AT&T will "temporarily reduce" speeds for U-verse customers

As AT&T disclosed at the Federal Communications Commission's summer hearing on network management practices at Carnegie Mellon University, it was rewriting its broadband service terms of service. The telco submitted them to the FCC on Thursday, and it looks like speed throttling is on the menu. "In order to provide a consistently high-quality video service, AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet throughput speeds may be temporarily reduced when a customer is using other U-verse services in a manner that requires high bandwidth," the new language will warn. "This could occur more often with higher speed Internet access products. It may be necessary, for some AT&T High Speed Internet users, for AT&T to set a maximum downstream speed on a customer line to enhance the reliability and consistency of performance." The disclosure concedes that these changes "will prevent some customers from obtaining the maximum downstream speed capability," but the overall speed will not be reduced from the tier that the customer purchased, promises AT&T. U-verse offers video, phone, and broadband services in a single package, all delivered over a phone line and powered by a fiber-to-the node system. AT&T says these new conditions will go into effect starting October 18.