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Toothless American consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission, today agreed to let AT&T settle a five-year battle over phony "unlimited data" promises for just $60m. That's $40m less than expected, and less than one day of annual profit for the telco giant.
The agreement [PDF] lets AT&T claim it did nothing wrong; the settlement, as ever, comes with no admittance of guilt. The FTC's official announcement repeatedly stresses the fact that AT&T throttled millions of customers' mobile broadband access despite selling them "unlimited data" plans, are mere "allegations."
The settlement was agreed to by four of the five FTC commissioners, with Rebecca Kelly Slaughter recusing herself for some unknown reason. Another commissioner, Rohit Chopra, made it clear that he was not happy about the deal, despite agreeing to it.
In a statement [PDF], Chopra called AT&T's actions a "scam," "scandal," and "massive fraud," and noted he "would have liked to see AT&T pay more," but recognized "the risks and resources associated with litigation." He concluded: "The bottom line is that AT&T fleeced its customers to enrich its executives and its investors."
The original FTC complaint was filed in 2014 after it received numerous gripes from AT&T customers that their phones' mobile internet download speeds had slowed to a crawl despite being on "unlimited" data plans. It turned out that after people had fetched 2 to 3GB of information each month, AT&T simply throttled their accounts, making web browsing difficult and video streaming near-impossible.
Also at Forbes
(Score: 2) by Rich on Wednesday November 06 2019, @03:52PM (4 children)
Without further diving into TFAs, can I assume of the $60M, $50M were for the claiming attorneys, and $10M are to be paid out to customers, in form of a $2 voucher for each customer, redeemable when signing any 24-month-plan with AT&T?
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday November 06 2019, @04:57PM (3 children)
Ever the optimist. First, you must prove you are a member of the affected group, then sign away your rights to ever sue over this issue independently of the class action. After going through all of that and being vetted as a bona-fide member of the affected group, the attorneys _might_ deem you worthy to receive a check in the mail in the amount of 60% of your costs of proving yourself affected - valid for 30 days from the day of printing arriving in your mailbox at least 48 hours before it expires. You forgot to mail in your certified independently audited costs of being proven affected by the case? Well, sorry, we can't just mail money to everyone who drops us a letter, you are however free to appeal the decision through a process outlined....
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 06 2019, @07:26PM (1 child)
Why should they go to that much trouble? They'll just include a PSA in billing statements that says something bullshit like... "We care about our cunstomers and are raising our data plans an extra 4096 bytes per month"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @04:44AM
They will probably just give their customers a $2 refund on their next bill. There will of course be an extra $2 service fee to cover processing costs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @06:55AM
You need to refresh your class-action litigation law. If you are a part of the affected class, you waive your right to sue independently from the class if you don't challenge or otherwise object within the window before the consent decree is entered. Didn't know about the lawsuit until after that? Too late. Is it impossible for you to meet the documentation requirements of the settlement? Too bad.