Former AT&T customers get $6.3 million in data throttling refunds

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sending out $6,300,000 in partial refunds to 267,000 former AT&T Wireless customers as part of a data throttling settlement in 2019.

The action follows a 2014 lawsuit by the FTC claiming that AT&T did not fully disclose the terms of its so-called "unlimited data plans" to customers, specifically the fact that their data speeds would be significantly reduced after they hit a certain data consumption threshold.

This unexpected throttling impacted the customers' ability to perform basic tasks like browsing the web or watching videos online, rendering their data subscription for the remainder of the billing cycle worthless.

In 2020, AT&T compensated current consumers with $52,000,000 out of a $60 million settlement through bill credits and refunds. However, former customers had not received any share of the settlement.

The FTC is now compensating 267,000 former customers who did not receive a refund but submitted a valid claim. Those people will receive compensation via checks (212.9k) and PayPal payments (54.8k) and should cash or redeem those payments within 90 and 30 days, respectively.

As part of the 2019 settlement, AT&T was also prohibited from making any claims about the speed or volume of mobile data, including calling it "unlimited," without disclosing applicable restrictions.

Those disclosures should be clear and apparent to the customer regarding the agreed terms of service on the AT&T website and not hidden in fine print or behind hyperlinks.

FTC has set up a FAQ page for more information about the refund process.

It is important to remember that phishing actors and scammers see these actions as good opportunities to launch campaigns, so be wary of emails, SMS, and calls asking you to share information allegedly to receive your compensation.

Unfortunately, this risk is now elevated for about 51 million AT&T customers after the company suffered a data breach and the stolen information was leaked in a hacking forum last month.