ZTE-AT&T message “Reduced Speeds”

[ogaddcb]

Since August 30^th we’ve been in our 2014 Northwood Nash 17K recovering from loss of the contents, sheet rock etc. at our home 20 from Harvey.  Our sole form of internet access has been and will remain until probably year end 2017 the ZTE.  September, October and November we received a message from AT&T stating in part “Your automotive Wi-Fi data usage this month has reached 16.5GB. If you exceed 22GB before your next cycle on MM/15/2017, you can still use unlimited data however your speeds may be reduced at times and in areas with network congestion.”

This activity is not streaming TV shows and movies but actual Harvey communications and related activity. Very large files being transferred between FEMA and Flood Insurance. My question is, has anybody received these messages and if so has AT&T actually reduced speeds at times and in areas with network congestion?  Our home 20 very close to Houston.

[Bill Joyce]

Yes, they will reduce speeds at times and areas with network congestion.  But, you might not notice it.  A friend said he uses over 100GB each month on AT&T and sees some slowdown, but it is not major and does not last.  We used 39GB last month on AT&T and did not notice any slowdown, but it might have happened.

[Dutch_12078]

We've often gone well over 22GB on our Connected Car plan, and haven't noticed any slowdowns beyond the ones we typically see at peak times in heavily populated areas. Even then, dropping from 25-30Mbs to 7-15Mbps usually doesn't noticeably affect streaming for us.

[ogaddcb]

Thanks a lot for the information.  As you can imagine the files being transferred back and forth are sometimes VERY large not to mention the ordering and scheduling on line deliveries.  One of the agencies, not going to mention the specific one, will not accept our dropbox pictures so we have to send the pictures one by one with a date stamp.  We will just keep plugging away. I want to make sure we don’t miss a flood related item.

Heck we may even come 11/15 we may even stream a movie or something like that.

[The Free Five]

That message is normal and it's just letting you know that your data use is approaching AT&T's network management threshold.

"Network Management" just means that your data will have a lower priority on the network.  It will only affect you when the cell tower you're connected to is crowded - in that case your speeds might slow down.  It does not have any other effect nor does it limit the amount of data you can use.