https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb58zj/atandt-gets-a-wrist-slap-for-lying-about-its-unlimited-data-plans

For much of the last decade, wireless carriers have sold “unlimited” data plans with a wide variety of very obvious and annoying limits. And for just as long, regulators have doled out little more than ineffective wrist slaps in a bid to keep carrier marketing departments honest. The latest case in point: AT&T this week struck a $60 million settlement with the FTC for repeatedly lying to consumers about the company’s unlimited wireless data plans. Starting sometime around 2011, the FTC says AT&T began selling “unlimited” mobile data plans without disclosing they had very real, significant limits. In its complaint, the FTC says that AT&T would throttle customer mobile data connections by as much as 90 percent after customers used as little as two gigabytes of data—a far cry from “unlimited.” “AT&T baited subscribers with promises of unlimited data, trapped them in multi-year contracts with punishing termination fees, and then scammed them by choking off their access unless they moved to a more expensive plan,” FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra said in a statement.

The FTC sued AT&T in 2014 for misleading consumers, and AT&T has spent years trying to wiggle out of the lawsuit by claiming the FTC lacked the authority to hold AT&T accountable. The FCC levied a $100 million fine against AT&T in 2015 for the same behavior.