AT&T iPhone & iPad Billing Class Action

A class action lawsuit has been filed against AT&T for allegedly overbilling iPhone and iPad customers for data usage, and even billing for phantom data traffic.

“AT&T’s billing system for iPhone and iPad data transactions is like a rigged gas pump that charges for a full gallon when it pumps only nine-tenths of a gallon into your car’s tank. AT&T’s bills systematically overstate the amount of data used on each data transaction involving an iPhone iPad account,” says the AT&T iPhone and iPad data usage class action lawsuit.

This was discovered, the class action says, by an independent consulting firm, retained by the plaintiff’s counsel, that conducted a two-month study of AT&T’s billing practices for data usage and found that AT&T’s bills systematically overstate web server traffic by 7% to 14%, and in some instances by over 300%.  

“It gets worse. Not only does AT&T systematically overbill for every data transaction, it also bills for phantom data traffic when there is no actual data usage initiated by the customer,” says the class action lawsuit.

This was also discovered by the same independent consulting firm, which purchased an iPhone from an AT&T store, immediately disabled all push notifications and location services, confirmed that no email account was configured on the phone, closed all applications, and let the phone sit untouched for 10 days.

“During this 10-day period, AT&T billed the test account for 35 data transactions totaling 2,292 KB of usage. This is like the rigged gas pump charging you when you never even pulled your car out of the station,” says the AT&T class action lawsuit.

These data usage charges, the class action adds, are not accurately recorded or timely billed, so AT&T customers have no way of monitoring their data usage and knowing that they’re being overbilled.

The AT&T iPhone and iPad billing class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all persons in the United States and its territories with a usage-based data plan on an AT&T iPhone or iPad account within the past 4 years. It is asking that AT&T pay damages and restitution to customers and immediately cease the improper billing of data pay-per-use charges.

A copy of the AT&T iPhone and iPad Data Usage Billing Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.