Defining unlimited is a metaphysical exercise worthy of a Cosmos
or at least a Big Bang episode. We have blogged before about
the meaning of "
lifetime supply" and "
free." But the FTC is very literal when it comes to
defining the bounds of limitless and concludes that, well,
unlimited means unlimited. The FTC has just filed a federal court
complaint against AT&T seeking redress for customers who signed
up for unlimited data plans. In its
complaint, FTC charged AT&T with engaging in an unfair and
deceptive data throttling practice that targeted customers on its
unlimited data plans without providing customers adequate
disclosure as to the nature of the practice.
According to the FTC, despite its "unequivocal promises of
unlimited data," AT&T allegedly began throttling data
speeds for its unlimited data plan customers in 2011, in which
"numerous customers" experienced slow-downs of up to
85-95 percent. The FTC's complaint claims that AT&T
violated the FTC Act by
