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Sprint Will Start Throttling Customers Who Exceed 23GB Monthly (sprint.com)
CNET reports (and CTO John Saw explains on the company's blog) that Sprint has decided to taper access to a slice of its "unlimited" wireless data customers, by throttling access (not curtailing it, at least) to those who slurp down more than 23 gigabytes per month -- the same cap that T-Mobile has imposed. If you think "throttled" and "unlimited" don't quite jibe to describe the same service, you're not the only one to quibble: CNET notes that regulators have "begun scrutinizing the carriers' practice [of slowing access past a cap]. In June, the Federal Communications Commission threatened to fine AT&T $100 million for deceiving its customers by mislabeling its service as unlimited. The FCC also challenged Verizon when the company planned to expand its data throttling policy to its 4G customers. The company retracted that policy last fall. In June, Verizon also stopped slowing unlimited-data traffic for 3G customers."
When I had Sprint it was so f'ing slow that there's no way I could ever approach 23GB. I always figure that's how they could get away with "unlimited" data plans.
Sprint said customers will still be able to use unlimited amounts of data without overage charges, but for moments when the network is congested, traffic from heavy-data customers will move more slowly. Sprint said the policy operates in real time and only applies if a cell site is constrained. Performance for an affected customer returns to normal as soon as the local traffic returns to normal.
Doesn't seem all that diabolical. The alternative is the end of unlimited plans (which is probably coming anyway).
How are they going to throttle their service any more that Sprint already does? I have Sprint and 3G is glacially slow (unusable for anything but email) and LTE only somewhat faster. I'm not even sure I COULD download 23GB in a month!
Yipes...bad fingers. Bad.
its 20GiB. you have to think digitally.
You can't have unlimited even with no throttling you will always be limited by the speed. I find it kind of weird how they tie data caps to speeds but not speeds to data caps. My home internet is 75 Mbs but does that mean I can use 75 Mbs 24/7? No. Do these wireless providers hard cap you? No. If anything I think this throttling is much more fair and truthful than advertising speeds with caps.
It's a prime number between 20 and 25.
Say k is the portion (from 0% to 100%) of the "pipe" that I "can have."
If I can't have the whole pipe, that's a limit: k cannot equal 100%.
Hell, if a pipe exists in the first place, that too is a limit: k cannot exceed 100%.
Mind you this is all expected by rational adults. But it's still worth noting "unlimited" was untrue from the getgo.
Now they're saying that when my monthly cumulative usage hits 23GB they will throttle speed, which is another limit.
That's 3 limits. Things with limits are not unlimited.
You have answered your own question, grasshopper.
Couldn't they just lower the bandwidth, rather than choking customers?
When AT&T first started throttling, not only did they do it far below the amount of data a less expensive tier was offering, but they also made it so slow that it compared to landline-modem speeds. So while you were watching commercials of AT&T users watching videos on their phone, you found yourself barely getting email. Worse, if you had paid $5/mo LESS, you would have had an extra gig or two of the useful speed.
In short, AT&T set the tone that unlimited plans with throttling meant, for most practical purposes, there was a cap in place. In fact AT&T was recently slapped with a hugenormous fine over it. It's not surprising at all that any move that a carrier makes with regards to unlimited customers comes under scrutiny. Frankly I'm just glad people are paying attention to it.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Corporations are only people when it comes to political donations, otherwise they are entities unbound by law.
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Probably because AT&T is at 22, and Sprint is probably trying to one-up them. (No, I don't know where 22 came from, but it's loads better than when it was 5.)
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
They probably took a look at the data and saw that only five (or whatever) percent of users used more than that.
Misleading headline, if what I hear is true. It's reactive throttling, not active. And to hit 23GB you're probably an upper member of the millions of streaming drones that have taken over the tubes. Literally. The statistics put streamers at more tube than everything else combined. So don't expect me to play a violin for your reduced speed, which it turns out is a minor impact unless you're (lol) streaming.
Have those faggots not developed buffer solutions yet? Johnny the Pirate can not only queue up his Lord of the Rings the night before during soft hours, but also watch it locally forever. Without stutter or overcompression.
But if he's watching as much video as the 23 giggers, they both need better ways to fill their day. I'd say "Get a job." but that's turning into a poor joke as the paycheck club gets more and more exclusive.
One might construe from "unlimited" that it means unlimited use of a service as described. Not, unlimited until you reach a cap where you'll receive a 2nd tier service. As for its impact on other customers, either you can manage an "unlimited" offering, or you can't. The term is deceptive, despite being in the contract. They simply need to find another descriptor for their service.
Yes, they did add a data cap to the plan.... the cap being 23G. The fact that they merely throttle speed at that point instead of stopping service entirely or charging more money at that point is just a corporate policy decision, but ultimately it is still a decision made by the company based on the *quantity of data* that one has used, and at the end of the day that decision still amounts to a data cap.
I have no real objection to companies that want to throttle speeds of people who they have noted are consuming more than some certain amount of data monthly, but when they have the audacity to still call those plans "unlimited", those shenanigans need to be called out.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I have to question how anyone can use 23GB of data per month on a cellphone. Seriously, what are you doing with your life if you're using the Internet on your phone that much? It's excessive and I really can't blame Sprint for making the decision they're making, and anyone who is using anywhere near that much on their phone in a month on a regular basis, in my opinion, needs to take a hard look at what they're doing and why, and make some lifestyle changes.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
then netflix needs to join everyone else and offer caching to the device
they never promised you any set speed and when they first sold those unlimited plans the speeds topped out around 1mbps, so this is perfectly fair. they are capping you at the top speed they originally promised you
How much air do you have? You can't use more than two lungs-worth at a time. You can't use more than the number of breaths in a lifetime.
It has no theoretical limit, but has a practical limit.
Much like bandwidth. You can use the "Average" use without limits. But if you run a compression machine designed to liquify the entire atmosphere and store it in a liquid state in the crust, someone will stop you.
Representing that as someone holding their hand over your mouth, suffocating you, makes you sound like an idiot, grasshopper.
Learn to love Alaska
Shouldn't it be 16 or 24 GiB, if they were doing it on a binary basis?
look, i don't really have the time to do numbers (i pay others for that), but I do know that 23 GB is not just some random number. everything happens for a reason, kk?
Which is apply a limit above and beyond those inherent in the system. Unlimited means unlimited. If a packet comes there will be a attempt to transmit it. If the buffer overflow on the transmitting path then it overflow. This is expected behaviour of a IP system.
If you preferentially drop packets because the destination has a unlimited plan then you are applying a limit. It may be a soft limit but it is a limit.
just maybe, they are in those lovely parts of the US of A where they can't get decent broadband. You know, where the big pipe providers skipped because it wouldn't be profitable or promised a fiber rollout for everyone and didn't deliver.
With this in mind, perhaps tethering is their only access to the net. Or, they're running a cellular enabled router ( Like say a Cisco 819 ) to provide a household with net access.
So while it's possible someone is watching Netflix via their phone, or streaming music 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, don't rule out the possibility that, due to the carriers greed, their phone may be one of the few options they have.
I saw a documentary about that:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt04...
You are welcome on my lawn.
I knew it. I knew had to be some Illuminati shit.
I'll bet Sprint is run by freemasons or something.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If I'm grandfathered into a discontinued unlimited plan, keep letting me use the highest speeds that were available when you stopped offering the plan to new customers.
In 2020 I'll either be content with "slow" 2015-era speeds or I'll switch plans (or carriers).
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
** Hands around customer's throat **
You're using too much bandwidth! Stop it!
There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
at&t charged me at the end of last year almost $800 for data on my unlimited plan.
do i have any chance of suing them? if you want to work pro-bono for 100% of the proceeds at the end, let me know.
"Unlimited" refers to the amount of data, not the rate
Smart people always read the fine print. Do people just not understand contracts and not read them? Don't sign what you don't agree to.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."