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T-Mobile Raises Deprioritization Threshold To 30GB (tmonews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TmoNews: T-Mobile's new deprioritization threshold is 30GB of usage in a single billing cycle. While T-Mo didn't make an official announcement about the change, you can see in this cached page that the network management policy says 28GB: "Based on network statistics for the most recent quarter, customers who use more than 28GB of data during a billing cycle will have their data usage prioritized below other customers' data usage for the remainder of the billing cycle in times and at locations where there are competing customer demands for network resources." Navigating to the webpage today now says 30GB. What this change means is that if you use more than 30GB of data in one billing cycle, your data usage will be prioritized below others for the remainder of that billing cycle. The only time that you're likely to see the effects of that, though, is when you're at a location on the network that is congested, during which time you may see slower speeds. Once you move to a different location or the congestion goes down, your speeds will likely go back up. And once the new billing cycle rolls around, your usage will be reset.
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It sounds like you're too stupid to use appy app apps like Appy App Saga and Appstragram, so you have to make up LUDDITE lies instead!
Apps!
/. had news that matters? More science and less corporate plugs please.
Limitless means "No Limits".
It does not mean, after you've used some arbitrary number that we select, we will limit you.
Slowing or deprioritizing packets is indeed *LIMITING*.
Super simple FTC actionable advertising by all companies that "limit" their "unlimited" plans.
Most plans lower you to 2G speeds well below that.
Your traffic might go from 25MB/s down to 22.8MB/s. They aren't blocking traffic, they aren't stopping your traffic. They are just making it so that others have a fair share. Compared to all the other operators, they are doing it right.
Limitless data does not mean limitless data to the detriment of other people.
Even if they slow you down, they're still not limiting the amount of data that you can download.
Don't ever come to Canada, where they charge you $5 per gig over your already expensive 1/2/5/10GB data plan.
#DeleteFacebook
Why not just prioritize all traffic by previous traffic used per billing cycle? So light users generally get top prioritization and heavy users get gradually lower prioritization but nobody has to pick a number where it suddenly switches form one category to another.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Don't ever come to Canada, where they charge you $5 per gig over your already expensive 1/2/5/10GB data plan.
What's funny is - with T-Mobile, you roam for free on Rodgers (I think that's the network). Last year I headed up to Vancouver for a meeting - a minute or two after I crossed the border, I got a text telling me I had the same coverage in Canada as in the US - for free.
Maybe you should buy service from T-Mobile in the US and then head home...
#DeleteChrome
Limitless data does not mean limitless data to the detriment of other people.
It's to the detriment of others because they do not upgrade their infrastructure enough. It's their problem if they do not upgrade enough to get the bandwidth required to serve their unlimited customers.
You know as well as I do that whatever upgrades they do, users like you will use all of it and then complain again.
You still have unlimited data right now, upgraded infrastructures or not.
#DeleteFacebook
Just wish they had better coverage around me.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I totally misread the headline as a 30GB Deportation Threshold.
Of course there has to be a limit, there is only so much bandwidth available. But, they shouldn't fucking advertise it as limitless when there is actually a limit.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
beat me to it! LOL
GSM data is sent in 156-bit (18 byte) frames, which are then combined into superframes. So anyway the prioritization decision is made every few bytes - millions of times for one video. It needs to be fast, very fast, and a flag indicating "high" or "low" priority is fast - much much faster than computing and comparing a numerical score for each frame to see who is highest, then multiplying the reciprocal of that by time in queue.
Also, long before T-Mobile started prioritizing based on usage so far in month, network protocols and network equipment was built built with traffic classes, not traffic scores. T-Mobile is using pre-existing functionality. It's arguable which provides a "better" customer experience, so they might as well use the simple, efficient, pre-existing method.
They are just making it so that others have a fair share.
No. Wrong. They are making it so that others have more of a share than you. That is the very definition of unfair.
Fair Share means everyone get the same amount of bandwidth split evenly.
Let's say I use 30 gigs of data on a tower in the middle of nowhere at 3:00AM.
Then later today, I connect to a tower in the middle of a busy downtown area at 5:00PM.
My traffic will get throttled, while the rest of the people on that tower (under 30gig) won't. I didn't take anything away from them through my previous usage. I didn't make their connections slower.
This is pure PR. Nothing more.
So what then, would be your solution to alleviate a congested network?
You understand that there is a finite amount of spectrum which provides us with a finite amount of bandwidth and if everyone streamed HD youtube all day nobody would get any data at all? You understand that right?
bullshit. the limiting factor in cell networks is the wireless spectrum and you can't upgrade nature.
My Pay as you go $40/ month is still 2Gigs. Rising tide it ain't
GSM data is sent in 156-bit (18 byte) frames
LTE != GSM
I may not have all the facts, but I certainly have a clue. Something you don't realize when your world comes to consist of what is contained in a single article.
'Member Chewbacca?
They are just making it so that others have a fair share.
I didn't take anything away from them through my previous usage. I didn't make their connections slower.
This is pure PR. Nothing more.
Yah, I don't buy it. Sure the bits cost less for them at certain times, since more people using them at peak times mean expanding their network. That being said, they hand out a straightforward and no bs contract. That it isn't optimized for your particular use is just life. They choose not to make a plan with non peak usage quotas. Another can make a plan with separate non peak minutes. As long as they are not using their current business to somehow prevent the other guy from selling that plan, then they are fine.
The only thing I wand with t-mobile is better hotspot only plans. My mother uses one, since it is all she can get, even though she is not far from AT&T DSl. AT&T just hasn't built their network in a couple of decades. If you want to bitch about a provider then AT&T is fair game. They are evil.
T-mobiles 22GB hotspot only plan is $90. I think if they are giving 30GB to normal users they could ease up on those plans a bit. Maybe make their $90 plan 30GB and raise the other tiers..
Sadly no one really likes hotspot only users. T-mobile is close, and i think binge on is still working, so you really can't complain too much.
LTE uses 5ms-10ms frames. So still, that's 100-200 switching decisions per second, per connection.
if everyone streamed HD youtube all day nobody would get any data at all
Your math skills are lacking. If everyone did that, everyone would be getting as much as possible from their unlimited plans, that's a lot of data.
His solution is obvious, split it evenly between all the customers, without penalizing any of them unequally. In order to provide more bandwidth better technology and coverage might be necessary.
I bet you think that women that talk 10% of the time are stealing all of your limelight too.
If you hit that limit, you are ALREADY using more than other people. This slows you down a _little_ so that the other people that have NOT yet reached that limit - so, by definition, NOT used more than you, can get a chance to use as much as you.
Do you understand? You heap big use. Make slow for other people. When you use lots, get little slower to give other people chance.
Or was that still too complicated for you?
And no judge on the planet and probably no jury, is going to count this particular scenario as a false advertising claim. Any more than if you tried to launch a class action because their LIMITLESS amount was limited by bandwidth available * time.
I have T-Mobile as well and love the free international roaming. I've used it with great success in Asia and Mexico but just last weekend I was in Montreal. I got the same text I always do about free roaming but the entire time I was there I only had voice and SMS service. No data whatsoever.
Maybe you should buy service from T-Mobile in the US and then head home...
You must use a majority of your data in the US (over a few months) to use that plan otherwise they may ban you.
Nobody forces them to offer unlimited plans if they are not able to deliver.
First companies have a race to see who can screw their customers over the most. Now, they're in a race to see who can give customers the most data. So ... do they want to screw us over or not???