My letter to Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO

I have now sent my thoughts as well as a copy of this letter to my congressman, the white house, and the following individuals at Coast to Coast in the hopes that the first 2 get legislation going, and that the Coast to Coast lot mobilizes the C2C audience.

 

George Noory, Ian Punnett, George Knapp, Lisa Lyon, Tom Danheiser, Lex Lonehood, and Shawn LaDouceur

This letter was originally sent to:

Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO
rs2982@att.com (direct)
randall.stephenson@att.com
phone: 210-351-5401 (direct to his secretary)
fax 210-351-3553
alternate phone: 210-821-4105 (headquarters, press 3, ask for Mr. Stephenson's office)
175 E. Houston
San Antonio, TX 78205 

 

Dear Mr. Stephenson and AT&T, yesterday I was shocked to learn (from a co-worker, not a mailing to our house) that a 250GB bandwidth cap would be coming May 2nd. This must be a joke, I simply couldn't believe it until I discovered article after article over the past month announcing and commenting on this. I then found several threads on the official AT&T forums from customers that were outraged like myself, one of which is at 89 pages of replies at the time of writing this letter. Your company has said time and time again this will only effect 2% of your customers.

I sir, am one of the 2%.

At 1.5mbps, it would take 16 Days 2 Hours 20 Minutes to downoad 250GB...

At 10mbps, it would take 2 Days 11 Hours 39 Minutes to download 250GB...

At 24mbps, one of their services, it wouldn't take a day to use your cap.

I am a 24mbps man. I'm very sad as I use half of that just in video/podcasts a week as I listen to 16-20 hours of audio a day at work (double speed), I have several TB of data backed up online, uploading just 1 hour of 960p video off-site backup or to youtube from my GoPro would take me past my cap. 1 hour: 265.42 GB... not to mention uploading all the stuff I shoot with my SLR.

AT&T shouldn't sell me a 24mbit connection, if they don't want me to use it... maxed out 24/7 I can transfer 7.88TB of data with my connection. They want me to use 3% of my connection's potential or pay penalties for going over. (actually about 2.8-2.9% once you factor in I could be maxing out my upload too) Since AT&T only wants me to use 3% of my connection's potential, shouldn't it be fair that I only pay a couple of bucks a month, the 3% of my connection's cost? I hope AT&T is going to come to my house and backup all of photos and videos I shoot every week now and keep them in the cloud for me, since I can't back them up to backblaze starting next month when I lose my bandwidth. It's not uncommon for me to use 1.5-2TB a month. The podcasts I listen to will eat up 1/3 of the cap alone, I'll have to stop watching stuff on iTunes university as that'll take me to my cap, plus there are 3 other people in this house, each with their own computers. God forbid my iOS devices need updates too, since Apple makes you download the whole iOS and not just the updated portions... there goes a few GB of my 250 every iOS update.

I exceed the cap in 4-5 days JUST backing up photos and videos to backblaze... as well as to upload said photos and videos to sites like facebook, youtube, and my photography blog... not to mention my podcasts I listen to will eat up just over 1/3 of the cap every month... then of course I watch a considerable amount of stuff on iTunes university, and subscribe to several 720p feeds on youtube. I also upload my own video in 960p to youtube, which then gets down converted to 720p... if I were to upload 1 hour of my own video to youtube a month, I'd use 253gb and change.

 There are also 2 other people that use internet in my house for recreation, education, and business. Google is in the processing of deploying their first gigabit network for consumers and I highly doubt they'll place any restriction on the bandwidth.

If Ma Bell, my apologies I meant AT&T, wants to restrict the usage of my internet because they oversold what their pipe can handle then do so via throttling but please do not limit us to 250GB. I understand the real reasons behind this, you are losing money to Netflix, Amazon's streaming services, YouTube, movie piracy, people watching television shows on the network websites etc. I also understand that when I, one of the 2% of your customers that actually understand what the internet is and the incredible utility it can be for enriching my life and others as well as a source of entertainment, is being forced to limit my activity to 4-6 days of internet usage a month under your new restrictions... that this country suffers, that the human race suffers. You are instituting a regime of oppression by limiting the bandwidth, you are stifling creativity, you are enslaving the minds of the masses by placing limits. Upgrade your infrastructure. You have a fiberoptic line running through my backyard that I'm not allowed to access as it's only for the corporations you service to use. We switched to your service from Comcast when they placed a restriction on the consumer's bandwidth, now you are doing the same.

Please, wake up and understand the horrible thing your company is doing. America used to be a land where we were better than every other nation. As far as internet is concerned we are nearly a lot of backwards hillbillies when several countries offer gigabit connections with unrestricted bandwidth for a price comparable to what you offer what is now an inadequate connection to even stream video with. I ask AT&T to join us in the 21st century and stop this bandwidth cap before it happens in less than a month. I do not want to pay 300$ in surcharges every month becuase I went that much over a service, that is currently unlimited and has been for years. I won't lie, I have no life outside of the internet and thanks to the internet I literally have the world at my fingertips, I can learn anything I want, see anything I want, speak to any human being anywhere on the planet.

Please, end this nonsense now. While i live in a duopoly market and have no choice to go to anyone with unrestricted internet, I plead that keep the internet unrestricted for me. Thank you for your time.

 

 

-Ryan Carl .Mercer

 

AT&T Goes Against Everything They've Said

AT&T is making a mad money grab by having a monopoly or duopoly in many of the areas they do business. By imposing a 250gb bandwidth cap starting next month they royally screw their customers, unless you want to get dinged with 10$ charge after 10$ charge for every 50gb you go over.

 

At 10mbps, it would take 2 Days 11 Hours 39 Minutes to download 250GB...

At 1.5mbps, it would take 16 Days 2 Hours 20 Minutes to downoad 250GB...

At 24Mbps, one of their services, it wouldn't take a day to use your cap.

From AT&T's own marketing.  

 

  • Why switch to AT&T U-verse—Compare AT&T U-verse to your current provider.
  • U-verse Bandwidth—We don't limit your bandwidth to a particular amount.
  • IPTV Technology—We use the Internet with computer networking to bring HD television right into your home.
  • Fiber Technology—We use existing fiber to deliver all your entertainment to your television, computer and phone.
  • 911 Service—We automatically include E911 service with your AT&T U-verse Voice service.
  • U-verse Voice and Home Alarms—AT&T U-verse Voice will work with most types and brands of home alarms.
  • Battery Backup—We make sure you have Voice service during a power outage.
  • Terminal Backup—We ensure an uninterrupted power supply for your Optical Network Terminal.
  • AT&T ConnecTech®—Extensive options for connecting your entertainment and communications hardware.



Currently there are 88 pages on this one thread alone with absolutely enraged customers mad at AT&T. Google, please buy AT&T's internet branch and let us be bandwidth cap free, then bring us all gigabit!

 


I'm very sad as I use half of that just in video/podcasts a week as I listen to 16-20 hours of audio a day at work (double speed), I have several TB of data backed up online, uploading just 1 hour of 960p video offsite backup or to youtube from my GoPro would take me past my cap. 1 hour: 265.42 GB... not to mention uploading all the stuff I shoot with my SLR... and guess what, I either stay with AT&T and their 250GB cap, then pay 10$ for every 50gb I go over, or switch to Comcast and have 260GB Cap. *sigh* Duopoly *gag*

AT&T ftl

So, I use 30-60gb of bandwidth a day at home (I backup everything off site, I take lots of high-resolution photos, shoot a lot of hd video, upload 720p to my youtube channel etc)... 1 hour of netflix uses plus or minus 1gb... when we first got the internet in 95, we had 80 hours of dialup time a month for 25$ a month. I have a 2.05 mega BYTE down connection now and pay about $50.

I pay to be able to download at 2.05 megaBYTES a second. It will take me 8.32 minutes to download a gigabyte. I now have 34.68 hours of maxed out connection a month before I have to unplug my internet and stare at the wall... so realistically, even if I drastically reduce my internet usage (not to mention the 2 other people in my house) I still will only have a week, at best, of internet usage a month.

My podcast downloads alone will eat up 1/3 of that. Suicide is likely in my future *only partially sarcastic*