AT&T Will Roll Out Tiered Internet Access In October

By cwalters July 22, 2008

If you stream movies or other high-bandwidth content and you’re an AT&T customer, get ready to pay more later this year. AT&T will introduce tiered Internet access packages this October, said one of their executives yesterday at an FCC hearing.

“When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers,” Quinn said in written testimony. “We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer’s service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier.”

There’s actually no word on pricing yet, but we’re going to make a bold, brave prediction that you’ll pay more than your current package for the better tiers.

“AT&T To Create Tiered Internet Access For Subscribers” [CNN Money]
(Photo: Getty)

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Comments

  1. jonworld says:
    July 23, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    At least the tiers are based on speed and it’s only AT&T. As a web designer and an all-around heavy downloader, I would be pissed if Comcast added bandwidth tiers to their internet service…oh wait…their sort of doing it already by prioritizing the network so heavy users get slower speeds during high-traffic periods!

    Throughout the day, my internet will be running at blazing speeds. However, during the early evening hours, the internet in my house seems to drag along like molasses while my neighbors have no such complaints.

  2. Maulleigh says:
    July 23, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    This will be interesting to watch. They have all the ipod people over a barrel. Will all the other providers follow suit or will they lower their prices like smart businesses should? I predict the latter.

  3. synergy says:
    July 24, 2008 at 12:22 am

    @blackmage439: I’m guessing Internet Neutrality is the next item on the block.

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