At AT&T, we want our customers to have information to more fully understand and enjoy the services we offer. To help keep customers informed about our mass market broadband Internet access services, (...) [below] we provide information about the network practices [and] performance characteristics (...) applicable to our mass market wired [and] mobile (...), consistent with the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet Rules. This information should help customers make informed choices about how to use those services, and will assist providers of Internet applications, content and services in developing, marketing and maintaining their Internet offerings. We encourage mass market customers and other users of our network to familiarize themselves with this information (...).
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AT&T strives to provide a high-quality Internet experience for all of our customers. Because the Internet consists of multiple interconnected networks and most Internet end points (e.g., websites and other content providers) are not directly connected to the AT&T network, AT&T must connect to and exchange traffic with other networks to provide its subscribers the capability of uploading data to or downloading data from Internet end points that are connected to those networks. To that end, AT&T has entered into commercially negotiated agreements to exchange traffic with those networks (and the networks with which those networks are connected) on mutually agreeable terms. The links AT&T and other networks use to exchange such traffic may become congested at times. Consistent with its agreements with those other networks and its long-standing practice, AT&T may establish or expand the connections between its network and other networks, but only on mutually agreeable terms. If AT&T is unable to reach agreement on terms of interconnection or network expansion with these other networks, it could affect customers' ability to upload or download data to Internet endpoints connected to those networks. AT&T does not guarantee that it will establish or expand the connections between its network and other networks, or that subscribers will be able to upload data to or download data from Internet end points connected to other networks at any particular speed.
In addition, like the other networks that make up the Internet, the AT&T network is a shared network, which means that the transmission links and other network resources used to provide broadband services are shared among AT&T's subscribers. AT&T manages this network for the benefit of all users based on a variety of factors, and our technical expertise. Nonetheless, temporary congestion may occur when a large number of customers in a concentrated area access the network at the same time or when some customers consume a very large amount of network capacity during busy periods, such as at stadium events, during peak usage times, or during planned network maintenance.
AT&T invests billions of dollars annually to address potential congestion in its broadband networks. As is common in the industry, we use network management practices and other tools to manage network resources for the benefit of all of our mobile broadband customers, especially during periods when network demand exceeds available network resources (also known as "congestion"). As you would expect, our network management practices and our service offerings have evolved over time to benefit our customers and take advantage of the billions we have spent to expand and augment our networks.
One network management practice we use to manage our network resources may affect certain smartphone customers with Unlimited Data Plans. Specifically, if a customer on a smartphone with an Unlimited Data Plan exceeds 22GB of data usage in a billing period, he or she may experience reduced data speeds and increased latency during periods of congestion as compared to other customers using the same cell site. As always, even when subject to network management practices, Unlimited Data Plan smartphone customers have the comfort of knowing that, no matter how much data they use in a billing cycle, they will never be subject to overage charges and will pay a single monthly flat rate. That is the essential promise of an Unlimited Data Plan. Reduced speeds and increased latency may cause web sites to load more slowly or affect the performance of data-heavy activities such as video streaming or interactive gaming. However, an affected unlimited data plan customer will experience reduced speeds and increased latency only if he or she has already exceeded his or her 22GB data usage threshold in a billing period and uses data at a cell site experiencing network congestion at the same moment. As soon as the congestion at the cell site abates, or if the customer's session migrates to an uncongested cell site, speeds and latency are not affected. In addition, this network management practice adjusts dynamically to address the amount of congestion, which can start and stop over a very short time period (often measured in fractions of a second), further minimizing any customer impact. Because the amount of congestion at a cell site can vary significantly, the performance impact for the affected unlimited data plan customer may also vary significantly, but such impact will last only as long as the site is congested.
We will notify Unlimited Data Plan customers during each billing cycle when their usage reaches 75% of the 22GB threshold (i.e., 16.5GB) so they can adjust their usage to avoid network management practices that may result in slower data speeds. (...).
With the ever increasing growth in smart phone and tablet usage on our networks, and the growing prevalence of video downloads, AT&T has deployed a reasonable network management video optimization technique in our mobile data network. That technique delivers recorded video to the user's device in a "just in time" fashion ("Buffer Tuning"). Buffer Tuning only applies to internet browser traffic (HTTP, port 80) for recorded video downloads, regardless of the source (including AT&T branded or 3rd party content), and does not affect real-time streaming video. Without Buffer Tuning, video content may be completely delivered to the device and charged against the user's data plan regardless of whether it is viewed. With Buffer Tuning, a sufficient amount of video is delivered to the device so that the user can start viewing the video, and the remainder of the video is delivered just in time to the device as needed for uninterrupted viewing. This optimizes the user's data plan consumption. Additionally, this frees up network resources for all users. Buffer Tuning does not alter video content and should not directly introduce any adverse impact to the viewing experience.
We have developed data plans for our wired and mobile broadband Internet access services so that our customers can choose from a variety of rate plans that best reflect their own usage levels. AT&T provides usage calculators and other tools for our wired and mobile broadband Internet access services to assist customers in estimating their anticipated usage levels. (...). In addition, we send notices to our customers when they are approaching the applicable usage thresholds for our tiered wired and mobile services.
Our Mobile Share Advantage Plans provide customers allotments of high speed data that they may share among different devices. Once customers exceed their allotments of high speed data -- which includes the plan data, any available Rollover Data (...) or other data allotments customers may have -- during a billing period, they may continue to consume data at no extra charge, but at significantly lower speeds when connected to the cellular network. Specifically, after a customer uses all available data allotments in a billing cycle, the customer's service over the cellular network will transmit data at a maximum of 128kbps for the remainder of the billing cycle unless the customer upgrades to a rate plan with a higher allotment of high speed data access before the end of the billing cycle. Once a customer's speeds are limited, the customer's connection over the cellular network should still allow viewing a web page or checking email. Bandwidth-intensive activities, including audio and video streaming, picture and video messaging, select apps and services, as well as other usage (including sponsored data) will be impacted and may not be fully functional. But, when the next billing cycle begins, the customer will once again have high speed data access. We will notify Mobile Share Advantage Plan customers during each billing cycle when their data usage reaches 75%, 90% and 100% of their monthly high speed data allotment so that they are aware of their amount of data usage and can make adjustments to avoid slower speeds. When connected to a Wi-Fi network, the customer's speed will not be impacted.
We also have a sponsored data program that enables third parties to pay for the data usage for specific content on behalf of eligible AT&T wireless customers. With AT&T Sponsored Data, eligible customers can sample, browse, stream and enjoy applications, content and services provided by data sponsors without using up their monthly data allotments. Sponsored data thus effectively extends a customer's data usage allotment, and enables providers of online content, applications and services to encourage users to sample their services. (...)
No, AT&T does not favor certain Internet applications by blocking, throttling or modifying particular protocols, protocol ports, or protocol fields in ways not prescribed by the protocol standards. However, in response to a specific security threat against our network or our customers, AT&T may occasionally need to limit the flow of traffic from certain locations or take other appropriate actions.
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AT&T takes the security of our customers and our network very seriously. We proactively monitor network activity to help guard against a wide range of security threats, including viruses, botnets, worms, distributed denial of service attacks, SPAM, and other harmful activity. We encourage customers to adopt their own security practices.
We use a variety of network tools to monitor network activity and health to maintain its stability and functionality, to protect the network against threats, and for other operational purposes. We store the information we gather through this monitoring for only as long as we have a business purpose to maintain it. (...)
If we detect a security threat, we will typically attempt to isolate the threat and minimize the impact to network service. We may use a variety of security measures to protect the network, including blocking malicious or unlawful traffic, redirecting the flow of traffic over some portions of our network, or taking other actions to address the threat. (...) We attempt to limit actions to the specific portions of our network or customer base impacted by the security threat and only for as long as necessary to mitigate the threat.
AT&T may scan or analyze network addresses that are registered through AT&T, including addresses that may have been delegated to customers, and/or routes that originate from AT&T-provided networks to detect vulnerabilities that might be used to compromise AT&T or customer assets or might be used in attacks against others. In doing so, we seek to avoid disrupting network service to customers. We may use information derived from these activities to identify and address security issues or to notify customers of issues.
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AT&T offers many mass market broadband Internet access service options, each of which may have a different service capability speed. The term speed is commonly used as a shorthand way to describe the capacity at which a particular mass market broadband Internet access service can transmit data. This capacity is typically measured in the number of kilobits, megabits or gigabits that can be transmitted in one second (Kbps, Mbps or Gbps). Some applications, like a short email without attachments or basic web browsing, do not require high service capability speeds to function optimally. Other activities, like transferring large data files, can be performed faster with higher-speed services. Your service capability speed may not be suitable for some applications, particularly those involving real-time or near real-time, high-bandwidth uses such as streaming video or video conferencing.
Because service performance varies on an end-to-end basis, AT&T's service capability speeds are limited to, and measured between, your location and a point on AT&T's network, which constitutes only one segment of the end to end transmission path connecting your location to Internet websites or content providers. End-to-end performance of your service depends on a variety of factors, including: the number of subscribers simultaneously using the network; customer location; destination and traffic on the Internet; Wi-Fi connectivity; the capabilities and performance of your Local Area Network (LAN); interference with high frequency spectrum on your telephone line; wiring inside your premises, office or apartment; the capacity or performance of your devices or modem; the server with which you are communicating; internal network management factors (including overhead, which refers to the various control and signaling data required to achieve the reliable transmission of Internet access data); and the networks you and others are using when communicating.
AT&T offers a wide variety of services to its customers (including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol (IP)-video, unified messaging, Voice over LTE (VoLTE), enterprise networking services, and other services), which share AT&T's network infrastructure and may affect the availability of network resources for broadband Internet access services. Your use of these services may affect the performance of your mass market broadband Internet access service. In addition, although AT&T engineers its network to accommodate all users and user types based on a variety of factors, including average and anticipated peak usage of the network, many factors cannot be anticipated or are outside of AT&T's control. These factors can impact the availability of network resources for mass market broadband Internet access services at any particular time. Consequently, AT&T does not guarantee the performance of your service on an end-to-end basis.
Other factors that are relevant to specific services include, but are not limited to, the following:
Wired Services: Service performance may be affected by the wiring inside your premises, the distance between your premises and an AT&T central office, the capabilities of your computer, and the applications you use. In addition, to provide our U-verse customers with a consistently high-quality video service, the speed of AT&T U-verse broadband Internet access service may be temporarily reduced when a customer is using his or her U-verse video service in a manner that requires high bandwidth. (...)
Mobile Services: Service performance may be affected by your proximity to a cell site, the capacity of the cell site, the number of other users connected to the same cell site and the services they are using, the surrounding terrain, use inside a building or a moving vehicle, radio frequency interference, the capabilities of your device, applicable network management practices as discussed above, and the applications you use. In addition, AT&T has designed its wireless services to provide our customers with a high-quality voice experience during simultaneous voice and data sessions, which may affect data performance, including but not limited to a temporary reduction in speed to minimize the likelihood of dropped calls.
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Latency, also known as delay, is the amount of time from when a data packet is sent to when it is received. For mass market broadband Internet access services, latency is usually expressed as the round-trip time in milliseconds (ms) that it takes for a data packet to travel between two end points on the Internet (from point A to point B and then back to point A). Some applications, such as email, can tolerate a substantial amount of latency without any noticeable impact on the application's performance. Other applications, such as real-time video conferencing, require lower latency to function properly. End-to-end latency reflects the cumulative effect of the individual latencies that occur along the end-to-end network path.
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