T-Mobile Going After Tether Abusers

[Almeuit]

It looks like T-Mobile is dropping the hammer on those who bypass the tether limit on the unlimited data plan.

T-Mobile going after data 'thieves' who abuse unlimited data | Android Central

 

[nahoku]

From the article...

1/100 of a percent of our 59 million customers

... translates to 5900 customers. WOW!

The real question is, how do the other 58,994,100 people go after all the bogus charges they pay every month!? Yah, I know, I'm not on TMO, but I still want to know!

 

[bkeaver]

I can't say that I am surprised. some people are a little ridiculous on how much they are using and then bragging about it.

 

[UDPGuy]

From the article...

... translates to 5900 customers. WOW!

The real question is, how do the other 58,994,100 people go after all the bogus charges they pay every month!? Yah, I know, I'm not on TMO, but I still want to know!

T-Mobile is probably the best carrier when it comes to bogus charges.

Posted via Nexus 6 with unlimited international data via AT&T

 

[Almeuit]

T-Mobile is probably the best carrier when it comes to bogus charges.

Posted via Nexus 6 with unlimited international data via AT&T

Really? I am not sure I have any bogus charges on my bill(s). They quoted me $100 for 2 lines and I pay $50. Taxes are covered by an employee discount but even if it wasn't I wouldn't really say tax is bogus since it is on everything.

What do you mean?

 

[Bob61]

From the article... *I’m not sure what they are doing with it – stealing wireless access for their entire business, powering a small cloud service, providing broadband to a small city, mining for bitcoin -- but I really don’t care!"

As if T-Mobile had signal in small cities

 

[IAmSixNine]

Using 2Tb in a month is way overboard. Go get them TMO.

 

[diesteldorf]

I'n not currently with TMO, but just had a couple questions:

1) If you have the $80 Unlimited Plan with 7 GB tethering, assuming you exceed 7 GB and are not cheating, you will be throttled but still have unlimited tethering, correct?

Assuming, you disconnect the laptop or tablet, etc from your phone and stop the tethering, will your phone return to normal LTE speeds, since you still have Unlimited data through the phone?

2) Lastly, and I may be completely off base, however, I heard a rumor that TMO would still optimize those people paying for Unlimited Data on their phone, after they had crossed a certain threshold.

I don't know if this is true, but doesn't that mean that a law abiding customer could be stuck with crappy service if they happen to use too much LTE data on their phone AND live in a congested area?

I understand, TMO has to provide the best service to the greatest number of people and they have a right to go after those that are exceeding the tethering limit they agreed to. However, if someone is playing by the rules and can still get optimized/throttled, it doesn't really seem like they have truly unlimited data at all.

 

[UDPGuy]

Really? I am not sure I have any bogus charges on my bill(s). They quoted me $100 for 2 lines and I pay $50. Taxes are covered by an employee discount but even if it wasn't I wouldn't really say tax is bogus since it is on everything.

What do you mean?

I mean as in they don't have bogus charges

Posted via Nexus 6 with unlimited international data via AT&T

 

[nahoku]

From the article...

... translates to 5900 customers. WOW!

The real question is, how do the other 58,994,100 people go after all the bogus charges they pay every month!? Yah, I know, I'm not on TMO, but I still want to know!

I was just being facetious guys. Just ranting about all the "extra" charges we see added every so often! Most make no sense to me... but I still pay!

 

[raino]

TMO is absolutely within its rights to enforce the ToS and I have no sympathy for such customers. But 6000 people (who are presumably spread out across the country and not hammering the same towers) is enough to elicit such a strongly worded response from the CEO of the "Data Strong" network?

And if they really are such a strain on their local towers, why aren't they being "de-prioritized" after 21GB?

 

[Almeuit]

TMO is absolutely within its rights to enforce the ToS and I have no sympathy for such customers. But 6000 people (who are presumably spread out across the country and not hammering the same towers) is enough to elicit such a strongly worded response from the CEO of the "Data Strong" network?

And if they really are such a strain on their local towers, why aren't they being "de-prioritized" after 21GB?

I would say it may not even be a full on strain issue -- most likely just principal of you're using the service in a way you aren't supposed to and doing so to the tune of insane amounts of data. I guarantee it is more about that than strain at the moment.

 

[Bob61]

I would say it may not even be a full on strain issue -- most likely just principal of you're using a service in a way you aren't supposed to and doing so to the tune of insane amounts of data. I guarantee it is more about that than strain at the moment.

Yup, its more on theft of service.

 

[raino]

I would say it may not even be a full on strain issue -- most likely just principal of you're using the service in a way you aren't supposed to and doing so to the tune of insane amounts of data.

But why now?

 

[Almeuit]

But why now?

Why not? I mean that kind of question is super hard to answer. Whenever a company changes or does anything you could say "Why now?" and it is hard to answer. Comcast is testing out data caps in certain areas -- why now and not earlier?

Either way I really believe it is more about "You're using this service in a way you aren't supposed to" versus a tower specific issue.

 

[Bob61]

But why now?

Maybe they are seeing a growth I abusers and putting stop to it. Maybe John just woke up on wrong side of the bed. Maybe this has been on long list of items to be addressed and finally made it to the top of the list...

Let me ask, why not now?

 

[LeoRex]

But why now?

Just because they haven't doesn't mean they can't.

These are people going above and beyond their terms of service. Not just a little, but by massive amounts.

 

[debdroid1a]

From the article...

... translates to 5900 customers. WOW!

The real question is, how do the other 58,994,100 people go after all the bogus charges they pay every month!? Yah, I know, I'm not on TMO, but I still want to know!

Hate to disappoint you, but my payment on tmobile is less then Verizon each month. Not by much, but less then if I stayed on there for my unlimited as I would have to add a phone payment plan to my monthly bill or buy a phone outright (no other option worked for me).

ETA:

I was just being facetious guys. Just ranting about all the "extra" charges we see added every so often! Most make no sense to me... but I still pay!

Ah, I should have read further....

 

[raptir]

I'n not currently with TMO, but just had a couple questions:

1) If you have the $80 Unlimited Plan with 7 GB tethering, assuming you exceed 7 GB and are not cheating, you will be throttled but still have unlimited tethering, correct?

Assuming, you disconnect the laptop or tablet, etc from your phone and stop the tethering, will your phone return to normal LTE speeds, since you still have Unlimited data through the phone?

2) Lastly, and I may be completely off base, however, I heard a rumor that TMO would still optimize those people paying for Unlimited Data on their phone, after they had crossed a certain threshold.

I don't know if this is true, but doesn't that mean that a law abiding customer could be stuck with crappy service if they happen to use too much LTE data on their phone AND live in a congested area?

I understand, TMO has to provide the best service to the greatest number of people and they have a right to go after those that are exceeding the tethering limit they agreed to. However, if someone is playing by the rules and can still get optimized/throttled, it doesn't really seem like they have truly unlimited data at all.

1) You'll still have tethering, but at the throttled speed it's basically useless.

2) They will practice "deprioritization" on those users. Unless the area is heavily congested you should still get usable data.

 

[chunkcohen]

TMO is absolutely within its rights to enforce the ToS and I have no sympathy for such customers. But 6000 people (who are presumably spread out across the country and not hammering the same towers) is enough to elicit such a strongly worded response from the CEO of the "Data Strong" network?

We're talking about the same CEO that crashes the corporate parties of his competitors and cusses on social media.

But in all seriousness, 5,900 people may not seem like a lot, but say let's just say that on average, a smartphone user will burn through 3GB of tethered data per month. Under this scenario, just one of the huge data pigs pulling down 2TB per month will have 633x that workload. That's not an insignificant number, especially on cellular towers, which will always be limited by spectrum. Just one such user can ruin the experience for thousands of customers sharing the same tower.