AT&T Settles FTC Complaint, Agrees to Refund $60-Million to Unlimited Customers

Current and former AT&T customers may soon be getting some money back from the communications giant.

In a recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, AT&T has agreed to return $60 million to customers for allegedly reducing the data speed on their unlimited data plans without telling them.

In its 2014 complaint, the FTC said that AT&T’s practice of data throttling – that is, slowing down the data speed for unlimited customers who used large amounts of data – was unfair and deceptive.

It was unfair, according to the FTC, because AT&T promised unlimited data, but didn’t give customers the data they paid for.

And it said it was deceptive because AT&T didn’t tell customers it was reducing their data speed.

As part of the settlement, AT&T is prohibited from making any representation about the speed or amount of its mobile data, including that it is “unlimited,” without disclosing any material restrictions on the speed or amount of data.

Additionally, the disclosures need to be prominent, not buried in fine print or hidden behind hyperlinks.

After the court approves the settlement, the money will be distributed to AT&T customers who signed up for an unlimited data plan before 2011 and were affected by the data throttling.

Customers do not have to do anything to get their portion of the settlement: current customers will get a credit on a future bill and former customers will get a check in the mail.

“AT&T promised unlimited data—without qualification—and failed to deliver on that promise,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “While it seems obvious, it bears repeating that Internet providers must tell people about any restrictions on the speed or amount of data promised.”