Develop Bugs

T-Mobile Data Speed Cap Question

I have the mytouch and T mobile with unlimitied data plan..Today I wake up do a data wipe install cm7 and when it goes to download the gapps apps from the market it takes forever..I waited 35 minutes for it to download gmail and google maps..I stop the other downloads and try to figure why my apps are downloading slow and why my internet is snail slow..while wondering I get a text message from T mobile telling me I have used to much bandwith for the month cycle and I will have a data speed cap till next cycle....This would be alright but it is not as I can no longer download any market apps ( I can but it takes 30 minutes to an hour )Nor Can I really surf the web.(Took me 25 minutes to get here)Pandora nor slacker work anymore either.
Has anyone else had this happen to them ? Also is there anything I can do to get them to uncap my service..I have been a T mobile Customer for 11 years and think they should do something.Just wondering if anyone else had this problem......
Thanks

I've never had that problem, but then again my max DL per month has been at 1-2GB tops..
Try calling them, but check your bill first to see what they have you clocked at so far for the current billing period... I think they don't impose that on you till you hit +5GB... Good Luck.

I get that all the time, well not this past month because I finally got internet at the house lol. I used it for tethering and alot of internet & email & I would always seem to get it with 2 or less weeks left. I guess it's once you go over 5gb t-mobile slows you down.

I haven't actually had it happen YET, but when I went on the website, I noticed it said I was approaching the data cap... Never saw that before. D;

Thanks..I looked and I am at 5.09gb ..Looks like I am slowed till the 23rd..I dont tether so it must have been from slacker / pandora ..I will have to watch it more next month..

You can download t-mobile's 'my account' app from the market so you can keep a closer eye on your data usage, although, if you have unlimited data plan you can't set an alert for it, even though 5gb is the cap...

I get close to 3-4gb every month and never notice a slow down...I can understand a cap of 5gb to keep the network from being overloaded...I thether and use it to watch HULU and nightly roms so cant see going over,unless something crazy.

... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?

it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.

Use wifi as much as possible. I am fortunate enough to have wifi at work and home and my data usage on tmo's network is ridiculously low for the amount of data I use.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

Wagedroid said:
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
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No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.

also be aware that T Mobile slows you down to 54kbs. Welcime back Dial Up!!!

laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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like i said, technicaly they dont make it not unlimited.. they just cap the speed, so yes it does make sense.. u signed up for unlimited data not unlimited data at its peak speed, that just sounds retarded. if you signed up before the change then you shouldve requested to be grandfatherd and they wouldve been happy to keep the customer happy. and fyi a news letter and disclaimer was put out for all pre existing customers before the change was made. and even then they didnt change the unlimited part. ill leave this the way i leave any other service provider discussion...., ive been with tmob since sidekick original no color.. not once did they treat me wrong or charge me for something i wasnt responsible for and aware of. i dont recommend but there is an alternative.. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and even Metro all got u covered.
good day.

I think it ok to note that this is not only a T-Mobile thing, every carrier does this. I know that there is a hack on XDA that is built into the MIUI roms that actually cuts off the signal that your phone sends to Verizon that you have reached the cap so you never see your data slowed down. I do not know how they wrote the hack or if it is possible to do something similar with a t-mobile phone, but it might be worth looking into.

amart6116 said:
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
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you are paying for unlimited data because you get unlimited data - they just don't guarantee at what speed you'll be able to download at...

I completely understand your predicament! I was in your same shoes.
T-Mobile does not charge extra for anything more than 5gb, but they do make you eat your buffet food through a straw! Now, I remedied my problem with the wonderful program 3g Watchdog, which is free. Set it to your monthly cycle, and you can even place a widget with usage on your screen. Very handy little program.
So yes, I tried calling and talking with the reps, nothing will work. I spoke with managers, and people from India. They can't do anything about it. I couldn't even pay them more money! How ridiculous! But alas, I had to see the bright side. Looking at AT&T or Verizon, you have limits of 2gb or so and then they charge you for anything over that. Screw that! So I figured if I'm downloading 5gb of data in a month, then I need to get my ass together and make my life work for me. So please figure out your **** lol, you'll feel so much better when you do.
Tyler

laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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That ssssssssssucks!
I went to T-mobile store last week to pay my bill, the man told me about the upgrade discount after a year, when we reached the 4G topic I asked about this slow down of speed after 5Gb and he was like he had no idea, he repeated "Noou, it's unlimited" "that what you heard is for those with plans of certain data limit"
I told him that's what it should be, I said it wouldn't make sense to have such high-speed and still be limited :S
Serously! I'm paying $-freaking-30 monthly for internet access that is like 1mb of speed on this lil' phone, same as it would be using a DSL, why would they put a limit?
Tmo-guy- Because it's a wireless service-
Me: My ass! that ain't no reason!
Again makes no sense....
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk

Digitaldreamer7 said:
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
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Why should there be such capabilities offered if that's going to bring out risky complications to the system?
That's not reason to call one greety and 'punish'
Is not like one would like to reach a cap just because it can be done and bother other's connections.
Tethering is not as different as using your phone, since our smartphones' web browser is as fully capable as a computer web browser.
Also think of the 4G + What's next??
If one service imprubes why not the others that can prevent issues from the same.
A page loads trice as fast, makes the user able to go on where others would stop, so you see it's not a malicious intention but what the user is led up to.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

I hit the cap every month around the 15th...bill cycle on the 25th.. But I use a ton of data due to I show photos and deal with contracts that I am unable to dl at work.

T-mobile Prioritization?

Rant incoming..... tl;dr .... 20GB in 8 days, "data guzzler list" getting 0.1mbit now during peak hours and 5mbit on off-time....
So was happily watching youtube videos when got hit with that buffering. Noticed I was getting poor internet connection, saw full bars. Ran speed test, a whopping .10 mbps... Called them, they said I'm on the prioritization list because in 8 days, racked up 20GB which means I'm in the 95~ percentile in data usage on my unlimited data plan... Went through the phone, sure enough... 2-4GB per day by youtube... Still, not even a nice warning, and they treat me like it's my fault I was actually using my unlimited service... Even during the call, they were like, "just tell him he's on the list and nothing can be done. He used too much data...."
Well first thing I did was turn off high quality streaming because that's a gas guzzler for sure.... But I would have loved a warning text that I'm using too much data, but not even that... Anyone else noticed this? Funny thing, went through 2 customer reps both never saw that before, and tech support said they are doing something new.... Fun times.... They are not "throttling, they are making your data less of a priority", but 0.1 mbps consistent throughput for a minute... that's not prioritizing, that's throttling...
Oh, and best yet... they thanked me for my 11 years being a customer with them... Yea... >_>

mcs117 said:
Rant incoming..... tl;dr .... 20GB in 8 days, "data guzzler list" getting 0.1mbit now during peak hours and 5mbit on off-time....
So was happily watching youtube videos when got hit with that buffering. Noticed I was getting poor internet connection, saw full bars. Ran speed test, a whopping .10 mbps... Called them, they said I'm on the prioritization list because in 8 days, racked up 20GB which means I'm in the 95~ percentile in data usage on my unlimited data plan... Went through the phone, sure enough... 2-4GB per day by youtube... Still, not even a nice warning, and they treat me like it's my fault I was actually using my unlimited service... Even during the call, they were like, "just tell him he's on the list and nothing can be done. He used too much data...."
Well first thing I did was turn off high quality streaming because that's a gas guzzler for sure.... But I would have loved a warning text that I'm using too much data, but not even that... Anyone else noticed this? Funny thing, went through 2 customer reps both never saw that before, and tech support said they are doing something new.... Fun times.... They are not "throttling, they are making your data less of a priority", but 0.1 mbps consistent throughput for a minute... that's not prioritizing, that's throttling...
Oh, and best yet... they thanked me for my 11 years being a customer with them... Yea... >_>
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Yeah thats BS. As long as you are not doing P2P sharing they should not throttle you . If you have a true unlimited plan that should be exactly what it is. I understand that they are not home internet providers but if they provide you a service that is unlimited then throttle you then there must be a fair use policy . I know people using 5 to 10 times the data u are and not getting throttled. 2 to 4 GB a day is high but in reality its only about one and a half full length HD movies . Im surprised they did not restore you speeds and let you off with a fair warning . I miss the good old days where they throttled at the phone and and not at the server. On my GS2 you could delete the throttle folder and make a few other tweaks and never get throttled even on a 1 GB Plan . What area do you live in . are you in the USA?

the carriers need to make it clearer about what "unlimited" really means, but, on the other hand, I dont think anyone should be using their cell phones as their primary means of accessing the internet, unless the carriers come out and say that they are ok with that.
cant you use your home internet/wifi for all this heavy duty data consumption?
yeah, a warning would have been nice, but c'mon dude, thats a pace of over 80 gigs of data per month, and that is just crazy...
and yeah, there are worse offenders than you, but even so..

20 GB is pretty unreasonable, so I don't disagree with them.

Yea, I know 20GB in 8 days was high, which is why I'm going to restrict youtube's HQ streaming... but still... Even with FCC latest decision and then Tmobile is doubling down on throttling to control both legit and illegal data... that's ridiculous....
Also, no warning... I had to find out from calling in.... I usually call them because I got dropped out of the LTE and they need to "register" me back onto the tower... And I check my monthly usage.... 50GB a month.... Recently, with this new phone... HQ streaming really is HQ streaming.... Because I was on a M8 before and had no issues... I might as well live on the 4g only band.... because apparently only LTE is being metered....

I waste that much data in like a month and i think is a lot lol

gdmlaz said:
I waste that much data in like a month and i think is a lot lol
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Yea, I know. But at the same time, you got people hitting 100+ GB, but for me, never near that, got placed with those people.... And It's all because of stupid youtube, I really wish they have an audio only/screen off mode where I just listen to debates/talk shows on there and apparently the video portion is 1080p... >_>

If Google Fi is a hit, it's only going to get worse!

I have the same issue. Called them up, they told me prioritization and for me to use less data. Sigh.
Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

It was all fun and games for a few years until they reached their goal of users, now is back to boring company like the rest.

i saw an "unlimited data" ad by sprint one time, and while reading the fine print (because thats what i do when im eating breakfast) i saw that it said "Unlimited does not mean Unreasonable" so Tmobile isnt the only one doing this. Now i want to go above 20gb because i have unlimted 4g with tmo as well

I have done 70+ gb and never had any issues. I think this issue is more how much of a impact you create with avaliable bandwidth for other tmobile user and the length of the impact. I'm sure it's all automated so even the tmo reps may not know why or how it was triggered.

I'm one of those Data Juicers... Lol

I'm on my first week with TMO and have 42gb so far. Hope I don't run into any "prioritization" schemes.

No room for complaints about prioritization. How much would have getting past even the 5gb mark cost on Verizon or att? Why should you and people like you use up all the bandwidth with YouTube and I get slower speeds for normal web surfing? Just stop being a habitual data over user and they will ignore the couple times a year you use way to much data. My wife uses 40gb a month give or take (still to much use if you ask me) and has never been pushed to the back of the line.
*edit*
I should make my self a little clearer. Using YouTube a lot isn't a bad thing, using it for listening to music all day is just stupidity. I don't care how bad you guys are going to flame me on this because you know deep down its true. Get Spotify pay the 8 bucks a month and boom your data usage will drop dramatically. I understand its unlimited data but you should use it responsibly because your not the only one using the bandwidth.

shoresteve626 said:
I'm on my first week with TMO and have 42gb so far. Hope I don't run into any "prioritization" schemes.
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what could you possibly be doing on a cell phone that uses 42 gigs in one week???

I would have to tether to use that much data. I usually end up around 10 to 20 gigs a month which is plenty for me. My only gripe over this is not specific to Tmo, IMO they and everyone else should not be able to use the word unlimited unless it is actually unlimited and it should be right out there in front, not in the fine print.The word unlimited cannot be qualified, unlimited means there are no limits, if there is a limit it is not unlimited. In other words tmo (and all the rest) should say "Up to 60 gigs full speed and throttled but unlimited throttled data after". They should only be able to use the word unlimited if the data is actually unlimited. Tmo 4g data is not unlimited but they are using that wording and that should change.
BTW, not trying to tell others what they should use or say how much data is enough or how much it should cost, just that the actual data and speeds you are going to get for the money you agree to pay should be clearly worded in the big print.

agreed; their sales and marketing people are afraid to give any competitor an advantage over them, by actually stating in their TOS how much data is actually "unlimited", so instead, they punish the consumers with arbitrary slowdowns and throttling when they feel they are being abused..
and, even though I think that anyone using 42 gigs a week of data is definitely violating the vaguely worded TOS that t mobile and Sprint employ, this wont stop until some legal action is taken against the carriers or the data hogs who are abusing their networks..

I'm picking up a s6 tomorrow and I'll ask them to print out the agreement in full and point out the data usage part. When I get time I'll scan and upload it so everyone can look at it. I'm sure in the tos that you agreed to it will state almost word for word what you think it would say. If it didn't you know a ambulance chasing lawyer would have a class action lawsuit right now.

thanks, I havent looked at mine in a long time, probably because I stay on wifi almost all the time, and my data useage is never more than a gig or 2..
read this
http://bgr.com/2015/04/30/t-mobile-unlimited-data-plan-slow-speeds/

T-Mobile Data De-Prioritization

Anyone else have unlimited data and now are getting De-prioritized (throttled) ?
I use easily 20gb a month for the past year and never had this issue
Im getting 300 + ms pings and 0.20 mbps and lower speeds
Certain times of the day ill get 30mbps but most of the time its being throttled
Apparently I'm in the top 3% of data users
Tried making an IPV4 apn but still getting throttled
any one know of a work around?

It's possible that you're in a congested cell, and not throttled. Have you tried moving geographically to see if that helps?
Throttling is implemented on the PCEF (Policy and Charging Enforcement Function), and it's a QoS policy pushed by the PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) onto the PDN-Gateway. There is no workaround for unlimited users that might get throttled for network abuse, other than wait for your bill cycle reset, or use Wi-Fi. In other words, you can't "top off" an unlimited plan, at least I don't think you can.
My advice is that if you're paying for unlimited data, and you feel like you're unjustly throttled, I would call customer support. They can check your data usage and typically tell if you're flagged as a "heavy hitter" or not. If you complain loudly enough, they can (and will) remove the block, but your mileage may vary. If they resist, tell them you plan to tweet to John Legere, and they'll hook you right up.
For what it's worth, I used to work as a PCRF/PCEF systems engineer. We had a "heavy data user" policy, but in our case it was only people that went over 200 GB or something ridiculous like that. If I recall correctly, roughly 20 GB/month was more or less average for an unlimited data subscriber, although I'm sure usage patterns vary from carrier to carrier, as well as implementation details on the PCC policies. Also, I believe our policy was to remove any throttling for unlimited users, no questions asked if they called to complain.
I know T-Mobile uses NSN (Nokia) for their policy vendor, but I don't know any details about their actual policies, at least not any more.
---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------
Also, just to be clear--I don't know if T-Mobile even throttles "heavy hitter" data users. I know it's been done, but I am not a T-Mobile employee and have no idea what their current policies are.
I would think that if they did implement QoS, the policy would not be time-based. However, anything is possible, which is why I would just call customer service.

If your in a heavy cell site then you might be throttled or just congested really bad. Call 611 and ask tmo if your line is being throttled. I average about 40gb's a month for the past 6 months on unlimited LTE plan and have never been throttled yet.

TMO throttles based on the plan that you have. Recently a Reddit thread came up where the customer filed a complaint with John Legere's office and was told that all unlimited data users will be de-prioritized and eventually removed from their system if they disagreed with the policy. De-prioritization has a chance to "kick in" after the 5 gig mark for unlimited data plans, but completely dependent on the market and how busy the network actually is. At least now if you are actually de-prioritized, you can call customer service and they would be able to tell you if the account is flagged. A few years ago, users would just wonder what's wrong with their accounts.
The bad thing about being throttled is that the OOKLA app on the market will not reflect the throttling, since TMO said they will not count data when it comes to that specific speed app, as well as many of the apps that you stream music off of.
Hope this helps.

I believe the new net neutrality law disallows throttling now, unless you're in violation of the terms of agreement based on what you're using the data for.

Swizzle82 said:
I believe the new net neutrality law disallows throttling now, unless you're in violation of the terms of agreement based on what you're using the data for.
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It's not 'throttling' if the says it's de-prioritization, right? Just a play on words really.

Sfkn2 said:
It's not 'throttling' if the says it's de-prioritization, right? Just a play on words really.
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Yeah I guess so. Gotta love verbage. I am at 29gbs of data so far this month and I'm still hitting about 75megs down and about 25 up.. Just for the ops information..

Swizzle82 said:
Yeah I guess so. Gotta love verbage. I am at 29gbs of data so far this month and I'm still hitting about 75megs down and about 25 up.. Just for the ops information..
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Exactly.
I'm on the $5 BTV data plan with TMO and regularly use about 50 gigs and still get full LTE speeds with no throttling. I love my plan, and would never even consider changing to other carriers. I mean, which other carrier gives unlimited LTE for $5 a month, right?

Sfkn2 said:
Exactly.
I'm on the $5 BTV data plan with TMO and regularly use about 50 gigs and still get full LTE speeds with no throttling. I love my plan, and would never even consider changing to other carriers. I mean, which other carrier gives unlimited LTE for $5 a month, right?
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BTV? Ive got 4 for $100 with two lines increased to unlimited and 5gbs plus unlimited text on my tablet totalling about $160/mo. I get anywhere from 35-110megs depending on the time of day and my location. I really can't complain.

Swizzle82 said:
BTV? Ive got 4 for $100 with two lines increased to unlimited and 5gbs plus unlimited text on my tablet totalling about $160/mo. I get anywhere from 35-110megs depending on the time of day and my location. I really can't complain.
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BTV is basically the unlimited Android data plan that used to be $30 to new users, or $20 for current but grandfathered users - with an additional $15 discount, making it $5.
http://www.tmonews.com/2012/11/t-mo...p-migrate-customers-over-to-value-rate-plans/
I'm on a 600 minute (no overages now, so minutes don't matter) family plan with two lines for $49.99 with a $10 unlimited family texting and BTV data with a corp discount of 15% and a loyalty bonus of $10 discount per month. The bill totals out to be $90.45 after taxes with a $25/mo payment plan on the G4.

Sfkn2 said:
BTV is basically the unlimited Android data plan that used to be $30 to new users, or $20 for current but grandfathered users - with an additional $15 discount, making it $5.
http://www.tmonews.com/2012/11/t-mo...p-migrate-customers-over-to-value-rate-plans/
I'm on a 600 minute (no overages now, so minutes don't matter) family plan with two lines for $49.99 with a $10 unlimited family texting and BTV data with a corp discount of 15% and a loyalty bonus of $10 discount per month. The bill totals out to be $90.45 after taxes with a $25/mo payment plan on the G4.
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Damn yo.. How long you been with TMo? Lol. I Tried to use my work discount, but they had told me that I couldn't because I already got a discounted plan. This was a while back though, might have to try again.

Swizzle82 said:
Damn yo.. How long you been with TMo? Lol. I Tried to use my work discount, but they had told me that I couldn't because I already got a discounted plan. This was a while back though, might have to try again.
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On and off? 10 or so years. If you are interested, check out the discounted plans on howardforums.com - they have the SOC codes that you can provide to CSR to get on these plans.

Sfkn2 said:
TMO throttles based on the plan that you have. Recently a Reddit thread came up where the customer filed a complaint with John Legere's office and was told that all unlimited data users will be de-prioritized and eventually removed from their system if they disagreed with the policy. De-prioritization has a chance to "kick in" after the 5 gig mark for unlimited data plans, but completely dependent on the market and how busy the network actually is. At least now if you are actually de-prioritized, you can call customer service and they would be able to tell you if the account is flagged. A few years ago, users would just wonder what's wrong with their accounts.
The bad thing about being throttled is that the OOKLA app on the market will not reflect the throttling, since TMO said they will not count data when it comes to that specific speed app, as well as many of the apps that you stream music off of.
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Thanks for the tip about the Reddit thread. I think I found it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/342wr7/tmobile_is_now_throttling_unlimited_data/
If you put yourself into T-Mobile's shoes, how SHOULD they handle congestion? They can do what they can with existing spectrum and tower agreements, but if there IS congestion, how do you handle it?
I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the official stance, but I do understand where they're coming from. The mindset is that you, the heavy data customer, can and SHOULD accept some modest degradation in performance, especially since you're on the edge of the bell curve in data usage. If there's contention, should you suffer, or should the casual data user suffer? They choose to slightly punish the 3%, rather than the average Joes whose usage is more normal.
As I said in a previous comment, I had to deal with this when I worked as a systems engineer for a certain carrier. We put policies in place to throttle users over some ridiculously high amount, and we also sent them an SMS notification when we did so. In that case, we were looking for the REALLY heavy users, that were in the top 0.5%. The average unlimited subscriber used 10-20 GB per month, but these people were using well over 100 GB. The intent of unlimited is to avoid surprises with billing, not to provide wireless Internet service for your whole dorm or apartment complex or whatever.
Think about unlimited wireless in terms of your local all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Most people pay their money and eat their meal, ranging from a modest portion to a massive portion, but at some point everyone gets full. What is NOT acceptable is to sit in the restaurant from open to close, constantly gorging yourself on food. It's not an exact analogy since you can't get "full" consuming data, but you can get the idea.
Carrying the "all you can eat" restaurant analogy a little further...if you're in a buffet restaurant, and they run low on something, should they keep serving the guy that is on his twentieth portion? Or should they cut him off and let the people who have had ANY of the food eat first?
-m0j0

Totally agree with you that people who are using extremely high data, typically people 100 GB and above, needs to be checked. Often times these people are using their data plans for hacked/tethering at home, which the connection is also shared with other users. A lot of times, the high data is due to downloading/torrenting.
While I'm a heavy user myself (since TMO considers anyone over 5 GB a month as heavy users), watching youtube in 1440P really eats up data very quickly. At one point in my life, I had a really crappy home internet plan and just watched Netflix off my phone nonstop. This eventually led up to about 150GB for the month.
The buffet analogy is great, but it really does show the difference between being a company and being a consumer. If the consumer's desire for the buffet is to have 100 oysters and nothing else and your company wants to stop him because he's having too much, but his sole purpose there is for the oysters - you're really telling him, "No, we don't want to service you again." This makes things sour with their customers real quick. Basically what it comes down to in the consumers eyes is, "If you can't afford to do it, then don't run the program. " De-prioritization controls the person eating 100 oysters to allow the next guy to have some oysters too, but that's not why he came to this buffet.
It's a very difficult place to be, and just like voting on taxes - no one really wins. Money has to come out from somewhere. If TMO increases their bandwidth, then there will be additional fees. We don't want to be like Sprint where they charge you an additional $10 or $15 just because you have a "smartphone." That makes absolutely no sense.

Yes sir!!! Im with you OP. I used to have unlimited 4g data in my plan for additional $30. But since last 10 months or so it's been bad. I would use roughly 30 to 40 gigs a month. Mostly youtube and netflix. Then after "de prioritization" or being in area of "data congestion" ( which in simple words means "throttling" imo ) i started getting about 20 gigs on high speed and after that i would be stuck with 0.1 to 0.2 mbps.
Called tmo a million times and they would always tell me that i might be connected to a tower where a lot others are connected. WHAT ?? WTF?? Why is it that i get connected to THAT tower 2 weeks after new cycle when i have used about 20 gigs? Why not in 1 week or after uaing about 5 or 10 gigs? I would be always in my room in the same spot all the time. It was all BS.
And the reps would always tell me that since im paying for unlimited high speed data i shouldn't be slowed down until one day when one of the reps mentioned being slow if im in the top 3%. Thats when i decided to let it go. I posted screen shots of slow speeds on on social media and ranted them and all that bad stuff just to let my anger out. That it really is UNLIMITED but its not UNLIMITED 4G. After certain usage you'll be stuck with 128KBPS speeds.
I was really upset with that. I cancelled that extra data plan. Saved me $30 a month and soon I'll be switching over to something else.
Well played tmo..

The magic number is updated quarterly. Right now if you go over 21GB in a congested area, you could be prioritized and slowed down.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app

Here is the TRUTH! T-mobile is THROTTLING and calling in DE PRIORITIZING to protect the company's ass from an FCC lawsuit. At 21 gigs data speed dies. They say it is during busy times, blah, blah blah, but the reality is, it dies. The problem is that when the unlimited HIGH SPEED DATA users changed to this plan, there were no limits and were advertised as such, "UNLIMITED LTE HIGH SPEED DATA." The ads were on TV 24/7 three years ago. T-mobile got exactly what they set out to do, sign up millions of new customers. Those that try to see T-mobile's SIDE sound like this is an innocent mistake. That T-mobile had no idea what they were doing when they created this data plan and the network would not be able to handle the load. The TRUTH is, at least in my experience, the system had NO issues. It worked unbelievable well and NOT the typical T-mobile inconsistent signal. So, here's the deal, if you purchase something that is clearly stated, "THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GETTING, UNLIMITED LTE 4G HIGH SPEED DATA," and the company decides they don't want to do that anymore, why aren't the customers compensated? Lower the rate of the plan since 21 gigs is what you are paying for, NOT UNLIMITED. Also, ATT got sued and lost a 100 million dollar law suit for throttling its unlimited data customers. It is only a matter of time before T-mobile is in front of a judge. Bait and switch is still against the law. Calling something a NEW made up word like DE PRIORITIZING does not change the fact customers are being throttled.

The new magic number is 25GB.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app

Salvatoreascend said:
Here is the TRUTH! T-mobile is THROTTLING and calling in DE PRIORITIZING to protect the company's ass from an FCC lawsuit. At 21 gigs data speed dies. They say it is during busy times, blah, blah blah, but the reality is, it dies. The problem is that when the unlimited HIGH SPEED DATA users changed to this plan, there were no limits and were advertised as such, "UNLIMITED LTE HIGH SPEED DATA." The ads were on TV 24/7 three years ago. T-mobile got exactly what they set out to do, sign up millions of new customers. Those that try to see T-mobile's SIDE sound like this is an innocent mistake. That T-mobile had no idea what they were doing when they created this data plan and the network would not be able to handle the load. The TRUTH is, at least in my experience, the system had NO issues. It worked unbelievable well and NOT the typical T-mobile inconsistent signal. So, here's the deal, if you purchase something that is clearly stated, "THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GETTING, UNLIMITED LTE 4G HIGH SPEED DATA," and the company decides they don't want to do that anymore, why aren't the customers compensated? Lower the rate of the plan since 21 gigs is what you are paying for, NOT UNLIMITED. Also, ATT got sued and lost a 100 million dollar law suit for throttling its unlimited data customers. It is only a matter of time before T-mobile is in front of a judge. Bait and switch is still against the law. Calling something a NEW made up word like DE PRIORITIZING does not change the fact customers are being throttled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep... soon as I hit 21 gigs I get throttled to Dial up speed. I can no longer use video chat with my wife who is overseas. I can't even stream 144p without it buffering.
I average 30-50 gigs per month. When I was on metro I had zero issues. When I switched to this unlimited plan with Tmobile, I had no issues. only 1 time have I ever gone over the 100 gig mark. That was 2 years ago in december, when I was unemployed and reformatted my computer. I used my mobile for all my downloads. the past year has been just streaming music, and videos, and google hangout video chats with my wife.
Right now I can't do anything on my data. it's so slow the speedtest says "network issues" most of the time. Although Ping is 30ms.. and this is regardless of the time of day. even 3-4-5am when the towers are hardly used. low ping (faster ping than comcast), but ridiculous slow speed. and I pay $70 per month for this BS...
I'm contacting some attorneys and seeking to file a class action for violation of net neutrality. And I'm going back to metro (same towers, but I was never throttled and had really fast 4G LTE with Metro. it was faster than my buddies sprint service in my area.
Anyone with an unlimited Tmobile plan that wants to join in a class action PM me.

cocokasper said:
Yep... soon as I hit 21 gigs I get throttled to Dial up speed. I can no longer use video chat with my wife who is overseas. I can't even stream 144p without it buffering.
I average 30-50 gigs per month. When I was on metro I had zero issues. When I switched to this unlimited plan with Tmobile, I had no issues. only 1 time have I ever gone over the 100 gig mark. That was 2 years ago in december, when I was unemployed and reformatted my computer. I used my mobile for all my downloads. the past year has been just streaming music, and videos, and google hangout video chats with my wife.
Right now I can't do anything on my data. it's so slow the speedtest says "network issues" most of the time. Although Ping is 30ms.. and this is regardless of the time of day. even 3-4-5am when the towers are hardly used. low ping (faster ping than comcast), but ridiculous slow speed. and I pay $70 per month for this BS...
I'm contacting some attorneys and seeking to file a class action for violation of net neutrality. And I'm going back to metro (same towers, but I was never throttled and had really fast 4G LTE with Metro. it was faster than my buddies sprint service in my area.
Anyone with an unlimited Tmobile plan that wants to join in a class action PM me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try switching to hspa first. This seems to help me when that happens.

Infuriated with T-Mobile

They are now throttling unlimited high speed data plans if you exceed 97% of the other users in your current area. They are supposedly coming up with a "number" every quarter. Well I can tell you the number this quarter, in my area is 138gb.
I just got off the phone with them and they kept saying this is the way the plan has always been. Bull****! This is the exact reason the FCC Hut AT&T with a 100mm fine.
FCC regulations also say that the carrier must send out in writing any changes, which they have not done. I will fight this and I encourage others to do so as well. I know some people will not agree and say it's people like me that ruin the data for everyone and take advantage. Others, including myself, will always believe data is data... That's why I switched to TMO in the first place.
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T-Mobile has no more contracts so you can switch to ATT, Sprint or Verizon whenever you wish.

The Apostle said:
They are now throttling unlimited high speed data plans if you exceed 97% of the other users in your current area. They are supposedly coming up with a "number" every quarter. Well I can tell you the number this quarter, in my area is 138gb.
I just got off the phone with them and they kept saying this is the way the plan has always been. Bull****! This is the exact reason the FCC Hut AT&T with a 100mm fine.
FCC regulations also say that the carrier must send out in writing any changes, which they have not done. I will fight this and I encourage others to do so as well. I know some people will not agree and say it's people like me that ruin the data for everyone and take advantage. Others, including myself, will always believe data is data... That's why I switched to TMO in the first place. View attachment 3455132
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile has always said that they will throttle excessive users. I really don't see how you can go through 138 GB and not expect some sort of repercussion. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't cut you off sooner.

trickinit said:
T-Mobile has always said that they will throttle excessive users. I really don't see how you can go through 138 GB and not expect some sort of repercussion. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't cut you off sooner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you say is 100% correct but I don't like the idea of unlimited data in the first place. Come the last day of the billing cycle if you had your phone running at max the carrier can possibly deliver you would still have a ceiling you will not be able to break through. I think a great way for them to advertise is to say something like up to three terabytes of data per month, speed reduced after 100gb. Nobody could complain about that obviously the numbers would reflect real math, I just pulled it out of thin air. Makes it look like alot of data you could use but in practice you could never reach the monthly max unless you went around the 5 gb tether cap and had your pc non stop downloading.

Your cell service is not a replacement for home Internet. It's a violation of the tos. If you need that much data, spend money on home Internet. I can't believe you are surprised that using 138GB in a month put you on the radar. Less torrent downloads might help too. You aren't using that much data streaming music, using Facebook and watching YouTube.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

If I had service inside my house... I would be tethering a lot too but I don't even do more than 300gb a month on xfinity... How do you do 138gb? Are you streaming and what not?
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

In stream Netflix and HBO GO. It's funny because I truly feel they use to say, unlimited high speed Internet. Or unlimited 4G. I know that's how they use to state it.
Also, I am not violating TOS if I cast my phone screen to my television. I don't care to pay one of the many cable providers for home Internet when I have it on my phone.

The Apostle said:
In stream Netflix and HBO GO. It's funny because I truly feel they use to say, unlimited high speed Internet. Or unlimited 4G. I know that's how they use to state it.
Also, I am not violating TOS if I cast my phone screen to my television. I don't care to pay one of the many cable providers for home Internet when I have it on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they said truly unlimited back in the day and it was truly unlimited back then. I bet most sales people will still say you have truly unlimited data even though the tos will disagree.

I hope this is not true. I had unlimited data and then they sold me on TRULY unlimited data which I pay an extra monthly charge for which supposedly doesn't slow down for anything. But even when I'm downloading heavily I don't think I've ever exceeded 20 gigs in one month. Even on my home broadband I don't think I've ever went over 200 or so

terry6v said:
I hope this is not true. I had unlimited data and then they sold me on TRULY unlimited data which I pay an extra monthly charge for which supposedly doesn't slow down for anything. But even when I'm downloading heavily I don't think I've ever exceeded 20 gigs in one month. Even on my home broadband I don't think I've ever went over 200 or so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they have 2 tiers of unlimited
1 no high speed after 10 gigs I think it's a 20 dollar plan
2 no speed cap unless you become a problem or pass 10 gb in a high usage time. 30 dollar plan
I haven't noticed speed reduction after 10gb and I normally use 15-20gb a month. My wife has got up to 80 without speed reduction. I think in the end they only slow people who use a crap ton of data every month or have the cheap unlimited plan.

ThePagel said:
I think they have 2 tiers of unlimited
1 no high speed after 10 gigs I think it's a 20 dollar plan
2 no speed cap unless you become a problem or pass 10 gb in a high usage time. 30 dollar plan
I haven't noticed speed reduction after 10gb and I normally use 15-20gb a month. My wife has got up to 80 without speed reduction. I think in the end they only slow people who use a crap ton of data every month or have the cheap unlimited plan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that's the case. I regularly use 10-40GB and I never see throttling on the $20 unlimited data. Last billing cycle was over 20GB and my speed tests were a consistent 4.3MB/s(32 Mbps).

I hit 21GB on my unlimited plan and got deprioritized, which is basically slowing you down on busy towers. The tower by my house stayed busy so I was slowed down for the last week in my billing cycle. I was only able to use normal speeds in the middle of the night. During day hours my download speeds would be less than 0.50 Mbps. Web surfing was ok, but Youtube videos was a pain.
Sent from my LG-H811 using XDA Free mobile app

The Apostle said:
They are now throttling unlimited high speed data plans if you exceed 97% of the other users in your current area. They are supposedly coming up with a "number" every quarter. Well I can tell you the number this quarter, in my area is 138gb.
I just got off the phone with them and they kept saying this is the way the plan has always been. Bull****! This is the exact reason the FCC Hut AT&T with a 100mm fine.
FCC regulations also say that the carrier must send out in writing any changes, which they have not done. I will fight this and I encourage others to do so as well. I know some people will not agree and say it's people like me that ruin the data for everyone and take advantage. Others, including myself, will always believe data is data... That's why I switched to TMO in the first place. View attachment 3455132
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you! Where I live a get throttled around 20gb! Back in the day I would go through 60gb a month cause I would hot spot my laptop and they wouldn't care. Now that I only use my phone for Netflix and other movie streaming apps they cap me around 20gb? Screw t mobile and their shady "unlimited" crap. I hope they soon get fined for doing this. On the other hand if you're using 2tb like the notice said then yeah I agree some people are going over board but even 138gb is nothing to t mobile they can easily handle that!

Op, I just got the same message. Looks like it only applies to tether. Using vpn, I still get full speed. It is throttled otherwise. Regular data is still full speed.

Russian... May PM you a couple questions.
sent from my Hyperdrive powered G Note 10.1

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62655019&postcount=37

Bump

Unlimited is unlimited. Bottom line. And 138GB isn't that much data. Just because all these garbage phone companies want to sell you these tiny packages so that you do overuse doesn't mean that 10GB or 20gb is all a person should use. In fact, I would be furious too. The sooner people stop paying these ridiculous prices for next to nothing the better off all of us will be.

All t-mobile data plans are unlimited. They have two different tiers of data. One tier is you go past a certain amount of data. They throttle you. The other is "truly" unlimited and not throttled. The second one is like 80 bucks a month I think.
Sent from my BLU STUDIO 7.0 II using Tapatalk

Djspinister said:
Unlimited is unlimited. Bottom line. And 138GB isn't that much data. Just because all these garbage phone companies want to sell you these tiny packages so that you do overuse doesn't mean that 10GB or 20gb is all a person should use. In fact, I would be furious too. The sooner people stop paying these ridiculous prices for next to nothing the better off all of us will be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen. No one likes a tiny package.

T-Mobile Unlimited Tethering?

TL;DR (I feel like ranting, so here's the point of this so you don't have to read everything)
PLEASE tell me there is an option for us HTC 10 T-Mobile folks that will DESTROY that throttle?!?!!!!
MY RANT​
I am with T-Mobile and I pay for unlimited data. This pretty much means I pay for 25gigs of data and then continue to pay for "unlimited" data that gets throttled so bad, opening up google.com make me want to carve my eyes out...it is impossible to deal with.
I am a HEAVY data user (I'm at 45.6gigs w/ 14 days left to wait until I get my REAL data back) and I do not have access to Wi-Fi most the day.
I get it...an average person gets unlimited bc it makes them feel good inside knowing they have it of they need it (even though on average sharing 6 or 10 gig's with one other person is more than enough...gogo gadget ex sales associate employee for phones).
But I pay for unlimited bc I NEED it!
They claim that the FCC is the ones that makes them create this throttle point...but a chick at Verizon said its the carriers - so they can save money.
And then they try to justify it with saying that I need to share the love with the other users who pay for 3gig plans...so they get priority in congested areas.
Last time I checked, I'm a paying customer too...and I am paying for your "Truly Unlimited Data Plan"
Shoot me
To for letting me vent

sorry no way to stop it, its on their end, so once you hit that point they will throttle. they can do this since you still have unlimited data, just most of it will be slow
I also notice your Verizon comment, I'm on the unlimited data, with NO throttle point.

@afuller42
That's devastating....but you have unlimited on Verizon?
Were you on it when it was out originally and got grandfathered into it? Also...do you know if I can make my phone work on Verizon's towers? Via some sort of root perk thing?

@Emilicious
yes I was grandfathered into the unlimited plan by Verizon, they have tried many time over the years to get me off of it but I decline. Last phone I bought before the 10 I paid full price ($650) just to keep my plan. At least with the HTC 10 I got to use their payment plan and still keep my UDP.
As for your other question, if you switch to Verizon, yes after flashing a few things, you can use your phone on their towers. Keep in mind though that Verizon doesn't have unlimited anymore and probably wouldn't be good for your amount of data use.
Directv and At&T have become one now, I personally think if you have the tv service this is the next best option for a Unlimited plan, they do throttle but its a "may slow speeds" "peak hours" thing. Heres directly off their site
" After 22GB of data usage on a line in a bill cycle, AT&T may slow data speeds on that line when the network is congested. If congestion ends or you move to an uncongested site, speed will no longer be affected. Regardless of the amount of data usage, no overage charges will apply. See att.com/broadbandinfo for additional network management details." https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/unlimited-plan.html?WT.srch=1
if I lose my UDP from vzw for any reason I will be hoping on at&t, even though I had very bad experiances with their service back in the pre-android flip phone days.

@afuller42 so is it impossible to get these days? Like an email to a man in power couldn't even do it?

@Emilicious
yep "truly" unlimited plans are mostly gone everywhere that I can see. all have a cap or de-priorization after about 20-30gb of data.
metropcs may have a true unlimited plan still. you can check out their website if its in your area https://www.metropcs.com/ it really seems to be a great price ($60 unlimited talk, text, data)and no mention of throttle other than hotspot throttling after 8gb of hotspot use, which on the HTC 10 you can easily bypass that I believe (could be wrong, but I get free hotspot from Verizon on the 10, so could be the same with them) I have no experience with this company though
---------- Post added at 08:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
nvm I was wrong metropcs may throttle also at 25gb, but its like at&t and its deprioritize during peak hours-locations

@afuller42 hey do you know anything about vpn servers and if that's an avenue I can take?

This works for unlimited tethering on T-Mobile
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/

My first work around was to install Debian in a chroot using Linux Deploy. Get yourself sshd running in a chroot on the rooted Android device you will see the options in the Linux Deploy app. Configure the container to start ssh server and remember the user name and password from the initial setup.
You will find many instructions on the Google machine, or you can message me.
From your laptop/computer you need to connect to your phones hotspot after starting the ssh server. Then use ssh/putty to forward your phones SOCKS port.
ssh -D 9999 [email protected]
Change chroot_user to your chroots username. Leave 192.168.43.1 as it is. After successfully logging into the ssh server, you need to set your computer to listen on port 9999(Or whatever port you choose 1080 would be sane) for SOCKS connection.
If your using Windows you need "Putty" for an ssh client and Firefox is a good choice for setting a custom SOCKS port. 192.168.43.1 Is typically the gateway when using Android hotspots. That's AOSP/LOS ROMs that I'm used too.
I was doing that for months, before I found that Reddit post.
So yes it is possible to get around the hotspot cap. Both methods work, but I prefer the method from that Reddit post as it is less off a hassle, also on Linux it works system wide, not just the programs you configure for it.
Reddit link
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/