AT&T raising data limit for U-verse customers to 1TB a month

AT&T is raising the data limit for U-verse internet customers to 1TB a month and providing unlimited data "at no additional charge" to customers who subscribed to the company's 1Gbps service.

U-verse is AT&T brand of triple-play telecommunications services across 21 states in the US and includes broadband internet, IP telephone and IPTV services.

Caps on DSL users at the company had been in place for years but it had only started enforcing the caps on its faster U-verse service in May this year.

Data had been set at 300GB, 600GB, or 1TB on the basis of speed tier, though, the changes  announced yesterday will be effective from 21 August and give all U-verse customers a monthly data cap of 1TB or no cap at all.

Earlier a 1TB cap was only for customers with speeds from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.

While 1Gbps customers would be upgraded to unlimited data, U-verse customers with slower speeds could pay $30 extra a month for unlimited data.

Customers could also get unlimited data if they signed up for AT&T's U-verse or DirecTV video service.

By imposing limits only on customers without TV service, AT&T was making it harder for subscribers to stop viewing traditional TV and use streaming services  exclusively.

Currently, customers on tiers ranging from 768 kilobits per second (Kbps) to 6 megabits per second (Mbps) got 300GB of data per month, while customers subscribing to tiers ranging from 12Mbps to 75Mbps got 600GB of data usage a month.

AT&T was simplifying the tariff structure by imposing a new single cap for every customer speeding at up to 300Mbps.

If that data was not enough, AT&T would charge customers if they went over their monthly allowance. For $10, customers could get a meagre 50GB of data during the current billing cycle.

"1TB of data per month is enough for up to 400 hours of HD video streaming per month (or more than 13 hours per day!)," AT&T wrote in its announcement.

As before, customers who exceeded the cap would automatically run up $10 for each additional 50GB allotment. Overage charges for U-verse had been capped at $100 per month.

AT&T's announcement is similar to a recent Comcast decision that increased data caps from 300GB to 1TB in response to extensive criticism from customers.

AT&T's announcement left out DSL users, though, a company spokesperson confirmed to Ars that its 150 GB cap on DSL would continue. Also, DSL users did not have the  option to purchase unlimited data and could be charged up to $200 a month in overage fees rather than the $100 limit for U-verse customers.