AT&T won't always throttle your unlimited LTE data
While AT&T has limited its throttling for unlimited 3G data to clogged-up networks, it hasn't been so kind to the LTE crowd. Go past 5GB of usage in a month and your high-speed connection would always slow down, no matter how empty the cell towers might be. The carrier is finally taking a softer stance, however. It recently updated its policy statements to say that it now throttles unlimited LTE data past the 5GB mark only if you're on a congested network. AT&T tells us that it had revealed plans to do this last year -- it just flicked the switch on the policy this week.
The kinder, gentler approach is certainly convenient for AT&T. It's facing an FTC lawsuit for allegedly doing little to warn legacy subscribers before throttling them, and the FCC is critical of throttling policies meant more to steer people toward capped plans than cope with heavy traffic. This less arbitrary LTE philosophy won't address every concern, but it'll at least tell regulators that throttling occurs only when it (theoretically) makes sense.
