The FTC said Thursday that former and current customers of AT&T who were affected by data throttling between 2011 and 2015 can apply for a partial refund. File Photo by ghcassel/Pixabay
Jan. 20 (UPI) — A new claims process has been opened for former and current AT&T customers who have yet to receive compensation in connection to a data-throttling lawsuit, federal regulators said.
The U.S. mobile carrier was ordered in 2019 to pay $60 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2014 accusing the company of misleading their customers by charging them for unlimited data plans but then reducing their Internet speeds, in some causes up to 90%, starting in 2011.
The FTC said in a statement Thursday that AT&T has been unable to pay back all of its harmed customers, with some $7 million of the settlement remaining in a fund.
The federal regulator said it has opened a new claims process to provide partial refunds to former AT&T customers who had an unlimited plan between Oct. 1, 2011, and June 30, 2015, had experienced data throttling and had yet to received a bill credit or payment from AT&T.
Those who meet these requirements are encouraged to submit a claim online, it said.
The FTC filed the lawsuit against the U.S. company in federal court in October of 2014, accusing it of failing to adequately disclose to its unlimited data plan customers that when they reach a certain usage level, their data speeds would be throttled. Some customers experienced speeds so slow that they were unable to use basic applications, such as web browsing, on their devices, according to the federal regulator.
AT&T denied the charges and continues to do so, with a spokesperson telling Market Watch in a statement that “[w]hile we continue to dispute the allegations in this lawsuit from 2014, we elected to settle in 2019 rather than continue with drawn-out litigation.”
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