AT&T TO THROTTLE TOP DATA USERS

AT&T has stated they will begin to throttle the top 5% of data users down to 2G (whatever that is) speeds. Users will be notified via text message. The text message states "Your data usage is among the top 5 percent of users. Data speeds for the rest of your current bill cycle may be reduced.”

It’s unknown how much data you must consume to make it into the 5 percent affected by the throttling; however, AT&T has made it clear in the past that this move should only effect jailbreakers on unlimited plans who are using tethering hacks to get around subscribing to AT&T’s official tethering plan.

DUTCH TELCO KPN USING DEEP PACKET INSPECTION TO MONITOR MOBILE USERS AND THROTTLE SERVICES

KPN set off some alarms in Holland last month when it announced a plan to start charging customers separate fees for using VoIP, streaming video, and sending instant messages. But, the question remained: how exactly would it keep mobile data users honest? The answer turns out to be deep packet inspection, which examines network traffic to identify what you're sending and where it's going.

It's been suspected that the secret ingredient in KNP's service-throttling sauce was DPI, but it was finally confirmed in a presentation to investors recently. In fact, Mark Fisher, the director of KPN Mobile, bragged that it was the "very first" provider to be "able to identify by deep packet inspection what is actually the destination as data packages go along."

Predictably, privacy and net neutrality advocates are up in arms, with some claiming it is a violation of the Dutch Data Protection Act.

VERIZON WIRELESS LAUNCHES NEW THROTTLING SYSTEM

Verizon Wireless is launching a new network management and throttling system today. The company says that these practices include caching less data, using less capacity, and sizing video content "more appropriately" for smartphones. But according to the memo, the new system (which not coincidentally arrives with Verizon's launch of the iPhone) also involves throttling data throughput using a new "proactive management" system that Verizon claims will only impact the top 5% of wireless broadband users:

Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5% of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.

Unfortunately, Verizon doesn't specify what kind of consumption you need to be guilty of to find your connection throttled. [BGR]

LEAKED: T-MOBILE TO BEGIN THROTTLING "HEAVY" DATA USERS

TMoNews has obtained a document showing T-Mobile will begin to throttle the download speeds of those users it deems as heavy users.  T-Mobile has set a threshhold of 5GB per month and if a user goes over that amount their speeds will be reduced, according the document it is described as "web browsing capabilities... at slower speeds... which will be determined by [the user's] device type."  T-Mobile goes on to say that less than one percent of users will be affected by this policy. [Engadget] [TMoNews]