AT&T won't throttle unlimited data in congestion until users hit 22GB, an over 4x increase
AT&T today has revealed a slight change to how it is handling throttling users grandfathered into unlimited data plans. Up until today, AT&T has throttled unlimited data users when they hit 5GB of usage and are in a congested area.
Context & Ripple Effects
Earlier this year AT&T moved its grandfathered unlimited-data customers to a model where LTE speeds drop only when local towers are congested rather than at a fixed monthly cap [[a:829030]]. Today it raises the usage point at which that congestion rule can kick in from 5GB to 22GB — a more than fourfold increase in headroom for the heaviest legacy-plan users.
The move lands mid-scrum among the big three over how 'unlimited' is defined: T-Mobile is simultaneously policing tethering abuse by downgrading violators to limited plans [[a:832343]], and AT&T had already softened its metered plans with rollover data for tens of millions of customers [[a:825168]].
First-order effects
- Grandfathered unlimited-data subscribers on AT&T can now consume roughly 4x more data per month before congested-area throttling applies, directly benefiting heavy streamers who were hitting the old 5GB trigger.
Second-order effects
- Sprint follows weeks later with a nearly identical 23GB throttle threshold [[a:834613]], showing the carriers are now competing on where they draw the invisible line inside 'unlimited' rather than on plan prices.
Third-order effects
- The 22GB figure hardens into an industry-standard soft cap: AT&T's own 2017 relaunch of unlimited plans builds throttling-after-22GB into new tiers [[a:916633]], converting network-management policy into a durable product-design convention.
The trend: US carriers are converging on congestion-based throttling with a ~22GB trigger, quietly replacing hard caps with deprioritization as the way 'unlimited' gets rationed.