Wireless Customers Who Were Subject to Data Throttling by AT&T Can Apply for a Payment from the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission opened a claims process for former AT&T customers who have yet to claim a refund stemming from the FTC’s lawsuit against the company for misleading consumers about its unlimited data plans.

Former AT&T customers may be eligible to claim a refund from the $7 million remaining in a fund created to settle allegations that the wireless provider charged for “unlimited” data plans while reducing their data speeds, a practice known as throttling.

The FTC in 2019 required AT&T to provide $60 million for refunds for failing to disclose to millions of smartphone customers with unlimited data plans that once they reached a certain amount of data use in a given billing cycle, AT&T would reduce or throttle their data speeds. Some customers experienced data speeds so slow that many common phone applications, such as web browsing and video streaming, became difficult or nearly impossible to use.

The money paid by AT&T was deposited into a fund that the company used to provide partial refunds to current and former customers who had unlimited plans that were throttled by AT&T. The company gave a bill credit to current AT&T customers and sent refund checks to former customers.

AT&T has not been able to reach everyone who was eligible for a refund. The FTC is using the remaining $7 million from the fund to provide partial refunds to consumers who meet all these requirements:

• they are a former AT&T customer;
• they had an unlimited data plan at some point between October 1, 2011 and June 30, 2015;
• they experienced data throttling; and
• they have not received a bill credit or payment from AT&T related to this matter.

Consumers who meet these requirements can submit a claim online at www.ftc.gov/ATT. Consumers can contact the claims administrator by calling 1-877-654-1982 or emailing info@ATTDataThrottling.com if they have questions or if they would like to request a claim form. Consumers have until May 18, 2023, to submit a claim.