AT&T just announced “Turbo” for those looking to improve or boost their connection quality when using mobile networks. The service, which will cost $7 per month, will give the user higher priority in terms of bandwidth allocation. Carrier customers will be able to enable it starting May 2.
According to The Mobile Report, enabling “Turbo” will raise the AT&T customer’s Quality of Service Class Identifiers (QCI). This item is related to the QoS practices implemented by the company. “QoS” refers to the way in which the carrier manages traffic to optimize the available bandwidth among all its customers. On the other hand, “QCI” is an indicator that determines the priority you will have on the network.
QCI assigns “levels” to users depending on multiple factors. Usually, levels are assigned in the form of a number, and the lower the number, the more “generous” the QoS will be with you. This translates into greater bandwidth available to you, even during high-traffic hours. “Turbo” add-on can be especially useful for competitive gamers, or simply people who want to reduce connection latency as much as possible.
Turbo service complies with net neutrality rules, AT&T says
The launch of a service to provide bandwidth priority just after the restoration of net neutrality rules in the United States may draw attention. However, AT&T claims that Turbo is not against the law. This is because users will enjoy the boost on all websites or services. Previously, carriers could allocate more or less bandwidth for certain platforms, apps, etc.
AT&T “Turbo” is not the first service of its kind. In fact, previous attempts have not had much success in the market. For example, Cox Communications offered “Elite Gamer” as a service similar to Turbo. It promised improvements of up to 32% in connection stability and latency for gamers. However, the company had to discontinue it last year due to low demand. In this case, the Cox boost cost $14.99 per month, so the price could have played a fundamental role in its failure.