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

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

#61

Post by ZoFreX »

potatolicious wrote: post #54
ZoFreX wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 rea…

Yes, I don't disagree that this is a step backwards, and that there are legitimate users being caught out. My point was mostly about the falsehoods that are being spread.

I found some figures by the way, 90% of T-Mobile customers don't go over 500MB, and "a single digit minority uses 30% of the bandwidth". I worked out that if 91% of their customers use 500MB, and 9% use 3000MB, this change reduces their overall bandwidth usage by 31% (assuming all those 9% switch to using only 500MB... if they jump ship, TMobile save 37%), but only pisses off 9% of their customers. I'm sure financially it's a net win... PR-wise... not so much.

(Most of that 91% are "well below" the 500MB line, if we assume 250MB average then the savings are over 50%! I can see why they wanted to do this)

Edit: Noticed while searching for figures that they have backed down! "There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused"

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

#62

Post by steveklabnik »

ZoFreX wrote: post #46
omh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Using Spotify every day is one of the biggest factors in my usage, but I never got over 500MB. Can you get Spotify on iPhone? One of the big bandwidth savers is that you can download your playlists to your phone, so the songs only have to be downloaded once (You can cache up to ~3000 songs like this). You can set it to only sync when on wifi, so you'll have all your songs when you're out and about (and underground!)…

> Can you get Spotify on iPhone?

The problem is not the iPhone, it's that you can't get it in the US.

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

#63

Post by steveklabnik »

lukeschlather wrote: post #49
SimonPStevens wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense. But in a slightly different domain, my broadband provider advertises "Unlimited XMbps broadband" but throttles after 1.5Gb. That's clearly not "Unlimited XMb/s" That's "1.5Gb XMb/s broadband with unlimited 300Kbps broadband". Yeah I know broadband speed is a big grey area, and they have all these getout clauses like service conditions etc etc, but when it comes right down to it the whole thing just feels…

Here in America advertised speed doesn't even have to relate to actual speed. "Unlimited XMb/s" means "You will never get more than XMb/s, and there's a cap, but you'll have to figure out what it is on your own. Don't worry, it's very large."

At what point is this false advertising? I see it more like this:

    Unlimited[1] Internet, at blazing fast Xmbps[2] speeds!
1: Subject to a cap, don't worry it's large[3]

2: We did the math, and it's theoretically possible, but you can get 60% of this speed[5]

3: 'Large' being defined as 'we won't tell you how big it is, or what happens when you go over. Trust us.'

4: Only at 3am when nobody else is on, with a brand new computer, fresh install of Windows, speed determined by loading http://google.com/

5: Subject to interplanetary alignment, some other conditions may apply.[4]

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

#64

Post by daimyoyo »

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…

I'm probably not a typical user, but I average 10GB per month on my phone. So being able to use non-throttled data for 2 days doesn't seem like an attractive offer to me. That said, if AT&T forces me to go onto a tiered plan(I still have the unlimited now) then I'll be looking for a new phone company.

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

#65

Post by lukeschlather »

steveklabnik wrote: post #63
lukeschlather wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in America advertised speed doesn't even have to relate to actual speed. "Unlimited XMb/s" means "You will never get more than XMb/s, and there's a cap, but you'll have to figure out what it is on your own. Don't worry, it's very large."

At what point is this false advertising? I see it more like this: Unlimited[1] Internet, at blazing fast Xmbps[2] speeds! 1: Subject to a cap, don't worry it's large[3] 2: We did the math, and it's theoretically possible, but you can get 60% of this speed[5] 3: 'Large' being defined as 'we won't tell you how big it is, or what happens when you go over. Trust us.' 4: Only at 3am when nobody else is on, with a brand ne…

Has anyone tried suing? The figures so blatantly misrepresent the service provided that it seems like a shoe-in for a victory if you got enough people on board for a class-action.

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

#66

Post by gst »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #58
rue wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Here's the Austrian provider that I use: http://www.bob.at/ (but there are also other cheap providers here such as http://yesss.at/). Both providers act as MVNO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator) using the net of a larger provider - therefore you typically have a very good wireless coverage.

The phones of both provides are sold unlocked per default and all providers here use compatible frequency ranges for GSM and UMTS. That means that you don't have any problems using a phone from one provider with another provider. Plans of those providers also do not have any "minimum duration" - so you can quit at any time (although there's not really a reason for this, as most of the plans do not have monthly fixed costs, but only the variable costs).

Of course there are also other, more expensive providers with things like minimum contract durations and so on. But unless you want to buy a subsidized iPhone there's not really a reason to use them.

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

#67

Post by patrickgzill »

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…

If you signed a contract under the old rates/limits, then those should still apply regardless of any new changes.

I would call T-Mobile and have a conversation with them; they cannot unilaterally change the terms of a written contract.

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

#68

Post by dspillett »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #2

Can someone explain to me how "unlimited usage" plans are even allowed to have a cap at all. I've never understood why this is legal. Surely you shouldn't be allowed to advertise something as "unlimited" and then impose a limit in the small print. Is there a reason why this common activity is permitted at all?

I don't know about other territories, but in the UK this has been tested in court for ADSL providers.

The claim there is that you have unlimited access where access is defined by time (unlimited being 24/7/365.25) rather than unlimited bandwidth to use in that unlimited time. To back this up as a valid argument, it was pointed out that back when dial-up was king most providers (even those with only expensive per-minute access plans) had limits on how long you could be connected in one session and in total in a given day (this was to reduce the number of incoming lines and modem devices they needed to provide the service). So in this sense "unlimited" would be better termed "always available" or "always on".

Of course this isn't how they advertise the service, the adverts very distinctly imply (but are very careful never to actually state) that unlimited means bandwidth as they talk on end about downloading and streaming and show the happy people in ad-land watching HD content with reckless abandon.

A grey area still not tested to my knowledge is providers who have changed what the work unlimited means where it previously did explicitly mean unlimited bandwidth (when they were naive enough to think people would not find a use for enough to cause a problem).

One legal recourse t-mobile users may have in this case is if their plan previously explicitly stated a cap or fair-use policy higher than the 500MB. If you plan has gone from 3GB to 0.5MB then you probably have a case for demanding you keep the 3Gb until the end of the contracted period or to have your contract terminated early at no cost to you. Of course your original agreement may have weasel words like "unlimited with fair use policy, _currently_ set as 3GB/month", which would give them a get-out clause.

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