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What's the difference between throttling and network prioritization?
Providers can throttle or prioritize data. Here's how each affects you
No one likes it when their iPhone or Android phone data slows down. Provider decisions typically cause this. It's usually because some part of your plan or activity triggers a response that slows down your data speeds. That means downloads take longer, websites don't load as well, and some apps or online games may become unplayable. That's not great, and it can happen in any unlimited plan, regardless of how promising the language is.
Here's why Android manufacturers throttle phone perfromance
App throttling exists, and it could be affecting your performance. Here's why it happens
As consumers, we get a bad taste in our mouths when we hear something is "throttled." That usually means telecom companies are throttling our data and ruining our online experience. It also means that not-so-unlimited data plans get throttled when you go beyond a certain amount of data in a month. Throttling practices like these are widely denounced as unfair and annoying.
We all have dozens upon dozens of apps installed on our phones, but how much do you think about all the effort that goes into making sure that they work (most of them, anyway) as well as they do? Developers have to test their software across all sorts of conditions, trying to anticipate what a user might run into. That includes dealing with limited internet connectivity, as an app needs to behave properly whether the connection is fast or slow. So far Android developers haven't had a great way to test that sort of thing, but Android 13 looks like it's working to fix it.
Samsung admits to shareholders what the world already knew: its chips are behind the curve
Qualcomm could take its business elsewhere
Samsung's recent problems haven't been isolated to throttled phone and device performance in some models and getting delisted from Geekbench. At a shareholder meeting held on March 16, the company acknowledged Game Optimization Service (GOS) performance issues and addressed issues it has been experiencing with sub-5nm process foundry yield rates.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 also caught throttling games, leading to Geekbench delisting
It's not just Samsung phones that were affected
Two weeks ago, Samsung was caught throttling performance for some apps and games on its phones, including the brand-new Galaxy S22 series, and going back as far as the Galaxy S10. As a result of that action, the phones were delisted from the library of devices on Geekbench, seemingly permanently according to the company's current policies. Amid the threat of a class-action suit, Samsung has started rolling out an update that changes this behavior, but Android Police has confirmed that the company's latest Galaxy Tab S8 generation of tablets is also affected.
Cricket Wireless ends 8Mbps speed cap, opens 5G access for all plans
Yes, you can burn through your 2GB this month with a speedy new phone
Plenty of Cricket Wireless subscribers are getting a speed boost starting today. Furthermore, more customers on the AT&T-owned prepaid carrier will be able to take advantage of even faster speeds... if they only just buy a new phone.
OnePlus plans to add an option in OxygenOS 12 to disable throttling
The OnePlus 9R and OnePlus Nord 2 may also be affected by throttling
Some of you may remember as far back as two weeks ago when OnePlus was caught throttling the performance of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro based on the app that was currently running, altering performance pretty drastically. One benchmarking application even considered the practice "benchmark manipulation." But OnePlus tells us it's heard the complaints, and it plans to address them with a new option in an upcoming OxygenOS 12 update, letting customers choose whether to enable or disable this "optimized mode."
AT&T juices up its most expensive wireless plan with one key advantage over T-Mobile
Would you rather stream HD Netflix versus UHD HBO Max?
AT&T is going to bat for its high-flying, high-paying customers by boosting several amenities in its Unlimited Elite service plan and International Day Pass for data needs while traveling. These upgrades bring the carrier into line with what T-Mobile offers for its top-tier subscribers.
OnePlus defends its app-throttling on the 9 Pro, Snapdragon 888 'overkill in certain scenarios'
Company claims it tests the changes to make sure the user experience isn't affected
Following the news that OnePlus was throttling the performance of 9-Series phones, the company has taken to its forum with a more detailed response, explaining in greater detail the logic behind its actions. In short, OnePlus claims that modern chipsets are "overkill," and there's no need to run at full power for simple tasks like scrolling on a webpage or social media. So, the company throttles performance to improve power consumption and heat dissipation under the argument that it extensively tests these changes for negative effects.
OnePlus confirms it throttled the performance of 300 popular apps
The fallout continues from yesterday's shocking revelations
Read update
OnePlus always used flagship specs in its devices, even when its phones were undercutting the competition's price. The days of "flagship killers" are long gone, but the company still chooses high-end processors each year. In theory, that should make the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro some of the fastest phones you can buy today — indeed, our reviews say basically the same thing — but it turns out that many applications are being held back from reaching peak performance.A new report from Anandtech dives deep into determining whether or not the OnePlus 9 Pro's benchmarks match real-world usage, and unfortunately, the answer seems to be a hard no. While OxygenOS allows benchmarking apps to reach full performance using its Snapdragon 888, OnePlus has included a blacklist of popular apps from the Play Store, all of which are prevented from taking full advantage of the phone's power. The report speculates it's an attempt to deliver improved battery life — a failure, if our review is anything to go by.
T-Mobile's newest, most expensive plan doesn't throttle, gives Netflix to single lines for the first time
Whether you upgrade to the new Magenta or Magenta MAX plans, you may end up paying more
T-Mobile is debuting a new wireless service plan on Wednesday called Magenta MAX with no network throttling thresholds and room to upgrade the already-provided free Netflix plan from the basic tier to standard on family accounts. With the new plan comes upgrades for an older plan as well as switcher offers for AT&T and Verizon customers.
There's a reason we here at AP have a dedicated Verizon hero with devilish features grafted on: the company consistently makes changes that are unfair to its customers. After limiting video quality to 480p and 720p depending on the tier of unlimited plan back in August, Verizon has now brought full-quality streams back - for an extra $10 per month.
Data throttling has been standard practice by carriers for years. At first it mostly applied to customers going over their data limits, but recently carriers have begun throttling certain content (like streaming services) for everyone by default, especially in the face of a less strict FCC. Project Fi has been experimenting with an opt-in (not default) throttling feature, which ended up disabling the SIM cards of some customers.
Verizon ruffled some feathers last month when it was caught throttling Netflix on its LTE network. At the time the carrier said it was merely testing video optimization technology, and now we know why. Verizon has done away with its standard unlimited data plan, replacing it with three tiers of unlimited data. All of them include video throttling—in fact, you can't get 1080p video on phones on any of them.
Netflix launched a speed test tool a while back in part because ISPs have been caught in the past doing shady things with Netflix traffic. The fast.com speed testing tool this week revealed Verizon has started throttling Netflix, and users report YouTube is also affected. So, what gives? Verizon says it's just testing some "video optimization" technology, whatever that means.
Chrome on Android already heavily throttles (or outright kills) background tabs, but Chrome on the desktop has mostly allowed inactive tabs to do whatever they want. Unfortunately, having several tabs open using performance-intensive JavaScript code, like timers, can cause Chrome performance and battery life (if you're on a laptop or other portable device) to suffer.
It has traditionally been impossible to get an unlimited data plan on prepaid service, but AT&T has just rolled out that very thing. GoPhone customers who want to use a lot of data can do so for a mere $60 per month. If that sounds like a good deal, get ready for the catch. This is basically the throttled Choice "unlimited" plan AT&T offers as a budget option for post-paid lines.
Cricket giveth and Cricket taketh away. It was only a month away that it increased data allotments on its plans, and now the wireless MVNO is following in the footsteps of the bigger networks with a few announcements, which in this case, might be a little to the detriment of its customers.
Sprint has been trying to stop the slow bleed of customers moving to other carriers with some attractive deals, including an "unlimited" plan aimed squarely at T-Mobile. Now, Sprint has an "unlimited" tablet plan. I'm using quotation marks here because calling them unlimited doesn't get the point across. The new plan has unlimited data, but the speeds are throttled. But hey, it's only $20 per month.
T-Mobile made a big change to its plans yesterday by getting rid of all of them except for T-Mobile One, which offers unlimited data. There are a number of big drawbacks to that plan, but Sprint likes the sound of those drawbacks, so it has followed suit with a plan called Unlimited Freedom. It's a lot like One, but a few bucks cheaper with a slightly different set of restrictions.