AT&T on Thursday clarified the limitations of its “unlimited” data plan. You can use a certain amount of gigabytes, and after that, your smartphone’s Internet speeds are subject to being slowed down, a practice known as throttling. Just how much you get slowed down is a mystery, but people who have been throttled say the Internet connections on their phones became so slow they were unusable.
For customers with smartphones that work with AT&T’s third-generation networks, you can use up to three gigabytes of data before your Internet transfer speeds may be reduced, says AT&T. And if you own a newer phone that works with the fourth-generation network, you get five gigabytes before you’re throttled. When the slower speeds kick in, they last for the remainder of the billing cycle.
So if you’re an “unlimited” data customer with AT&T, how can you make sure you’re not surpassing those data thresholds? Here are some quick tips to monitor and reduce your usage.
Use AT&T’s data usage calculator
AT&T has an interactive Web tool where you can calculate how much media you can consume,
like e-mails, video or photos, before you reach a certain number of gigabytes. With this tool you’ll see that if you’re a frequent Netflix watcher, you can stream up to about 1,500 minutes of video
each month, or 50 minutes of video each day, before you hit 3GB. Or if you’re a big fan of Spotify, you’ll see that you can stream about 100 hours of music before you get to 3GB. Jot some numbers down
to see where you can trim your usage and stay far away from that limit line.
Use Wi-Fi whenever possible
Only the data you use on AT&T’s network counts toward your data usage, so whenever possible, switch to a Wi-Fi network and watch videos, stream music or download
games on that connection instead.
Watch your data usage
Some apps allow you to view how much data you’ve used on your wireless plan. iPhone and Android users can download the MyAT&T app,
where they can see the summary of their smartphone bill, including data, voice minutes and text messages used. This way, you can get a direct look at your data usage and see where you are at any day of the month.