Following the public backlash against AT&T for its decision to throttle data speeds for some customers with “unlimited” data plans, the company has now decided to set actual hard, well… limits, on how much data a subscriber can use in a month before being throttled.

Instead of the vague “top 5% of data users” that had people being throttled at anywhere from 1.5GB to more than 6GB in a month, the Death Star has now decreed that customers with HSPA+ phones (which includes iPhones) will max out at 3GB/month before feeling the throttle, while customers with LTE phones can keep streaming and Facebooking until they hit 5GB in a month.

If you’re unsure of how much data you’ve used so far, you can always dial *data# on your mobile device to find out.

AT&T now says that users will receive alerts when they approach their don’t-call-it-a-limit limit. If they go over that line, then their data speed is throttled through the end of that billing cycle.

“You’ll still be able to use as much data as you want,” explains a statement from the Dark Side. “That won’t change.”

Except, if you’re slowing down the data, then there is, by definition, a limit to how much data one can download during that time period. Just saying.

If you don’t like it, AT&T advises you to use WiFi as much as possible, switch to a tiered plan (which is what they really want you to do anyway), or just suck it up and don’t be such a baby (at least that’s what we inferred).

You can read all about it HERE [via 9to5mac.com]

Thanks to Arif for the tip!

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