Reply With QuoteI don't understand why they don't throttle to max EDGE speed, so that the connection would remain somewhat useable. If the intent is unlimited data with limited full speed data, it should remain useable after throttling.
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My screen is bigger than yours
I've seen different claims made here on HF, that gave different information on what speeds a person would get, once they were throttled on T-Mobile's network. Some said that you would get EDGE speeds, while others said that you would get GPRS speeds. The fact is that T-Mobile says that you will receive 2G speeds once you're throttled. One has to remember though, that both GPRS and EDGE are classified as 2G, so what speeds would one really get?
I decided to contribute and show what the throttled speeds will be. Therefore, I spent the entire month of April without using any Wi-Fi on my phone and purposely used as much data as I could, and even so it wasn't until today that I actually got throttled.
Anyway, I created a list of questions that may have been asked in regards to this.
1) What kind of speeds can a person expect, once they get throttled on T-Mobile.
Answer: As you can see in the screenshots that I posted below, these speeds resemble those of a GPRS a connection. The download artificially maxes out at about 60kbps and the upload has been anywhere between 6 to 20kbps. The latency is kind of interesting, because it's normal, which only proves the point that the speeds are being artificially reduced.
2) Why would you do this? Won't your internet be that slow until your next payment?
Answer: Yes,but given the fact that my account renews tomorrow, it won't be a problem at all. I also have Wi-Fi readily available when I need to.
3) Does switching to EDGE on your phone make the speeds better?
Answer: No. As you can seen in the screenshot of a test that I made while being connected to the EDGE network, the speeds are just as bad. Obviously, T-Mobile wants to discourage you from abusing their network as much as they can, to the point where they even throttle you on EDGE.
That latency is typical of an EDGE connection.
4) What kinds of speeds to your normally get?
Answer: Anywhere between 3 megabits to 7 megabits for download and 2 megabits to 3 megabits for upload.
5) Are you in a 4G area?
Answer: Indeed I am. NYC is an HSPA+42 area, so I'm getting some good speeds, though my phone (being a 14mbps) device, can't take full advantage of the network. Nonetheless, my normal (pre-throttle) speeds are pretty damn good most of the time.
6) So, if the upload is slowed down, does that mean that if I send any MMS messages they will take longer than usual to send?
Answer: Correct, since both the download and upload speeds are reduced, MMS messages will take way longer than usual to send.
7) So, how is the overall usability now that the speeds are so slow?
Answer: Well, to give you an idea, it's quite a pain. TuneIn Radio is buffering a lot and YouTube is like that Italian guy from NYC saying "Forget about it!"
8) Does T-Mobile notify you when you're close to reaching your data cap?
Answer: They sure do. When I reached 4 GB, I got a text from them saying "You have used 4.0 of the 5 GB included in your plan at up to 4G speeds (if on a capable device). Dial #WEB# to check your balance any time."
And then when I reached 5 GB "You have used 5 GB of data this month at up to 4G speeds (if on a capable device). You will now receive unlimited web at basic 2G speed.
That's all, thank you all for reading and if you have any more questions fell free to ask.
<<Achieved on "America's Most Affordable 4G Network!"
Radiation is good
I don't understand why they don't throttle to max EDGE speed, so that the connection would remain somewhat useable. If the intent is unlimited data with limited full speed data, it should remain useable after throttling.
My screen is bigger than yours
My guess is that they do so to discourage heavy data users.Originally Posted by tmotk
Imagine a situation where you're in a 2G (EDGE) area, and this one guy decided to turn his phone into a home internet connection. So, even though he was throttled, he still continues to abuse the network, causing everyone else to get bad speeds.
If he gets throttled on EDGE though, his speed will be almost unusable, which would discourage him from abusing the network.
This is just a guess though.
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Post Machine
This is about same as what I got during experiment.
Unfortunately, EDGE is also throttled to 60kbps. The speed is not usable after throttling.
I have a blue tooth
Thanks for posting the detailed information. That sucks that they slow you down so much.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
Very good post!
Phone Expert
I've noticed that the connection times out quite often, too
My screen is bigger than yours
Not really timing out for me, but sometimes the speeds drop significantly and it's completely random (can happen at any time during the day), even if there is little to no network congestion.
And then 20 minutes later, the speeds go back to normal.
I thought that it was some sort of a throttle, but I haven't gone over the limit then.
I had this happen again once and asked a buddy of mine to run a speed test on his phone and he got the same speeds. He had the same phone model that I did.
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I've climbed a cellphone tower
Interesting. That's pretty reasonable for the 5gb throttle. If you're using more than 5gb, that can be viewed as pretty abusive (at least in 2012).
But I'm imagining that's the same throttle that's applied to the regular $30 1500 min plan after the first 50mb, and that's just awful!
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My screen is bigger than yours
Yeah, I would assume so, because when T-Mobile offered the daily Web Pass, I would get the same speeds when throttled, so the throttle speed is almost certainly the same for all plans.
As for the abusive part, I agree. I never come close to 5 GB a month, unless I would do it on purpose.
However, I've seen folks in the Verizon forum do 30 GB a month. I can't even imagine what one must do on a phone to use that much data, unless they use the hotspot option a lot.
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I've climbed a cellphone tower
android bittorrent clints
Radiation is good
They using their cell phone internet as home internet.
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Radiation is good
It's not even the raw speed that is the worst thing, it's the fact that connections timeout while loading. I hit my cap for the same reason, to see what happened. Pieces of Android Market would no longer load randomly, parts of web pages randomly timed out, the whole thing was way too slow.
I put my SIM in my BlackBerry to see if their compression/optimization for slow networks would help out...it did for basic messaging but web was still slow, and thanks to perpetual timeouts, even BBM was unreliable and I occasionally had to re-send a message.
T-Mobile calling their plans "unlimited" is literally the biggest scam ever. That's like saying your car has "unlimited miles*"
* after car is out of gas, you can only drive forward by using the starter motor.
As for use/abuse, one does not have to try hard to go over a 5GB cap. I listen to streaming Internet radio and I can easily peak usage. On Verizon LTE I regularly use around 20-25GB a month, a majority of which is streaming media, Skype calls, etc.
I'm sure some will say, "well you don't have to stream your music," which is very true, but it's bloody 2012. I've been streaming music since Class 6 EDGE on Cingular 7 years ago. (Motorola v551+Dell Axim x50 via Bluetooth. I looked like I stole Batman's utility belt) Why should we suddenly no longer be able to do what we were once able to do? That's bad marketing and horrible network planning.
EDGE at minimum would be acceptable (personally) - it is still fast enough to LOAD A WEB PAGE. Also they should be required to indicate in some fashion that your speed is reduced, drop you to GPRS so you see the [G] - saying "4G" in the corner of the screen and running slow is also dishonest.
GPRS speeds with connection timeouts like a 3-year old configured their traffic shaper?...that's just Evil, and probably what will make me pull the plug on T-mo in a few months here if I slam into their throttle wall a few more times.
/rant - sorry, this has bugged me for a while but I haven't had time to do further investigation and start lodging complaints with various government bodies (for whatever good that won't do.)
I've climbed a cellphone tower
it is unlimited!! fast then slow but it never stops. like telling you that you can drive your car 100mph then 20mph, but they never tell you to stop.
Radiation is good
I wish the FCC would establish a minimum speed that has to be offered after throttle. To suck customers in with unlimited usage to only throttle them to a point they cant use it is unfair.
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