Image: Anthony Quintano/Flickr
In what appears to be a change of heart, AT&T decided that users grandfathered into unlimited data plans would be throttled only after they've eaten up 22 GB in bandwidth in "congested areas," like metropolitan cities where a large volume of network traffic is likely to occur. The company laid out the updated terms on their website. It reads:"Speed reductions will occur only when the customer is using his or her device at times and in areas where there is network congestion and only for the remainder of the current billing cycle after the customer has exceeded the 22GB data usage threshold."This is over quadruple their previous threshold: 5 GB, which I or you or anyone else can easily topple by watching a bunch of YouTube videos or streaming music regularly.AT&T came under fire earlier this summer for not adequately notifying its customers that their speeds would throttled, which resulted in a $100 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission for what was essentially false advertisement. The company was promising "Unlimited" data while imposing some very obvious limits; throttling speeds by 90 percent or more after going over the previous 5 GB limit.Under the new terms, however, you can likely go about your business without hitting the limit, and even then, you'll get a text when you're around the 75 percent mark. It's undoubtedly a win for consumers, but remember: it took a solid government fine for a telecom to adequately serve its customers.