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T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

blogs.computerworlduk.com

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Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#21

Post by mbreese »

ZoFreX wrote: post #11

There is a lot of FUD flying around over this issue. Hopefully I can dispel some of it. Firstly, it's a fair usage policy, not a hard limit. You don't get charged for over-use with a FUP. With my contract (which is with Orange), if I go over the FUP a little bit, nothing happens. If I take the piss then they will ask me to upgrade to a larger data package, or use less, or lose it. Secondly, the "T-Mobile says no vide…

> your internet continues to work on your phone

> streaming video and other data heavy activities will not work

I fail to see how those two things can both be true.

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#22

Post by omh »

ZoFreX wrote: post #11

There is a lot of FUD flying around over this issue. Hopefully I can dispel some of it. Firstly, it's a fair usage policy, not a hard limit. You don't get charged for over-use with a FUP. With my contract (which is with Orange), if I go over the FUP a little bit, nothing happens. If I take the piss then they will ask me to upgrade to a larger data package, or use less, or lose it. Secondly, the "T-Mobile says no vide…

Lastly, it's really, really hard to use 3GB of data on a mobile phone

I've just been looking at an upgrade and found that I've been using about 1GB a month. This is mainly through streaming radio as I travel to work, and if my commute was longer (or it wasn't half underground!) I could easily use 2-3GB on radio alone.

Incidentally, I used to use FM radio for this but since I got an iPhone this isn't an option!

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#23

Post by mike-cardwell »

eftpotrm wrote: post #17

Another customer who's fed up with this. I went with T-Mobile just over a month ago knowing they had other limitations - worse coverage and slower data rates - specifically because they had good data terms. Now this isn't true, and I _will_ be kicking up a fuss about this in the effort to get either this rescinded or my contract cancelled without penalty (for which I'm quite happy to return the phone provided under i…

In the places I travel to in the Midlands and Lincolnshire, I've always found T-Mobile to have the best 3G network. In comparison to O2, Vodafone and Orange anyway.

I'm on T-Mobile PAYG and I currently buy a £20 booster once every 6 months which gives me 1GB of data per month. So effectively £3.33/month for 1GB of data. Which I thought was brilliant. I wont be happy if this drops to 500MB (although it's not obvious it will), but it's still a pretty good deal relative to other networks...

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#24

Post by jonhohle »

smackfu wrote: post #18
SimonPStevens wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"every mention of "unlimited" in their advertisements or contracts will have a footnote saying that it is actually capped" So you are saying it's OK because they correct it in the footnotes? By that logic they could also offer "500 minutes & 500 texts... Footnote: actually, it's capped at 10". What I don't understand is how they can advertise with a word with a crystal clear meaning like unlimited and then totally g…

Likely the argument would be that it is industry standard that "unlimited" means "capped at a high level". And that industry standards trump dictionary definitions. This is not the case for your other examples.

But isn't this only an industry standard because it has gone unchecked? Unlimited literally means without limit. Imposing a limit is the antithesis of unlimited.

Legal or not, it speaks volumes about what that company thinks of it's customers.

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#25

Post by mike-cardwell »

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=ho...

"There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract"

This is for new users only or people upgrading. It doesn't affect existing contracts.

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#26

Post by duke_sam »

I'm surprised they are acting like this in the UK. There's a much better choice of carriers in Europe and you don't have any problems with different wireless standards (GSM vs CDMA).

I knew the choice in Ireland was pretty awful but I figured competition in the UK would keep dick moves like this in check.

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#27

Post by jonhohle »

tomjen3 wrote: post #16
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #15

Wireless limits have to be hit some day. Each tower supports one bandwidth-worth of traffic no matter how many users are in that area. Imagine a wired network with hundreds of people on one switch. Of course they are handling it badly. But its not the case that they have any simple recourse - a successful ad campaign resulted in oversubscribed bandwidth. They can install more towers - lag time: months or years to get…

They will have to buy it from some other company then: if they don't have the bandwith, they shouldn't sell it.

Not only that, but more users for them means more money to buy hardware and upstream bandwidth and hopefully some profit. That's the reason people are paying them.

Perhaps telecom is different than most markets, but more users generally drives costs down, not up.

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#28

Post by mike-cardwell »

peteri wrote: post #19

This could be a monster screwup, my phone contract has 1GB data limit, for an extra 5GBP (7.5USD) per month I get boosted upto 3GB, the ability to officially use my phone for tethering and a proper HSDPA+ data rate. Since I go off site and work in Police facilities where the odds of me being able to connect to their network is NIL this is an important feature for me. Apparently (this is unconfirmed properly) I may we…

No contract has been broken because existing contracts aren't affected: http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=ho...

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#29

Post by anonymous246 »

eps wrote: post #8

> downloading files, streaming music and watching videos should be done on your home broadband. You know, those things that people bought their shiny new iPhone or Android handset specifically to do. I am one of these people and I do not download files, stream music or watch videos on the iPhone. I do use it extensively including the Internet browsing over 3G and never had my monthly usage go over few hundred megs. B…

Huh, whoever downvoted the above comment care to explain why you did that?

Re: T-Mobile caps smartphone users' data at 500 MB/month

#30

Post by stanleydrew »

teilo wrote: post #5

This is UK-only at present it seems, but I have to think it's coming to the USA soon enough. Yet another reason to switch to Verizon next month. Yeah, not a lot better, but they'll have the iPhone at least, with personal hotspot (just like my Nexus One).

But, unlike with your Nexus One, it will cost you $20+ per month to use your personal hotspot.
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