Always a time of fear eh folks
http://gizmodo.com/5048091/att-changes-terms-of-service-will-start-slowing-rebel-downloaders-next-monthAT&T's just updated its terms of service for broadband customers, and starting next month, if you're a heavy downloader, get ready to have your connection squeezed to a trickle. While they haven't implemented usage caps a la Comcast (yet) they are using a similar traffic management technique starting on Oct. 18 you will see throughput get slower if you're "using other U-verse services in a manner that requires high bandwidth."
Update: So here's what AT&T just told us: "We’re not referring to the use of high-bandwidth activity from other services, like AppleTV, we are saying that customers who subscribe to our higher-bandwidth tiers could see slowdowns in their Internet throughput." In other words, what this actually means is you won't be slowed down for downloading a whole lot, but if there's network congestion generally speaking, your bandwidth's going to get squeezed, and it's more likely to happen if you've got one of the faster U-Verse broadband packages. People that have a (s)lower-bandwidth tier won't see this as often because their connection is already pokey. AT&T says the "vast majority" of people will never notice.
I dont expect they will refund any customer whos service they are clipping in this manner, once again we see the greedy ISP who wont reinvest in infrastrucuture lay all the burden of not having a decent infrastructural upgrade plan on the consumer while sitting pretty with profits they should be ashamed to have amassed.
