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Jan

T-Mobile Bringing Unlimited 4G Data Plan To Prepaid Starting January 9th

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News, T-Mobile

In this age of tiered data plans, an unlimited option is increasingly hard to come by. Well, little T-Mobile is looking to attract more customers by offering just that – an new unlimited data plan. The carrier already offers an unlimited option on its contract plans, but now that tier is being extended to its popular Monthly4G prepaid service.

The offering will come in at $70 per-month and replace the current $70 Unlimited talk/text and 5GB data plan. That's a pretty killer deal for anyone already paying for a 5GB soft-cap. This unlimited plan will allow users to pull down as many bytes as they like at full HSPA+ speeds.

Mar

AT&T Clarifies Its Policy On Data Throttling, Allows 5GB Of Unaltered Data Flow For LTE Users, 3GB For Non-LTE

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, News

The war on data throttling has been raging on for what seems like forever, with many users left furious that their carrier would slow data speeds to a crawl after X amount of gigabytes (usually two). While most carriers draw a clear line as to when throttling will occur, AT&T has taken a rather shady approach with its unlimited customers in the past, simply stating that "the top five percent of users" will be throttled. The problem is, most users want to know their exact data limit, so this ambiguous barrier just hasn't been good enough.

Today, however, AT&T announced a change to its policy that finally gives a real 'data cap', leaving users with no doubt as to when throttling will begin.

Feb

[Video] Fox News Discovers That AT&T Unlimited Data Isn't Really Unlimited, Compares It To Being Addicted To Crack

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, News, Videos

What happens when AT&T sends Fox News' Shep Smith a text message letting him know that he's in the top 5% of data users and will be throttled? A hilarious rant about AT&T ensues, complete with comparison to crack cocaine. Check it out:

They hook you first - it's like giving you crack. It's all-you-can-eat crack, until, until, until you like a lot of crack and then you gotta pay them.

He's clearly so bothered by AT&T's decision to throttle that he won't even let Lance Ulanoff from Mashable get a word in.

As if Ma Bell needed any more bad press.

Sep

Sprint Delays Data-Throttling On Virgin Mobile Until 'Sometime In 2012'

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Virgin Mobile

Back in July, Sprint announced plans to begin throttling speeds for customers who use more than 2.5GB of data in a month on its pre-paid subsidiary, Virgin Mobile. Naturally, this announcement did not sit well with Virgin customers, despite Sprint's claim that the change would only affect "3% of all data users."

However, the Now Network has decided to delay this throttling plan until sometime in 2012 to "ensure [they] have all the necessary systems in place so that [their] customer experience will remain positive."

There's no word as to exactly when this changeover will take place, but the company "will provide further information on timing beforehand so [their] customers have advance notification."

So, Virgin customers, breathe a sigh of relief, because it looks like you'll be able to bathe in unlimited data for a while longer.

Sep

Verizon Wireless To Begin 'Network Optimization' In September, Will Slow Data Speeds For Top 5% Of Users In 'Congested Areas' After 2GB

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Verizon Wireless

Ah, the data saga continues. Throttling has been a long-time practice of T-Mobile, which drastically slows data speeds for users who go over their set-amount of high-speed access. AT&T recently announced a similar practice, slowing the top 5% of users who were grandfathered in on unlimited data plans.

Verizon also made a drastic change to its smartphone data packages recently, switching from an unlimited-only offering to a tiered setup. Now, even furthering the changes to its data structuring, Big Red will begin implementing "network optimizations" to all existing customers with unlimited plans on 3G devices in September.

What exactly does "network optimizations" mean, you ask?

Jul

Sprint To Start Throttling Virgin Mobile Smartphone Data - A Sign Of Things To Come?

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Sprint, Virgin Mobile

In what can only be described as a real sphincter-clencher for Sprint customers, the nation's last true unlimited smartphone data provider has made a move that may signal the eventual end of that philosophy.

Yesterday, Sprint announced that customers on its Virgin-branded pre-paid arm, Virgin Mobile, will now be subjected to data throttling after 2.5GB of usage in a month. Sprint claims this will only affect 3% of all Virgin mobile data subscribers. The throttling will limit data hogs to a paltry 256Kbits/s once they've capped out at the 2.5GB mark in a single month - which is actually a little better than what T-Mobile does (dropping people to EDGE speeds).

Apr

T-Mobile Launching Even More Plus Unlimited Plan For Just $59.99 A Month

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Carriers, Deals, News, T-Mobile, Tips & Tutorials

T-Mobile is starting to get aggressive with customer acquisition and retention, and in light of less than stellar fiscal performance and the news of the AT&T deal, it's not hard to see why.

On April 13, the carrier will begin offering a new off-contract smartphone plan, and it's a steal - for $59.99 a month (down from $79.99), you'll get unlimited talk, text and data*. But, there are some significant catches. The first is that you'll have to pay full retail for your phone of choice - the Even More Plus plan is a month-to-month affair.

The second is arguably worse - your data usage is technically unlimited, but after the first 2GB (as opposed to the current 5GB) your data speeds will be throttled down until the next billing cycle.

Dec

How To Evade Your Carrier's Data Throttling On Your Android Device

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Carriers, Development, News

It almost seems like more worthwhile news comes from XDA-Developers forum members than from carriers and manufacturers, doesn't it? This time around, it's user sino8r with a handy guide on how to modify the ROM on your rooted phone so that your carrier doesn't throttle your data. In other words, this one isn't for the inexperienced or faint of heart.

What exactly do we mean when we say this isn't for the rookies? Well, you'll need to have the Android SDK installed with ADB support, the related drivers, and smali. Assuming you've got all those prerequisites lined up, you need to crack open your ROM and commence grabbing, editing, and replacing numerous files - and that's just part of it.