FTC Sues AT&T Over Speed Throttling Of Its Unlimited Data Customers

Remember at one point in time Verizon said that they were planning on throttling the speeds of its data-heavy users who were on their grandfathered unlimited data plans? Unsurprisingly this did not sit well with the FCC, although in all fairness to Verizon they changed their minds at the very last minute, possibly avoiding the wrath and potential lawsuits in the process.

AT&T on the other hand were obstinate in their decision to throttle the speeds of its users on its unlimited data plan, which has ultimately led to the FTC filing a federal court complaint against the carrier, claiming that they were misleading their customers who had signed up for the unlimited data plan.

According to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, “AT&T promised its customers ‘unlimited’ data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise. The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited.” However it seems that AT&T isn’t too pleased by the FTC’s action and have released a statement of their own.

“It’s baffling as to why the FTC would choose to take this action against a company that, like all major wireless providers, manages its network resources to provide the best possible service to all customers, and does it in a way that is fully transparent and consistent with the law and our contracts.” The carrier goes on to state that they were not misleading as they have sent customers notices and have been transparent right from the very beginning.

It is unclear as to who the courts might find this in favor of, although given that Verizon had backtracked on their throttling plans, it could be used as an argument as to why AT&T could have done the same as well, but what say you?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: AT&T, ftc, Legal