AT&T has racked up a $100 million overage fee.
The Federal Communications Commission is planning to fine AT&T $100 million for allegedly misleading customers by telling them they had unlimited data plans for mobile devices like smartphones, but then secretly slowing down their service.
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday that after an investigation, it found that the telecom giant had "severely slowed down the data speeds for customers with unlimited data plans" and did not "adequately notify" its customers of this action.
[seealso slug=http://sale-online.click/2014/10/28/att-ftc-unlimited-data/%5D%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EThe FCC action follows on a previous claim by the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that AT&T had been throttling customers since 2011, lowering speeds by as much as 90% after as little as 2 gigabytes of usage.
The FCC is making similar allegations, claiming that in 2011 the company began to cap data speeds for customers on unlimited data plans after a certain amount of usage.
“Consumers deserve to get what they pay for,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “Broadband providers must be upfront and transparent about the services they provide. The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure.”
Today we act on behalf of consumers misled by promise of unlimited data plans.Consumers should get what they pay for. http://t.co/4icUJ2ykTv— Tom Wheeler (@TomWheelerFCC) June 17, 2015
The FCC said it has received "thousands" of complaints since 2011, and found that millions of customers had been affected by AT&T's throttling.