Hundreds of Customers Complained to the FCC That AT&T Switched Their Data Plans

Back in November 2016, Consumer Reports announced the results of a survey that didn’t feel like news at all: People really hate their cell phone carriers. And while feeling screwed is almost part of the deal of owning a mobile phone, hundreds of irate customers literally think they’re being cheated by AT&T, according to information coming from complaints to the Federal Communications Commission obtained by a Freedom of Information Act Request. Among more than 500 complaints in the past three years, hundreds allege that the company is either changing customers’ plans without their consent, or attempting to do so by exerting pressure or promising cost savings.

These are serious allegations—because in 2012, the mobile giant settled with the FCC in a consent decree (meaning there was no admission of guilt) for $700,000 after numerous customers complained that AT&T changed their data plans without their knowledge or consent (usually away from the highly coveted unlimited data plans that are no longer offered, except to U-Verse or DirecTV subscribers). A review contained more than 50 instances of customers alleging that their plans were switched on them without their knowledge or consent. These all happened from 2013 to late 2016—after the consent decree.