AT&T is asking the FCC to not make it pay the largest proposed fine in the agency’s history as punishment for throttling customers’ data speeds.
After being slammed with the $100 million fine by the FCC last month when the government agency found the carrier had throttled speeds for customers with ‘unlimited’ data plans, AT&T says it didn’t really harm anyone, so it shouldn’t have to pay up.
“The Commission’s findings that consumers and competition were harmed are devoid of factual support and wholly implausible,” AT&T wrote in a response to the FCC, first spotted by The Hill. “Its ‘moderate’ forfeiture penalty of $100 million is plucked out of thin air, and the injunctive sanctions it proposes are beyond the Commission’s authority.”
AT&T has asked that any fine leveled against it not exceed $16,000, while also suggesting that the FCC halt enforcement of non-monetary penalties until the courts can weigh in on their legality.
The FCC ruled in June that AT&T deliberately slowed data speeds of unlimited data plans below that of other customers, which violated transparency obligations set in place back in 2010 by the agency’s old net neutrality rules.
Along with the historic fine, the FCC ordered AT&T to correct misleading statements to customers and notify unlimited data plan customers that it violated the transparency rule. AT&T has also balked at those requests, claiming the FCC doesn’t have the authority to make the requests because the statute of limitations on the violations already lapsed.
Via: The Hill
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
10 responses to “AT&T pushes back on $100 million throttling fine”
The gall! Shame on you AT&T. How dare you try and make an easy buck while screwing over the ordinary citizen? And I concur, FCC. Nothing lower than $100m.
Pretty weird. Yesterday I posted online that I thought that the fee should be doubled if AT&T fights the fine. … And then doubled again if they fought that doubling. …
And today, I get a message from AT&T that my unlimited data was going to be throttled if I used 1.5 gig data in the next three days. … I know I am coming to the end of my monthly period, and that it is a coincidence, but I just thought it was weird.
I agree double the fine. I was so tired of them throttling me on the unlimited plan but I was able to switch to another plan with them at the right time.
Who did you switch to?
I stayed with att they were just offering a deal for me to double the data that worked for me and did not change my payment
Didn’t hurt anyone?! You basically took money out of our pockets by selling us something and then reneging on it.
Also, you try to capitalize by charging extra per month to tether devices. I already bought the data once, and you want to make me pay extra for you to throw a switch so I can use it again. AT&T has been dong this bait and switch crap for too long. Fine ’em!
if you fine them it will end if you dont there carry on
What AT&T does not realize or care about is that some developers actually have medical healthcare apps that are being used by enterprise customers and these apps are highly secure and encrypted. These apps are for communicating via Text, as well as sending audio, and sending time sensitive information that is critical. When I was being throttled by AT&T, and wanted to send a message with one of these apps, it would fail to send multiple times, until I was able to get on Wifi to send. so yes, AT&T is causing issues when they throttle people.
100 mil for every year they pull this crap…AND ITS STILL GOING ON!!!
AT&T can drag their heels on the throttling issue and this fine all they want, but with the FCC ruling, eventually they’ll pay, while I rejoice for holding on to my grandfathered unlimited data plan all these years.