Database Info

New TMo data restrictions maybe coming soon?

I was searching for something on the Modaco forum, and the item below popped up (Note - this is for the UK, but could it be heading here?):
Changes to Mobile Internet fair use policies
T-Mobile Statement:
“On Monday 10 January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its Fair Use Policy for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers. Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only - not existing customers.
There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused. The revision to the Fair Use Policy is designed to ensure an improved quality of service for all mobile internet users."
Lysa Hardy, VP, T-Mobile UK
Information on new data policy:
From 1 February 2011 new and upgrading customers will be given a monthly 500MB data allowance. There will be no charge for those customers exceeding that limit, and those who do will still be able to access important services such as email and web browsing, however file downloading and streaming services will be restricted. Customers will then have the option to increase their monthly Fair Use Policy to 1GB a month by purchasing a Mobile Broadband Booster. This will ensure an improved quality of service for all of our mobile internet users.
This limit here is currently 5GB, so the above would be a real disaster.
To those who have been downloading Bit Torrents or steaming for hours - get on WiFi before you ruin it for everyone.

The changes described in your post only affect T-Mobile UK customers.

kgbkny said:
The changes described in your post only affect T-Mobile UK customers.
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I know that - but they all part of the same parent company.
The have already cranked it down to 5gb here, so am hoping it does not get further throttled based on what they are doing across the pond.

You also have to understand that t-mobile UK has more users and a larger network. Everyone over there has a 3g phone. Data plans, even for home broadband are expensive 'across the pond', so people offset this by tethering to their wireless provider, or using more wireless data. Doing so saturates the network, so they need to put limits on it. Sad, but true.

See http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1936806/tmobile-backs
Note this ONLY APPLIES TO NEW UK CUSTOMERS!!!!
From 1 February 2011 new and upgrading customers will be given a monthly 500MB data allowance. There will be no charge for those customers exceeding that limit, and those who do will still be able to access important services such as email and web browsing, however file downloading and streaming services will be restricted.

this would so suck if we got throttled like that here lol im already at 24 gbs this month lol 500mb????? haha thats not even a whole movie lol well if we get throttled that low im definitely paying for early termination and goin else where lol

aznpr1de808 said:
this would so suck if we got throttled like that here lol im already at 24 gbs this month lol 500mb????? haha thats not even a whole movie lol well if we get throttled that low im definitely paying for early termination and goin else where lol
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24gbs..... I struggle to push mine up to 5-6gbs a month. Usually downloading custom roms and a few movies on the phone from time to time along with some tethering. I am stuck on speeds up to 3.4mbps, considering switching to tmobile

gaww said:
I know that - but they all part of the same parent company.
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They might be owned by the same parent company and use the same trademarks but they are entirely different operations.

They run into the problem of too many people and not enough towers.
Remember that our population here in the States is a *little* more spread out. Even our most populated cities don't have the same density rates as they do. I don't think they could pull this off here unless all the carriers decided they need to do it. One carrier holding out would gain a huge chunk of new subscribers
Nonetheless, it sucks.

At&t unlimited data plan...

So I just signed up for at&t right after the unlimited data plan was retired.. But I heard the at&t unlimited data plan might be pulling a jay-z (comeback) ..
Does anyone know if this is true? Its all I need to be 100% happy/satisfied with my captivate..
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5

francous said:
So I just signed up for at&t right after the unlimited data plan was retired.. But I heard the at&t unlimited data plan might be pulling a jay-z (comeback) ..
Does anyone know if this is true? Its all I need to be 100% happy/satisfied with my captivate..
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
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To add to this question: If it were to come back, would it cost more? That will be BS if it does! What sly corporation skills for taking away something people like, and then giving it back for a higher cost. D:

HERE ya go

bigsmitty64 said:
HERE ya go
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Thanks for the info...sucks "new users"like me who were never on a unlimited plan can't have the option tho :/hopefully some day.. I hate being limited!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5

francous said:
Thanks for the info...sucks "new users"like me who were never on a unlimited plan can't have the option tho :/hopefully some day.. I hate being limited!
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lol, I feel ya. Sort of...I have the unlimited plan
But you'd be surprise how many people don't even come close to the 2gb plan. I use the tethering moderately and stream pandora quite a bit, and there's only been a handful of times that I went over the 2gb mark. I'd say for the majority the 2gb is enough, plus they are offering another extra 2gb. I just don't like how they are charging extra for the tethering.

I also have the unlimited and I can admit I never come close to the 2GB.

There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.

Lancered said:
I also have the unlimited and I can admit I never come close to the 2GB.
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Same here - never reachd 2gb... but I need it for peace of mind. I don't have even check what I've used on my phone. I have to worry constantly about my wife and daughter going over their limits. In fact, my wife accidently went over her 200mb limit by using DroidTV and not having it set for "Wifi Only", coupled with her WIFI settings still at the default setting of "Turn off WIFI when screen goes off" instead of "Never". Even if she was set at 2gb I could see an accident like this happening and costing extra money.
AT&T claims that they notify you when you reach 60%, 90% and 100% of your limit. This is bullsh*t. They don't. First, data use reporting is about 12 hours behind. You can blow your cap by quite a bit in 12 hours. Next, when she went over 200, they sold her another 200 for $15 without any text. I believe this can happen up to 5 times ($90 for 1.2gb). 12 hours later she got a text and I got an email saying she was nearing her limit - but the limit she was nearing was 400mb (the second set of 200mb). We were never informed as she blasted right past the first 200mb. Thank goodness she only had a couple movies set to download. If she had a series recording it would have cost a fortune.
I want to set a hard limit and then have data shut off at that point. Don't sell me extra data automatically. Maybe for technical reasons, they don't know for 12 hours... so they once they find out turn off my data and don't charge me for the overage. Until they can and will do this, I don't think they should be selling limited data plans. Until they can send you warnings in a timely manner, they shouldn't be selling limited data plans.
To AT&T's credit, I was able to retroactively change her data plan to the 2gb plan back to the beginning of my billing cycle - so the mistake cost me $10. Now out of piece of mind I will probably have to keep her at the 2gb plan even though in the past she's never even come close to the 200mb.
RE: Verizon "unlimited"... I can understand temporarily throttling back a heavy user maybe for few hours or days, but not for the rest of the billing cycle and definately not for the next billing cycle. Can you imagine you make one mistake like my wife did and have your speed crippled for up to 2 months? How can they even legally cripple service for a future billing period?
This is important for us to follow because AT&T is probably watching this approach closely and will eventually adopt it for us as well.

foxbat121 said:
There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.
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5% is a huge number of customers - probably a lot of them being business customers. Once enough people get throttled back Verizon may have to rethink this approach. Consider what Comcast did. They went from unlimited to 250gb. That's a very reasonable limit that certainly doesn't catch 5% of their internet customers. Of course as time goes by they will have to adjust that 250 up or they will start catching more and more customers.
I don't think they've defined what they consider heavy users yet. It must be pretty low to include 5% of data users.

An even better option would be data buckets, where your unused data rollsover. I've gone near the 200mb cap quite a few times since the default settings cleverly turn off wifi when the phone sleeps :rollseyes:
Sent from my Captivate using XDA App

"Demographic Research" is why we have the 2gb plan in the first place.
That's why I believe the unlimited plan will be eventually phased out also. Yea, their offering the unlimited plan again, but to me that's mostly PR to get more customers because cases like this: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/04/verizon-breaks-first-day-sales-record-with-iphone-4-pre-orders/ I don't really know how truthful that is, since corporate tend to inflate stats for the press.
But competition is good for the consumers, as long as both these billion dollar companies are in high competition, it should be easier on the wallet for us. Hoping...but still believe they are ripping us off as consumers (and I will keep the reasons why to myself, I've seen what it did to the other threads )
These are all opinions, and I take your posts as opinions. So...can we keep this civil. The other threads I've seen regarding this subject matter tend to get heated, which I do avoid (I have enough drama in my life

I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

crystalhand said:
I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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I don't think the limited plan is a bad idea, but I do see the amount going up and up. Since mobile internet access will exceed home internet access in the future, in my opinion. Which in turn costing us more and more.
As richb500 said, it is important to follow this and see what AT$T does.

When I was following the Fuze/Tilt2 forums it was pointed out that the is no true unlimited plan. The plan is called unlimited but in the TOS it states that over 5G of data transfered ATT can terminate your service.
All carriers have that clause in their respective TOS.
I have the old unlimited plan and have gone ovef 5G once but repeated go over 4G and never got any warning messages about my use.
Just a word of caution.
Sprint seems to be very loose with enforcement. A co-worker has an EVO and uses upwards of 20G a month using it has a hotspot and has never been warned about abusive use which is again in the Sprint TOS.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

foxbat121 said:
There will be a day that even the grandfathered unlimited plan will be terminated one way or another. AT&T's network congestion means it should never offered unlimited plan to begin with.
Verizon actually made it clear, even though it offer unlimited for new iPhone users, top 5% of the data users will be throttled. I sense AT&T will soon follow suit.
If 2GB is not enough for you today, you're on the way to be throttled soon.
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shouldn't have to terminate it.
if they weren't greedy and shortsighted they could get most to move over voluntarily with the right incentives.
For Example - Anyone with unlimited who is willing to Renew a new 2 year contract on their voice and take a capped data plan gets to choose any At&t Phone @ no cost with the upgrade. Couple this with informing users that stay on the unlimited they will face throttling if it is abused....(soft cap of 5 or 6 gb).
75% or more would likely take advantage if they could get the latest phone for free (iphone, atrix, whatever else comes down the pike).
Couple it with a marketing campaign to the effect of TETHER AWAY. No charges for tether as we respect your right to use the full potential of your phone. Give 250mb data free to all smartphone users. Offer 2gb @ $25 and 4GB @ 45$ (same as tether pricing but removes the stigma and bad taste of being charged for something that costs them nothing and is a native capability of the OS/Device). Keep the $10 overage charge per every GB of data over the cap.

crystalhand said:
I believe that the limited plans were and still are a great idea. 2 gigs is a ton of data in my opinion.I rarely every go above 1 a month and I am on my phone a fair amount. It just all depends how much data people want. and lets face it the people who want and need the unlimited plan are the 1-5% of people that killed at &ts wireless network speed by streaming 1080p content for several hours a day
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Damn you guys are making me feel like I have a problem lol...
I go over 2 gigs almost every month and have to pay the additional 10$ for another gig..came to the point I have to turn off my data and use it only when I need to just to stay under.. (when I'm not home under wifi)
Il trade with you unlimited ppl any day!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5

francous said:
Damn you guys are making me feel like I have a problem lol...
I go over 2 gigs almost every month and have to pay the additional 10$ for another gig..came to the point I have to turn off my data and use it only when I need to just to stay under.. (when I'm not home under wifi)
Il trade with you unlimited ppl any day!
Samsung captivate running d11igaf 5.5
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Do you have your wifi set to never turn off? A lot of people think they're safe at home on their wifi... But as soon as the screen turns off, so does the wifi. They default this way to save battery.
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richb500 said:
Do you have your wifi set to never turn off? A lot of people think they're safe at home on their wifi... But as soon as the screen turns off, so does the wifi. They default this way to save battery.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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mine stays on all the time.. but i turn my Data Off while my wifi is on so if wifi were to cut out it wouldnt use my data anyway
UPDATE: i called AT&T just for kicks to see if there were a unlimited data plan no one knew about.. turns out there isnt for us smartphone customers but there is for NON Smartphone customers because they use less data.. wtf..
Can we LIE and say we are not a smartphone, say we're on some ol' school slidey phone or something and get that plan!? lol..

Good for us consumers, but anyone that is like me that uses 1GB a day with ease "when you are at work with nothing better to do then surf the net, and watch movies" it becomes a problem, lucky I have unlimited data though and I don't see why they don't sell it to more customers because most who have it don't use nearly that much so its extra money in the pocket

francous said:
mine stays on all the time.. but i turn my Data Off while my wifi is on so if wifi were to cut out it wouldnt use my data anyway
UPDATE: i called AT&T just for kicks to see if there were a unlimited data plan no one knew about.. turns out there isnt for us smartphone customers but there is for NON Smartphone customers because they use less data.. wtf..
Can we LIE and say we are not a smartphone, say we're on some ol' school slidey phone or something and get that plan!? lol..
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The unlimited data plan offering is not official, and I don't think customer service will know anything until Verizon iphone official launch date. What I've been reading (ex.) http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/at-t-quietly-matching-vzws-unlimited-data-plan-for-iphone/9317
But this is only a business move, in my opinion, since there are certain criteria you must meet to get back the unlimited plan.
And for your question: No you can't lie about not having a smartphone, when actually you are using a smartphone, they will know.

Tiered data coming 6/26...?

My VZW source told me about a new Point-of-Sale system being implemented for corporate Verizon stores (a nationwide rollout as far as I know, but I could be wrong on that assumption). Regardless, this new POS system goes live June 26th. In the online training for the new POS system, Verizon Employees saw some mention given to new calling plans + tiered data implementation coming at the same time as the new POS system rollout.
What I was told is this: calling plans are being renamed, probably changed (in terms of text/voice minute allowance, price, inclusion [or not] of data, etc.) FOR SURE the plans are being renamed, and it's not a far stretch of the imagination to think that this is the perfect time for VZW to roll out new data plans. The reason for that thought is the fact that VZW has been talking about a summer debut for tiered data plans for a while now. Well, summer is here... so it's about time for this to happen.
No specific details have been given at this time, likely no one will know much until the day before or day of the announcement. But at least we have a time frame for this. If there is going to be an end of unlimited data, I predict it will come with the roll out of new calling plans.
Also, this makes sense in light of the July 6th extended tethering promotion. In the event someone wants to keep tethering after July 6th on their Thunderbolt, it will require a data plan change (adding a paid monthly tethering plan). This is one way for Verizon to force people into the new calling plans. If they are capping data or upping prices for LTE/4G devices (or across the board for all devices - who knows?), this is a great way for Verizon to steal people away from their unlimited data plans. You want tethering? OK. Change your plan to one of our "new" plans with tiered (capped) data and you can have tethering!
I think this "free" tethering was a cold, money grubbing calculation from the beginning. I digress...
Anyway, just passing along what I heard today. Anyone else hear anything similar to this today? I could have some details wrong, and though this is clearly just speculation, I don't want to obfuscate the truth if someone has it on good authority something here isn't true or I have some of the details a little wrong.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Here's the reason free tethering was extended:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20...-4g-tethering/
As for tiered data, they can pry my unlimited 4G from my cold, lifeless hands. Or I'm going to Sprint

That link is broken for me. Was the story about the issues with the Charge's hotspot being unreliable? I know the previous extension was supposedly because of the 24 hour EHRPD network outage that affected so many Thunderbolt users.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

JFMFT said:
That link is broken for me. Was the story about the issues with the Charge's hotspot being unreliable? I know the previous extension was supposedly because of the 24 hour EHRPD network outage that affected so many Thunderbolt users.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
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Sorry, it worked for me earlier today I just assumed it still worked..
It was something about how the Free Press filed a complaint with the FCC saying that Verizon shouldn't be allowed to tell us how to use our data, etc and that the conditions with which the 700 mhz spectrum was bought somewhat prevent Verizon from charging for it.
And no, but the Charge did receive an update a few days ago fixing their hotspot.

Ah, I forgot about the free press filing. Good to know the Charge was updated, too.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

joshnichols189 said:
Here's the reason free tethering was extended:
[broken url]
As for tiered data, they can pry my unlimited 4G from my cold, lifeless hands. Or I'm going to Sprint
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Here's a working link. Forum cut yours off...
news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20069580-264/complaint-to-fcc-verizon-mustnt-bar-4g-tethering
I tried to post as a link, but I'm such a newb that it is only allowed after my 8th post

JFMFT said:
My VZW source told me about a new Point-of-Sale system being implemented for corporate Verizon stores (a nationwide rollout as far as I know, but I could be wrong on that assumption). Regardless, this new POS system goes live June 26th. In the online training for the new POS system, Verizon Employees saw some mention given to new calling plans + tiered data implementation coming at the same time as the new POS system rollout.
What I was told is this: calling plans are being renamed, probably changed (in terms of text/voice minute allowance, price, inclusion [or not] of data, etc.) FOR SURE the plans are being renamed, and it's not a far stretch of the imagination to think that this is the perfect time for VZW to roll out new data plans. The reason for that thought is the fact that VZW has been talking about a summer debut for tiered data plans for a while now. Well, summer is here... so it's about time for this to happen.
No specific details have been given at this time, likely no one will know much until the day before or day of the announcement. But at least we have a time frame for this. If there is going to be an end of unlimited data, I predict it will come with the roll out of new calling plans.
Also, this makes sense in light of the July 6th extended tethering promotion. In the event someone wants to keep tethering after July 6th on their Thunderbolt, it will require a data plan change (adding a paid monthly tethering plan). This is one way for Verizon to force people into the new calling plans. If they are capping data or upping prices for LTE/4G devices (or across the board for all devices - who knows?), this is a great way for Verizon to steal people away from their unlimited data plans. You want tethering? OK. Change your plan to one of our "new" plans with tiered (capped) data and you can have tethering!
I think this "free" tethering was a cold, money grubbing calculation from the beginning. I digress...
Anyway, just passing along what I heard today. Anyone else hear anything similar to this today? I could have some details wrong, and though this is clearly just speculation, I don't want to obfuscate the truth if someone has it on good authority something here isn't true or I have some of the details a little wrong.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
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For a vast majority of users have a tiered plan with bucket data (tethering included) would actually be a good thing. For alot of users who frequent this, and other, forums it would not. If the prices are not totally outrageous, ie $20/GB, I see no problem with VZW implimenting a tiered system that included tethering. Its for users like many of us on XDA that it will be a problem, those who regularly go over 2, 3, 4, 5 etc GB a month by constantly flashing, downloading and redownloading apps and the power tetherers (those who play Xbox etc while tethered). I know people who barely hit 500 megs a month on their data plans, so something along the lines of 1GB for a reasonable price would be perfect for them.

abn75 said:
Its for users like many of us on XDA that it will be a problem, those who regularly go over 2, 3, 4, 5 etc GB a month by constantly flashing, downloading and redownloading apps and the power tetherers (those who play Xbox etc while tethered). I know people who barely hit 500 megs a month on their data plans, so something along the lines of 1GB for a reasonable price would be perfect for them.
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Over 12 days of this cycle, my wife hit 0.04 GB... I just hit 11.62 GB (I'm not joking). Tiered would be perfect for her if it's cheaper than the current unlimited plan... for me, I'm praying they grandfather us in!!

tbns said:
Over 12 days of this cycle, my wife hit 0.04 GB... I just hit 11.62 GB (I'm not joking). Tiered would be perfect for her if it's cheaper than the current unlimited plan... for me, I'm praying they grandfather us in!!
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They have to or let you out of your contract.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

tbns said:
Over 12 days of this cycle, my wife hit 0.04 GB... I just hit 11.62 GB (I'm not joking). Tiered would be perfect for her if it's cheaper than the current unlimited plan... for me, I'm praying they grandfather us in!!
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My wife was hitting .17 gb with her old blackberry and now uses about 3 gb with my old Droid X, I used 6-8 on the X and 8-10 on the Thunderbolt on average, and have went up to 16 gb in one month on the X. I have never tethered. Maybe the shared data will even out prices if they don't grandfather us in (after the T-bolt)

I really think that until they announce plans/prices for the tiered system people are just over reacting to it. Who knows, it might actually be a good thing for them to roll it out. Yeah yeah yeah i know "but we haz unlimited" thats well and good. but if your like me and have more than one smart phone line with it, and one of those lines using 200 megs a month...well its not worth it to have unlimited. I would rather have a small tiered plan for that, or hell even a family data plan with bucket data alotment. But we all know how people are, they have to have their unlimited data plan no matter what, even if they are only using 100 megs.

There is already a $15 plan, and its been around for awhile, for all the people using very little data

JFMFT said:
I think this "free" tethering was a cold, money grubbing calculation from the beginning.
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Same business scheme as crack dealers.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

abn75 said:
If your like me and have more than one smart phone line with it, and one of those lines using 200 megs a month...well its not worth it to have unlimited. I would rather have a small tiered plan for that, or hell even a family data plan with bucket data alotment. But we all know how people are, they have to have their unlimited data plan no matter what, even if they are only using 100 megs.
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But as 4G extends to more markets, that will change. Ppl will starting downloading/streaming more media & 100-200 megs/month will become a drop in the bucket.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Unlimited data is already gone for new subs. Tiered data is already in place. Go to the VZ website, it lists all tiers.

Mercutio5 said:
Unlimited data is already gone for new subs. Tiered data is already in place. Go to the VZ website, it lists all tiers.
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you looked at the wrong place. those "tiered" plans are for mobile broadband, ie tablets, mifi and such. for smartphones its still showing unlimited

Mercutio5 said:
Unlimited data is already gone for new subs. Tiered data is already in place. Go to the VZ website, it lists all tiers.
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Huh? Where is that link? I just checked and it still shows "unlimited data" for 4G phones at the $29.99 price

You're all correct.

eraursls1984 said:
My wife was hitting .17 gb with her old blackberry and now uses about 3 gb with my old Droid X, I used 6-8 on the X and 8-10 on the Thunderbolt on average, and have went up to 16 gb in one month on the X. I have never tethered. Maybe the shared data will even out prices if they don't grandfather us in (after the T-bolt)
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I was around 5 GB last month on the Tbolt until Netflix happened. I have done very little tethering this month and my data usage is at 15GB and I still have 4 days left in my billing cycle.

Verizon please force tiered data plans on us I would love a free switch to sprint =P
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA App

Apps to fight back against greedy carriers?

Starting tomorrow Verizon is charging unreasonable rates for all new customers, i.e. only 2 GB a month for their $30 data plan and $10/gb over that. AT&T charges $35/month for 2GB. Combined with LTE/4G speeds, not to mention the growing popularity of Netflix and streaming music apps, I find it incredible that the carriers have the nerve to charge so much for so little.
The carriers claim these bandwidth quotas are based on "average" usage. So how about we fight back and help raise this average as much as possible? For now anyway, Verizon has grandfathered in existing customers with $30/mo "unlimited" data plans. I think it is the duty of every one of us with the unlimited plan to try and use as much bandwidth as possible. This will increase the averages that the carriers claim to look at when setting their quotas.
I came here asking for someone to make a "use tons of bandwidth" application that just downloads things at random and discards the data 24/7, with user-settable speed limits for upload and download speeds etc. Come to think of it though, we could just play streaming radio nonstop and it would probably seem like legitimate usage that way too. Too bad today's streaming radio apps probably don't let you open up multiple streams at once since that wouldn't really make sense under normal circumstances.
The bottom line is we as a community need to come up with a way to fight back against the greedy carriers before it's too late. 2GB a month quota is completely and utterly ridiculous when i.e. Verizon is making billions of profits each quarter. These carriers need a little help from us to realize there's more to life than being greedy and taxing customers at every possible opportunity!

I used 64 gb last month if that helps. I couldn't agree more with you about the bull**** data tiered plan. I am with Verizon for now but I can definitely see sprint gaining more customers in the next coming months.
Sent from my Droid using XDA App

This is exactly why I love sprint
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that's unbelievably stupid theses carrier services are getting wayyy out of control. Charges here and there that's why i like sprint. ****ty service at times, but they really love your business.

I'm from Kansas City (Sprint WHQ), up until now I've avoided them because it seems everyone in town has worked for them multiple times, and like many big companies they do constant layoffs... But for an honest unmetered plan I'm willing to look the other way I suppose ;-)

Another reason to say FU to those carriers...come over to Sprint, unlimited means unlimited and the CEO has even gone on TV recently and said ti will stay that way.

I have a prepaid tmobile account and last month i used 7gigs of data
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[Q] AT&T new throttle policy

I'm just trying to figure out Att's new throttle policy.
Someone started the rumor that while talking to att's throttle department, they were told that it would be based on a person's last month's usage.
Each one of us was interpreting this differently. Some say you will only be throttled when you hit your last month usage. meaning if you used 30 gb then you can use up to 30 gb the following month. I thought it would be if your previous month's usage was in the top 5% then you are screwed this month. It seems counter productive for att to follow this policy. Everyone will be using as much data to have more speed the following month.
I did some research and could only find that att's policy was always to base the top 5% users on the previous month's statistics of their whole consumer base.
Can you guys confirm this? Especially for those who have been unthrottled. what is your previous months stat compared to this month?

Here
PC Mag article from today with some good information.

I don't see how they could fairly base it on how much you personally/individually used the prior month/billing period. That could be even worse for some that don't use that much data even though they have an unlimited plan, as they could conceivably get throttled at 500 MB - maybe less. And furthermore, it flies in the face of their supposed concern which is the alleged "data hogs" on the network. Plus, if that were the case, wouldn't you just stream Pandora or something every night while you sleep and eventually get your "allowed" GB limit way up after a few months?
To me, if you are going to go with the ambiguous top 5% (as opposed to a sort of soft "cap" like T-Mobile's 5 GB throttle threshhold) the only fair way to do it is to base the 5% from the previous month/billing cycle on a nationwide standard of all UNLIMITED plan users (those on tiered plans should not be used in the calculation). A nationwide standard seems more equitable than punishing or rewarding people based on where they live and establishing the 5% "for a person's region." Why should I be punished or rewarded just because I live in Dallas when compared to someone who lives in Atlanta or NY.
To me, if they are going to insist on throttling and claiming it is based on bandwidth/spectrum concerns (which it is clearly not, since I'm sure they would gladly let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB in a billing period and just charge them $170 more that period - and someone using 20 GB of data on a tiered plan uses the same amount of bandwidth/spectrum as someone using 20 GB on an unlimited plan), then a reasonable policy would be something like:
1) If you are unlimited, you get up to 5 GB without having your LTE speeds throttled...ever (similar to T-Mobile's policy)
2) Once you go over 5 GB in a billing period, you can be throttled to 3G speeds if you are on a congested tower, but once you are connected to a non-congested tower (whether because you are on the same tower when you got throttled, but it is no longer congested, or you changed towers because you left the house, got home, etc.) you are back to LTE speeds (similar to Verizon's policy)
No more of this ambiguous, inconsistent 5% nonsense. Put something concrete and transparent in place. And in my opinion, either #1 or #2 above would be better than what they do now.
However, I doubt they would ever put a policy in place that combined #1 and #2 above because it would likely not help achieve AT&T's goal with the throttling, which is clearly to "encourage" people to drop their unlimited plans for tiered plans so AT&T can make more money.

does anyone know the phone number to the throttle department?

AT&T’s policies are broken. First they decide to throttle the top 5% without releasing any information on what that is. Soon after we realize those using
Netflix, hulu, and slingbox were being throttled at around 2GB when others were being throttled much later (probably more closer to the real “top 5%” of the area)
Then AT&T stopped penalizing people using their phones to stream movies and tv shows and started throttling everybody at 2GB or less
Now, there are rumors of a “press release” which hasn’t been seen anywhere yet that says they will base throttling off last month’s data usage.
However things are about to change again, as a judge recently awarded a throttling customer $850 stating “it wasn't fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an "unlimited data" plan.”
This opens up a whole can of worms for AT&T, one they will feel. If even a fraction of those throttled gets a similar payout this would be very bad for AT&T. lets pretend 800,000x$850= $680,000,000
AT&T’s next move could quite possibly hurt the company more than any scandal it could ever imagine.
My guess is they will do less throttling and even that will be at higher levels then we have seen over the last few months, maybe around 5gb? 10gb? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stopped throttling all together.
Im sure after dude won his $850, at least 10’s of thousands of people have already filed small claims suits against the company already, when more of those articles come out, you will see that number jump to the hundreds of thousands.
if you haven't read about the small claims suit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...data-throttling_n_1300212.html?ref=technology
http://www.examiner.com/technology-in-national/at-t-iphone-user-wins-data-throttling-case-850
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/att-throttling-customer/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mickeym...this-two-big-consumer-small-claims-victories/

I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
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Happy someone did it. I was forced to switch to a tiered plan from my unlimited because I was being throttled at around 2gb. That lasted maybe a week and a half then my new lte skyrocket was pretty much useless data wise. I'm on the 3gb plan for the same price. I hope more people sue att.
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00mred00 said:
I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?

I'm more curious about their throttling department, I WOULD love to talk to them, since my last throttling was around 7 gb and now I'm being threatened around 3 gb, total bull****.
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I was warned in December at 4 1/2 gigs and then throttled in January at 2 gigs....BUT I was up in NY with LTE speeds in December but live in a non-LTE area so I think they considered me in the top 5% for where I live NOT where I was using the data. My fastest d/l speed at my house is 4mb. I think 4mb is throttled compared to people that have LTE so I think I shouldn't be throttled at all.

Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O

scott14719 said:
Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the tiered pricing may theoretically encourage people to use less spectrum, AT&T would happily let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB and change them an extra $170 that period.
The thing is that that tiered user takes up just as much spectrum to get to that 20 GB as an unlimited user who also uses 20 GB - the $10 charged for each additional GB of usage in a tiered plan does does not magically create additional spectrum. The ONLY difference is that the unlimited would essentially be paying $1.50/GB, while the tiered user would be paying $10/GB, and AT&T does not like that because they aren't making as much money as they could.
So while they can say that tiered plans encourage people to use less data (which to some extent it probably does/would) and that is a good thing because spectrum is limited, at the end of the day, the heart of the matter boils down to money...plain and simple. And AT&T wants to get people off unlimited plans, not because of a spectrum issue, but because they want to make more money.

privatewarrior1 said:
How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
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You need to report this. From what I understand it is not supposed to be throttling at that low of usage AND if you are throttled, it should only be down to 3G speeds from LTE speeds.

I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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astang99 said:
I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.

obliv said:
Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's correct. throttle speeds are edge speeds.

00mred00 said:
I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if their new policy will begin next month and will be used on this month's use. I'm just debating whether I should raise my usage. I'm still below 2gigs unthrottled with some 10 days left.
btw I remember you were the one who said that this would be their new policy.
do you happen to have the throttle dpt direct #?

BTW i was thinking. should someone start a thread about the lawsuit on the att forums?