T-Mobile to Throttle Data After 5GB?

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According to this report, T-Mobile will begin reducing data speeds when a customer reaches 5GB of usage in a billing cycle. I’m not sure where this statement came from (no mention on the company website) but, if true, it kinda sucks.

If a customer happens to reach the 5GB limit, they will receive a free text message informing them their data speed will be reduced. Customers will continue to have Web browsing capabilities but at slower speeds, which will be determined by their device type. Once their new billing cycle begins, data speeds will no longer be restricted.
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Wow, 5gb, I get boned sans lube with AT&T after 2gb...

Lets recap... 5 > 2 so...

..it could be worse, quit whining.
 
It has actually been like that for a while now.......i don't mind, 5 gb on a phone is incredibly hard to pass. I use pandora on high quality a hour our so a day and even that is only like 80mb a day tops.
 
Ryan711 said:
If you're using more than 5GB of data on a phone, it's not them that's doing the raping.
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LOL, yeah, because it costs them SO much to provide this service to us. Just like it costs them $10/month for 500 text messages.
 
MavericK96 said:
LOL, yeah, because it costs them SO much to provide this service to us. Just like it costs them $10/month for 500 text messages.
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Haha yea. But T-Mobile is the lowest profit margin carrier out of the big 4. They keep cutting prices to gain subscribers but it apparently isnt working. If they don't start making more money and doing it quick they will be forced to do something radical or sell out. No one wants T-Mo to sell out.
 
That's exactly what WIND does up here... "Unlimited" data, but you get throttled after 5GB. It's fair, and makes sense; if you're using more than 5GB/mo on a phone, you're either tethering or mass downloading, so stop.
 
siliconnerd said:
Hint: 5gb of data is equivilent to about 33 million text messages. :eek:
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True, but I guess the real concern with companies doing this is that it's a slippery slope for even more harsh restrictions. I mean AT&T is already at $15/mo for 200 MB, which IMO is a huge rip-off. It seems like it will only get worse as time goes on and if people continue to buy the plans.
 
how can someone use more then 5GB on a phone? i can barely get in 500MB on heavy use of my droid.
 
I don't tether (although I could with my rooted Aria) or download anything large (unless I'm on wifi). Pandora, shoutcast take up 95% of my bandwidth usage every month, with a little for surfing when out (and wifi not avail). 2gb for $25 a line is just bullshit, and AT&T would be most happy in selling me an additional GB of bandwidth should i go over the "cap" for (I think) $15 EXTRA dollars for the billing cycle.

So, as I said earlier...it could be WORSE. :)
 
We need country-wide Wireless so we can put all these greedy bastards out of business once and for all.
 
MavericK96 said:
It's that kind of attitude that allows the phone companies to rape us in the first place. :rolleyes:
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Yep! And you'll notice he is sticking with AT&T so he must LIKE getting boned sans lube... ;) Then again he might be so in love with his "i(whatever)" that he simply can't bear the idea of trying something better. :p

Personally, I am a T-Mobile customer but, I am switching to Sprint. They have the best price on data plans. And my area even has 4G.
 
djBon2112 said:
That's exactly what WIND does up here... "Unlimited" data, but you get throttled after 5GB. It's fair, and makes sense; if you're using more than 5GB/mo on a phone, you're either tethering or mass downloading, so stop.
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So what if I am? It's data. It's the internet. What does it matter what I do with it? (Regardless of stupid terms of service that serve to limit what a consumer does)
 
T-Mobile has good rates in general. I pay $30 for 500 minutes, $10 for unlimited text (I sent/received 3000 last month) and if I get "unlimited" data it's just $20... and I am near WiFi much of the time and don't care about tethering. If I'm out of range of WiFi I don't want a laptop, I want to enjoy friends or scenery ;)
 
SunnyD said:
So what if I am? It's data. It's the internet. What does it matter what I do with it? (Regardless of stupid terms of service that serve to limit what a consumer does)
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Oh, that wasn't intended as a command to anyone, but to someone who would bitch about their speed being throttled after 5GB.

You can use all the data you want. But just because you found a way to use 10GB/mo on your phone doesn't mean anyone else's speed should suffer.
 
Cannydog said:
Yep! And you'll notice he is sticking with AT&T so he must LIKE getting boned sans lube... ;) Then again he might be so in love with his "i(whatever)" that he simply can't bear the idea of trying something better. :p

Personally, I am a T-Mobile customer but, I am switching to Sprint. They have the best price on data plans. And my area even has 4G.
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iPhones may be inclusively AT&T, but AT&T isn't inclusively iPhones. Food for thoughts.
 
Cannydog said:
Yep! And you'll notice he is sticking with AT&T so he must LIKE getting boned sans lube... ;) Then again he might be so in love with his "i(whatever)" that he simply can't bear the idea of trying something better. :p

Personally, I am a T-Mobile customer but, I am switching to Sprint. They have the best price on data plans. And my area even has 4G.
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No, it actually has to do with that fact that me and my wife need our phones for various reasons, and switching to another carrier would require a $500 security deposit (due to some other shitty uncontrollable circumstances) whereas renewing with AT&T one more time (with no $500 security deposit) until she gets out of school was the "cheaper" route.

Yeah it is a raw shitty deal, and believe me, as soon as the opportunity arises we will be switching for something much better. And on the subject of "whatever" as a matter of fact, yes, I do love my Android powered Aria, yes there are better handsets, but given what this little handset can do versus its cost to us (nothing) I can't bitch too much about it.

I can however, bitch about AT&T, and will. So there.
 
T-Mobile has been doing this for a long time. They're just now making it public. I don't see what the problem is.
 
MavericK96 said:
LOL, yeah, because it costs them SO much to provide this service to us. Just like it costs them $10/month for 500 text messages.
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Actually, you'd be surprised. The reason they rape you on text messages, etc is because it's hard to make money elsewhere. There will never be an "unlimited" wireless mobile plan. Not on 4g (the only reason sprint is allowing it currently is because hardly anyone is using it, just wait until it becomes standard), 5g, 6g, etc. Of course, the amount of alloted data will rise, but it won't ever be truely unliimited.
 
djBon2112 said:
Oh, that wasn't intended as a command to anyone, but to someone who would bitch about their speed being throttled after 5GB.

You can use all the data you want. But just because you found a way to use 10GB/mo on your phone doesn't mean anyone else's speed should suffer.
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Or maybe the telcos should be expanding their capacity (or better yet, rolling out 4G faster) so that no one has a reason to bitch. I guess they don't have enough money or something...

Oh wait...
 
I have tmobile 3G internet. the day i got it i hooked it up to my computer to test out 3G speeds on various downloads (also i didn't have internet at my apartment at that time, so i used it while i waited for my internet to be installed). long story short, after 10 gigs tmobile throttle down my internet. they said "sir you didn't pay for unlimited 3G internet" you paid for "unlimited internet with UP to 3G speeds" so they had the right to throttle me down without it stating anywhere on my contract? go figure
 
MavericK96 said:
It's that kind of attitude that allows the phone companies to rape us in the first place. :rolleyes:
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STrooperTK421 likes to take it up the rear from companies. He thinks they give out a bonus, when they really give out a surcharge.
 
in the UK i think its 1gb or 2gb on t-mobile then the 2g speed limit kicks in (still get 3g or H just speed of 2g) cant see how i would go over 1gb in an month any way,

way better then the lame caps that most other mobile company's do at 500MB and then charge you after you go over it
_-----_
t-mobile mobile broadband dongles do it was well but limit is 3gb before that happens but no charges for going over it just limited speed (they do send you an text before the limit (90%) and you get to the limit as well stating the speed is now been lowered for the remaining month)
 
Um, anyone who thinks this amount of data is enough is an idiot. With Hulu at 288p it's about 150-200 MB per 43 min episode of a TV show. 360p is near 250. I'm not sure what NetFlix streams at but if you are a guy who likes watching streaming content on your phone it's very easy to go over these limits, especially 2GB. I use about 800-1200 MB a day when I work midnights or am traveling across the country. In those terms, I'd go 3 days before I max'd my data amount. That's why I'm glad on on the very first iphone plan from years back that had REAL unlimited data. Since I had my phone reset about 8-9 weeks ago (we'll call it 2 months) my usage meter shows just over 48 Gigs downloaded.

Food for thought, if you are fine with paying for unlimited data but getting capped, you are allowing this to happen. Resist!!

(PS - posted via my phone)
 
And for the record, gaming uses less than youtube, hulu, netflix, or even pandora. I've played many a game of DoD:S all night long and only used 200-300MB. Similar night on Hulu would put me over a gig on lowest stream quality.
 
Steve said:
According to this report, T-Mobile will begin reducing data speeds when a customer reaches 5GB of usage in a billing cycle. I’m not sure where this statement came from (no mention on the company website) but, if true, it kinda sucks.
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ya they have been doing this for a while... basically when you exceed 5gb I think you get throttled down to EDGE which isnt that bad... at least its not 2GB followed by ridiculous fees
 
They should change their advertising campaign if this is true. Their the new unlimited everything commercials i see on TV all the time
 
it is 10 GB that is the mark before throttling. I did an experiment when i first got my HD2. I tethered and kept redownloading steam games. they throttled to 2 g speeds after 10 gb but after 5 days, the throttle was taken off. I used 60 gb that month
 
Emission said:
Or maybe the telcos should be expanding their capacity (or better yet, rolling out 4G faster) so that no one has a reason to bitch. I guess they don't have enough money or something...

Oh wait...
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Yes, but try as I might my own bitching isn't changing anything. But my mobile internet is always painfully slow. So maybe if more people were just respectful to the fact that the networks CAN'T handle it, then it wouldn't be so bad.
 
Shockey said:
They should change their advertising campaign if this is true. Their the new unlimited everything commercials i see on TV all the time
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you are still getting unlimited data, just not at full speed. At no point are they caping you and turning off your data.
 
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