AT&T is making an attempt to quietly settle with the iPhone user who was recently awarded $850 in a lawsuit over AT&T's data-throttling practices, but the user in question doesn't want any part of it. Instead, he's committed to fighting AT&T and hopes other subscribers follow his example by taking AT&T to court over the throttling of supposed "unlimited" data plans, and has taken his cause to a website called PublikDemand to get others involved.
Matthew Spaccarelli won an $850 judgement against AT&T in a California small-claims court in late February when the court found that it wasn't fair for AT&T to slow down data speeds under his iPhone's unlimited data plan. Spaccarelli had argued that he was being throttled after using 1.5GB to 2GB of data in one billing cycle—well within the 3GB tiered plan AT&T currently offers to customers for the same price ($30 per month) as the now-defunct unlimited plan.
When AT&T phased out the unlimited plan, however, the carrier allowed existing subscribers to be grandfathered in and continue using it. But Spaccarelli wasn't just downloading 1.5 to 2GB of data on his iPhone—he was using his phone to share the data access with his iPad without paying the extra fee required by AT&T for tethering/hotspot service. This was a violation of AT&T's terms of service, causing the carrier to switch his plan to a limited one. Spaccarelli complained, however, and had it changed back to an unlimited plan.
Now, according to the Associated Press, AT&T has sent a letter to Spaccarelli demanding that he participate in settlement talks or his phone service may be shut down. Spaccarelli posted the documents online—something AT&T's letter specifically asks him not to do—in hopes that his case emboldens others like him to follow suit. "Looks like #att is threatening to cut off my service if I don't sign a confidentiality agreement to talk about settling. I thought I won!!" Spaccarelli posted to Twitter on Tuesday. In another tweet, he directed users to PublikDemand "to get help with small claims court against AT&T."
Correction: AT&T reached out to us for clarification, saying that the letter says if he chose to engage in settlement talks, there would be a standard mutual NDA. Spaccarelli's service would only be terminated if he agreed to the settlement but violated the signed agreement.
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