The FTC has filed a complaint against AT&T in federal court that alleges AT&T Mobility has misled millions of smartphone customers by charging them for so-called unlimited data plans while reducing data speeds. The FTC says that in some cases AT&T reduced data speeds by nearly 90%. AT&T failed to adequately disclose to customers on unlimited data plans that if they hit a certain amount of data use, speeds would be throttled according to the FTC complaint.
Speeds were throttled to the point that the FTC alleges common phone applications like web browsing, GPS navigation, and streaming video were difficult or nearly impossible to use. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, “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.”
Marketing material used by AT&T emphasized “unlimited” amounts of data available for customers on the plan, says the FTC, and even as these customers renewed their plans, AT&T failed to inform them of the throttling. AT&T was throttling data as early as 2011 after customers used as little as 2GB of data according to the complaint.
AT&T violated the FTC Act by changing the terms of the unlimited data plan while customers were under contract by falling to disclose the throttling program to customers who renewed plans according to the FTC. The FTC files a complaint like this when it has “reason to believe” the law has been violated and the outcome will be decided by the court when the case is heard.
SOURCE: FTC
