WebProNews

Tag: Mobile Internet

  • Google Wants You to Have a Faster Mobile Internet

    Google Wants You to Have a Faster Mobile Internet
    So they’re throwing billions of dollars at the problem to make sure you get it.

    Setting: You’re sitting there waiting on your bus/waiting on your fajitas/waiting on your spouse to get out of the shower and so you pull out your reliable smartphone to check out what’s going on in the Twitter or in the CNN. Only, instead of using your wonderful mobile internet connection to fill in some indeterminate amount of waiting, you end up waiting nearly 10 seconds for your browser or app to load. So instead of filling in a waiting period with an actual activity, you fill in the waiting period with more waiting.

    Sound familiar? It should, because when you compare the speed at which a website loads over a mobile connection to the speed at which a site will load on your desktop computer or laptop, it can feel prehistorically slow. That’s not to say that it’s objectively slow – you’re still in possession of the ability to browse the web from a phone, so who can seriously complain, right? – but it’s a palpable slowness. It’s also not always the fault of your mobile carrier, who may or may not be providing adequate services to speed you along, but more the poor performance of your browser and the sites you’re trying to browse.

    Google is aware of your lost time and sympathizes with you, and wants to do something about your plight. That’s why the company is investing billions of dollars into improving the speed that webpages load on your mobile browser because, while your time is precious to you and you hate to see it wasted, for Google time is literally money. All that time you spend waiting around on webpages to load on your smartphone is literally time businesses and advertisers aren’t making money and you know what they say: time is money.

    By enhancing its mobile browser as well as collaborating with other companies in regard to improving the way internet technologies work, Google hopes to counter all of the lost revenue due to people wandering away from slow mobile connections. Speaking to Bloomberg, Tealeaf Technology’s vice president Geoff Galat said, “There’s a big business impact to these kind of struggles.”

    Faster mobile Web loads could increase mobile-commerce sales in the U.S. by 10 percent, or about $600 million a year, said Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester. They also could help online commerce in general: Almost half of mobile users are unlikely to return to a website at all if they had trouble accessing it from their phone, a 2011 study by Equation Research found.

    […]

    Faster mobile Web speeds also translate into additional mobile-ad revenue. A 30 percent improvement in mobile Internet’s speed could lead to a 15 percent rise in ad sales, said Trevor Healy, chief executive officer of mobile-ad provider Amobee Inc. U.S. mobile-advertising spending will reach $2.61 billion this year, up from $1.45 billion in 2011, according to EMarketer Inc.

    Meanwhile, as Google hopes to close the loss of business revenue thanks to slow loading times on mobile browsers, you will no longer notice how long it takes for your sizzling fajitas to be brought to your table.

    [Via Bloomberg.]

  • AT&T Threatens Man Who Won Small Claims Lawsuit

    AT&T Threatens Man Who Won Small Claims Lawsuit

    Late last month we brought you the story of Matt Spaccarelli, the iPhone user who sued AT&T in small claims court for throttling his “unlimited” data connection after around 2GB of data use (which, for the record, is less data than those who pay for AT&T’s top-level limited data plan). A California judge ordered AT&T to pay Spaccarelli $850 for failing to deliver on their claim that they are the fastest 3G network and that Spaccarelli’s plan was unlimited.

    Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling last year upholding a clause in AT&T’s customer contract, customers are not allowed to take AT&T to jury trials or bring class action lawsuits. Arbitration and small claims court are the only options left to disgruntled customers. Knowing that, Spaccarelli published a guide via PublikDemand, a consumer advocacy site, showing other throttled AT&T users how to duplicate his small claims victory.

    This, as you might expect, does not appear to be sitting well with AT&T. Last week the company sent Spaccarelli a letter in which they reminded him that they had the right to terminate his service completely (he admitted to tethering his iPhone without a tethering plan, which violates AT&T’s customer agreement). They stressed, however, that they are “interested in hearing any concerns you would like to raise about AT&T,” and that they wanted to “reach a mutually agreeable resolution of these issues.” A key feature of that mutually agreeable solution, however, is an agreement that “the conversations will be kept private and confidential.” In other words, AT&T wants Spaccarelli to enter into a non-disclosure agreement, whereby (no doubt) he will be required to stop telling other AT&T customers how to beat the company in small claims court. The full letter can be read in PDF form here.

    I sent AT&T a request for comment about this situation. I asked whether they had appealed the decision or paid Spaccarelli the $850 awarded by the courts (or planned to do either), whether his plan was still being throttled, and whether the request for a non-disclosure agreement really had more to do with wanting to make sure he didn’t tell other customers how to beat AT&T in small claims court. As yet there has not been a response.

    What do you think? Is AT&T really interested in a settlement, or are they just trying to shut Spaccarelli up? How would you respond in a situation like this? Let us know in the comments.

  • iPhone User Wins Throttling Suit Against AT&T

    iPhone User Wins Throttling Suit Against AT&T

    Earlier this month we reported that AT&T was throttling the data connections of customers who still had the old unlimited data plan and used more than 2 gigabytes of data per month. The practice struck many as unfair, since users who were paying for unlimited data were not only getting their connection throttled, but were actually getting less data usage than those who were paying less money per month for AT&T’s 3GB data plan.

    Earlier this week, we reported that some users were seeing their throttled data connections return to normal. Discussion forum posts suggested that AT&T might be relaxing its chokehold on the data connections of the top 5% of data users who it apparently saw as a threat to the company’s network. As part of that article I sent an email to AT&T requesting comment. Though AT&T had not replied by the time the story ran, a representative did get back to me later that evening. His response, however, was to decline to comment.

    Now it seems that there may have been something behind the relaxation of data throttling. It seems a court in California has just ruled against AT&T. When Matt Spaccarelli found that his unlimited data connection was being throttled after 1.5-2GB of data traffic, he took AT&T to small claims court. The Ventura Superior Court found that AT&T had wronged Spaccarelli by selling him an “unlimited” data plan and then not delivering. The court awarded him $850.

    There is no word on what AT&T’s response to this ruling will be. I sent AT&T another request for comment and asked whether AT&T would continue to throttle data connections for users paying for unlimited plans. As of now there has been no response.

  • AT&T Lightening Up On Data Throttling?

    AT&T Lightening Up On Data Throttling?

    Earlier this month we brought you news that AT&T had started throttling the data streams of certain smartphone users. Those who had managed to hang onto AT&T’s now-defunct unlimited data plans were reportedly having their connections throttled after 2.1 gigabytes of data usage per month. This practice raised quite a few eyebrows, since those who still have the unlimited data plan actually pay more per month than those who have the company’s more recent 3 GB data plan. Thanks to the throttling, unlimited users were paying more per month for less data than those who have the 3 GB plan.

    Now it looks as though AT&T may have relaxed the throttling a bit. According to recent posts in a discussion forum thread on data throttling, several users with previously throttled connections were reporting that their data speeds had returned to normal. One reported that streaming video and music services were now working as they should, and several posted images from the Speedtest.net app that showed decent 3G connection speeds.

    It is unclear whether this apparent relaxation is network wide, only in certain markets, or only with certain users. I sent a message to AT&T asking for clarification, but have not yet received a response.

    Throttled data users, have you seen any improvement in your data speeds? Does AT&T have any business throttling the connections of customers who pay for unlimited plans in the first place? Sound off in the comments.

  • AT&T Is Pretty Bad At Being A Mobile ISP

    AT&T Is Pretty Bad At Being A Mobile ISP

    It’s clear AT&T wants its customers who were lucky enough to have the unlimited data plan, something they do not offer any longer, to switch plans to one of their tiered plans, and to facilitate this, the communications monolith announced it would start throttling the connections of the top 5% of bandwidth users.

    Now, thanks to a post from AT&T customer John Cozen, the “top 5%” evidently refers to users who go over 2.1 gigabytes a month. Before Cozen’s story, it is important to keep in mind that, to new customers, AT&T offers data plans that exceed 2 GB a month with no throttling.

    Take a look:

    AT&T Data Plan

    So what gives in relation to Cozen’s pathetic treatment from his service provider, aside from the fact that AT&T simply doesn’t want their customers to have unlimited data plans? Before that, here’s glimpse at Cozen’s unfortunate dealings with the ubiquitous AT&T. We’ll pick things up with Cozen’s reply to AT&T’s first, “well, you exceeded the cap” email:

    Hi Patti, thank you for your message and attention to this matter. I am aware of the policies and procedures regarding the top 5% of data users on an unlimited plan. My concern remains that I am not actually in the top 5% of data users as I only used 2.1 GB of data before receiving the message. 2.1GB is not an exorbitant amount of data and barely exceeds the 2GB plan offered by AT&T. Please inform me as to what levels of data use generally cause an unlimited data customer to exceed the 5% barrier.

    Thank you,

    An excerpt from AT&T’s subsequent response is incredibly telling:

    To give you a baseline – the average data use across the country by the top 5% of AT&T smartphone customers was 2GB per month, effective August 2011. The amount of data usage of our top 5% of heaviest users varies from month-to-month and by market, based on the usage of others and the ever-increasing demand for mobile broadband services. To rank among the top 5%, you must use an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period. It’s not how much time you spend using your device, it’s what you do with it. You can send or receive thousands of e-mails, surf thousands of Web pages and watch hours of streaming video every month…

    It almost seems fitting to end that particular stanza with a “blah, blah, blah.” The fact is, even though AT&T offers data plans that exceed 2GB a month, Cozen, with his 2.1 GB worth of bandwidth usage, put him that dreaded “top 5%” category,” which doesn’t seem remotely like fair and just business practices, something Cozen also pointed out:

    It seems unfair that AT&T would throttle my data plan after 2GB of usage that costs $30/ month yet offers a 3GB plan at the same price with no throttling. As a loyal customer, this is extremely frustrating and feels unfair. I look forward to your response.

    Naturally, AT&t’s response to Cozen’s follow-up was just a rehash of the “top 5% get throttled” nonsense, while completely avoiding his point about their current data plans. Instead, they invite Cozen to change his data plan, which is quite telling in relation to what AT&T’s true desires are concerning those of us with grandfathered unlimited data plans.

    In fact, that’s who Cozen’s story ends. There wasn’t a “this was our mistake, so here’s a refund for you because we were acting so obtuse about this” from AT&T. To illustrate this point even further, when Cozen finally received a phone call from AT&T’s management team, again he was told to consider switching to a tiered plan, because, let’s face it, AT&T does not want any of their customers to have — or use — unlimited data plans on their smart phones.

    The question is, why is AT&T being so stingy with bandwidth as a whole? Even those who use AT&T’s home Internet service don’t get it on an unlimited basis, so again, what gives? Why is AT&T treating bandwidth like it’s a dwindling resource? Does the lack of competition allow these communication giants to act with such impunity, because this is not an example of good customer service or support? Let us know what you think.