T-Mobile Battles Verizon Unlimited by Rolling Back Tethering and Video Throttling

Megalith

Megalith

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Many would argue that the company should have done this from the get-go, but everyone can at least agree that competition is good: the return of unlimited data on Verizon has prompted T-Mobile to make changes to its own plan—namely, they are throwing in HD video and 10GB of hotspot usage. These options used to set you back an additional $25 but are now on the house thanks to Verizon's generosity. Wow, what's next? Unlimited data that is actually, you know, unlimited?

…streaming video will no longer be limited to 480p, and instead will be capped at "HD." In addition, ONE customers will now have 10GB of high-speed hotspot data, matching Verizon's offering. Previously, T-Mobile limited tethering to 512Kbps unless you signed up for the ONE Plus plan or purchased $3 24-hour passes for faster speeds. T-Mobile told Ars Technica that the 24-hour passes are staying, but they are free - you just have to turn it on when you want HD video. T-Mobile ONE pricing is still the same $70/month for one line ($10 less than Verizon's Unlimited plan), but a promotion was also announced for $100/month for two lines. These changes will go into effect February 17 for both existing and new customers, but existing customers will have to, "activate their new features in the T-Mobile app or at my.t-mobile.com."
 
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Also, taxes and fees are included in t-mobiles prices. For $80 with Verizon, you need auto pay, and your bill will still be closer to $90 after fees.

If I didn't have a grandfathered UNLIMITED unlimited plan with verizon, I would probably switch to t-mobile.

I think tmobile needs to remove throttling completely to stay competitive.
 
I wish I could get a better idea of T-Mobiles performance. The pricing is attractive but from what I can tell their network is not near as good as Verizons.
 
XvMMvX said:
I wish I could get a better idea of T-Mobiles performance. The pricing is attractive but from what I can tell their network is not near as good as Verizons.
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Depends, there are areas on Miami and Orlando where I would get 25-50mbps+. Lately in Miami my average seems to be around 5-10 due to congestion it seems.
 
Can we get this for at-home connections as well? Oh wait, I forgot, we have an oligopoly that distributes it's coverage to avoid competition.

One is bringing back unlimited data, while the other is putting in 1TB caps in a time when data usage is spiking.

What kind of upside down world do we live in?
 
Cyraxx said:
Can we get this for at-home connections as well? Oh wait, I forgot, we have an oligopoly that distributes it's coverage to avoid competition.

One is bringing back unlimited data, while the other is putting in 1TB caps in a time when data usage is spiking.

What kind of upside down world do we live in?
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If a majority of people had a choice of ISP like they do mobile providers, we would see some competition like this. Unfortunately, thats not going to happen anytime soon.

I'm just waiting for mobile providers to start pricing according to zip code. Only verizon has coverage in your area? Guess what, you pay double.
 
Chance_P said:
If a majority of people had a choice of ISP like they do mobile providers, we would see some competition like this. Unfortunately, thats not going to happen anytime soon.

I'm just waiting for mobile providers to start pricing according to zip code. Only verizon has coverage in your area? Guess what, you pay double.
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So what happens when 5G comes around, and from the publicity it's gotten so far - it sounds like it will be faster than a lot of people's home connection....

It's sounding like land lines may not be the best means?
 
Cyraxx said:
So what happens when 5G comes around, and from the publicity it's gotten so far - it sounds like it will be faster than a lot of people's home connection....

It's sounding like land lines may not be the best means?
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And you think they are going to provide 5g service intended for home use with a reasonable data cap?
 
Chance_P said:
If a majority of people had a choice of ISP like they do mobile providers, we would see some competition like this. Unfortunately, thats not going to happen anytime soon.

I'm just waiting for mobile providers to start pricing according to zip code. Only verizon has coverage in your area? Guess what, you pay double.
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Hey now don't be giving them any ideas.
 
Chance_P said:
And you think they are going to provide 5g service intended for home use with a reasonable data cap?
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To be honest I have no clue - I'm just asking a reasonable question. Either way, if another force enters the market of home connections - it will certainly at least throw a curve ball into the market. You're talking about a market with no competition (current situation for land lines) to a market with competition (5G Home connections with high speeds)
 
Quite frankly I'm glad I'm on Project Fi where I can just buy exactly what I need data wise (i.e. not much at all) Whatever I don't use I get refunded back on my bill in the form of cash.

It's like the old school used card dealers out there -- where it's all about tricking the customer. None of the big names even understands what the literal term "unlimited data" actually means. Till they get their head out of their ass, fuck em all. (Especially fuck you Verizon though)
 
I'm watching all of this very carefully. I have no desire to swap to a slower service (I'm on AT&T's old unlimited plan) but T*Mobile's structure is pretty compelling. I also love the unlimited international data option for only $25 sans contract. With AT&T it's an additional $20 for only like 100MB.

Hopefully all of this benefits the entire industry.
 
Cyraxx said:
To be honest I have no clue - I'm just asking a reasonable question. Either way, if another force enters the market of home connections - it will certainly at least throw a curve ball into the market. You're talking about a market with no competition (current situation for land lines) to a market with competition (5G Home connections with high speeds)
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I really hope that is what happens. I don't have home internet. I use my phone as a mobile hotspot when I'm home since I have an unlimited plan with verizon. Once I buy a house I would like to get a wired connection though, as I'm not sure how much longer I can get away with using 500gb-1tb monthly.
 
Domingo said:
I'm watching all of this very carefully. I have no desire to swap to a slower service (I'm on AT&T's old unlimited plan) but T*Mobile's structure is pretty compelling. I also love the unlimited international data option for only $25 sans contract. With AT&T it's an additional $20 for only like 100MB.

Hopefully all of this benefits the entire industry.
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You don't need to pay anything to get unlimited international data. The only negative is that it's capped at 128 kbps, and I think there's an option to bump it up to 256 kbps if it's not standard now. I recently spent a month in Taiwan and having that was indispensable, despite the speed.
 
Loving my T-mobile service. I have had tethering at full speed since day one without paying either. I am not sure how that happened but it just always worked on my 6S Plus.
 
The $100 price for the 1st 2 phones is tempting.
I'm currently paying $100 for 3 phone ($103 with tax/fees), with unlimited voice and messaging, and 2Gb data on each line.

Since we are on WiFi most the time (home & work) we rarely go over 1GB, so we don't really need the unlimited data.
(T-Mobile defines the top 3% of data users as over 28GB/month and these users have reduced speeds if traffic is congested)

Maybe I should test how fast the 4G speed is. I could get a 4th phone, connect it through my router and replace my cable internet for only $20/month :)
 
I have TMO and it's a good deal for the price. Service is good in the major metro areas, but if you venture into the sticks watch out.

We usually go for a friends/family vacation to the Guadalupe river area every year (an hour south of Austin, TX). Coverage works until you get into the hilly area then forget it. Only people in my group that had service had AT&T or Verizon. TMO, Sprint, some people were on MetroPCS (same as TMO) or Cricket (Sprint?) and some others like Free Talk etc etc. Nada, not even a roaming option.
 
Burticus said:
I have TMO and it's a good deal for the price. Service is good in the major metro areas, but if you venture into the sticks watch out.

We usually go for a friends/family vacation to the Guadalupe river area every year (an hour south of Austin, TX). Coverage works until you get into the hilly area then forget it. Only people in my group that had service had AT&T or Verizon. TMO, Sprint, some people were on MetroPCS (same as TMO) or Cricket (Sprint?) and some others like Free Talk etc etc. Nada, not even a roaming option.
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Cricket is AT&T
 
Cyraxx said:
So what happens when 5G comes around, and from the publicity it's gotten so far - it sounds like it will be faster than a lot of people's home connection....

It's sounding like land lines may not be the best means?
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Doesn't matter how fast 5g is, if you can't get a signal worth a damn. With 4g on both verizon and at&t, sure I can get 50mbps down... then take a whole 2 steps across the living room and its down to 5mbps, walk into another room one might get 60 down and the other gets 10, and so on. The upload speeds are utter garbage, half the time it seems like there's a bunch of packetloss when uploading anything more than an email. Even better is that with both networks I've seen plenty of instances where someone walking around in the vicinity affects performance. Even if I could get 500mbps, there's not a chance in hell I'd give up my landline at home due to the service being so awful. I had a sprint phone last year for a while as well(having so many cellphones is due to work, and no I'm not a drug dealer) and their network performed even worse. I'd get 80mbps down 5mbps up on the freeway, at home I'd be lucky to get 2mbps down, but at least that was consistent because at work... the connection would just drop altogether every couple of minutes. It's not like I'm out in the sticks either, this is the SF bay area and not surrounded by skyscrapers.

So yeah, I don't care how fast 5g, 6g, or 15g, is. If it's an unreliable connection, it's crap.
 
Chance_P said:
Also, taxes and fees are included in t-mobiles prices. For $80 with Verizon, you need auto pay, and your bill will still be closer to $90 after fees.

If I didn't have a grandfathered UNLIMITED unlimited plan with verizon, I would probably switch to t-mobile.

I think tmobile needs to remove throttling completely to stay competitive.
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With 5G rolling out and EVERYTHING using the internet, removing throttling is logical and even essential at this point i'd say.
 
NickJames said:
Depends, there are areas on Miami and Orlando where I would get 25-50mbps+. Lately in Miami my average seems to be around 5-10 due to congestion it seems.
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I get ~8-20Mbps in Miami on average... depends on where I am
 
Merc1138 said:
Doesn't matter how fast 5g is, if you can't get a signal worth a damn. With 4g on both verizon and at&t, sure I can get 50mbps down... then take a whole 2 steps across the living room and its down to 5mbps, walk into another room one might get 60 down and the other gets 10, and so on. The upload speeds are utter garbage, half the time it seems like there's a bunch of packetloss when uploading anything more than an email. Even better is that with both networks I've seen plenty of instances where someone walking around in the vicinity affects performance. Even if I could get 500mbps, there's not a chance in hell I'd give up my landline at home due to the service being so awful. I had a sprint phone last year for a while as well(having so many cellphones is due to work, and no I'm not a drug dealer) and their network performed even worse. I'd get 80mbps down 5mbps up on the freeway, at home I'd be lucky to get 2mbps down, but at least that was consistent because at work... the connection would just drop altogether every couple of minutes. It's not like I'm out in the sticks either, this is the SF bay area and not surrounded by skyscrapers.

So yeah, I don't care how fast 5g, 6g, or 15g, is. If it's an unreliable connection, it's crap.
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I don't know if verizon or at&t offers this, but t-mobile offers a free LTE signal booster (A real signal repeater/booster, not one of those internet-based ones).

They are specifically designed for situations like yours, where you get great signal near a window and crap everywhere else. You just put one part in the window, and the other part in the middle of the house, and plug both into an outlet. As long as you aren't living in the old Faraday mansion, it should fix the problem.
 
still not paying $70 month to use a phone, i dont give a shit what it does.
 
sir-gold said:
I don't know if verizon or at&t offers this, but t-mobile offers a free LTE signal booster (A real signal repeater/booster, not one of those internet-based ones).

They are specifically designed for situations like yours, where you get great signal near a window and crap everywhere else. You just put one part in the window, and the other part in the middle of the house, and plug both into an outlet. As long as you aren't living in the old Faraday mansion, it should fix the problem.
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I know they exist(the sprint internet based home units are horrible), the problem is that they aren't portable. Simply having crap reception at home is a reason I'd never consider replacing a landline with a cellular connection unless a massive change happens in network coverage. Outside of the home you've got the problem of signal everywhere else.

If I could at least get a consistent 10mbps down, and 2 up between San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco, that'd be an amazing start.
 
NIVO said:
still not paying $70 month to use a phone, i dont give a shit what it does.
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Same here. The only way I would is if it could pull double-duty and replace my home internet as well. Then it would be worth it.
 
agree 100% htpc_user, my exact thoughts. Give us a service that does this at $70/month unlimited and i'll bite. Guess its time to keep dreaming, DOH!
 
Domingo said:
I'm watching all of this very carefully. I have no desire to swap to a slower service (I'm on AT&T's old unlimited plan) but T*Mobile's structure is pretty compelling. I also love the unlimited international data option for only $25 sans contract. With AT&T it's an additional $20 for only like 100MB.

Hopefully all of this benefits the entire industry.
Click to expand...

I'm also on a legacy unlimited plan with AT&T. This is making me seriously considering switching. What used to be $120/month for 2 lines is going to creep up close to $170 this year. First big jump was $30/month for changing how corporate discounts were applied. Then $5/line increase last year to unlimited followed up with another $5/line increase this year.

I only stayed because AT&T was still offering subsidized phones with a contract. No reason to stay if they are going to try to rake me over the coals and pay full price for a phone next time.
 
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