[kictanet] Limiting 'Unlimited' Data Packages

Wed Jun 17 12:19:38 EAT 2015

These is a copy and paste but interesting
US telecoms company AT&T
faces a $100m (£63m) fine
for slowing down the
internet speeds of millions of
customers on unlimited data
plans without informing them. It is the largest fine ever levied
by the Federal
Communications Commission. AT&T is accused of misleading
customers, although it denies
any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, wireless operator
Sprint announced that it would
end its practice of throttling
traffic. AT&T is accused of offering a
significantly slower service to
customers on unlimited data
packages after they had used a
certain amount of data each
month. Misleading marketing According to the FCC, this
affected customers' ability to
do things such as stream video
or use Global Positioning
System (GPS) mapping
services. "Consumers deserve to get
what they pay for," FCC
chairman Tom Wheeler said. "Broadband providers must be
upfront and transparent about
the services they provide. The
FCC will not stand idly by while
consumers are deceived by
misleading marketing materials and insufficient
disclosure." AT&T began offering unlimited
data plans in 2007, allowing
customers to use unrestricted
amounts of data. Although the company no
longer offers such plans to
new customers, it allows
existing customer to renew
their contracts for data plans
that continue to be labelled as unlimited. New stricter rules around net
neutrality came into force this
week, although AT&T was
found to be in breach of earlier
rules adopted in the 2010
Open Internet Order. The order's transparency rule
requires fixed and mobile
broadband providers to
publicly disclose sufficient and
accurate information about
their network management practices. New rules AT&T said that major carriers
had been slowing speeds for
years as a way to manage
network resources. "The FCC has specifically
identified this practice as a
legitimate and reasonable way
to manage network resources
for the benefit of all
customers, and has known for years that all of the major
carriers use it," AT&T said in a
statement. "We have been fully
transparent with our
customers, providing notice in
multiple ways," the wireless
carrier added, pointing to a
notice posted on its website. The new rules around net
neutrality - which prevent
broadband providers and
mobile operators from
slowing down or blocking
specific net traffic - came into force this week. They also seem to be having
an immediate effect. Sprint, the US's third largest
wireless carrier, announced
that it had ended its practice
of dropping data speeds for
heavy net users at times when
its network was very busy. It said that it did not believe
that it was contravening the
new rules but ended the
practice to be sure. "Sprint doesn't expect users to
notice any significant
difference in their services
now that we no longer engage
in the process," a Sprint
spokesman said. 

-original message-
Subject: [kictanet] Limiting 'Unlimited' Data Packages
From: Mose Karanja via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: 18/06/2015 06.17

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AT&T were yesterday hit with a $100M fine for slowing down Internet
speeds of customers who signed up for unlimited data plans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/06/17/att-just-got-hit-with-a-100-million-fine-after-slowing-down-its-unlimited-data/

I have experienced moments when my own connection in Nairobi gets
pretty slow with speeds as low as 50Kbps for over an hour day in day
out.

Seeing that you guys are in this field, are there tools we can use to
objectively measure the connection speeds we get from our ISPs which
we can then use to demand for services paid for?

Moses.

- --
Mose Karanja
+254 724 162536 | @Mose_Karanja
PGP: 0x1529552F

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