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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

#51

Post by eftpotrm »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #23
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 Now this isn't true, and I _will_ be kicking up a fuss about this in the effort to get either this rescinded or my contract cancelled without penalty (for which I'm quite happy to return the phone provided under i…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…

Interesting, the wording when I was reading up on all this was that data on PAYG was still being bought monthly. If I'd known that sort of deal was available I might well have gone for it - I'm already carrying a netbook most of the time so the need for a smartphone as well isn't enormous, if the data can be had separately so cheaply.... Oh well.

Overall though, I've not been so impressed by the data network. Slower than one might hope and too many odd times when it's claiming 3G signal but sites simply aren't responding with usable speed. Primary usage further south than you in Beds/Bucks but with some in Derbyshire too.

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

#52

Post by rue »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #48
gst wrote: post #45

500 MB is a joke. I currently pay 4 Euros per GB per month. That's it - no other fees at all (meaning: I do not need to combine this with a voice plan, I get voice for 4 Eurocents per minute [or alternatively 9 euros for 1000 minutes], and I don't have any other fixed costs). 1 GB is more than enough for me, but there's also another plan that costs 9 Euros per months and gives you 9 GB (per month).

4 Euros per GB per month My mouth is agape. I would kill for a fair, per-GB smartphone plan here in the United States. $10/GB, no matter whether it's your phone, your tablet/netbook/laptop tethered to your phone, etc.

The U.S. prices really are ridiculous – what about Canada?

Also on the .eu side, I pay 13.90€/mo for an unlimited and uncapped dual-SIM data plan, i.e. phone and mobile broadband. The regular phone plan is an additional 0.66€/mo + 0.066€ per text or minute (I chose no package since I use those very little).

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

#53

Post by khafra »

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…

The Pandora app is great if, like me, you don't have satellite radio in your car and sometimes don't enjoy whatever's on NPR. If you have a specific song you want to play for someone, youtube is indispensible.

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

#54

Post by potatolicious »

ZoFreX wrote: post #43
mbreese wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I know for sure that transmission of HTML and images etc (i.e. most of what you need for webpages) and email continue to work when you hit the limit.

So... not quite unlimited after all?

I have to echo omh and steveklabnik, I frequently use over 500MB (though usually under 1GB) without doing anything "funny" (e.g., tethering, torrenting, or just generally being a dick to the pipe). Most of my usage is streaming videos and music - a "fair" enough use of an "unlimited" data plan I would say!

It's good to hear that these new terms won't impact you materially, but realize that a great many legitimate users are impacted by these new restrictions. Furthermore, as smartphones become more powerful and we are able to do more and more with it, bandwidth needs will only increase, and plans need to scale with that. This is a huge step backwards in wireless data connectivity.

T-Mobile: unlimited mobile internet!*

*unlimited mobile internet includes only circa 2004 features like email and mobile web.

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

#55

Post by potatolicious »

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…

Heaven forbid that people use their phones to do multimedia things! Who needs advances like being able to catch up on TV news while on your way to work, or using a smart DJ service like Pandora? Or even sneaking in last night's episode of [insert show here] on a particularly long commute?

Pshaw, clearly all of that is just for bored teenagers. No reasonably effective, busy adult would have use for anything but HTML and email!

Sorry for the snarky tone, but your implication that busy adults have no need for all of these data-intensive apps is somewhat insulting.

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

#56

Post by melpo »

omh wrote: post #20
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…

The regulator for adverts is the Advertising Standards Agency, and several years ago they decided that this sort of thing was OK. A key part of this was because "most" people would never get near the limits. The judgment is at: http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2008/9/Vodafo... Of course the number of people affected was a figure provided by Vodafone, and by getting this adjudication in early Vodafone we…

That's very interesting because with increasingly lower limits this argumentation becomes less convincing. I can imagine many people using up their 500MB with their smartphones in the near future, if they don't already.

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

#57

Post by mike-cardwell »

eftpotrm wrote: post #51
mike-cardwell wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Interesting, the wording when I was reading up on all this was that data on PAYG was still being bought monthly. If I'd known that sort of deal was available I might well have gone for it - I'm already carrying a netbook most of the time so the need for a smartphone as well isn't enormous, if the data can be had separately so cheaply.... Oh well. Overall though, I've not been so impressed by the data network. Slower…

It's detailed on this page as "6 months internet access":

https://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/payg/boosters/

I'm generally more concerned with low latency than high bandwidth on my mobile connection. I tend to use SSH on my phone on a fairly regular basis and I've found T-Mobiles network to be very low latency in comparison to others.

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

#58

Post by drivebyacct2 »

rue wrote: post #52
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4 Euros per GB per month My mouth is agape. I would kill for a fair, per-GB smartphone plan here in the United States. $10/GB, no matter whether it's your phone, your tablet/netbook/laptop tethered to your phone, etc.

The U.S. prices really are ridiculous – what about Canada? Also on the .eu side, I pay 13.90€/mo for an unlimited and uncapped dual-SIM data plan, i.e. phone and mobile broadband. The regular phone plan is an additional 0.66€/mo + 0.066€ per text or minute (I chose no package since I use those very little).

That's seriously unbelievable. Honestly, can you hook me up with a link that has some deets? I'm just in shock. What a racket.

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

#59

Post by rbranson »

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).

I doubt it'll head to the US. You have to understand the difference between the UK and US markets. T-Mobile is a dominant player in the UK market, while they've only managed to grab roughly 10% of the US mobile market. T-Mobile's HSPA network is underutilized here and the last thing they need is a PR mess like this.

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

#60

Post by JanezStupar »

rue wrote: post #52
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4 Euros per GB per month My mouth is agape. I would kill for a fair, per-GB smartphone plan here in the United States. $10/GB, no matter whether it's your phone, your tablet/netbook/laptop tethered to your phone, etc.

The U.S. prices really are ridiculous – what about Canada? Also on the .eu side, I pay 13.90€/mo for an unlimited and uncapped dual-SIM data plan, i.e. phone and mobile broadband. The regular phone plan is an additional 0.66€/mo + 0.066€ per text or minute (I chose no package since I use those very little).

Also EU user...

My prepaid plan entailed: 1000 minutes calls in my home network (biggest carrier), 200 minutes to all other networks (roaming is extra but the tariff is capped), 1000 SMS and MMS messages, 1GB Data - for 15€.

Now they raised the price a bit: I only get 100MB data and the price got raised to 19€, however I can get 100MB extra for 2€ or 500MB extra for 4.5€ or 1GB extra for 6€.

Mostly the 100MB is enough for my needs (excellent WIFI coverage most of the time).

However - we pay bigger prices for our smartphones, but completely worth it IMO.

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