When the government sues for stuff like that, where does the money go? I mean, it's a punishment to have to pay, sure, but why does the government get the money? Shouldn't the people being screwed be the ones getting that?
T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
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Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#12I feel the problem is that marketing terminology is ill-regulated, so companies can make "natural", "unlimited", "fresh", "home-made", "organic", "life-time", "guaranteed", "green", etc. mean whatever they want them to mean and allows enough cover that consumers assume it means one thing while to industry if means quite another or very narrow interpretation.
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#13I'm a little saddened to see the direction T-Mobile is headed with their plans. When I switched to Project Fi last year my T-Mobile unlimited plan was $70/mo. That included actual HD video, and LTE tethering. Now the equivalent plan (T-Mobile One+) is $90/mo, and that just gets you "unlimited HD day passes" which you have to remember to toggle every day if you want video that isn't 480p. What's even scarier to me is…
As an aside: the idea of "premium" freedom makes me giggle,
I'd love to have a beer with the marketing exec that came
up with that mouthful.
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#14I'm a little saddened to see the direction T-Mobile is headed with their plans. When I switched to Project Fi last year my T-Mobile unlimited plan was $70/mo. That included actual HD video, and LTE tethering. Now the equivalent plan (T-Mobile One+) is $90/mo, and that just gets you "unlimited HD day passes" which you have to remember to toggle every day if you want video that isn't 480p. What's even scarier to me is…
How can T-Mobile dictate what quality video you get?
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#15I feel the problem is that marketing terminology is ill-regulated, so companies can make "natural", "unlimited", "fresh", "home-made", "organic", "life-time", "guaranteed", "green", etc. mean whatever they want them to mean and allows enough cover that consumers assume it means one thing while to industry if means quite another or very narrow interpretation.
This is rooted in the American culture: Americans are already used to things like this. For example here if you go to a restaurant, you will usually pay 30% more than the price that is displayed (tips + taxes).
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#16I'm a little saddened to see the direction T-Mobile is headed with their plans. When I switched to Project Fi last year my T-Mobile unlimited plan was $70/mo. That included actual HD video, and LTE tethering. Now the equivalent plan (T-Mobile One+) is $90/mo, and that just gets you "unlimited HD day passes" which you have to remember to toggle every day if you want video that isn't 480p. What's even scarier to me is…
Yea, the mobile industry seems to have gone through a a few distinct phases with respect to their data pricing:
1. Unlimited data. Data isn't worth anything, just give it away.
2. Tiered data. No one talks on the phone any longer. It's all about data now. We'll charge them per GB to use it!
3. Unlimited everything with extras. Ok, most people are actually not using that much mobile data. Wifi is all over the place, and when given the option of paying more or constraining their mobile data usage, most people opt for the latter. Let's start selling them premium features instead.
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#17$48 million seems like a slap on the wrist. T-Mobile made $32 billion in revenue in 2015 and just posted $479 million in profit. I wish I could feel like these fines actually acted as a deterrent.
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#18I see the word "unlimited" on a lot of hosting providers. Give me access to the dd command and we'll see how long that theory lasts. I honestly find it, always and everywhere, to be deceptive marketing. There is no such thing as unlimited resources.
Contextually here, unlimited means "we aren't placing a limit on it by policy" not "there is no theoretical limit".
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#19I'm a little saddened to see the direction T-Mobile is headed with their plans. When I switched to Project Fi last year my T-Mobile unlimited plan was $70/mo. That included actual HD video, and LTE tethering. Now the equivalent plan (T-Mobile One+) is $90/mo, and that just gets you "unlimited HD day passes" which you have to remember to toggle every day if you want video that isn't 480p. What's even scarier to me is…
How can T-Mobile dictate what quality video you get?
By not opting out of "BingeOn", they don't count 480p content or below towards your data cap. If you opt out, it counts against your data usage. It encourages users to only use as much data that's necessary to view a streaming video at the maximum quality most mobile devices support (Source IP block is used to determine content zero rating).
I'm a realistic T-Mobile user for ~16 years, have no problem with their network management practices, and will happily hand over my $140/month for 4 lines until the end of time. Its not their fault its a prisoner's dilemma where all carriers are offering "unlimited" data usage, but they all must perform different types of network management due to wireless spectrum being a limited resource.
Re: T-Mobile will pay a $48M fine for throttling ‘unlimited data’ plans
#20$48 million seems like a slap on the wrist. T-Mobile made $32 billion in revenue in 2015 and just posted $479 million in profit. I wish I could feel like these fines actually acted as a deterrent.
Comparing the fine to total revenue and total profit is completely meaningless. What's relevant is how much they were saving in infrastructure costs by throttling those users.
E.g. If they saved less than $24 million and had a >50% chance of getting caught, this works perfectly well as a deterrent no matter how large there overall profits were.