At Monday’s FCC hearing on broadband, AT&T Senior Federal Regulatory Vice President Robert Quinn said the company would be changing the way they advertise their broadband tiers. According to Quinn, the new system will change AT&T’s practice of marketing their DSL tiers as ‘up to’ the maximum potential speed.
AT&T’s current DSL plans (in the BellSouth territory) are:
Lite:Â Up to 768Kbps UÂ / 128Kpbs D : $19.95/mo
Ultra: Up to 1.5Mpbs U / 256Kpbs D : $32.95/mo
Xtreme: Up to 3Mpbs U / 384Kbps D : $37.95/mo
Xtreme 6.0: Up to 6Mpbs U / 512Kpbs D : $42.95/mo
We currently have the Xtreme 6.0 plan and usually get around 4Mpbs. But, even if we were only capable of receiving 1Mpbs because of our distance from the CO, AT&T would still sell us the Xtreme 6.0 package if we asked for it. Now, users will be offered 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps speeds first, then they’ll be offered a faster speed once AT&T is sure they qualify. But, some of what Quinn said was strange:
To assist our customers, AT&T will clearly identify any limitations on the amount of usage that may apply to a customer’s service plan. AT&T will also provide them with information about the impact of bandwidth-intensive applications on their usage so that they may select the service plan that best meets their needs. As our service plans change to reflect evolving Internet usage patterns we will clearly communicate those changes to our customers.
Doesn’t that sound like they’re planning to put usage caps on the different speed tiers? It certainly does to me. But, a report on Broadband DSL Reports says AT&T clarified what Quinn said by saying that neither caps nor metered usage are part of the equation.
I guess we’ll see what happens this fall.
