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Following the culmination of a long-running class action lawsuit, AT&T and Apple are set to pay out $40 to customers who were affected when AT&T ended its unlimited data plan for the iPad 3G back in June of 2010, reports GigaOM.
In a ruling issued this week in San Jose, California, US District Judge Ronald Whyte signed off on a plan that will see Apple pay $40 to everyone in the US who bought or ordered an iPad 3G before June 7, 2010. In addition, those who did not sign up with AT&T will get a $20/month discount on the carrier’s 5GB monthly plan for up to a year.
Prior to June 2010, AT&T offered a no-contract $29.99/month unlimited data plan for iPad owners, replacing it with a 2 GB for $25/month plan. While AT&T grandfathered in users who had the unlimited plan before June of 2010, the company did began throttling its unlimited users in October of 2011.
In addition to accusing Apple and AT&T of baiting-and-switching customers by selling iPads that had advertised unlimited data, the lawsuits also suggested that without the prospect of an unlimited data plan, consumers had overpaid for their tablets.
The deal is subject to final approval in February, and Apple will begin sending out checks after that date. While AT&T is required to offer customers a $20 discount on the $50/month 5 GB data plan, the deal is only available to customers who do not have another data plan with AT&T due to no-class action provisions in their contracts.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)the new at&t has morphed back into the old at&t. pull them in then screw em. this penalty is nothing more than a hand slap.
For that matter, by the definition of the word unlimited, they should not be allowed to prevent tethering with an unlimited data plan either.
About time. But why is Apple liable? They don't set pricing, and jobs seemed to want unlimited data for it (isn't that the point?)
Maybe it's because at the introduction of the iPad Steve really promoted the fact that the 3G iPad came with the ability to have unlimited data for $29.99 a month. I suppose the plaintiffs argued that they only bought the 3G iPad because of this and then the plan went away just a few months later.
I bought my 1st Gen iPad with 3G and subscribed for just one month, before I realized that I really only used it at home. I thought it was kind of crappy that the plan went away a short time later, but it didn't really matter since I wasn't subscribing. I think the best deal is just to tether a wifi one to your cell phone on a month to month basis. I just wish the wifi iPads would come with GPS.
Verizon started offering the iPhone 4 halfway through its cycle, and this was the first non-AT&T iOS device. This was about two and a half years ago. If you don't remember this, you must either be very young or very new to the Apple ecosystem. Either way, welcome to the world.
Or, you know, I could be in the UK and have no knowledge of US carriers. There are other countries than the US. Welcome to the world. :rolleyes: