Straight Talk Data Policy - Networking

Anyone have experience using AT&T Straight Talk? I'm planning to jump to the $45 unlimited plan, but I've heard some terrible things about their data policy being overly strict with what you can do with it (like no streaming from Youtube). I am a fairly mild data user only averaging about 300-500mb per month. I will only rarely stream from Youtube and don't want my data service suspended just for the occasional streaming.
Anyone with experience with this provider please leave a comment about their opinion about the data service and speeds and coverage. Only AT&T ST, not T-Mobile ST.
Thanks in advance!

vx117 said:
Anyone have experience using AT&T Straight Talk? I'm planning to jump to the $45 unlimited plan, but I've heard some terrible things about their data policy being overly strict with what you can do with it (like no streaming from Youtube). I am a fairly mild data user only averaging about 300-500mb per month. I will only rarely stream from Youtube and don't want my data service suspended just for the occasional streaming.
Anyone with experience with this provider please leave a comment about their opinion about the data service and speeds and coverage. Only AT&T ST, not T-Mobile ST.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll be fine. You can do whatever you want with the data if you take the proxy server off your APN settings.
I'm about the same as you for data usage. I've never gone over 300 MB in a month before. It certainly is nice to have the freedom to download whatever you want without worrying though.
Some have gotten away with 5 GB of data a month while some have gotten kicked off for 1 GB. It really depends on where you use the service. Overloading a single tower is a horrible idea, AT&T or T-Mobile can request that you be kicked off if you do such a thing. If you're streaming in your car or something, you can probably get away with a lot of data usage (since this spreads data over numerous towers). If you download with 3G from your house instead of wifi, then you're going to get the boot if you download more than 2 GB a month.

.
Thread moved. Would advise you to read forum rules and post in correct section.
Failure to comply with forum rules will result in an infraction and/or ban depending on severity of rule break.

orb3000 said:
Thread moved. Would advise you to read forum rules and post in correct section.
Failure to comply with forum rules will result in an infraction and/or ban depending on severity of rule break.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, completely missed that section. Thanks for the move

chw2006 said:
You'll be fine. You can do whatever you want with the data if you take the proxy server off your APN settings.
I'm about the same as you for data usage. I've never gone over 300 MB in a month before. It certainly is nice to have the freedom to download whatever you want without worrying though.
Some have gotten away with 5 GB of data a month while some have gotten kicked off for 1 GB. It really depends on where you use the service. Overloading a single tower is a horrible idea, AT&T or T-Mobile can request that you be kicked off if you do such a thing. If you're streaming in your car or something, you can probably get away with a lot of data usage (since this spreads data over numerous towers). If you download with 3G from your house instead of wifi, then you're going to get the boot if you download more than 2 GB a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my SIM the other day, but I'm waiting to order a phone (since I'm coming from Sprint and I'll need a GSM phone). Which is the proxy server I should remove in order to keep data working? I normally use 2GB or less a month, but I don't stream at all and I can definitely make myself use less.

Product F(RED) said:
I got my SIM the other day, but I'm waiting to order a phone (since I'm coming from Sprint and I'll need a GSM phone). Which is the proxy server I should remove in order to keep data working? I normally use 2GB or less a month, but I don't stream at all and I can definitely make myself use less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They'll make you input a proxy under the proxy field in your APN settings (proxy.mvno.tracfone.com). Don't put that it in, all it does is restrict you from streaming videos and test download speeds. The service works fine without it.

so without it you can stream netflix?

Apn
chw2006 said:
You'll be fine. You can do whatever you want with the data if you take the proxy server off your APN settings.
I'm about the same as you for data usage. I've never gone over 300 MB in a month before. It certainly is nice to have the freedom to download whatever you want without worrying though.
Some have gotten away with 5 GB of data a month while some have gotten kicked off for 1 GB. It really depends on where you use the service. Overloading a single tower is a horrible idea, AT&T or T-Mobile can request that you be kicked off if you do such a thing. If you're streaming in your car or something, you can probably get away with a lot of data usage (since this spreads data over numerous towers). If you download with 3G from your house instead of wifi, then you're going to get the boot if you download more than 2 GB a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the proxy servers activated although under name input I have Straight Talk.
Because I have input "Straight Talk" I am unable to send pictures.
But I have no notice of data usage being to high, my theory is that if I change the name to
"straightalk" I will gain the ability to send pictures but I will also be notified of high data usage.
Sound theisable?

chw2006 said:
You'll be fine. You can do whatever you want with the data if you take the proxy server off your APN settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I removed the proxy partly due to you partly due to ad away. I Speed has increased signal has boosted up when it used to bog down.

Related

torrents with titan

has anyone used the titan tethered to laptop to download torrents?
i know it works, but im thinking more along the lines of my carrier (VZW) finding realizing because the traffic looks differently than other traffic.
am i being paranoid? or am i more likely to get caught by vz for tethering if i download torrents.
thanks
Verizon will shut you down if you download excessively. It worked for me, but I wouldn't do it if I were you. I guess if you're desperate.
I think the unwritten download limit is 5GB. My brother got his data connection turned off after we downloaded some torrents over Christmas break at Vail. Good coverage though.
Netflix is probably a better option if you're just jonsing for some movies, they've got an online player now too.
im not concerned with the limit as much as what the traffic looks like...
im well under the 5gb limit, just want to know if they are more likely to notice that its torrents than just browsing internet or streaming movies.
They seem to cut my connection session anytime I visit youtube for some odd reason, that or my connection freezes.
I've used wmTorrent on occasion. Good download speeds. Unlike many desktop torrent clients, the version I used did not have the ability to encrypt traffic. My carrier - TELUS - hasn't bothered me regarding types of traffic. Please note I have 'unlimited data'. Frankly I think it's unrealistic to expect a WISP to pay attention to your every packet.
gbenj said:
has anyone used the titan tethered to laptop to download torrents?
i know it works, but im thinking more along the lines of my carrier (VZW) finding realizing because the traffic looks differently than other traffic.
am i being paranoid? or am i more likely to get caught by vz for tethering if i download torrents.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have and no they did not. I use uTorrent. i also have used wifirouter no problems yet.
gbenj said:
has anyone used the titan tethered to laptop to download torrents?
i know it works, but im thinking more along the lines of my carrier (VZW) finding realizing because the traffic looks differently than other traffic.
am i being paranoid? or am i more likely to get caught by vz for tethering if i download torrents.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each carrier says they have unlimited data plans, this is not really true. If you look in the contract, unlimited usually means 5-8gb a month depending on the service. If you go over those quantities they have the right to end your service. I use my phone as a modem when I go on business trips (about 12 times a year) and I use it for torrents, I been doing it for almost 2 years and never had a problem, but I never went over 8gb (limit for sprint).
gingi999 said:
Each carrier says they have unlimited data plans, this is not really true. If you look in the contract, unlimited usually means 5-8gb a month depending on the service. If you go over those quantities they have the right to end your service. I use my phone as a modem when I go on business trips (about 12 times a year) and I use it for torrents, I been doing it for almost 2 years and never had a problem, but I never went over 8gb (limit for sprint).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never kept track of usage, this is very helpful.
Were you keeping track on your laptop or is there a way to track on ppc?
Also is there a utorrent type app for wm? Something we could use to download to sd card?
I use NetLimiter 2 Monitor.
http://www.netlimiter.com/
Its free and will gige you a trafic report for the hr. day, mo., yr.
And you can throttle it down for separate connections.
I try to keep my usage under 5gb.
When I was with Qwest, they thought I was using too much at 12gb.
I have since been monitoring my trafic.
WM Torrent v2, is a usefull program, but I then have to logon to VZW to check my usage.
cyberhern said:
I have never kept track of usage, this is very helpful.
Were you keeping track on your laptop or is there a way to track on ppc?
Also is there a utorrent type app for wm? Something we could use to download to sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt really keep track, but I didnt go too crazy. I just tethered to my laptop and used utorrent for DLing stuff
I know that I use over 10gb a month on my tether. I also have an aircard that I use for my home network. I have truly unlimited data ($52.80 a month [60-12%]). I've had an unlimited data plan with VZW for six years or so. A buddy of mine got an air card awhile after I did and he got shut down for streaming movies. "Over data usage limits" was the reason cited. I know for a fact that I stream and download five to ten times more data than he does because my connection is always on and I'm usually downloading something. uTorrent works great while tethered. If VZW was going to shut someone down for what they download VS how much they download, it would require a massive number of employees to keep track of all of their customers.

!!!Beware!!!!!T-mobile Data Unlimited plan has Limit

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ya... and? it's called being throttled... 10gb in a month, really? how much porn are you downloading lol. anyway, they andother carriers will do this to free up bandwidth for moderate users ....and its still unlimited because you're not being charged any "overage"
10 gigs is a lot of data, especially on a cell phone. I 'm on the web all the time and don't even come close. And I use Slacker a lot as well. THe only thing I don't really do is tether so I guess that could boost your data but still 10 gigs is a lot.
My Comcast has 250gb limit, i don't agree with it but they all do it.
Find yourself a hotspot and enable wifi. Half the time it's faster than 3G anyway.
what are you saying? it's perfect! Other companies let you go past their puny 2-5 GB/month data limit and then charge you huge overages or cut you off completely from data. With T-Mo you don't get charged extra, 10GB is a lot for a month, and when you go over you can still use data, albeit slowly, so you still receive those tweets.
Best company ever, man
I have seen somebody use over 20gb a month on there iPhone and was not sent a message from AT&T or had to pay any overage charger or be forced to have a reduced bandwidth. It's truly unlimited Internet.
Throttling is a common practice with most providers. Tethering though, believe it or not, is actually against your T-mobile terms of use...and if you reached 10gb's of data without tethering you need to go outside lol. So...if you were tethering, you shouldn't be complaining that they put a cap on internet to prevent you from overusing a system illicitly. They could just claim breach of your contract lol...though I've never seen it done before...
when did tethering become"against terms of use "I remember back in the day calling up customer care and they walked me through the tethering process. I had the 3.99tzones hack and was happily using edge to stream internet radio as tmo was and is stil lmy only isp. nowadays netflix streams fine over 3g on the 9.99 web2go...I don't think I've ever been throttled haha! (sounds funny) I don't kno what my data usage is though...
Geez...I tether everyday, and its myself and 2 other individuals who use my connection. Plus normal web browsing and pandora on my HD2 on almost a daily basis and I have never come close to the 10Gig limit.
...the fact is, even thought they throttle you after 10gigs (which is an absurd amount anyhow) you can still access the web from your phone right? So since you still have an active connection that means its still unlimited...they are just not allowing you to continue to download torrents or use your phone as your home ISP replacement for the rest of the month.
Tethering is not against Tmobiles TOS. You can find step by step guides on their forums on how to tether with wimo and blackberry. The only one it doesnt support but isnt against your TOS is android because you have to root your phone which voids the warranty.
Tethering IS against you TOS
Tethering any 3G phone is explicitly against the terms and conditions of you service agreement with T-Mobile. Tethering was never explicitly allowed by the terms and conditions, but it was not actively monitored by T-mobile. Since edge speeds and low data usage were not likely to cause network issues, T-mobile unofficially supported it. This is the same as the way you can call T-mobile tech support for assistance with an unlocked iPhone.
3G tethering is explicitly against the TOS and is actively being shut down, I have had a hand full of customers come in to the store when their tethering was blocked since it began a couple of months back.
Those of you who think that tethering is permitted, had better read your terms of service again...your sorely mistaken:
Here is the current TOS: http://www.t-mobile.com/Templates/P...&PAsset=Ftr_Ftr_TermsAndConditions&print=true
Section 29: Subsection 1: (near the bottom of the page)
1. Permissible and Prohibited Uses
Your Data Plan is intended for Web browsing, messaging, and similar activities on your device and not on any other equipment. Unless explicitly permitted by your Data Plan, other uses, including for example, tethering your device to a personal computer or other hardware, are not permitted.
Subsection 2 covers throttling and the fact that if you do tether they can suspend or cancel your account.
So since when has it been against TOS? Since as long as I can remember LOL. And if it wasn't back in the day...it is now.
The TOS should really be stickied so that people don't think it's okay.
Are you seriously complaining about getting throttled after using over 10gb of data??? Grow the eff up and stop using your cellphone as your internet connection to you computer. Tethering was meant for mobile users to have access to the internet while they were away from available WAPs. It wasn't meant for some 40 year old virgin to download porn all day. ******.
[highlight]Mod Edit: No Need for Insulting. Play Nice[/highlight]
I have to totally agree with you...LOLOLOLOL
+1 there... LOL
While I was at the Tmo store getting a new sim card I happened to ask the guy helping if tethering was allowed. He said it was as long as the phone supported it and you didn't go over the 10gb limit. My wife has been tethering her winmo phone for 2 years now and they have never said anything to us. although she's not downloading porn all day she does use it when she goes over to a friend's house that doesn't have internet. That being said, I don't doubt that it is against TOS but I doubt they will say anything as long as your not over stepping your boundaries.
2. Protective Measures
To provide a good experience for the majority of our customers and minimize capacity issues and degradation in network performance, we may take measures including temporarily reducing data throughput for a subset of customers who use a disproportionate amount of bandwidth; if your total usage exceeds 5GB (amount is subject to change; please periodically check T-Mobile.com for updates) during a billing cycle, we may reduce your data speed for the remainder of that billing cycle. We may also suspend, terminate, or restrict your data session, Plan, or service if you use your Data Plan in a manner that interferes with other customers’ service, our ability to allocate network capacity among customers, or that otherwise may degrade service quality for other customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically it is up to TMOBILE to take (or not to take) actions if you exceed your allowed usage. Kinda went out of the subject matter a lil bit. I remember the title of this page was - !!!Beware!!!!!T-mobile Data Unlimited plan has Limit
I have been tethering using T-Mobile internet options for more than 7 years. Since I am considerate, I don't worry anything negative.
I don't mind people tethering whatsoever. What I mind is when people come onto a site dedicated to helping each other out; complaining that they are getting throttled because they are too inconsiderate to realize they are screwing other people over.

Slow data on 3g Simple Mobile

I have simple mobile on this mytouch slide and since friday the data has been very slow, before friday i would normally get over 1500k but since i cant pass 250k. any ideas? On my vibrant with a diferent sim card i get 4000k easy.
ericm115 said:
I have simple mobile on this mytouch slide and since friday the data has been very slow, before friday i would normally get over 1500k but since i cant pass 250k. any ideas? On my vibrant with a diferent sim card i get 4000k easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe they're throttling the speed, but have you changed roms recently or anything special. You can always call your provider to ask them about the speed.
From what i hear, their unlimited data is capped to 1gb?.... the is what kept me from switching lol.
From what i hear is it is indeed unlimitied data. I think the Simple Mobile $60 plan used to be for 1GB of data but recently got changed to unlimited data.
The current plan is indeed unlimited but if you are caught deviating from the terms of use (i.e tethering, downloading torrents and files from peer to peer) they will either restrict your data or disconnect it.
If you use the data for your phone it is truly unlimited.
You should check with their customer care, I work for T-Mobile and I remember reading something about how they can add a throttle feature and you have to call to have it removed. It won't drop off when the bill cycle switches.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Ace42 said:
Maybe they're throttling the speed, but have you changed roms recently or anything special. You can always call your provider to ask them about the speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am in the same boat, I did change ROM, and suddenly my data got very slow. I called simple mobile to check if I was getting throttled or anything, they told me I was not getting throttled.
It's puzzling me what might be the reason for this, is this because I changed a ROM?
i called them and complained about slow data speed, agent just "rebooted" my account and speed went back
ericm115 said:
I have simple mobile on this mytouch slide and since friday the data has been very slow, before friday i would normally get over 1500k but since i cant pass 250k.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude! Same thing here and I haven't done anything!
To me it started happening like last Friday or since Thursday.
My speed is like 0.18 down.
I restored a nandroid and still same thing, I switched to another rom, and still same thing >:S
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
My phone gets "Throttled down" around the 15th as I go over 5gig worth of data...and paying 39.99 for Unlimited Data...WTF?!
I am facing the same issue on Simplemobile. I do some (light weight) tethering to browse my emails etc.
Suddenly last week (Mar 15, 2011) my phone internet speed reduced drastically. Most webpages pages started timing out. Internet basically becomes unusable.
I am start of my billing cycle and have only used 200MB of data. I have never exceeded 1GB in a month.
The only reason I moved to simpleMobile was so that I could use the 'unlimited' data plan.
What to do now? I guess time to move on to other more welcoming providers ?
I was trying to see how much data i could use up before simple mobile decided to throttle down or interrupt my data services so I started watching a lot videos on youtube, movies and i even did some light tethering. So a couple days ago after I hit the 2GB mark my internet slowed down to a crawl.
I still have the H icon but the internet is very slow, I've called them 4 times; they have restarted my data services more than once but it's still slow so today they just created a ticket with their technical support team and the rep said they'd call me withing a couple of days. So let's just wait and see.
Using speedtest.net app, I'm seeing between 1.50mbps-2.70mbps SOMEtimes in the 3.00mbps range. Most I've gotten since I rooted was 3.96mbps and upload is usually always around 1.30mbps. Is this normal for 3G? I don't remember what my results were pre root, but I think I was getting at least 5mbps download. Also I updated to the latest froyo 7.15 blah blah radio, and I see no difference. Supposedly your supposed to get better service and faster 3G. That's not the case for me. Seems the same as always. I'm not using simple im using tmobile us epc.tmobile.com since it was checked on default
Same here. As soon as I hit 2 gb my speed went down. I was listening Pandora, watching YOUTUBE, now I have to wait 2-3 minutes for just for google search page to load! It is complete BS - UNLIMITED, dah?!! Let's all of us who experience problems just file BBB complains under FALSE advertising.
I flashed back to the older radio that the stock slide uses. I get better speeds on it.
This morning I received a text from Simple:
Your Simple Mobile Data service is at risk of being suspended due to violation of terms and conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked my account and saw that I had used just over 2gb worth of data. I began the plan (firs time doing unlimited, had just bought an android and killed H2o's(at the time) 50mb limit in 2 days) on the 9th of this month (18 days ago) and was absolutely thrilled at my new Android + Simple experience.
I rooted a G1 I bought and will admit I tethered. I enjoyed bragging about my Android feeding my Chumby, netbook and my girlfriends Phone and how "I *WAS* the internet". This seriously damaged my droid ego.
It was the first month having it and I did do some pretty heavy compared to what I would normally do downloading so I think I can get by on the measly 2gb of bandwidth you get but I don't want to get stuck at the slow speed I've heard mentioned before.
Am I doomed? If it's like this I'd rather go with H2o's 50 plan since it has better coverage and the picture messages are unlimited, not taken out of the 100mb bandwidth. IF it's an unwritten rule not to go over 2gb I can deal, 3 would be friggin perfect though.
Simple Mobile New 2G "unlimited" plan
Have been using Simple Mob for a while with their $60 plan, in June I went abroad, and since they do not have roaming, decided to move to the $50 plan. Now I’m back, and while away they changed the $50 plan from 100 Mb to “2G unlimited”….that is just insane. 2G might be good enough for IM, chatting, and nothing else, and doing that you will never go beyond 100MB, unless you have the patience to wait forever for pictures lo download when surfing any web site.
Now I’m stuck until my new cycle, which will start in 20 days!!! I have called to complain, and they aren’t willing to do anything. At least they should refund me $10 since I can’t use their lousy 2G, and that’s what costs to have Voice + Text, well that didn’t work either.
Arguments were: “we are trying to give our customers the best value for their money….and if you have an AT&T phone you can’t get 3G, so that’s why we created this plan”….. Well that wasn’t a creation, that was an unfair modification, IMO. Very disappointed, with their lack of willingness to help.
ekmenet said:
Have been using Simple Mob for a while with their $60 plan, in June I went abroad, and since they do not have roaming, decided to move to the $50 plan. Now I’m back, and while away they changed the $50 plan from 100 Mb to “2G unlimited”….that is just insane. 2G might be good enough for IM, chatting, and nothing else, and doing that you will never go beyond 100MB, unless you have the patience to wait forever for pictures lo download when surfing any web site.
Now I’m stuck until my new cycle, which will start in 20 days!!! I have called to complain, and they aren’t willing to do anything. At least they should refund me $10 since I can’t use their lousy 2G, and that’s what costs to have Voice + Text, well that didn’t work either.
Arguments were: “we are trying to give our customers the best value for their money….and if you have an AT&T phone you can’t get 3G, so that’s why we created this plan”….. Well that wasn’t a creation, that was an unfair modification, IMO. Very disappointed, with their lack of willingness to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What there not telling you (prob because they have no clue) is that the 2g plan falls under the "throttled" profiles on the epc apn (slotted throttling to hold you near 50kbps)
edge @ ~<300kbps is technically 2.5g tech (to simple that is)... cs and pr forget to mention that
wow what the hell???????? i have a sidekick 4g rooted and on custom rom gingerbread clone v2 and my speedtest is download: 0.12mbps upload: 0.14mbps... thats bull... everytime i try to watch youtube off wifi on my data it lags and freezes all the time.. it takes like 10mins to watch a 2 min video... is there a way to fix that????
Possible reason for slow data speeds on Simple Mobile
Seems like this is an older thread but on the same topic that has yet to have an answer or solution.
Since I've come into the same problem, I thought I would repost what I found out today on this topic.
Finally spoke to someone at Simple Mobile tech support that was able to tell me something that makes sense. At least in my case and it may be the issue for others as well.
I switched my SIM from a Verizon Motorola Droid 2 Global, that only supports EDGE / 2G connection to a Tmobile Sidekick 4G. Which is considered a Samsung Galaxy S 4G.
Well the problem is that it connects at 4G and since I am on the $40, when it does try to connect to the towers I am not authorized for 4G, so it automatically throttles me to 119..
He suggested I toggle 4G off and connect 3G and I should get full speeds... My problem now is that this phone doesn't have an option or toggle, that I know of to test.
Perhaps someone else that knows how to toggle a SK4G could give me a hint or someone could put this to the test on their, it would help the rest of us resolve this mystery.
-CC
Simple mobile throttles after 1gb of data per billing cycle.
sent from an HTC sensation on CM7 alpha #10

How slow is Verizon 3G When Network Optimization Kicks In?

Okay.
I moved my family to a new apartment in a new area.
Wifi isn't up yet, and I've been trying to get all of our business conducted by means of a WiFi Hotspot on my Droid X.
We were past the 2 GB threshold 36 hours into the billing cycle, and I suspect we're being subjected to Verizon's Network Optimization 'feature'.
I suspect this because we will intermittently become unable to use the Internet when we're hanging out at the local cafe working, or at the apartment working. (We can't use the wifi provided freely at the cafe due to restriction imposed by a certain vendor we do business with.)
Is there any way that I can tell that I am, for certain, being effected by Network Optimization instead of just bad luck or oddities of the building/weather/etc?
from http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/data_disclosure.html
How do I know if I will be impacted by Network Optimization?
A good rule of thumb as of September 2011 is this: If you’re on an unlimited data plan, have a 3G device and are using more than 2 GB of data in a month, you’re in the top 5% of data users and will be impacted by Network Optimization when you’re connected to congested 3G cell sites.
Starting at the end of August 2011, if you are on an unlimited plan, are a high data user and had a contract prior to February 3, 2011, we’ll notify you through bill messages and on your My Verizon account if you may be affected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I appreciate your digging that up for me, it wasn't what I was looking for.
I want to know *when* I'm on what VZW considers a congested site, and as such am being 'throttled'.
Will it make me half as fast, or will it push me down to 5K ?
I know that I'm a data hog, per their definition.
you are not going to get more detail than that.
Because this process is in place to ensure the best service to our customers, the speed will vary at any given time. It will depend on how many users are on the same site at that time and what data applications are being used on that site at that time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way I can tell which cell sites are congested?
There is no way for you to easily determine that today. There are many variables that can contribute to a cell site being congested including, but not limited to, the number of active users and the type of applications being used on that site. While we work to ensure we have the most reliable network for every location, these variables combined with other environmental factors determine whether or not a particular cell site reaches the limits of its capacity and becomes congested at any particular time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay.
I was hoping the community had experience with how slow "throttled" was, but all I can find is a thread or two on other forums where it seems like the throttling in question is still faster than I'm getting when things go sideways.
I have multiple incidents per day where I lose the ability to connect outbound from my laptop.
Based on readings on other forums, people who are throttled may be unable to stream video nicely, but continue to be able to at least browse text-based websites and run traceroutes.
So... I'm either sitting in bad locations or have a problem with my phone.
CoffeeCrown said:
Okay.
I was hoping the community had experience with how slow "throttled" was, but all I can find is a thread or two on other forums where it seems like the throttling in question is still faster than I'm getting when things go sideways.
I have multiple incidents per day where I lose the ability to connect outbound from my laptop.
Based on readings on other forums, people who are throttled may be unable to stream video nicely, but continue to be able to at least browse text-based websites and run traceroutes.
So... I'm either sitting in bad locations or have a problem with my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe they throttle. They just charge more
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda premium
SuperDefcon5 said:
I don't believe they throttle. They just charge more
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on the grandfathered unlimited data plan.

Uncarrier-> "21GB Softcap"

Looks like John Legere just said, "hahaha sucka.. you've been baited to our unlimited data cap"
It has come to our attention over the past few days – thanks to a couple of our readers – that T-Mobile has changed the fine print to its unlimited 4G LTE Simple Choice plans. Head on over to the individual plans or family plans page on T-Mobile’s website and you’ll see the following short line added at the bottom of the page:
“*Unlimited 4G LTE customers who use more than 21 GB of data in a bill cycle will have their data usage de-prioritized compared to other customers for that bill cycle at locations and times when competing network demands occur, resulting in relatively slower speeds.”
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.tmonews.com/2015/06/21gb...mobiles-unlimited-4g-lte-simple-choice-plans/
What are you thoughts?
I avg 35-45gb a month. But how do we know if our area is congested?
Legere has been bashing other companies about their throttle, but yet he's doing the same thing.
twe90kid said:
What are you thoughts?
I avg 35-45gb a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What and how much are you downloading?
twe90kid said:
Looks like John Legere just said, "hahaha sucka.. you've been baited to our unlimited data cap"
http://www.tmonews.com/2015/06/21gb...mobiles-unlimited-4g-lte-simple-choice-plans/
What are you thoughts?
I avg 35-45gb a month. But how do we know if our area is congested?
Legere has been bashing other companies about their throttle, but yet he's doing the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not trying to pick a fight, but I'd like to hear how you consistently use that much data on your phone. I'd consider myself a heavy user, and I do break the tethering rules a few times a week, and I don't think I've ever passed 20GB in a month.
ummduh said:
Not trying to pick a fight, but I'd like to hear how you consistently use that much data on your phone. I'd consider myself a heavy user, and I do break the tethering rules a few times a week, and I don't think I've ever passed 20GB in a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A fight it is, lol. But seriously is not about how much data someone's uses but if this is true then it's the fact that John goes around bashing AT&T and Verizon but then pulls this $hit. How much data you use is non of my business but have you ever watch a 5 min YouTube video in 1080 or 1440? There goes about half a Gb.
ummduh said:
Not trying to pick a fight, but I'd like to hear how you consistently use that much data on your phone. I'd consider myself a heavy user, and I do break the tethering rules a few times a week, and I don't think I've ever passed 20GB in a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Breaking 30 - 40 GB is easy depending where you are. Last year I took a family vacation to Disney World and forgot to bring my laptop to store each days videos and pictures. At the time I had a G3 and wife had a Note 3.
At the end of the day our phones would be out of storage when recording videos in 4K and taking pictures in max resolution. Our only two options for making storage space available was to either buy storage for our phones or to upload everything to google drive, dropbox, youtube, box .... Having the unlimited dataplan, why not use it and just upload everything each night so we can clear our phones the next day. Doing this over five days four nights we used over 80 GB of data combined (all videos ended up on youtube while phones were saved in the cloud.
We are going to Disney and Universal in a couple weeks and I plan on doing this again. Outside of special occasions like this, I think we used between 6 and 10 GB combined a month.
moehagene said:
Breaking 30 - 40 GB is easy depending where you are. Last year I took a family vacation to Disney World and forgot to bring my laptop to store each days videos and pictures. At the time I had a G3 and wife had a Note 3.
At the end of the day our phones would be out of storage when recording videos in 4K and taking pictures in max resolution. Our only two options for making storage space available was to either buy storage for our phones or to upload everything to google drive, dropbox, youtube, box .... Having the unlimited dataplan, why not use it and just upload everything each night so we can clear our phones the next day. Doing this over five days four nights we used over 80 GB of data combined (all videos ended up on youtube while phones were saved in the cloud.
We are going to Disney and Universal in a couple weeks and I plan on doing this again. Outside of special occasions like this, I think we used between 6 and 10 GB combined a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup.
With a rooted phone and having xposed. My youtube is set to play 1440P as long as it's available.
I also upload my 4k videos that I record at car events.
Photos that you take are about 5mb each (16mp).
Just streaming music and video daily will easily eat 21 GB in less than two weeks. I have a feeling this might get repealed or changed to 31. At least that's a gig a day. It's kinda hypocritical like people have said. There's some interesting comments on tmonews under the article. This will really screw the commuters in big cities plus those who listen to music or videos via headphones at work etc. I guess we really need to see how it goes because there are a few unanswered questions here like what are the peak times and if this changes from tower to tower after depriorization. We'll have to just see how this affects people.
sino8r said:
Just streaming music and video daily will easily eat 21 GB in less than two weeks. I have a feeling this might get repealed or changed to 31. At least that's a gig a day. It's kinda hypocritical like people have said. There's some interesting comments on tmonews under the article. This will really screw the commuters in big cities plus those who listen to music or videos via headphones at work etc. I guess we really need to see how it goes because there are a few unanswered questions here like what are the peak times and if this changes from tower to tower after depriorization. We'll have to just see how this affects people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still like to know what the deprioritize speed is.. for example, if you hit 21gb. And your in a congested area, what speed are you capped at? 1mbps? 5mbps? 10mbps?
Also, does it mean that if we jump from one network to another network, the prioritizing stops? What happens if we go back to the original network, does it start again?
twe90kid said:
I still like to know what the deprioritize speed is.. for example, if you hit 21gb. And your in a congested area, what speed are you capped at? 1mbps? 5mbps? 10mbps?
Also, does it mean that if we jump from one network to another network, the prioritizing stops? What happens if we go back to the original network, does it start again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly... Not sure. Some people in the comments on tmonews are clarifying some of those concerns. But really it just seems like speculation so far. I guess we'll see... Not really happy about this myself.
I wouldn't get too upset about it. A good network always has a QOS system in place.
Note that the statement says 'de-prioritized', not throttled. Instead of assigning your account to a lower bandwidth speed, you could be placed in a lower tier in a packet queuing scheduler. This doesn't necessarily limit your bandwidth, it just lets other user's packets go first. When an area is 100% congested, your 'share' of the bandwidth will be less than others. Once there is free network capacity your bandwidth would go back to normal as there would be enough free resources to do so. Realize that network saturation changes by the second, so unless a congested area is constantly overloaded at 100% capacity, you shouldn't experience much speed reduction.
This is completely within the new FCC rules, and is actually a good network management practice.
xanmato said:
I wouldn't get too upset about it. A good network always has a QOS system in place.
Note that the statement says 'de-prioritized', not throttled. Instead of assigning your account to a lower bandwidth speed, you could be placed in a lower tier in a packet queuing scheduler. This doesn't necessarily limit your bandwidth, it just lets other user's packets go first. When an area is 100% congested, your 'share' of the bandwidth will be less than others. Once there is free network capacity your bandwidth would go back to normal as there would be enough free resources to do so. Realize that network saturation changes by the second, so unless a congested area is constantly overloaded at 100% capacity, you shouldn't experience much speed reduction.
This is completely within the new FCC rules, and is actually a good network management practice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's good in theory (compared to plain throttling) but we haven't really seen it in practical application so far. I live in medium sized city (300 thousand city/1 million metro) and don't have much to worry about really. I have WiFi at work/home and no real excuse to use 60GB a month like I do. Just bad habits. I just have to remember to leave WiFi on lol! No biggie for me. The folks I feel bad for is those who work outside or have no WiFi in office (other than work purposes. Strick company policy a holes etc) and/or commuters that have to ride the subway. I don't really feel sorry for those (and I have a few friends like this) that are too cheap to buy broadband Internet at home. This isn't meant to be a replacement for home Internet unless you have a Hotspot device or whatever they call it these days. I get that. I guess we'll have to see. This plan has been in place a few weeks now. We'll have to see how much it affects people. Hopefully not too much. Good reply though! Clarification is always welcome here:good:
sino8r said:
Yeah it's good in theory (compared to plain throttling) but we haven't really seen it in practical application so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, until we get some technical info or some really good test results, we won't know exactly what they are using. Though priority queuing and class based queuing are common in today's networks. I can guarantee they are already using hierarchical fair service curves as it is pretty much required for the HD voice feature to be reliable.
If this system is already in place, then they probably are not using regular throttling tiers, as I am well past the soft cap and am still putting down 80/20 speed. Though I am most likely in an un-congested area. I am wondering just how weighted the de-prioritization scale is for users above the cap.
I use alot of data (70gb) one month that was the most extreme. I download alot of movies and torrents while i sleep. Theres know doubt in my mind that they mess with my speeds especially during peak hours. I with search and get lte then 5 seconds later it drops down. I will search and get it again and the same thing will happen. Meanwhile my wifes phone stays on lte. I also noticed at times ill be on lte but will only be downloading at 100 or 200 kbs where im normally at 1 mbs. But like i said it's usually only at peak hours and lasts for 30min to a hour
twe90kid said:
Looks like John Legere just said, "hahaha sucka.. you've been baited to our unlimited data cap"
http://www.tmonews.com/2015/06/21gb...mobiles-unlimited-4g-lte-simple-choice-plans/
What are you thoughts?
I avg 35-45gb a month. But how do we know if our area is congested?
Legere has been bashing other companies about their throttle, but yet he's doing the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, this is just now making news? That's been in their fine print for almost a year now ever since they started their unlimited data campaign.
I average about 150-200GBs a month on my line alone. I really heavily on my phones data for everything I do while I'm not at home. Sometimes even when I'm home I'll use data just for the heck of it.
T-Mobile is throttling but not as rampant as the other carriers. T-Mobile's throttling depends on network congestion. Other carriers just throttle once you hit a certain number.
There really isn't a way to tell though if your area is heavily congested unless it's a major city; i.e Denver Metro, Manhattan, LA, etc etc.
I am very torn by this as I live in a congested neighborhood that this cap is designed to manage. The tower that serves my neighborhood is oversold. I routinely suffer from slow network speeds on the best of days and I personally have never used enough data to hit the cap. So on one hand, I certainly want my fellow users capped if they are data hogs as bandwidth is very constrained in my local neck of the woods. On the other hand, because my tower is so congested, if I did hit the cap and was de-prioritized, I would immediately hit 2G speeds because there is so much traffic to compete with. So T-Mobile has essentially told me that I have a 21GB data plan as in my neighborhood I will never get more.
With that figure in mind, I have to say that a 15GB plan from Verizon that actually would give me decent speed now seems not so far off from my 21GB "unlimited" plan. T-Mobile is supposed to be adding bandwidth in my neighborhood, but it is no longer a comparison of XGB vs unlimited, but XGB vs 21GB. Verizon and for that matter, Sprint (yes, I know) are offering competitive packages to 21GB and it is possible that even Sprint may give me faster speeds. I am not so sure that I may not make the jump to someone if they can deliver better speeds. For those that live in non-congested neighborhoods, that 21GB cap may never be seen. But in my area, that is a wall.
They are doing what Verizon started doing. Throttling only on congested towers to the top data people. I use to get throttled by Verizon when the Detroit Lions or the Tigers were playing since I work downtown Detroit. Once the games were done I would get better data speeds.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Using over 80gb a month is taking advantage of a good thing. People who consistently abuse the data limits are the same people who screwed this for everyone. These are the people who feel entitled to abuse every inch they can. Hotels have wifi, there are other ways. I have the unlimited data package fir years, never abused the privilege. Whenever at home I use my wifi even though I have sick DL speeds at home. I will never abuse a situation, just the way I am.
Sent from my Note 4.
So sorry that us heavy users misunderstood what unlimited means. Dangit I knew I should have paid more attention in vocabulary class.
Now I just need to remember not to buy that nice car I want because that would taking advantage of a good thing as others aren't buying it.
Not to step on anyone posting, but I believe that T-Mobile is at fault here. Notwithstanding the individuals that break the rules and tether more than the rules allow, T-Mobile sold me an unlimited plan. I have not exceeded the 21GB limit. My data, according to T-Mobile, is at 11GB. But when I subscribed to the unlimited plan, I asked what that meant and I gave some far out there examples (streaming videos 24 hours a day, etc.). I was told by the T-Mobile customer rep, unlimited means unlimited. No sweat.
The problem is that T-Mobile wanted to attract more business and they used and still use unlimited data plans to attract that business and their network wasn't really ready for that level of activity. I read comments to an article as much as 6 months ago that had users saying that T-Mobile's network was, unlike the other carrier's networks, impervious to slowdowns from added traffic which is simply not true.
But I believe T-Mobile has helped build that impression with the selling all of these unlimited data packages. TMONews had an article a couple of weeks ago asking if unlimited data packages are going away and they quoted John Legere saying that unlimited data packages are only guaranteed for 2 more years. (http://www.tmonews.com/2015/05/is-unlimited-data-going-to-disappear/) Then shortly after they announced this cap. The article's point is that unlimited packages are unsustainable. But T-Mobile keeps selling the idea. All carrier's need to sell what they can provide and not promise more than they can deliver. Perhaps they should say no to a new customer that lives in a neighborhood that is oversold. But they won't.
I love T-Mobile, but I experience very slow speeds due to a wildly oversold network. I would have been much better off if T-Mobile only promised what they can deliver. They can't really deliver unlimited to me. What they told me last week is that unlimited is actually 21GB, if you could get 21GB at the slow download speeds they are currently delivering. For the fellow that got 80GB, if he followed the rules, he is paying for an unlimited plan. In my neighborhood, except for DSL that is unusably slow, I have no other options except wireless. No cable, nothing. I am willing to pay for my data needs. But I want and need the data at reasonably fast speeds. It is not clear that in my neighborhood that T-Mobile can deliver. But now that the cap is in place, T-Mobile has made the comparison clearer. Who can deliver 21GB faster, cheaper and more reliably than anyone else. Because in my oversold neighborhood, 21GB is all that I will get. YMMV.
Good luck finding another carrier that will only delay your packets after 21gb when there is congestion instead of crippling access all together. Your situation is unique and the result should be expected. There is nothing a carrier can do if your area is under serviced when it comes to internet access. xanmato completely gets the concept here. This is not a cap, even calling it a soft cap is a bit much. This is Quality of Service (QOS) at its best and T-Mobile shouldnt be slammed for doing this. Just because its unlimited doesn't mean you can go ahead and use it as your sole internet source for everything you ever do. That was never its intended purpose. If everyone used 80gb a month it would cripple any cellular network unless the heavy users had some kind of consequence and maybe make them use their wifi for once. Maybe in the future the cell network or whatever comes after that will be robust enough to handle everyone using large amounts of bandwidth at once but until then we have to respect the fact that a cellular carrier is not the same thing as an ISP

Categories

Resources