http://www.automated...-usage-at-150gb
By Roger Cheng
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- AT&T Inc. (T) said Sunday that it would begin to cap DSL data usage for its customers and begin to implement charges for anyone who goes over the limit.
The Dallas telecommunications giant said that customers who went over a limit of 150 gigabytes of data a month three times would be charged $10 for every extra 50 gigabytes of data they consume. Customers on its higher-end U-Verse Internet service have a limit of 250 gigabytes. AT&T will impose the new limit on May 2.
AT&T's move represents an expansion of its policy to charge based on usage, following last year's move to a tiered pricing structure for wireless data. The service providers have been juggling the explosion of demand for video, gaming and other bandwidth-intensive applications running across the networks with the cost to ensure there is sufficient equipment to smoothly handle the traffic. As in mobile, AT&T says the change in policy is to ensure the quality of the customer experience.
"We are committed to providing a great experience for all of our Internet customers," said spokesman Mark Siegel.
AT&T said that it would alert customers multiple times if they are near or exceeding the limit, including proactive notifications when a customer hits 65%, 90% and 100% of their monthly allowance. Similar to its wireless service, the carrier would provide tools to allow customers to check on their usage.
The carrier said that less than 2% of its customer base would be affected by the policy. The company plans to send notification of the change later this week.