AT&T has announced they will be putting caps on high-speed Internet customers beginning in May. Customers will be hit with $10 fees for every 50 gigabytes they use beyond what AT&T says is fair use of the connection, which is 150 gigabytes per month.
Why is AT&T doing this? They’re scared of cord-cutting, which is common among those 35 and under who don’t want pay TV service anymore because they watch TV over the Internet. AT&T has put a big push behind their U-Verse TV service. And the cable companies sell both cable and high-speed Internet. So they’re all feeling the same pain. At the same time, as more people watch TV over the Internet, all these providers incur more costs because they have to create capacity to host all that video streaming.
I think what AT&T is doing is price fixing by press release. AT&T is floating this idea out, knowing full well that they’ll take heat for it. And they’re hoping in the next few weeks that other companies step up with similar plans that are just as anti-consumer as theirs.
I have AT&T for DSL right now. But I will 100% fire them over this move. Even though I don’t violate the caps going into place, you have to take a stand when something like this comes up. So I’m dumping them. It’s over. The funny thing is that leaves me back with the cable company as my other choice for high-speed Internet. That’s the problem with a duopoly when two companies control a business and stifle a true free market.
