T-Mobile to Restrict Unlimited Customers Using Up to 2,000 GB of Data Per Month

[legioxi]

2TB is absolutely ridiculous. All of the combined devices in my place usually only hit around 500-600GB per month on Time Warner. Talk about abuse of the network. It's not even that expensive to just pay an ISP. T-Mobile unlimited is $80/mo for new customers while Time Warner sells a 150mbps plan with no limits for just $50/mo. What's the point?

I can only speak to my own use of cellular data but the point for my family is that there are no options where we live. Out in our rural area, there is no high speed internet via physical connections (DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc) short of paying $30k for Comcast to run a line 1.5 miles to our house. Lots of companies take those government subsidies to build out into rural areas but few actually follow through leaving us with limited options to stay in the current century (or work remotely for those of us who require high speed connections for work).

So we use Verizon Wireless with an old unlimited LTE plan. Works great for us and Verizon has never sent us any letters about usage. Granted we don't pull down 2TB but my family does about 200-300GB/mo with Netflix/Hulu+/HBO. The day Comcast or another provider comes into our area with 25Mbps+ down and 5Mbps+ up, I'll switch in a heartbeat. I'd even pay $100-$150/mo for it... but I won't pay 30k for the hook up.

 

[sudo1996]

They didn't already have a limit? 2TB is an insane amount of usage.

 

[edwurtle]

THEN DON'T ****ING CALL IT UNLIMITED AND THEN THEY WON'T USE UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF DATA! ****ERS!!

They never said unlimited tethering. It's specifically spelled out:
"Unlimited 4g lte data on smart phone only, Includes up to 7GB Smartphone Mobile HotSpot data."

see it here: http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/individual.html#

 

[usarioclave]

It's not abuse if they don't put limits on your usage.

That said, 2TB of tethering is a lot of tethering. I'm surprised their device didn't melt. That works out to around 2.84GB/day.

 

[tigres]

So T-Mobile no longer has unlimited ?

Correct, you can not stream data for the entire neighborhood-, 24/7, hacked or cheatin, with a tethered plan of 7GB in the TOS.

I know this may disappoint you, but they are nowhere near AT&T with their business practice.

 

[vertsix]

Please read before you comment.

This only applies to tethering, and 2TB is an excessive amount anyway.

When carriers say data is "unlimited", they mean it, but they obviously don't specify speeds. After a while, which is common sense because there are other consumers towers have to serve, you'd get throttled. That's just how it goes. Get over it.

 

[aristobrat]

If you're going to offer an unlimited plan, make it unlimited. When you start putting all kinds of qualifiers on it, it's not an unlimited plan and should not be advertised as such.

So if T-Mobile simply called it their "Unlimited Smartphone Data w/ Limited Tethering Data" plan, you'd be happy?

I'm thinking you'd still find some nit to pick.

 

[Plutonius]

Correct, you can not stream data for the entire neighborhood-, 24/7, hacked or cheatin, with a tethered plan of 7GB in the TOS.

I know this may disappoint you, but they are nowhere near AT&T with their business practice.

Unlimited is still unlimited. T-Mobile is just as dishonest as the other providers in calling their plan "unlimited".

 

[adnbek]

First world problems....

Oh wait. I live in the first world and I'm stuck with crap data limits here in Canada, so I'm not sure what to call this.

 

[aristobrat]

Unlimited is still unlimited. T-Mobile is just as dishonest as the other providers in calling their plan "unlimited".

No other major US provider even allows tethering with unlimited data plans.

T-Mobile allows 7GB of data for tethering on their unlimited plan and doesn't use small print for either the fact that the "unlimited part" is only for smartphone data (look at the text under UNLIMITED in the magenta square up there), or that tethering is limited to 7GB (boxed in yellow).

And they're the bad guys... "Dishonest"

Some folks here are amazing.

I don't think I've seen an actual T-Mobile customer on one of these plans ever call it "dishonest" or "mislabeled". Which is pretty amazing, considering how quickly and frequently AT&T and Verizon customers call those carriers out for anything.

 

[Spectrum Abuser]

2TB a month is just a wee bit generous. AT&T would've capped you at 5GB, and then taken you to court over lost revenue.

 

[Mactendo]

Finland.

It's really crazy to read about US operators as a foreigner.

Do they include unlimited tethering also?

 

[SoAnyway]

I'm all for truly unlimited data but how can anyone use 2TB of (wireless) data per month?

 

[TiBook550]

Finland.

Operators here are making jokes about your crazy prices and data limits;

It's really crazy to read about US operators as a foreigner.

I really, really, really get tired of this wildly inaccurate comparison of the cost differences between foreign and U.S. carriers. In your case, the land mass of Finland is 29 times smaller than the United States and has a population of less than 6 million versus 318 million. When you're dealing with covering such large populated areas, the cost disparities will always be greater.

While I'm not in love with the price of my current wireless provider (AT&T), I do understand the relationship between the cost and level of service (coverage, etc.) provided.

Also, while living in the U.S. can sometimes incur higher costs of services versus other countries, the reverse also holds true as well:

http://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/united-states/finland
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...t.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Finland

 

[Treq]

2 TB per month! I might barely do that in a year with my home internet... And I'm a cord cutter. Only slightly compressed, you can get a full length 1080p feature film with DTS 7.1 sound to around 7-10GB. That's 200-300 movies per month! To watch all those movies in one month, you would have to watch 10 per day, every day, and only sleep 4hrs. per night. That's a LOT of data. I'm not for restricting "unlimited" plans, but come on guys... that's a little excessive.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

THEN DON'T ****ING CALL IT UNLIMITED AND THEN THEY WON'T USE UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF DATA! ****ERS!!

It is still unlimited - it's just not unlimited at full speed. And it's still unlimited for use on the device, just not for tethering (which has always been the case; they're just finally going to actually enforce it.)

 

[legioxi]

No other major US provider even allows tethering with unlimited data plans.

If you are lucky enough to have a Verizon unlimited plan, you can add unlimited tethering for $30/mo. I have two lines with them, an unlimited everything but international phone and an unlimited data+hotspot but limited voice for home internet.

 

[iAbc21]

Again, need is irrelevant. They are using their unlimited data to do as they wish. T-Mobile, stop using that word. Simply start using LIMITED data up to XXXX GB. Very simple. You live and die by your words.

Best response.

 

[Huracan]

Data is data. He may be doing those things against "abusers", but he is telling people T-Mobile is no different than the other carriers.

Always be weary of the capacities of someone who can rally the support of those they divide.

Do you agree at least with T-Mobile having a right to enforce the 7GB tethering limit? Or is your argument that one person in the US would pay T-Mobile for an unlimited data plan and the rest of the country tether on that connection? (I am trying to bring your argument to its absurd conclusion).

Data is not just data, the same way that electricity is not just electricity in the sense that it is not viable for a business to have one person pay a flat rate for electricity and have a small town feed for free from that. Something like this is done in some developing countries which unavoidably leads to bad reliability and power outages. Anyway, the tethering policy is fairly clearly spelled out by T-Mobile, not just in terms of service, but usually in foot notes on their webpages.

 

[DavidLynch]

T-Mobile is going after people who are using apps to tether beyond 7GB and break the terms of their agreement. Everyone saying unlimited is unlimited, that's true, but you're paying for unlimited cellular data and 7GB of tethering.

 

[Huracan]

Best response.

Not really a good response, as T-Mobile is doing nothing but enforce what was clearly spelled out about tethering. Are people just being disingenuous here about the difference between data used by a smartphone and data used for tethering other devices to drive an agenda, or just ignorant of the facts. Facts are pretty clear. Would it be ok for me or anyone else to tether my phone to a router and provide internet service for a fee to my neighbors?

 

[coolfactor]

What exactly is the reason for limits anyway? I'm genuinely curious if someone could explain. In my mind, it doesn't seem like "data" is a limited commodity like water or gas or something, is it? Always wondered why there's a monthly cap on internet usage (not just mobile data).

Imagine your home router. If one member of your family was abusing that connection, it would have a direct impact on other users of the same network, slowing the connection down for everyone else. Well, the same is true for the networks upstream from your house, as well. Bandwidth needs to be managed so that everyone has equal access to it. Equal is relative to what they are willing to pay for that access. Pay more and get a bigger allotment. Just like paying more for a better home router would get you a better experience.

Bandwidth is not a free commodity. It costs companies money for network management, equipment, data centres, etc.

 

[Huracan]

Unlimited is still unlimited. T-Mobile is just as dishonest as the other providers in calling their plan "unlimited".

You seem to live in a distorted reality world. I think it has been pointed again and again that unlimited didn't include unlimited tethering. Can you at least acknowledge this, or are you going to continue choosing to ignore this simple fact and keep whining without rhyme or reason?

 

[campyguy]

What country are you from? I'm in the US and never heard of Data Caps until recently. My Carrier (Sprint) always says I have unlimited data

I'm not picking nits with you, you're lucky you can utilize Sprint that way being east of the Mississippi. I looked into SPCS a few years ago and again recently, but being in the PNW and needing to travel their 100MB/300MB data roaming and 800 minute calling restrictions buried in their TOS killed it for me - with VZW and USCC owning all of the off-interstate spectrum (relative to Sprint), we'd be off-network 60-80% of the time.

 

[Porco]

Unlimited means without limits. As soon as they say *but with exceptions depending on how you use it… blah blah… then it isn't unlimited, it's limited, by definition! If there are limits when tethering, or anything, then calling it 'unlimited' is meaningless. They should just spell out data caps and throttling policies and then they can put in all the ifs, buts and maybes they like.

I agree if one signed up to the plan without reading the tethering limit then you bear responsibility for that, but it doesn't change the concurrent wrongness of companies using the term 'unlimited' when it is in fact limited.