Sprint to throttle “unlimited data” after customers use 23GB per month

Carrier had temporarily stopped throttling due to net neutrality concern.

Read the whole story

 

[foxyshadis]

JerryLove[/url]":tlkqaxba]1) If your top tier is 23GB that's fine. Just call it your "23GB plan" rather than the misleading "unlimited".

2) What's the point?

Let's imagine that you have congestion and that this congestion would be gone if these high-bandwidth users were running at lower speeds.

Now let's imagine they all use 1GB per day.

So from the 1st of the month to the 23rd, everyone will have congestion. Then it will clear up (as the problem users get throttled) until the end of the month when the network will congest again.

3) So I can't buy a 46GB plan, but I can buy 2x23GB plans and alternate between them because somehow the problem won't occur then?!?

4) The whole premise is, of course, flawed. Congestion can happen if everyone uses 1MB/month, as long as they all use it at the same time (or, in Sprint's case, if your network is terrible). Alternately, you can have huge useage without congestion if the usage itself is well spaced in time and location.

Why would they sell it as a 23GB plan when you can conceivably download 100GB and not pay a dime more? It's not a 23GB plan, it's a "23GB of good service, as much as you want of mediocre service" plan, but for the people who need as much download as possible for as little money as possible, it's a feasible plan.

You still have the option of paying more to get a metered connection and get the best service possible 24/7, whether that's by buying several unlimited plans, or a metered connection. As long as it's all stated up-front, I don't see a problem with being given the option; since it's explained when you sign up and only applies to new sign-ups and not grandfathered connections, as far as I'm concerned it's fine. The lucky ones who signed up between July and October will get to keep their unthrottled unlimited.

 

[Statistical]

phoenix_rizzen[/url]":2ifljwxm]

Statistical[/url]":2ifljwxm]

AdamM[/url]":2ifljwxm]First, the data is technically still unlimited. The rate at which it is delivered is simply throttled at a certain point.

Then it isn't unlimited. There are 2.592 million seconds per month. If your speed is limited to 1 Mbps then your bandwidth is limited to 324 GB per month. I have nothing wrong with caps just don't play the "unlimited but not really unlimited unless you pretend unlimited means something with a limit" game.

They're selling you unlimited data, not unlimited bandwidth.

They can't sell unlimited bandwidth as there are too many physical limitations to it (distance from cell tower, number of devices connected to tower, number of devices actively transmitting/receiving, cell band in use, backhaul connection to the tower, etc). While the radio in your device may support 450 Mbps download speeds, you'll never actually see that in real life, even in a perfect testing lab setup.

But they can sell unlimited data, as you can download as much as you want. After 23 GB, your device is put on the "if you need to free up bandwidth for other users, throttle this device first" list. You still get data, just not as fast. And if there's no congestion, you still get data at the normal speeds. So you can use 500+ GB of data in a month if you want. It's only the first 23 GB that will be at the fastest speeds; but you'll still get all the data you want.

Really, this is the way it should be. Whether 23 GB is the right number to pick for adding device to the "throttle first" list is debatable, though.

Saying unlimited data but limited bandwidth is idiotic. If you limit bandwidth you limit data. By your logic one could offer unlimited data at 1Gbps LTE where first 1MB is at 1Gbps and all other downloads are throttled to 1kbps.

Unlimited!

 

[Statistical]

foxyshadis[/url]":37inivk8]The lucky ones who signed up between July and October will get to keep their unthrottled unlimited.

Until they change handsets (even if involuntarily due to failed equipment). But yes unlimited until their phone dies (10 years or 10 minutes from now).

 

[Anticrawl]

They said throttling only when there is congested but then they say throttling only after 23GB? Which is it? Because the later is an arbitrary nonsensical choice and the former is logical and ethical. There is no excuse to throttle based on monthly usage, only peak usage. The only "excuse" you could have is to force users into usage based billing under the guise that they would no longer be throttled based on use.

 

[jbrandonf]

ginsuchikara[/url]":1o9x1lc4]I think they should comp your bill for the month if you manage to pull 23GB.

You'd definitely need a 31-day month, perfect signal, and one massive file continuously downloading to have any chance of pulling it off.

....at least, per my experience a few years ago when last I had service with them.

I guess, technically, I have service with them now via Project Fi, but I usually manually switch to T-Mobile when Fi Spy tells me that the "full bars" I have are on Sprint after I do a speed test and see results that remind me of Iraq.

And IN FAIRNESS, if you're doing 23GB a month, every month, on your phone.....WTF are you doing? Tethering to it to torrent shit en masse?

As much of a data hog as I am, I just can't get mad at them for this.

I hit 60 GB binge watching Netflix one month. At least half of it was at home where my router wasn't working but gym and breaks at work I was blazing through episodes of some damn show.

It's the video though. I'm a retail technician and I see these teenagers on snapchat, Instagram and oovoo watching high quality video blaze through 15gb easy.

 

[jbrandonf]

There's been a whole lot of complaining on here and in actuality most of these people wouldn't have a problem.

The carriers have come out and said that you need to 1. Be on an unlimited plan 2. Use over 23gb of data in a billing cycle 3. Be on a congested tower for your phone to be throttled.

Once you hop on a new tower you may not be throttled any longer.

 

[bobthe]

It seems to me that this practice won't pass FCC review because they're targeting only the unlimited users. They would need to throttle everyone during times of congestion in order to pass review with respect to net neutrality I would think.

 

[ByteFlinger]

burne_[/url]":2s46k8tb]The fact is that DSL is your own little copper pipe from the central office to your house, and the air between the cell tower and your phone is shared. When you are using it, nobody else can use that frequency. Which is why spectrum is heavily regulated and small bits of spectrum are sold for billions.

Yes you are right however by selling it as "unlimited" they are essentially elevating both to the same level and the end consumer will see no difference (and he is right not to because he is making use of what he paid for)

 

[614erich]

A friend of mine and I both experienced this issue. We both kept getting asked to upgrade carrier on our iphone with unlimited data. I used to get LTE everywhere and now I am stuck on 3G. He is too. I can actually start on LTE then use the internet and watch it bump me down to 3G. I am where near the 23GB per month so that is complete bs.