Diligently Track Your Data Usage on AT&T (even if Unlimited)

[Rico ANDROID]

There are some alarming posts on the AT&T Wireless Forum where several customers with unlimited plans got HIT with overage warnings, and some "throttled" to a crawl for "going over AT&T's new Top 5% usage of "unlimited" data.

The postings I've read indicate that the customers called CSR for an explanation and none were given except that the customer must pay the charges. No audit trail, no itemized billing, nothing according to the posters. and so-called "online forum specialists" have so far, provided false hopes of a resolution. Flashmods have removed or "edited" some posts that customers submitted regarding their disputes taht hit too close to home.


RECCOMMENDATION:
Download an app that will disticntly track your mobile data usage vs your wi-fi data usage. Set your Billing Start Day and log onto your at&t accounts regularly to check your usage posted online to that of your device. (ATT will say their postings may not be 'up to the minute' but at the end of a cycle, there should be an audit trail to back up billables).


(I have unlimited, but set "LIMIT" parameters in the app for a benchmark readout)

"You went over because I SAID SO"​

 

[rui-no-onna]

RECCOMMENDATION:
Download an app that will disticntly track your mobile data usage vs your wi-fi data usage. Set your Billing Start Day and log onto your at&t accounts regularly to check your usage posted online to that of your device. (ATT will say their postings may not be 'up to the minute' but at the end of a cycle, there should be an audit trail to back up billables).

Traffic Monitor is one free app that tracks both wi-fi and 3G data use. It can also give you a breakdown of data usage per app. However, I've found 3G Watchdog can more accurately reflect carrier billing (due to the billing rules options).

If you find logging in to AT&T's website or using the myAT&T app a hassle, you can also check usage via text. Just call *DATA# (*3282#) and you should receive a text message showing you your data and text messaging usage.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Traffic Monitor is one free app that tracks both wi-fi and 3G data use. It can also give you a breakdown of data usage per app. However, I've found 3G Watchdog can more accurately reflect carrier billing (due to the billing rules options).

If you find logging in to AT&T's website or using the myAT&T app a hassle, you can also check usage via text. Just call *DATA# (*3282#) and you should receive a text message showing you your data and text messaging usage.

EXCELLENTE! Rui-no-onna, *DATA# is a quick and easy way to get up to the minute data usage detail should the site be out of reach or not yet updated!

 

[Deleted User]

Top 5%

I think you should add that these top 5% people are using 10+gb per month and causing the rest of us problems.

 

[tizzyzz]

I see your point but At&t need to look at full account I myself use about 12gig a month which sounds like a lot but I have 5 phones that use hardly any data maybe 1 gig each so technically if 5 gig is throttle speed they need to look at an accoutrements as I should be allowed to use 25gig for all my phones and I use on average 12 + 4 other phones = 16 gig AT&T sold it as unlimited and needs to look at accounts to be fair. And yes 12 gig for a one line phone would be alot but when i pay 150 a month just for data. That is a little different I spend about $310 a month. So i do not see myself as a data hog
Plus you will sill have those going over 10gig but pay AT&T extra money which still slows the network so only AT&T wins not the users

 

[Rico ANDROID]

I see your point but At&t need to look at full account I myself use about 12gig a month which sounds like a lot but I have 5 phones that use hardly any data maybe 1 gig each so technically if 5 gig is throttle speed they need to look at an accoutrements as I should be allowed to use 25gig for all my phones and I use on average 12 + 4 other phones = 16 gig AT&T sold it as unlimited and needs to look at accounts to be fair. And yes 12 gig for a one line phone would be alot but when i pay 150 a month just for data. That is a little different I spend about $310 a month. So i do not see myself as a data hog
Plus you will sill have those going over 10gig but pay AT&T extra money which still slows the network so only AT&T wins not the users

Exactly. What I dont understand is how ATT will slap a throttle on a customer and say hes been tethering so they pull his/her unlimited account.

I dont tether, and i go up to about 6G once, but normally im around 2 to 3. NOW with this ayssenined rule, 'just because i am unlimited" i get throttled if i go over a "tiered plan customer's limit".

Nope, it is not right. and what is even more sad is on the wireless forum several customers complained and got their postings pulled by the mods. Makes you wonder why. My guess is that the ones that got pulled were finally reaching a point where they were tapping into the questions that started making att look shady so the 'mods' decided to pull such comments. Something aint right when a csr tell you they cant justify the data charges but you still gotta pay...

 

[Rico ANDROID]

I think you should add that these top 5% people are using 10+gb per month and causing the rest of us problems.

You are absolutely right, there are some that are sincerely using too much that should be throttled but keep in mind who these may be? Mostly iphone users.. and remember, in 2007, when the iphone was first switched on at att, it was the iphone users that brought the network to an embarassing crawl.

And now this same set of high-end data users (no offense to iphone owners) is what pushed the rest of us into an tiered situation to avoide such crawls again.

 

[colnago]

...Nope, it is not right. and what is even more sad is on the wireless forum several customers complained and got their postings pulled by the mods. Makes you wonder why. My guess is that the ones that got pulled were finally reaching a point where they were tapping into the questions that started making att look shady so the 'mods' decided to pull such comments. Something aint right when a csr tell you they cant justify the data charges but you still gotta pay...

...and people wonder why T-Mo customers "do not" want the merger to happen. I have personal accounts with both carriers and even I don't want the merger to go through. Heaven forbid that I want to watch (1) football game on my phone through my sling box while traveling, at the beginning of a billing cycle, then I'm done for the rest of the month.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

...and people wonder why T-Mo customers "do not" want the merger to happen. I have personal accounts with both carriers and even I don't want the merger to go through. Heaven forbid that I want to watch (1) football game on my phone through my sling box while traveling, at the beginning of a billing cycle, then I'm done for the rest of the month.

And to think "att customers *asked* for the unliminted plan to cease and wanted to be restricted to tiered plans.... according to some ATT cheese. Still like to know which 'unlimited plan customer begged for that..sure wasnt me!

 

[acdodd]

I just read about this on the AT&T board.
The answer is to remove the app from the home screens then power your phone off and on and do not touch the app again.
Seems to be working but time will tell.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

I just read about this on the AT&T board.
The answer is to remove the app from the home screens then power your phone off and on and do not touch the app again.
Seems to be working but time will tell.

Remove which app, and what is this to do?

 

[2manyPHONES]

I think he might be referring to the AP app that is preloaded on the new gs2 that people haven't used but is draining their data plans. There are a bunch of threads in the gs2 forums about this app and its data stealing ways.

 

[rui-no-onna]

Still like to know which 'unlimited plan customer begged for that..sure wasnt me!

I reckon there are plenty of users with smartphones who mostly surf on wifi and barely use their unlimited data plans and would prefer to pay a lower monthly fee. However, the caps the carriers implemented are unreasonably low.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

I reckon there are plenty of users with smartphones who mostly surf on wifi and barely use their unlimited data plans and would prefer to pay a lower monthly fee. However, the caps the carriers implemented are unreasonably low.

.. and i believe steve jobs is a saint if att so-called "listened" to these 'few and mine-noot' customers as if they spoke for the masses of unlimited users who does utilitze their unlimited plan....

"Cuttn' yo allowance... becawse I SAID So!"​

....................................................".....tell'em mama!.."​

This was just a lame excuse for att to drop unlimited instead of admitting their embarassment of not being the nations fastest network AND that apple brought the giant to its knees when it couldnt handle the iphone debut... First ive ever heard a big corp "listening" to the small water-cooler gang.

 

[rui-no-onna]

.. and i believe steve jobs is a saint if att so-called "listened" to these 'few and mine-noot' customers as if they spoke for the masses of unlimited users who does utilize their unlimited plan....

Actually, I reckon the number of unlimited users who fully utilize their unlimited plans is smaller than you think. They're very well represented in this forum (and probably a lot of other technology-related forums) but they're the minority rather than the majority. Can you imagine how atrocious speeds will be if every user consumed 50GB per month?

However, the tiered data plans have ridiculously low data caps designed to force people into higher tier plans or into paying overages. The $15 plan should offer at least 500MB data (1GB or higher preferred). The "unlimited" $30 data plans had an unofficial cap of 5GB (after which you get a warning, etc) so they should have just kept it at $30/5GB.

Seriously, though, the "tethering" message they're sending heavy users to move them off unlimited plans is ridiculous. While there may be a few users who actually tether unsanctioned, I reckon there are also a lot of folks who consume a lot of data solely on their smartphones. I watched a few episodes of Family Guy (Netflix) on my iPhone and iirc, data usage was around 200~300MB/hour. It's just that AT&T can't say:

"Hey, you know our unlimited data plan? The thing is it's not actually unlimited. There's a cap but we won't tell you how much. You'll just have to believe us when we tell you that you've reached it."

AT&T's hiding behind the guise that folks are tethering because they can't kick off folks using a lot of data on an unlimited data plan.

If people who received the message can prove they're not tethering, that might be grounds for a class action lawsuit. Need to litigate in California, though. There's an arbitration-only clause in the service agreement but that's been deemed illegal in CA.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Actually, I reckon the number of unlimited users who fully utilize their unlimited plans is smaller than you think. They're very well represented in this forum (and probably a lot of other technology-related forums) but they're the minority rather than the majority. Can you imagine how atrocious speeds will be if every user consumed 50GB per month?

However, the tiered data plans have ridiculously low data caps designed to force people into higher tier plans or into paying overages. The $15 plan should offer at least 500MB data (1GB or higher preferred). The "unlimited" $30 data plans had an unofficial cap of 5GB (after which you get a warning, etc) so they should have just kept it at $30/5GB.

Seriously, though, the "tethering" message they're sending heavy users to move them off unlimited plans is ridiculous. While there may be a few users who actually tether unsanctioned, I reckon there are also a lot of folks who consume a lot of data solely on their smartphones. I watched a few episodes of Family Guy (Netflix) on my iPhone and iirc, data usage was around 200~300MB/hour. It's just that AT&T can't say:
AT&T's hiding behind the guise that folks are tethering because they can't kick off folks using a lot of data on an unlimited data plan.

If people who received the message can prove they're not tethering, that might be grounds for a class action lawsuit. Need to litigate in California, though. There's an arbitration-only clause in the service agreement but that's been deemed illegal in CA.

Some of what you say could very well be true. The ending result of it ll is restricting usage is one of atts "answers" to expanding without spending a dime for "network upgrades"...so, restrict usage instead of building out. They had no intention to building out physically .....untill jobs kicked ma bell out of bed nd other networks were already bragging about 4G.

As far as heavy users. We know its mostly iphone users on the network and still the higher percent today. These for sure must not be the "customers" mentioned that wanted a tiered plan.

Thats been the uproar wth some customers.. They thet the mechanical tether notice, gets removed from unlimited, customer calls and asks "explin the detil charges", att says "we dont know, but you gotta pay"..

Thats unacceptible. If they are accused of tethering and request proof, then att should provide the record to prove. On another high end note... Those who got the top 5 warning, most agin , iphone users. Some posted that they dont believe they re of the so called top 5 but att will NOt
provide proof that they fall in thecatagory. (top 5 I screen only, they choke u if you hit 2(ig. No top 5 ratio about that.