T-Mobile to Cap 'Mobile Without Borders' Feature at 5GB of LTE Data Per Month Starting November 12

[dwsolberg]

I cannot understand what it must be like to travel and feel the need to consume mindless mass produced garbage on my cell phone or computer instead of experiencing the world around me. If you need late entertainment read a book.

This seems just a tad caustic and judgmental...

 

[shinji]

This is why prepaid MVNO’s are the best option if you own your phone. Simple mobile gives you unlimited at 20mbp/s and 10gb of thether for $45 if you have amazon prime.

That's a great deal, but it looks like the only international roaming they have is in Mexico. No Canadian coverage at all.

 

[Glassed Silver]

To be fair, sometimes (and often) hotel free wifi just sucks, either because it's overloaded or it's deliberately throttled or otherwise restricted so you upgrade to the $20/day 'Premium'. I always stay in big name hotels in Europe and the US, and I'd say in about half of those the wifi wouldn't be adequate to stream a movie.

That's before the whole mess about how insecure free WiFi is.

VPN + free, crowded hotel WiFi + stream anything? You're in for a surprise!

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[4jasontv]

Oh spare me the drama about your data being less important than someone elses. Let me guess, you're using your LTE to save lives, am I right?

You are not a "bumped paid customer". You are now aware of the new data limitation stipulations of traveling to canada or mexico, and can easily cancel your service. Long term contracts are over, and nobody is holding you hostage with T-Mobile. You paid for a month of service, and if it was for this billing period, you have exactly 1 billing period to still use up to 50GB as the new throttling rules go into effect November 12. You paid for 50GB this month, you can use up to 50GB before being throttled. Next month you'll pay for 5GB, and nobody is forcing you to do that.

You're still missing the point John.

 

[technole]

5gb is plenty for Canada/Mexico but I'm not surprised it was abused. The abusers tend to forget T-Mobile has to pay those networks like Bell, ROGERS, telcel for the capacity. Like a reciprocal agreement where their users can roam on TM and cover the costs that way along with the borders package. When it's apparently one side is taking more than the other, it's going to get noticed.

As for T-Mobile's global LTE data access like in Europe you can buy weekly passes for data for decent prices if low-speed isn't enough. I just like being able to send iMessage and check occasional emails but do purchase the data packages if i want to see some sites where Wi-Fi isn't close enough.

 

[Lloydbm41]

I am guessing a small percentage of folks are abusing the system. I would've liked to see higher limit for those on ONE plans.

Yep, the few that abuse the system ruin it for the whole. There were tons of people sending phonesto family and friends in Mexico and using it for over a year. The cost to pay Canadian and Mexican telecom license fees was probably pretty high! I can understand the cap, especially if the rumored merger with Sprint becomes more a reality.

 

[mdatwood]

As for T-Mobile's global LTE data access like in Europe you can buy weekly passes for data for decent prices if low-speed isn't enough. I just like being able to send iMessage and check occasional emails but do purchase the data packages if i want to see some sites where Wi-Fi isn't close enough.

I've used the free EU data a many times and the speed is fine for email, messages, and maps (helps to preload here). Last summer TMO had promotion giving out free LTE data speeds in every country I visited. Unfortunately this summer I was not as lucky.

 

[coolfactor]

That's too bad - it's pretty easy to run up a lot of data when you're away from home. Last time I was at a conference in Canada, I watched a lot of movies on my phone in the evenings.

There's Wi-Fi for that.

It's understandable why this cap is being put into place — because of a few that think that bandwidth doesn't cost companies anything.
[doublepost=1508140040][/doublepost]

What are they doing with the bandwidth? Are they taking it so other people can't use it? Are they reselling it? Or are they just using what they paid for? People who use less data than other people don't deserve the bandwidth more. They have just as much opportunity over the course of the month to use data as everyone else. Lack of bandwidth is entirely on the carrier.

"A few people abusing it"

More like...a few people using it as advertised: continuing to use data while abroad just like they would at home. That's how the feature was presented, and it was a great thing while it lasted. Maybe the moral of the story is, don't promise something you can't actually afford?

50GB is a LOT of data for a mobile device, no matter how you choose to spin your argument!

 

[4jasontv]

There's Wi-Fi for that.

It's understandable why this cap is being put into place — because of a few that think that bandwidth doesn't cost companies anything.
[doublepost=1508140040][/doublepost]



50GB is a LOT of data for a mobile device, no matter how you choose to spin your argument!

No one I know pays T-mobile for wifi.

No one is claiming that bandwidth doesn't cost anything. People are willing to pay their monthly access fee for it. The issues is that they oversell their available bandwidth and then selectively punish those who use what they paid for. The networks arnt obligated to prove the network was congested at the time when throttling was enabled. Who knows if they are abusing it or not? If they can't manage to make enough banbandwidth available than every customer trying to connect show know their network is congested. Not just people who use the service regularly.

Not sure where 50 GB came from, but what is a normal amount? 49 GB? 40GB? 20 GB? 1 GB? Is it slightly more than whatever you use? I can easily use 5 GB in a week and I mostly use my phone during my commute and at night at home. I only have the option for century link where I live, and my wireless is 7 times faster than my home internet. The TelComm lobiest used the mobile providers as examples of competition when they decided to merge and not develop my neighborhood. Therefore wireless internet is a replacement for a wired connection. I dont use 50 GB a month, but I sure see no reason why I should be punished if I did.

 

[Krisy]

"A few people abusing it"

More like...a few people using it as advertised: continuing to use data while abroad just like they would at home. That's how the feature was presented, and it was a great thing while it lasted. Maybe the moral of the story is, don't promise something you can't actually afford?

They tend to get you excited about a plan and then figure out new ways to tweak it to death until you are just as miserable and paying as much as you were before the "new" deal. I'm sure this is just the first of many of the upcoming adjustments. You can't abuse an option that they used to advertise the plan.

 

[nburwell]

Not that I travel to Mexico or Canada often, but I highly doubt this will have much of an impact on me. I don't use a ton of data anyway, so I'd most likely be fine with 5gb of data whenever I'm in either of the two countries.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

I am guessing a small percentage of folks are abusing the system. I would've liked to see higher limit for those on ONE plans.

Note: I'm not a T-Mobile subscriber (or fan), but I suppose that depends on how you define "abuse". If by "utilizing the unlimited bandwidth you've contractually paid for", then perhaps they need to re-think their contract. And they have.

I've noticed a trend over the years for companies to sell "unlimited" stuff. Doesn't really matter what it is. The unlimited is offered for just long enough to understand consumer usage patterns and to identify statistically predictive models for that usage. After that they set a limit - perhaps mean + 2 standard deviations - as the cap. That way they cover the vast majority of customers, reduce their overall costs, and bring in extra income from the 1% at the top.

As much as I wish things were different... this seems like a good business model.

 

[Septembersrain]

They say what, like 1% of their customers use this feature frequently?

I'm thinking it's probably either really expensive or we've got abuse.

I get why they are doing it.

 

[nutmac]

Note: I'm not a T-Mobile subscriber (or fan), but I suppose that depends on how you define "abuse". If by "utilizing the unlimited bandwidth you've contractually paid for", then perhaps they need to re-think their contract. And they have.

I've noticed a trend over the years for companies to sell "unlimited" stuff. Doesn't really matter what it is.

While I agree with your frustrations, I am okay with carriers using “unlimited” to indicate a usage where data used beyond certain threshold is deprioritized (slows down to make room for those that have used less, but only if the traffic is congested).

Many broadband ISP simply cuts off or charges overage, which in my opinion is worse.

Going back to T-Mobile’s Canada and Mexico, T-Mobile is not using unlimited as it is now decreased to 5GB.

 

[Verita]

To be fair, sometimes (and often) hotel free wifi just sucks, either because it's overloaded or it's deliberately throttled or otherwise restricted so you upgrade to the $20/day 'Premium'. I always stay in big name hotels in Europe and the US, and I'd say in about half of those the wifi wouldn't be adequate to stream a movie.

Exactly right. And sometimes the idiots charge. That's why I stay at Airbnb and boutique places which are cheaper, better, with faster internet.
[doublepost=1508221589][/doublepost]

I don't get it; isn't 5GB enough for international roaming for 99% of people? And the few people who need more data can just pay a little bit for the additional data they need?

When I was visiting Canada, most of my data usage was Google Maps to get around, and occasional social media usage. This was back when you had to buy 120MB data packs from AT&T (that's 0.12 gigs, a FRACTION of the 5GB above) and I didn't even use it all up over the course of an entire week.

Most hotels and businesses have WiFi available. What are ya'll doing on your international trips where 5GB isn't enough? Hell my entire DOMESTIC data plan is 6GB!

Many travel to foreign countries, not to immerse themselves in amazing sights, sounds, and culture, but to eat McDonalds and watch shows they can watch at home. Confusing and sad.

 

[lec0rsaire]

Not true. With t-mobile germany you get up to 300 mbps. Vodaphone is advertising up to 375mbps.

Ah ok. That's actually pretty good. I thought this was only for WLAN at home.