AT&T Terms & Conditions Don't Stop Small Claims Action: [29th Feb 2012]

An unemployed truck driver and student has taken AT&T to court over the throttling of his data services and he has won. Matt Spaccarelli was awarded $850 by the small claims court judge who said that it was unfair for the company to slow down his iPhone when he was sold an unlimited data plan. The amount was worked out based on the remainder of his contract and how much extra data he is likely to use. AT&T charge $10 for each extra GB used over 3GB. It is thought that AT&T have 17 million customers in the US with unlimited data plans who could be subject to throttling. Despite AT&T terms and conditions which forbid class actions or jury trials, the option of small claims is open to these customers. AT&T have started slowing down data speeds for the top 5% of their users in the last few months and many customers have been surprised at the low levels at which the throttling kicks in. AT&T have said that they are entitled to make changes to customer contracts if their usage affects the network for others.


LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja has resigned his position in the wake of the news from the FCC that they will not support their new network due to its inference with GPS signals. Ahuja will continue to serve on the board of directors of the company and Doug Smith and Mark Montagner will work as co-chief operating officers while a replacement is found. A statement from the company has stated that the Lightsquared vision of creating an innovative, competitive wireless network has not been affected. Experts are now questioning how much longer the company can continue considering that many of its agreements with wholesale partners were dependent on the FCC agreement. LightSquared have said that the company is committed to ensuring that national security, aviation and GPS signals are protected and that any problems can be resolved.


A study by Syniverse has found that mobile users are avoiding using voice and data while they are traveling. This is leading to missed revenue in the region of $1.2 billion for mobile operators. Syniverse provides messaging, roaming and network solutions to the mobile industry has looked into its own transaction data and discovered that 50% of mobile users avoid using mobile voice services while roaming and 70% do not use their data services. Jeff Gordon the company CEO has stated that providers need to make special deals and offers available to those users who fail to use their mobile while roaming.


Time Warner Cable have announced that they will be introducing a system of metered billing on a voluntary (at first?) basis. Open to southern Texas users first, the system will allow customers to save some money if they choose a tiered plan. The company has pointed out that this service may not be ideal for all customers, but for those who use their broadband less regularly it could be more profitable. The options include a $5 per month discount for those who choose to have up to 5GB of data. This will be available to all Standard, Basic and Lite customers. These customers can opt in or out of the scheme any time they like. A meter will be used to track usage allowing customers to check how close they are to their limit. Overages will cost just $1 per GB and will never exceed $25 in one month. Time Warner Cable have admitted that their previous attempt to bring in tiered pricing was not successful and they hope that this new opt-in plan will work better. Experts have concerns that the optional part of the deal may not last long - if it is profitable it may be rolled out to all customers.