Defining unlimited is a metaphysical exercise worthy of a Cosmos or at least a Big Bang episode.  We have blogged before about the meaning of “lifetime supply” and “free.”  But the FTC is very literal when it comes to defining the bounds of limitless and concludes that, well, unlimited means unlimited. The FTC has just filed a federal court complaint against AT&T seeking redress for customers who signed up for unlimited data plans.  In its complaint, FTC charged AT&T with engaging in an unfair and deceptive data throttling practice that targeted customers on its unlimited data plans without providing customers adequate disclosure as to the nature of the practice.

According to the FTC, despite its “unequivocal promises of unlimited data,” AT&T allegedly began throttling data speeds for its unlimited data plan customers in 2011, in which “numerous customers” experienced slow-downs of up to 85-95 percent. The FTC’s complaint claims that AT&T violated the FTC Act by changing the terms of customers’ unlimited data plans while those customers were still under contract with AT&T, and by failing to disclose the extent of the throttling program to consumers who renewed their unlimited data plans with AT&T.