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FTC Sues AT&T Over Throttling Practices

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Hope this makes it to court

Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 2:06 PM
I'm sick of hearing about the government shaking down businesses with BS lawsuits that end up getting settled out of court. It's time someone just spends the money to fight it out in court rather than just handing it over validating and encouraging the government to do it more. If companies start fighting these and winning it will stop these mafia style shakedowns.
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 2:41 PM
Who should protect us consumers against these giant monopolistic dictators, who extract every pricing and service advantage from us?
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T Bone

Oct 28, 2014, 2:56 PM
Who will protect us against the monopoly of government?

I mean, if you don't like at&t's policies you can go to another carrier, but if you don't like the government, you can't just sign up with another government.
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 3:18 PM
T_Bone: Ed Snowden and the Constitution.
Consumers are trapped by carriers for two years. Where should they go if they are mistreated, and AT&T breaches their contract?
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 3:31 PM
If they truly breached the contract then you have legal recourse to get out of the contract. So take that out and go to any other cell provider or no cell provider if you feel that all the options are bad. No one forces you to buy a cell phone, it's a convenience that helps makes peoples lives easier. Just because the technology exists doesn't mean you have a right to own one. Government should be protecting our inherent human rights, not privileged services such as smartphones.
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meager73

Oct 28, 2014, 10:16 PM
No that is simply not true. Those taxes we pay should be govt protected from the bs these carriers pull. When they stopped paying the taxes and passed them onto customers they should have been regulated. Period. They are national providers and we pay federal taxes and fees. They should no longer be protected. They are using federal airwaves licences. Again should be regulated. We are not protected enough as consumers. European nations are very corrected and keep the carriers in check but here they allowed to act anhy which way.
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T Bone

Oct 28, 2014, 6:12 PM
And if the government chooses not to obey the Constitution, as it has been doing for more than a century? What's the recourse? You have any idea how many unconstitutional laws are currently on the books? How many unconstitutional acts the government commits every single day? Literally thousands. And there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it. I am far more worried about an out of control, rogue FCC than I am about at&t.
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gfondeur

Oct 29, 2014, 4:26 AM
You Damn right!!!
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 3:21 PM
Well said. Though, there was one thing specifically created to help protect us against the monopoly of government. The 2nd amendment.
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T Bone

Oct 28, 2014, 6:20 PM
That's a line I got from, of all people, former Beatle George Harrison. I saw an interview with him where for some reason the concept of a 'monopoly' came up, and he said 'the government is always telling us that they are protecting us from monopolies, so if, for example, they decide that Kodak is cleaning up on film, they step in and say 'hey, you've made enough money, you have to stop it now because you can't be a monopoly', but there is nobody who can say to the government 'hey you have enough authority, you take enough of our money, you have to stop it because you can't be a monopoly''

The fact that he mentioned Kodak as a company that has a monopoly is a sign of just how old that quote is, but I thought it was quite profound.

If...
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acdc1a

Oct 28, 2014, 2:57 PM
It's really simple. This was a material change in the TOS. Everyone who wanted out of their contract could have gotten out of their contract. Those who stayed have only themselves to blame. The government doesn't need to get involved in something like this.
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T Bone

Oct 28, 2014, 3:02 PM
+1

I remember a couple years ago, a court ruled that the contracts that people sign with wireless carriers are actually legally binding, if they agree to a 2 year contract with a penalty for early termination, then you are obligated to fulfill the terms of that contract or else pay the fee. People totally flipped out 'what an abuse of power by the carriers!' but really....a legally binding contract that you signed voluntarily is legally binding, why is that a controversial decision? I would shocked if a court ruled anything else.

I think that people have an overweening sense of entitlement, they want to be given everything and they don't want to be responsible for anything.....I'm sick of it.
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 3:17 PM
The free market/competition will protect us. If you don't like what a company is doing you stop being their customer. If enough people don't like what they are doing they will either adapt to consumer demand or go out of business.
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 3:22 PM
If you don't like what AT&T is doing and stop paying them, they will ruin your credit rating. You as the consumer are not equal to them. They don't give you the service you bargained for and they promised, you have nowhere to turn. That is where the regulatory agency of the government comes in.
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 3:34 PM
If you owe them money and don't pay then of course that will ruin your credit rating. Pay off your bill before you stop being their customer...

And related to my other comment, if they breached the contract you can get out of it without paying penalties, any bad lawyer would be able to tell you that. But it's still on you to pay for services already rendered.
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 3:57 PM
What's easier to prove: That you stopped paying two years worth of service, or that they throttle your data?
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 4:03 PM
Throttling data is not a breach of contract, read the fine print, know what you're signing up for before you agree to it. Or don't read the fine print, but don't bitch when something like that happens.
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 4:27 PM
Isn't that the exact issue the government is suing AT&T over?
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 5:20 PM
Yes, which is exactly why the lawsuit is BS and and believe they will just try and get it settled out of court for a big payday without having to actually be right.

Gov vs AT&T on cramming case:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=14723 »
AT&T settles for $105 million

Gov vs Apple over App purchases:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=13477 »
Apple settles for $32.5 million

Gov vs Verizon over early termination fees:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=3176 »
Verizon settles for $21 million

Gov vs Google over App purchases:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=14555 »
Google settles for $19 million

Gov vs T-Mobile over early termination fees:
https://www.phonescoop.com/a »...
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Andras888

Oct 28, 2014, 6:26 PM
I think both You and T-Bone have valid points. Let's see how this plays out.
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 6:50 PM
Ya know, looking at all these multi million dollar settlements. It make sense why cell service is so expensive. I mean, where do you think they got enough money to pay off the government and still be able to stay in business?

And now with the Gov on another lawsuit binge it will just cause the carriers to start upping their cash reserves rather than reinvesting in their network just in case they need to settle another suit.
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Brad K

Oct 28, 2014, 3:52 PM
Also, your making a huge mistake assuming that the government regulatory agencies have you're interests at heart. How do you know this suit didn't come about because someone with Verizon or Sprint who donates a lot of money to political campaigns lobbied their government connection to go after their competition? People in general are selfish and only look out for themselves, this rule applies 100x more when talking about people in government. It's way more likely this lawsuit is for political reasons than it is to look out for the consumers.

If a company (or individual for that matter) screws you over then you sue them yourself instead of looking to a government filled with people more incompetent than even you are to do your fighting ...
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KoalaK

Oct 29, 2014, 11:33 AM
If a company (or individual for that matter) screws you over then you sue them yourself [...]


Yes! Because we all know that everyone can afford the best attorneys to fairly battle it out in court with a multiBILLION dollar company! No chance of going into debt and filing bankruptcy at all!
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T Bone

Oct 29, 2014, 12:40 PM
As a guy who just had the IRS seize a bunch of money out of my bank account after a tax dispute, without even being given a chance at a trial or any kind of defense, I find the idea that the government is a kind of superhero who is going to rescue us quite preposterous. The only difference between government and the mafia is that government is legal.
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planethulk

Nov 16, 2014, 1:39 PM
"Never forget that every thing Hitler did in Germany was legal".
-- Martin Luther King Jr
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T Bone

Oct 28, 2014, 6:45 PM
As an example of this, look at what happened to Blockbuster Video with their draconian 'late fee' policy, the moment Netflix came along with a much more reasonable policy, Blockbuster started to die out.

There's a reason why the no contract option, whether on post-paid or pre-paid, is becoming more and more popular.
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