Posted in Random Musings
AT&T Pops A Cap In Our Ass
You got to love AT&T. Just kidding, go ahead and spew venom on them, they are no better than corporate leeches sucking the marrow out of their customers’ bones. I have been a customer with them since they started reforming the monopoly our government destroyed all those many years ago. Not sure why they broke up companies into all those baby bells if they were just going to wait until everyone forgot and let them reform. Kind of senseless, which of course makes it perfectly sensible to our government since they seem to operate from the bottom of the intelligence pool.
The latest move of wonderment by this lovely Death Star-like company is to put a cap on home DSL broadband usage. That’s right, AT&T is popping a cap on our ass (sorry couldn’t resist). How did they inform their customers of this lovely change? By sending us a change of service agreement that has it buried halfway down the page. Even then it isn’t clear. It is under usage and has an innocuous statement saying here’s a link to see our change in usage policy.
I had heard rumors this change was coming and I still missed it the first time I read the change of service agreement. Plus, who reads the fucking change of service agreement? Almost nobody that’s who. When I read through it the second time I found the link but nothing on the page says, “Hey, idiot customer we are capping your usage!” you have to click on the link and be taken to a new page (where I will admit it is clearly laid out).
The cap is fairly high at 150 GB. I am a regular user of Netflix and in my worst month I only used 66 GB. This will of course drastically change when Netflix and every other service goes to 1080p HD. I expect this number to double. Which would still leave me a little cushion. The issues which are really pissing me off is that I already pay a premium for better download times. Better download times amounts to them opening up the line to my house to have faster speed. In other words, they flip a software switch. AT&T knows exactly why people want faster download speeds, to watch video. It feels like they are trying to get me coming and going. Pay for faster time but don’t go over the cap because we plan on charging you.
Ultimately, what really makes me want to go all Hulk Smash on them is how sneaky they are being about this. I am well informed. I read a lot of tech sites and that is the only way I would have known this change was coming. This is no way to treat your customers. I don’t agree with the cap but I understand the perceived need to charge more to the people who are using up bandwidth. If this is the way you feel as a company then just say it damn it. You are hiding because you figure it is going to piss people off. If you are that afraid of your decision maybe it isn’t a good decision.
Most people in this country are not even aware of how dreadfully behind we are in DSL service. We rank near the bottom of most of the technological countries out there in speed, infrastructure, and allowed usage. The telecommunication companies are very aware of this and are trying to get the U.S. Government to pay for putting in better lines. They, of course, plan on turning around and charging us more for what our tax dollars already paid for. Got to love big business in this country. They get to have their cake and eat it too.
I had heard they were talking about doing it but I hadn’t known that they had fully gone through with it. This is probably going to cause problems in my house as I have two housemates beside my self. I and one of them have netflix and get just about all our entertainment via digital download options. I stream netflix daily, generally for at least a few hours a day if not more. We’re probably going to get hit with this as it’s three users. Urgh.
And here I was thinking that you were gonna be talking about them buying t-moblie.
You can check your usage online. Log into your AT&T account and go have a peak. They have numbers back until January. This way you can see how screwed you are. Doesn’t start until May 1.
Unfortunately the account is not mine, otherwise I would. And the account holder probably isn’t smart enough to understand if I tried to explain it to her.
If the account was in my name, I don’t think we’d have AT&T. I’ve never been fond of them as I’ve heard one too many horror stories regarding them for my taste.
I have actually had good luck with them on my iPad and iPhone. This is the first time they have really annoyed me.