product can actually be a very smart thing to do. | |
|
| | | | | | |
to rradina
This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others? Cell phone companies do it. You get X amount of usage included in the base price and after that you pay the extra. This is the way the phone companies have worked for YEARS ever heard of a metered line? there are still a TON of people on those lines as they're a HUGE fan from the Co-Op companies. You pay X per month for X amount of usage and after that you pay well under a half cent per minute. The bills come out cheaper than if you have an unlimited line with a major telco.
Either way- this is the way billing should be done and this country is used to it. NOTHING is unlimited. If so my electric bill would ALWAYS be $50 per month. | |
|
| | | | | | | |
Re: Patheticsaid by hottboiinnc4:This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others? The difference is that water, gas, and electric meters are regulated and required by law to be accurate. AT&T can't even be bothered to TRY to be accurate. | |
|
| | | | | | | | |
Re: Patheticdo you know how often they're even checked? LOL. my gas meter is in my basement should be read every year to make sure it is correct. Yah that's really enforced and accurate. Water? LMAO! Yah mine is off about 10th of a gallon- still not accurate. The Gov't doesn't enforce that either. | |
|
| | | | | | | | | |
Re: PatheticIf at any time you felt those meters weren't accurate, you could request a free check. And even without the free check, the possibility of it motivates the companies to at least TRY to be accurate. AT&T isn't. | |
|
| | | | | | | Kamus join:2011-01-27 El Paso, TX |
to hottboiinnc4
LOL, obvious troll is obvious.
Bandwidth is like water --hottboiinnc
But enough about this troll. This next comment is to the masses that might actually believe stuff like this, so just to educate you masses: If water, electricity or gas were anything like computer data, it would look something like this by now:
"in 1920, it took 2 days to fill a pool, but now, in 2011 i can fill my pool the millisecond i turned the water on" This is why people that believe this is a valid analogy are either Trolls, ignorant or just dumb. The telcos are just pissed that the glory days of the 70's to early 90's are long gone now, and are trying really hard to get them back. It's too bad for them that progress doesn't care about that, and it never will. They are simply trying to negotiate the terms of their defeat.
I do find something quite disturbing though:
In the past, the US has been a leader because, even though it would do nasty stuff to other countries to get ahead, they would never do it to themselves.
But now the big corporations have finally done it. They've turned on their own people. Something that led to the economical meltdown and will no doubt help China surpass them even faster than expected (this was going to happen eventually, but it's almost like the US can't wait to be second place soon enough)
Why do i say this?
I say this because in a time of exponential growth, it's nothing short of retarded to resort to these measures instead of trying really hard to get ubiquitous gigabit internet access across the nation. The US did this very well back when the freeways were conceived, which helped them leapfrog other countries.
And now, with a project that isn't nearly as complex as national roads and freeways the US is letting other countries with far less money than them, be in the forefront of this crucial infrastructure. But, the Telcos will fail, no matter how hard they try to bring back the old business model it won't work, at least not for a long time. But in the meantime, i feel bad for the people that are stuck with these Canadian and American companies (or any other country that has decided this is the future, completely ignoring exponential growth) | |
|
| | | | | | | r81984Fair and Balanced Premium Member join:2001-11-14 Katy, TX |
to hottboiinnc4
said by hottboiinnc4:This isn't a penalty. This is actually a customer PAYING to offset their usage. Like you said, water, gas and electric do it so why not others? Cell phone companies do it. You get X amount of usage included in the base price and after that you pay the extra. This is the way the phone companies have worked for YEARS ever heard of a metered line? there are still a TON of people on those lines as they're a HUGE fan from the Co-Op companies. You pay X per month for X amount of usage and after that you pay well under a half cent per minute. The bills come out cheaper than if you have an unlimited line with a major telco.
Either way- this is the way billing should be done and this country is used to it. NOTHING is unlimited. If so my electric bill would ALWAYS be $50 per month. Are you stupid???? This is purely to prevent competition with online video services. ATT start caps as they now offer TV with uverse. The cost of your connection to your house is almost 100% fixed. It would not be fair to let someone pay less for using their connection less. Then everyone else will be paying for burying a cable to their house and all the equipment to connect their house to the network. The only fair way is to charge a fixed cost to everyone so everyone pays their fair share of the cost to build the network. You can't expect people who actually use their connections to subsidize those that choose not to use high bandwidth websites. This just makes no sense at all. | |
|
| | | | Rekrul join:2007-04-21 Milford, CT |
to outrageous
said by outrageous :If ATT cannot give customer instant and continuous access to a meter which is 100% accurate, user should file a lawsuit against them. $10 per GB is outrageous. The new terms of service forbid you from taking any kind of legal action against them. It requires that all disputes be settled by private arbitration. | |
|
| Jon J join:2000-06-12 Nashville, TN |
to pnh102
Justify usagesaid by pnh102:How will customers be able to verify that AT&T isn't lying to them about their consumption? Will government hold AT&T accountable if it mistakenly applies overages to customers' accounts when it is not warranted? When my reported usage quadrupled according to them I spent over an hour on the phone and spoke with three ATT reps none of whom were able to prove the usage they claimed. In fact, their attitude was that their word is law, they have to justify nothing and we (the customers) have no redress. | |
|
| | |
lady in red
Anon
2011-May-2 11:57 pm
Re: Justify usageHey Id like to see you in a red -dress | |
|
| |
to pnh102
Re: Patheticget a good DD-WRT router so you can match it up to your billing.
I just checked mine against the AT&T meter. The first month in January is off by 30 GB, but the February and March amounts match up almost exactly with a few GB. My billing cycle isn't exactly at the end of the month, which might explain the few GB discrepancy.
Either way, i consider my usage to be reporting fairly accurately right now by AT&T. | |
|
AVDRespice, Adspice, Prospice Premium Member join:2003-02-06 Onion, NJ |
AVD
Premium Member
2011-May-2 9:31 am
terrestrial broadbandterrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite? | |
|
| |
LA Dude
Anon
2011-May-2 10:35 am
Re: terrestrial broadbandYes. Satellite already has rather severe usage caps with incremental (if you call driving off a cliff incremental) backoffs after a very low (Mb, not Gb) threshold. But federal law BTW; designed to assure the available bandwidth is shared by all users, not just us porn junkies. | |
|
| |
to AVD
said by AVD:terrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite? Also as opposed to wireless (3g/4g). | |
|
| |
to AVD
Technically "Terrestrial" includes anything that is not delivered directly by satellite (including 3g/4g) | |
|
| | AVDRespice, Adspice, Prospice Premium Member join:2003-02-06 Onion, NJ |
AVD
Premium Member
2011-May-2 11:42 am
Re: terrestrial broadbandsaid by C_Chipperson:Technically "Terrestrial" includes anything that is not delivered directly by satellite (including 3g/4g) which has no meaning in terms of the OP, since ATT has no significant retail celestial services. | |
|
| | | |
Re: terrestrial broadbandThat was intended for viperlmw.......... | |
|
| | | | AVDRespice, Adspice, Prospice Premium Member join:2003-02-06 Onion, NJ |
AVD
Premium Member
2011-May-2 12:33 pm
Re: terrestrial broadbandmine was direct at Karl Bode through you and viper... | |
|
| SimbaSevenI Void Warranties join:2003-03-24 Billings, MT ·StarLink
|
to AVD
said by AVD:terrestrial broadband?? As opposed to satellite? Um.. Large difference between Terrestrial and Satellite. Not to mention, Satellite isn't really considered "broadband".. and (almost) everyone in here that was tortured by it will agree. | |
|
| | AVDRespice, Adspice, Prospice Premium Member join:2003-02-06 Onion, NJ |
AVD
Premium Member
2011-May-2 2:46 pm
Re: terrestrial broadbandi forgot the sarcasm tag | |
|
jgkolt Premium Member join:2004-02-21 Avon, OH |
jgkolt
Premium Member
2011-May-2 9:35 am
regulationSounds like they need to regulate the caps by some government body to ensure accuracy. Will we start to see the county auditor seal of approval sticker on our modems like we see at the gas pump? | |
|
| |
Re: regulationSorry. The Gov't has NO control over the internet. Been said and been sued over this. Time to move on. TWC has caps already so why not ATT? At least ATT discloses their caps unlike TWC who says "more than normal usage". In ALL of their TOS/AUPs. But their customers are blind and believe everything a piss ant CSR tells them. When the Customer clearly agreed to the cap when signing up and activating that modem for the first time. | |
|
| | r81984Fair and Balanced Premium Member join:2001-11-14 Katy, TX |
r81984
Premium Member
2011-May-2 11:28 pm
Re: regulationsaid by hottboiinnc4:Sorry. The Gov't has NO control over the internet. Been said and been sued over this. Time to move on. TWC has caps already so why not ATT? At least ATT discloses their caps unlike TWC who says "more than normal usage". In ALL of their TOS/AUPs. But their customers are blind and believe everything a piss ant CSR tells them. When the Customer clearly agreed to the cap when signing up and activating that modem for the first time. I have had unlimited internet since 1995. I have used ATT dsl for about 11 years. I never agreed to caps. BTW the government/american people did heavily subsidize the building of the internet with our tax dollars. The costs of the network are almost 100% fixed especially when ATT is a tier 1 isp (aka their network technically is the internet). It makes no sense to make people who use their connection more to pay to bury the lines and pay for the equipment to hook up people who barely use their connections. Caps make no sense for internet. | |
|
|
AT&T capsYeah, this is all BS for sure. I am glad I cancelled my ATT account last fall. And TWC, you are forewarned. If you try this with me I'll leave you guys in the dust as well. I am not paying to worry about caps on my internet. Its nothing to cry or whine about. Just cancel the service and do without if necessary. No big deal. TWC has already taken a gigantic hit in NC when they tried to implement caps right here in Greensboro in the past. And they will again. But it won't be me calling them. I'll just cancel the service like I did with ATT. Have a nice day. | |
|
| ••••••••••••• |
Duramax08To The Moon Premium Member join:2008-08-03 San Antonio, TX |
I thinkWe are the only ones that care at the moment. Most consumers dont give a shit but id wait a few months for people to get outrageous bills, then something might change i.e. everyone rasing hell, government getting involved. Till then drink the koolaid. | |
|
| ••••••••••••••••••• |
|
Maxieh
Anon
2011-May-2 9:38 am
Still noJust checked tool again and still shows under construction. Chicago SW Burbs | |
|
EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada 2 edits |
EUS
Premium Member
2011-May-2 9:40 am
And here I thought CanadaWas the testbed for this type of shyte. *Price/GB correction? | |
|
1 recommendation |
CorrectionOverage is $10/50GB, not $10/GB as mentioned in the version of the article I'm seeing.
Still sucks, though.
Also noticed that the historical daily bandwidth measures from January, February, and March dissappeared wen I went to check my usage recently, leaving only the monthly aggregate amounts. | |
|
| •••••••••••• |
BabyBearKeep wise ...with Nite-Owl join:2007-01-11 1 edit |
1 less customerSigned up with DSLExtreme last night(fingers crossed for a smooth transition). It's adios and good riddance AT&T. I was with them for 5 years (for DSL) price when I started was $14.95 for 3mbps ends at $38 for 6mbps(150gb cap). Edit: Forgot to mention AT&T's usage page was completely off on my last months usage. Usage for: 03-18-2011 to 04-17-2011 119.30 GB Total 111.75 GB download 7.55 GB upload In reality was closer to 260gb. Lowballing at the start to make it look I don't have to worry about going over the cap? | |
|
| |
Re: 1 less customeryou do realize that you still have to deal with ATT. They're the ones that say you get to change ISPs and if you don't and can make it pure hell. They also have the right to kick DSLX off their network. DSL is NOT required to be shared any longer and as soon as T gets pissed off enough about something; be sure they will go. VZ has already stopped their Resellers in their tracks and ATT will be the next. You also must have missed the memo about being forced to move to U-Verse when the services are available at your home when you're on DSL. Great way to kill off that DSLX line right?
Gotta love doing business with a company that is at the mercy of the company you hate. You didn't really avoid anything since they can impose the caps on DSLX next. | |
|
|
Atlantaguy
Anon
2011-May-2 9:59 am
meter doesn't workFor the last 6 weeks I've tested their online meter as well, and every time I log on and ask for my current usage, it says "We're sorry but we're unable to display your usage at this time". Early into the month it also doesn't display your last month's use - only the month before. So much for being able to monitor your use. | |
|
| ••• |
|
Ads @hfi-pgh.org |
Ads
Anon
2011-May-2 10:04 am
Will customers start boycotting resource intensive websites?When someone visits a website they have no idea how many bytes that site takes to load. What about all of the intense advertizing? Maybe those companies who advertise all over the internet should start putting pressure on ATT. | |
|
| |
Re: Will customers start boycotting resource intensive websites?T's Network ;they do what they feel like. T should maybe tell those ad-ridden websites to start taking of their interactive ads and use text or tell their readers to pay up. DSLR has been around FOREVER without those big HUGE annoying ads. So do other sites need them? | |
|
|
Liaa
Anon
2011-May-2 10:12 am
payoffs take away our rights to at&tATT will win takeover on TM so now we have to live with no rights to competition. Hint for ya all the money they send on dc lobby and buy out TM could have been used to upgrade the customers service on their networks wireless and DSL. But its better to just pass the cost to you and not lift a finger do the right thing. And all ATT customers READ THE TOS for ATT for a change that way you know what else you lost this month in your rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> | |
|
| •••• |
|
rickovery
Anon
2011-May-2 10:50 am
capsWe dropped AT&T as soon as we found out about the new caps. | |
|
| sparks join:2001-07-08 Little Rock, AR |
sparks
Member
2011-May-2 10:55 am
Re: capswhat will next year bring. 50GB cap and $10 a GB overage. Then the next year will be $10 a GB usage fee.
YOU CAN BET that we will get it deeper each year and the only gov regulations are in place to see that we do. | |
|
| |
to rickovery
said by rickovery :We dropped AT&T as soon as we found out about the new caps. they are money grubbing thieves they hijacked the dsl industry monopolize everything and now trying to squeeze more money then they are suppose to get. the speed remain the same for most 1.5mb to 6mb which is only 1.2mb to 4.8mb due to pppoe crap overhead 15 percent | |
|
|
shouldn't they have had the tool ready to go at LEAST a month prior to launching this for EVERYBODY? doesn't seem very fair that some lucky users are able to see it right away, while others are still left in the dark, even on the first day of implementation. users shouldn't have to use 1 of their 3 get out of jail free cards on the first month if they could prevent it before hand. | |
|
|
AbsurdAnyone else that tried to charge someone like this with no way for the customer to measure their usage would have Uncle Sam's boot on their throat. Best bulls###, and politicians, money can buy. Glad I canceled every service I had with these thieving scum last year. | |
|
|
Os
Member
2011-May-2 10:57 am
Who Do Duopolies Benefit Again?While AT&T's game is disgusting, this is the whole problem. What choice do we really have? Don't like AT&T's UBB game? Go to Comcast/Charter/Cox in many areas who will be happy to shut your internet off or force you into backdoor UBB with high-priced business accounts.
We've got to give credit to TW, Cablevision and Verizon for now for being the biggest holdouts. Any of them could have used the excuse to go here, but haven't yet even in the face of big profits. It's especially surprising considering TW's public statements, as well as their own UBB scam a couple years ago. But let's hope they remain cap-free long-term. | |
|
McShaken Premium Member join:2006-02-20 Olympia, WA 1 edit |
McShaken
Premium Member
2011-May-2 11:30 am
More Providers NeededWhen companies start acting like this, it's obvious there's not enough competition. Time and time again, we see this type of behavior... The big get bigger, set up their territories, corner the market or collude with what little competition is left (usually with another bully on the block). It's then they squeeze the customers for whatever they can get away with. Sure, we can cancel our service and go without, but it doesn't fix the initial problem unless there's a big collective push by citizens for change. So they (corporate bullies) slowly introduce things like metered billing with high caps to get us used to the thought, and push forward by slowly lowering the caps and increasing (or creating) fees... Comcast just bought NBC, and AT&T is trying to put it's fangs into T-Mobile. Without a doubt, there's room for more competition. /rant Edit: Removed boiling frog analogy. Thanks for the snopes article! Rant still stands... | |
|
| •••••••• |
|
Dropped AT&T like a hot potato...I dropped AT&T DSL as soon as the caps were announced. Now with a small, local DSL provider. Funny thing, the local provider is giving me improved download performance over AT&T.
When with AT&T 6Mbps plan, I usually got around 5.2Mbps down. With the smaller company, I'm getting 6.7Mbps on average. Makes me even more glad I switched! | |
|
|
Corporate GreedI cannot believe they are expecting customers to bend over for anything they impose. The audacity of at&t is troubling, should say shareholders. Technically, DSL should be truly unlimited because of the immense fiber optic backbone capacity. At the consumer end it's bottlenecked by copper so capacity is there. Punishing everyone because of a few heavy users is darn right idiotic.
Canada stopped UBB so lets do the same. Not only is it anti-consumer it's a ploy to get more people off Netflix and onto their own services. Very dirty! | |
|
| |
Re: Corporate GreedKill the at&t tmobile deal. | |
|
|
|