It was only a few days ago that AT&T instituted the data caps on their broadband connections, but speaking on the situation, AT&T"s Mark Siegel proclaimed that it is what the end user had asked for and referred to the capping as "generous".
While it is hard to believe that any customer would ask for their unlimited connection to be capped and then forced to pay if they go over the limit, that is exactly what AT&T is claiming. They state that customer feedback, according to CNN, cited that users wanted the individuals that consume the most to pay more. AT&T states:
"Our approach is based on customers" feedback," said Mark Siegel, spokesman for AT&T. "They told us that the people who use the most should pay more, and they also told us we should make it easy for them to track their usage. We think our approach addresses these concerns."
What is not known how the information was communicated to AT&T, specifically, what question did they pose to gain such feedback. If they sent out a survey that asked, "Do you believe that the top 2% of broadband users should pay more than the remaining 98%" then of course you will hear consumers ask for higher premium to that demographic.
Further, if AT&T were truly worried about their broadband being overrun by heavy downloading, why aren"t consumers using under the cap being rewarded for their efforts or, at minimum, given "rollover" data as they do with their cellular service. AT&T needs to be honest and call the caps what it is, a tax on users to pad their bottom line. While that will never happen, they are trying to cover it up by saying users requested the data caps.