Sprint Throttles Top 1% of Data Users, No "Truly Unlimited" Data For US iPhone Users [Updated x2]

[Roofy.]

Original ATT is still "Unlimited" isn't it? I use tons of data a month and haven't noticed any throttling from them.

NOPE. I have ATT, have been grandfathered in from the 3GS with unlimited, and they are throttling my data. I used to get 3-4 megs on the speed test app. Now my download is at .1-.15 megs. That is ridiculous. Needless to say I am furious with them. Going to drop their ****** network when the 5 comes out, refuse to pay their ****** cancelation fee and jump to Verizon who atleast allows a better plan.

ATT starts throttling at a pathetic 2 gigs a month. Verizon has data plans of 2,5, and 10 gigs. That is much better than the measly 2 gigs from ATT.

 

[nickn]

Here is another thing to think about. Right now these caps and throttling thresholds may only effect a few, but what about in the future? For example, 720P youtube videos are currently encoded at about 2mbps. For a 10 minute video, that would equal about 154MB. HD videos are shot at far higher bit rates though, good cameras can have a bit rate of at least 40mbps. What is going to happen when youtube eventually raises the bit rate of all videos uploaded? That same 10 minute movie would now be about 3 GB. That alone would be over several carriers caps. Some video sites are already starting to do this so don't say it wont happen. I have seen some high quality videos on vimeo.com that have a bit rate of about 75mbps. That is 576 MB every single minute! Do you really think carriers will start increasing the caps and making the throttling thresholds higher when things like high quality videos start become more mainstream?

 

[nylonsteel]

re original article

data caps and throttling suck

the usa really needs to build out its wireless pipes

 

[cameronjpu]

I can't believe how expensive American contract prices are - in the UK I get unlimited texts, 600 minutes and 2Gb of data for £19 ($30) per month, which included the phone for free!

When can we reach the point where nobody feels the need to post this stupid sentiment in every thread?

 

[HishamAkhtar]

I use my iPhone quite a lot and I reset it over a month ago. Since then it's reporting it has downloaded 154MB of data.

Can someone explain what these excessive users actually find to download on their phones that puts them in the top 1%?

Agreed. Unless someone is somehow torrenting on their phone, I can't understand excessive use.

Granted, european carriers are much better. I'm in O2 and they're amazing. 3 networks in Ireland has unlimited for EVERYONE

 

[rocknblogger]

I don't see how you could watch 30 minutes of video and not exceed 500MB, let alone several hours of video plus everything else.

Because streaming to your phone is a lot different than streaming to a computer. Yes if you stream a 30 minute video to your computer it can be rather large. Phones with small screens use a fraction of the bandwidth.

 

[albusseverus]

If you think about it, you can keep throttling your top 1% of users until you throttle all users. Ooh look, there's a new top 1%, now!

Just keep lopping off the top 1% until everyone's throttled, no matter how much they actually use… da*n lies and statistics.

 

[scoobydoo99]

You don't. But you abuse your fellow man, and you abuse the company providing the data, who has a contract with your signature on it which says they have the right to refuse your business. Sorry kiddo, that's life. Maybe next time you'll behave less anti-socially and you won't be hated by your fellow man and your business partners.

The question was obviously (I assumed) rhetorical, since, of course, it is logically impossible to "abuse" an "unlimited" plan by consuming any particular quantity of data. It's simple predicate logic, something you can learn in any intro Logic course - check out your local community college for more info.

 

[blue22]

not a big deal for 99% of Sprint customers, but...

This "news" isn't surprising and personally speaking I think it's fine for Sprint to throttle the vast minority of users who are data hogs if it means it's ensuring the remaining 99% aren't going to be affected by these people.

With all that said, it IS STILL misleading by Sprint if they going to claim having "truly unlimited" data plans when in fact they actually don't in practice, not to mention the already ridiculous over-pricing of the data plans offered in general, tiered or otherwise.

 

[Daveoc64]

Because streaming to your phone is a lot different than streaming to a computer. Yes if you stream a 30 minute video to your computer it can be rather large. Phones with small screens use a fraction of the bandwidth.

I was just going by the sorts of data usage of UK Video Apps.

According to a thread on these forums, Netflix uses only about 180MB for 30 minutes of video.

I note that Sprint has its own TV Service which it says is free with your data plan - they don't seem to be discouraging video streaming.

 

[cameronjpu]

After discovering that people in the US still pay to RECEIVE SMSs (unless they have messaging plans, of course), what can one say? You guys have the worst cell phone framework compared to any industrialized or emerging country out there.

And yet lookie there, it's American companies who are doing all the innovation in cell phones! You're welcome! When will Europe get off their asses and stop letting the USA do all the heavy lifting? Sounds like another industry Europe lets the States cover for the rest of the world. You're welcome.

 

[richcon]

Sprint and "unlimited"

When I was out of contract with AT&T and was buying an iPhone 4S, I called up Sprint and Verizon to ask about their plans. Sprint has an unlimited free roaming deal too, so i asked for clarification of what would happen if I spend several months out of the year somewhere with poor Sprint coverage and heavy amounts of roaming. The phone rep's answer was something along these lines:

Sprint: "If your roaming use is excessive for several months in a row, we would call you to determine if you might be better served by another phone provider."

Me: "In other words, if I'm hitting too much roaming each month you'd look into canceling my service?"

Sprint: "More or less."

I always assumed their "Unlimited" data plans had similar outs for them and it looks like I was right. But this sounds like a major case of false advertising -- unless "truly unlimited" and "won't slow you down" legally mean the opposite to what they say.

By the way, props to their phone rep for answering my questions honestly. I always appreciate honest statements of limits.

 

[rorschach]

Well in theory, to keep it fair for all users. How would you like it if someone in your area decided they wanted to stream their pandora all day, not be in the room or asleep while your speed suffers because of this guy thats NOT even there to use it.

Right - but that's my point. Throttling is a cap. That's the whole point: to limit data usage by heavy users.

It really shouldn't be legal for a company to advertise something in big bold letters, then put on page 20 of a 40-page contract "Well not really."

Imagine if it was something a little more "tanglible" to people - like minutes. The ad says "1000 minutes," but in the contract it says if you use more than 800 your calls start getting randomly dropped.

 

[MCP-511]

Its unlimited data and that's exactly what you get. They don't say unlimited speed. If you ask me its carefully worded and people assume unlimited applies to both aspects. However, it never does.

You get your data eventually, it just takes you longer.

 

[cameronjpu]

AT&T throttles too. During baseball season, my MLB At Bat App can't adequately deliver live video of games over 3G. Instead, 3G delivers stuttering, heavily-pixelated, unwatchable video. When the App was first released three seasons ago, AT&T delivered smooth, clean and sharp 3G video.

You do realize that that's the very problem that throttling and tiered pricing will eliminate, right? No, of course you don't.

Obama's new Consumer Protection Agency chief needs to invesitage the cellular carriers over this and at the very least -- stop them from advertising "unlimited" service. And consumers grandfathered in under original "unlimited" contracts need to band together and file class action lawsuits.

Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll be thanking them when they do that. You'll find something else to illogically complain about.

----------

ATT starts throttling at a pathetic 2 gigs a month.

False

 

[Ksizzle9]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

This is a huge deal!!! I've seen sprint iPhones break the .35 mb/s Down before on sprint!! Man, we are truly screwed.

 

[noisycats]

Yup, I still have it from the iPhone 3GS days by way of the grandfather law.

Just so you know, there is no actual "law" protecting you. You're merely being kept on the unlimited plan, quite literally, by AT&T's grace.

They have every right to drop your unlimited plan the next time you re-sign your contract--presumably whenever you update your phone.

Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but there is no law protecting your plan.

 

[ramuman]

I'd hate to know what throttled Sprint speeds are like.

 

[Daveoc64]

I'd hate to know what throttled Sprint speeds are like.

I expect they have accidentally applied the throttling so that the 1% are those who aren't being throttled.

 

[zed1291]

How much data is top?

Why do I hear so many little girls crying about this? To be the top 1% I imagine you'd have to be using at least 50GB and if you're doing that it's probably because you are tethering almost 24/7. Generally I use about 5-10GB a month (which I know is still a lot) and VZN has never throttled me and they throttle top 5%. I imagine the top percentage use about the same amount of data across carriers. With that said, the first month I had my iPhone I didn't have wifi at home and used a whopping 30GB that month. I didn't notice any throttling which is why I'm guessing it takes about 50GB to be throttled. Point being, quit crying about the top 1% being throttled and start crying about the fact you still have Sprint.

 

[NoHo]

Guys, what are you doing on your phones that needs this much data? I run my phone on Wi-fi only. I will admit I am an excessively frugal person but I talk to friends on some of those crazy +$100 plans with everything just to figure out how they can justify THAT much data usage. I have not gotten an answer yet...

I should ask again.

I know! It's crazy how people don't use their phones exactly like you use yours. How does that even happen?

In seriousness, I have NBA League Pass mobile and will watch a game at work every once in awhile and a single game takes up close to 800MB. 3 games a month and you're over your data limit. Luckily, I have unlimited.

I'm going to laugh at all the people who ask silly things like what others do on their phones to use so much data when, in the future, when there are apps that we haven't even imagined yet and everything is digital, these same people are not using their phones for the last 10 days of their billing cycle because they don't want to go over their data limit and have to pay a steep price.

Just because some people who only have their iPhones as an accessory and use it just to check email and text don't go over their 2GB now, doesn't mean they won't in the future. You will. 5 years ago nobody thought HD movies would be streaming, but they are. Imagine what the digital landscape is going to look like in the future.

 

[cameronjpu]

Here is another thing to think about. Right now these caps and throttling thresholds may only effect a few, but what about in the future? For example, 720P youtube videos are currently encoded at about 2mbps. For a 10 minute video, this would equal about 154MB. HD videos are shot at far higher bit rates though, good cameras can have a bit rate of at least 40mbps. What is going to happen when youtube eventually raises the bit rate of all videos uploaded? That same 10 minute movie would now be about 3 GB. That alone would be over several carriers caps. Some video sites are already starting to do this so don't say it wont happen. I have seen some high quality videos on vimeo.com that have a bit rate of about 75mbps. That is 576 MB every single minute! Do you really think carriers will start increasing the caps and making the throttling thresholds higher when things like high quality videos start become more mainstream?

They will. They already have. Verizon is giving away 4GB allowances as a promotion through the Christmas season. As the carriers build out their networks they will use the additional capacity as a competitive advantage. They just have to get all the abusers off their networks and onto tiered plans. But rest assured, your data caps will go up over time as competitive forces act. Thank god Sprint and TMO remain independent to help that.

 

[theBB]

All carriers, everywhere in the world, do this. It is called the 'Fair usage' policy, where a carrier justifies a throttle / ban based on the arguement that a single user's excessive usage could severely compromise other users usage.

I do not have a problem with the practice, but Sprint has TV commercials claiming that they are not like the other carriers. It points out the carriers with limits and if I remember it correctly, it even calls out T-mobile for throttling. Sprint was supposed to be the no-limits, no throttling, "truly unlimited" type of network. False advertising.

Another problem with limits is the vagueness of limits. Is it based on the total amount of data, or data used during peak hours, or is it compared to the other users? "About 1%" is too fuzzy. I don't pay them "about" $65 a month, they tell me what to pay exactly, but when it comes their deliveries, it is "around", "more or less", "up to"...

 

[paulyras]

If you stream video content then even a 30 minute show could use 600MB+.

I would love to see someone consistently get the 20mb per minute that streaming at this quality would require on Sprint. Their network is awful to begin with.

I'd love to see what the top 1% are using on Sprint, Verizon and ATT. I guarantee it's not equal. I'd bet that even the top 1% on Sprint are even hitting the 2gb / mo level.

 

[samcraig]

I "understand" the "outrage" - but really - how many people do you think this will really (I mean REALLY) affect.

How many on here just griping for the sake of griping?