AT&T Wants To Quietly Settle Unlimited Data Lawsuit

AT&T is looking to solve its case with Matthew Spaccarelli, the man who sued the carrier in small claims court over his “unlimited data” plan. The carrier is offering Spaccarelli a settlement, though it hasn’t said if there’s an option to give him more money.

According to the AP, AT&T is looking into shutting off Spaccarelli’s service over the lawsuit if he won’t talk to the company. That seems a bit extreme, though Spaccarelli has admitted to using his unlimited plan for tethering other devices.

Tethering is not included in the contract for the old unlimited data plans. Because of that, AT&T would technically have grounds for cutting of Spaccarelli’s service. The tethering argument is certainly better than just cutting him off because he used more data than AT&T wanted him to.

This case is something to keep in mind with the new iPad and grandfathered unlimited data plans on LTE. We haven’t seen any hints of AT&T cutting off unlimited iPad users, but there is precedent when it comes to smartphones.

With the 4G LTE offering faster download speeds on the new iPad, it could lead to more data usage. AT&T could try to put some limits on the data if it feels users are using too much data. So be careful with your unlimited 4G, you don’t want to risk losing it.

The AT&T iPad won’t support mobile hotspot when the tablet is released in a few days, but it will eventually.

When it does your unlimited plan might not cover it just like unlimited smartphone data plans didn’t. Just something to keep in mind in case you were planning on using the new iPad with AT&T 4G as an unlimited mobile hotspot.