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A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

bloomberg.com

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Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#21

Post by scarface74 »

croon wrote: post #9

> Customers will get full LTE speeds until they reach 22GB of usage, after which they’ll be subject to reduced data speeds and de-prioritization. > Hotspot tethering — up to 10GB at LTE speeds — is included, as are calls and texts to Mexico and Canada. That's certainly an alternative take on the definition of "unlimited" than the one I'm accustomed to. Curious: What's the reduced speed? Is it less than 1Mbit/s? If so…

The "reduced speed" is whatever it takes to prioritize customers on the same tower who are not over the limit so they get full speed. If you aren't on a congested tower, your speed isn't impacted.

Seems fair to me. Unlike wired internet, wireless carriers can't just throw money at the problem and get more bandwidth. A certain spectrum can only carry a certain amount of data.

Even building more towers and having each tower serve a smaller radius won't help in a really congested area like a football stadium.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#22

Post by wccrawford »

forgottenacc57 wrote: post #2

Seems a somewhat long bow to draw. I want wifi and wouldn't want mobile only.

Yeah, I think we're quite a ways off from this scenario. I went to a wedding a few weeks ago, and the house on the beach where they had the rehearsal dinner had no cell reception indoors. Somehow it was perfectly fine outdoors, though.

I had to fix their Wifi to stop from going nuts.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#23

Post by joezydeco »

yardie wrote: post #7

Where are these unlimited LTE plans the author speaks of? I haven't seen any except for from a few lucky folks who are grandfathered into truly unlimited data plans. Typing this from my home wifi which tops out at 1.8Gbps connected to a unlimited 100Mbps ISP data connection. 14 wired and wireless devices are currently connected. Try that with any current wireless plan.

T-Mobile is offering unlimited LTE if you upgrade to their "T-Mobile ONE" plan, which starts at $110/month for two lines, $100 if you set up automatic payments.

The fine print also mentions that speeds will "reduce" when you hit 30GB, but doesn't say if that means you're kicked down to 4G like they used to do, or they just throttle your LTE bandwidth.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#24

Post by scarface74 »

yardie wrote: post #7

Where are these unlimited LTE plans the author speaks of? I haven't seen any except for from a few lucky folks who are grandfathered into truly unlimited data plans. Typing this from my home wifi which tops out at 1.8Gbps connected to a unlimited 100Mbps ISP data connection. 14 wired and wireless devices are currently connected. Try that with any current wireless plan.

Tops out at 1.8Gbps??

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#25

Post by scarface74 »

joezydeco wrote: post #23
yardie wrote: post #7

Where are these unlimited LTE plans the author speaks of? I haven't seen any except for from a few lucky folks who are grandfathered into truly unlimited data plans. Typing this from my home wifi which tops out at 1.8Gbps connected to a unlimited 100Mbps ISP data connection. 14 wired and wireless devices are currently connected. Try that with any current wireless plan.

T-Mobile is offering unlimited LTE if you upgrade to their "T-Mobile ONE" plan, which starts at $110/month for two lines, $100 if you set up automatic payments. The fine print also mentions that speeds will "reduce" when you hit 30GB, but doesn't say if that means you're kicked down to 4G like they used to do, or they just throttle your LTE bandwidth.

They aren't reduced when you hit 30Gb. They are temporarily reduced when you hit 30Gbs and you are in a congested area so others can get full speed. If you aren't in a congested area your speed isn't reduced.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#26

Post by msimpson »

jrockway wrote: post #17
msimpson wrote: post #8

> With every major U.S. wireless carrier now offering unlimited data plans, consumers don’t need to log on to a Wi-Fi network to avoid costly overage charges anymore. That’s a critical change that threatens to render Wi-Fi obsolete. Does anyone at Bloomberg understand data caps or throttling?

That statement sounds technically correct to me. You don't need to log on to a Wi-Fi network to avoid costly overage charges. You do need to log on to use the Internet usefully, however.

Updated my quote to include their claim within the next line, indicating, "That’s a critical change that threatens to render Wi-Fi obsolete."

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#27

Post by pidg »

yardie wrote: post #7

Where are these unlimited LTE plans the author speaks of? I haven't seen any except for from a few lucky folks who are grandfathered into truly unlimited data plans. Typing this from my home wifi which tops out at 1.8Gbps connected to a unlimited 100Mbps ISP data connection. 14 wired and wireless devices are currently connected. Try that with any current wireless plan.

Feels more like we're going backwards here in the UK. I was on an unlimited LTE plan for £17 per month for a couple of years.

Last year, out of the blue, they told me they were capping it at 2GB.

After much argument they agreed to raise it to 4GB plus unlimited calls/sms for £14, which is enough for me but not really the same.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#28

Post by scarface74 »

msimpson wrote: post #8

> With every major U.S. wireless carrier now offering unlimited data plans, consumers don’t need to log on to a Wi-Fi network to avoid costly overage charges anymore. That’s a critical change that threatens to render Wi-Fi obsolete. Does anyone at Bloomberg understand data caps or throttling?

Yes they understand and used the term correctly.

Throttling - your speed is reduced to a top speed of x when you go over a specified allotment until the end of your billing period.

Deprioritized - if the specific tower you are on is congested and you've gone over the "cap", your speed is temporarily slowed down to allow others who haven't gone over their allotment to get full speed.

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#29

Post by adventured »

jankotek wrote: post #16
fleshgolem wrote: post #6

As per usual: Good job of extrapolating american circumstances to the rest of the world

Quite opposite. US is far behind and expensive. UK and Ireland had unlimited data plans 5 years ago for 20 euro/month. Today even Turkey or Vietnam have better data deals than US.

> Quite opposite. US is far behind and expensive.

The US isn't far behind. The US had over 90% 4G population coverage long before it was wide-spread across Europe. Europe lagged far behind the US in fact. [1] It is expensive. You're conflating two separate things. The US had unlimited data plans longer than five years ago. Some carriers briefly went away from them and are now going back to them due to competition.

The UK has a median income that is barely comparable to the poorest US states. [2] Why would it be surprising if our goods cost more? Despite that, our cost of household goods is almost universally lower than the UK, with a few exceptions like wireless.

[1a] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/10288585...

[1b] https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304914204579396...

Feb 2017: "UK trailing behind Europe and US in 4G usage"

[1c] http://www.vanillaplus.com/2017/02/25/25474-missed-connectio...

"Europe slow to adopt 4G mobile: sector execs"

[1d] http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-telecoms-idUKTRE78Q60W20110...

Mar 2016: "Stop whining, America: Your LTE makes Europe look slow"

[1e] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/10/twin_prime_global_n...

[2] https://mises.org/blog/if-sweden-and-germany-became-us-state...

Re: A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Rise

#30

Post by arethuza »

the-dude wrote: post #18
arethuza wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We recently purchased a house 9km from Edinburgh with no mobile signal - fortunately the Vodafone signal booster device we got (which relies on broadband) appears to work really well. What we hadn't noticed is that you get a decent signal in the garden but not in the house. Probably as we are right next to a small hill of solid volcanic rock that is between our house and the nearest mast.

> signal booster I think the correct term is femtocell

One of these things:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/shop/accessories/sure-signal/

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