A Bad Signal

AT&T has a new data plan and its slowing down customers.

In order to manage data usage on its networks AT&T is cutting the data speed of certain users. If you fall within the top 5% of data users the company will slow your downloads by about 99%. This means that a web page that usually takes a second to load is now taking up to two minutes.

Right now the wireless company has seventeen million people with unlimited data plans. All of those users are at risk of falling victim to the new slow down scheme. In 2010 AT&T stopped offering the unlimited plan and last year warned people they would face slower speeds for using the internet too often.

Not surprisingly customers are unhappy with the limitations. Some say they are only about two weeks into a new billing cycle when AT&T says they have reached the top 5% and will now face slower download times. Users say when they call to complain they are being advised to switch to a limited data plan. Talk about a bad signal.