AT&T increases unlimited data throttling threshold

AT&T revealed today that it has made some adjustments to its data throttling policy for customers still subscribed to legacy unlimited data plans. Customers on these unlimited data plans will now have a higher data cap before throttling kicks in. For those on HSPA+ plans the cap will be 3GB per month, while the cap for LTE customers will be 5GB.

AT&T’s unlimited data throttling policy was instituted back in October of the last year, but the company never did reveal in detail what the data cap would be for throttling, merely stating that only its top 5 percent of heaviest data users would be affected. Early last month, the company came under fire when some customers discovered that their unlimited data plans were being throttled after reaching only 2GB of data use, despite the plans costing the same as a current tiered 3GB plan.

It looks like enough pressure was applied that AT&T is now responding by raising the data cap and being more transparent about exactly where those thresholds sit. The caps are now 3GB for HSPA+ subscribers and 5GB for LTE subscribers, which is certainly a welcome boost up from the 2GB cap that appeared to be in force regardless of whether a customer was on an HSPA+ or LTE unlimited data plan. Users can check their monthly data usage by dialing “*data#” on their mobile phones.

[via AT&T]