AT&T My Usage (Internet)

fatchowmein

Anybody have any luck viewing their data usage for Uverse or DSL? Here are my problems. (I know most of you would say problem #1 is AT&T...)

1. No direct link to the MyUsage page. I had to Google it and everybody says to type in http://myusage.att.com and it redirects you to the correct page.
2. I have a set of username and password to manage the billing but it doesn't work on the MyUsage page. I had to use older credentials. This was the 3rd time I've attempted to log into MyUsage but the first time I got in.
3. Once I got it, I see "AT&T is not able to capture usage data on all of its customers. Customers whose usage is not available for viewing should not be concerned about their usage patterns for billing purposes." Does this mean they haven't capped me or can't cap me?

This month (May) was the first month of the cap and I wanted to set a baseline. I think I can capture data usage with my router but I've been reading about how AT&T's tally is about 8% higher than what some customers are recording on their own. (I'm not talking about iPhone data usage overcharge which is a different set of problems that does not affect me.)

thuffman03

I wish I could help. I use Verizon.

billbillw

Works for me. I can't see current usage today (probably since its the 1st of the month), but I could see it last week. So far, my usage has been well within the limit, even with frequent video torrent downloads and heavy surfing. Admittedly, I haven't been watching much instant Netflix lately though and I usually try to find videos that are 720p or lower which limits the file size to about 1.5GB/hr for MKV.

nguyendot

213.45 GB Used of 250 GB Allowed

But I'm on cox... hehe

nadams

I would guess that it means that their equipment has not (yet) been upgraded to capture usage info in your area. Just a guess...

Sherardp

So if your a hardcore gamer, playing Xbox 360 online daily you could be screwed. Why do ISP's do this? I mean I can understand the downloading of movies, etc but it seems rather pointless. There is only one company out here that caps bandwidth and it too is an American company on base. The other ISP's are ran by Japanese owners and they don't cap at all.

billbillw

Sherardp wrote: »

So if your a hardcore gamer, playing Xbox 360 online daily you could be screwed. Why do ISP's do this? I mean I can understand the downloading of movies, etc but it seems rather pointless. There is only one company out here that caps bandwidth and it too is an American company on base. The other ISP's are ran by Japanese owners and they don't cap at all.

I don't think online gaming uses much bandwidth. Its the the HD video that kills bandwidth. Users who start downloading 1080p stuff will quickly reach the limit.

It does really puts the screws on all the legitimate video download sights though. It doesn't give them much incentive to offer 1080p downloads.

nadams

Sherardp wrote: »

So if your a hardcore gamer, playing Xbox 360 online daily you could be screwed. Why do ISP's do this? I mean I can understand the downloading of movies, etc but it seems rather pointless. There is only one company out here that caps bandwidth and it too is an American company on base. The other ISP's are ran by Japanese owners and they don't cap at all.

Because in order to actually deliver the speeds that they advertise, they would have to raise prices. Can't go doing that, now can you? Instead, we pay a great price (sometimes) for great speeds, and then hit this artificial cap and get our service cancelled for not adhering to the terms of use...

billbillw

nadams wrote: »

Because in order to actually deliver the speeds that they advertise, they would have to raise prices. Can't go doing that, now can you? Instead, we pay a great price (sometimes) for great speeds, and then hit this artificial cap and get our service cancelled for not adhering to the terms of use...

I don't know about the other services, but with ATT, you just pay an extra $10 for each 50GB of data after the limit. They won't cancel your service.

disneyjoe7

I don't believe at&t is going to cap anyone, but maybe more then happy to bill you. If you can't see your usage, I would believe you're not in any danger in seeing a larger bill. I think there's some email which is sent to your inbox when you're getting close to being billed. IMHO.

nguyendot

Here cox has a usage limit, but even in their rules it states nothing happens if you go over... I can hit the 250gb in less than two days if I went full bore downloading at my max speed, which is the tiered limit on my plan.

snow

billbillw wrote: »

I don't know about the other services, but with ATT, you just pay an extra $10 for each 50GB of data after the limit. They won't cancel your service.

Great price IMHO It is $5.00 per ever GB gone over in my plan which translates to $250.00 fo a 50 GB overusage.



REGARDS SNOW

Gadabout

I have Uverse and didn't read anything about that in the fine point when I signed up so I thought I would test your link and see if they had capped me. I get this message:

The U-verse data measurement report is currently under construction. When completed, you will be notified if your usage exceeds the allowance. Until that time, U-verse customers should not be concerned about their usage patterns for billing purposes.

To learn more about how to manage your usage, please visit www.att.com/internet-usage

Not sure how it works for DSL, but since my router supplies all services TV, wireless and wired internet it might be a bit difficult to separate internet from TV viewing. It sounds like they are working on something that might cap usage. My guess is that it will be away for them to get customers to pay more $'s to upgrade to a higher speed connection. Assuming, you get a larger cap with the higher cost data plans

Scott

Gadabout

Doing some more reading I found a Link to The Broadband Usage FAQ:

So the capping started May 2nd, this year. The same song and dance that their wireless customers are getting about 2% of their users using 20% of the network capacity. So the cap for DSL is going to be 150 GB/mo and Uverse customers are at 250 GB/mo. Nothing about a higher cap for the folks that are paying extra for the higher speed connections.

It is a little disconcerting as to what the limits are since the limit gets reached with streaming 13 HD movies and 25 SD movies. To me, these limits seem a little bit low since most of the folks I know watch a fair bit of streaming content from Netflix, amazon or the new HBO Go.

Here is what was specifically said about going over:

What will happen if I exceed my monthly usage allowance?

You will receive a notice the first time your usage exceeds the applicable monthly allowance.

In the following months, we will send you additional notices each month when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance. If you exceed your monthly allowance a second time, AT&T will send you a notice advising you that the next time you exceed your allowance - the third time - you will be billed $10 for each 50 GB of data over your allowance.

For the folks that can't access the usage tools (like myself):

I can't seem to access the usage tool. What should I do?

Many of our customers have access to this tool already. For those who don't today, until you're able to log in and view your usage on www.att.com/internet-usage, you should not be concerned about your usage patterns for billing purposes. Once the tool is available, you will be notified if you exceed your allowance

Hope that helps a bit,
Scott

fatchowmein

Thanks, Scott. I'll go download the entire world and cache it for later.

quadzilla

Welcome to the "free market" as portrayed in America. If we did actually have competition among ISPs, you'd never see this stuff.