(WICHITA, Kan.) — Telecommunications giant AT&T says some things are just too fast. Last week, the phone company announced plans to "throttle" its heaviest data users.
In a letter released to its wireless customers, only 5% of its data customers use the most amount of wireless data. According to the letter, these customers use 12 times more data than the average smartphone user.
AT&T says the average smartphone user uses less than 2 gigabytes of data a month.
That's why, starting October 1, AT&T will start something called throttling. The company says:
"smartphone customers with unlimited data plans may experience reduced speeds once their usage in abilling cycle reaches the level that puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users."
These customers' speeds will be increased at the start of the next billing cycle. "
To rank among the top 5 percent, you have to use an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period."
