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Aug

10

2010

T-Mobile sued for throttling data speeds on their “unlimited” plan

100

by Tyler Cunningham
tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Another day, another lawsuit for a mobile provider.  T-Mobile is being sued by Trent Alvarez, who after entering into an agreement with the provider was told he exceeded a 10GB data allotment on his “unlimited” data plan.  The suit, being tried inYolo County, California, claims that T-Mobile’s advertisment of “Unlimited Web & Email” is misleading to consumers and falsely represents the data plan.  This draws comparisons to a 2007 suit against Verizon in which the judge awarded the plaintiffs $1 million dollars after claiming they were mislead by Verizon’s “unlimited” data offering.  While T-Mobile’s contract expressly states that they reserve the right to throttle data speeds, the argument will be made that users rarely read the fine print and that T-Mobile needs to advertise this policy more openly.

T-Mobile may fight back by arguing that exceeding 10GB is excessive, and may try to find instances of wrong doing in the plaintiff’s data history.  Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the judge rules in this case and the impact it may have on similar suits in the future.   T-Mobile currently offers a variety of Android phones, including the myTouch and the new Samsung Vibrant, and their increasing popularity may cause T-Mobile to rethink their current data plan all together.

[via TmoNews]

» See more articles by Tyler Cunningham

Categorized as Android Carriers, Android Phones

Comments

  • Eric

    What a silly cashgrab lawsuit.

    First, T-mobile’s contract makes it very clear that they can throttle you.

    Second, they are *only* throttling you, not cutting you off(or charging you more).. so your data plan remains unlimited.

    I think Mr. Alverez should invest in a proper internet connection(I assume he’s using his phone’s 3g as his primary internet connection at home).

  • http://www.Twitter.com/QDOG8 QDOG8

    I bet T-Mobile is gunna find out that the guy was tethering illegally and win the case.

  • http://blog.tenkely.net Tenkely

    I agree with Eric

  • Joe

    I think Mr. Alverez is both illegally tethering AND cash grabbing!!!

  • Michael

    First, everyone should be so lucky to have a 10gb cap and to only be throttled instead of cut off or charged.

    Second, I can’t speak for this guy, but I was made aware multiple times before I soo signed up for the same plan that it would be throttled after 10gb.

    Also, what is this idiot doing with all that data anyway?

  • asmirm

    Finally someone is challenging this. T-Mobile or any other corporation have no rights to change definitions of any words. Definition of the work unlimited is “having no limits in range or scope”. It is an oxymoron to say that something is unlimited and put restrictions on it at the same time.
    In this case T-Mobile and many other providers are using the word “unlimited” to attract customers. That is just wrong.

  • ari-free

    Data usage will increase dramatically once everyone has Flash. Everyone will be streaming movies and playing games and just using more of the web since most of the popular sites will now be completely usable.

  • Guy

    Wow most of the responses are in favor of false advertising and price fixing by monopolies? I hope you realize your blind support for these practices are only going to kill innovation.

    Also some people don’t have to hack their phone to get tethering, they just have to buy google phones.

    It is absurd they promise more then they can supply then when you actually use what you paid for they punish you. It sounds like they simply are just promising more then they can afford.

  • Anthony

    All the defenders of T-Mobile, here, are absolutely NUTS!! They advertise unlimited BROADBAND!! They even tout 4G speeds, so, at least a low-end 3G speed is to be expected, even at the lowest of the low of the possible 3G speeds!! Nowhere do they state that the
    speeds will be crippled well-below 3G to EVEN lower than some dial-up speeds or
    worse!! HELLO!? And, they measure those 5GB’s very
    loosely!! It’s hard to know if you’re being overcharged
    and//or over tallied, etc. For instance, please,
    go to Netflix and watch an average streamed
    movie, and you will see 1GB or more disappear
    from your monthly quota, etc. Do your
    homework before becoming a shill
    for the likes of these internet
    providing thieves!!

  • Anthony

    Who is the pro-T-Mobile jerk who removed my last message!? Cunningham, why are you censoring these
    comments to your posting!? Pretty weak of you to do!!
    Show some class and re-post my meaty response
    and don’t remove this one either!! Show some
    class, dude!!

  • Anthony

    Okay, I see both posts are currently back up, we’ll see if that lasts!! Thanks, for now!!

  • Dustin Karnes

    @Anthony: We never “took down” or “censored” your posts. All new comments have to be manually approved by one of our editors before they go up. We simply check them for profanity or spam. We’re not in the business of censoring anyone, we love to hear what the public has to say. :)

  • Anthony

    Okay, thanks for the clarification, Dustin. I was a bit too hastily cynical, there, about possible censorship on this site. It’s just so shocking to see so many seeming shills for
    such clearly messed-up policies regarding broadband data usage. So I was a little
    too quick to assume the worst on the censorship possibilities, thinking that the deck might have been artificially stacked via deletion of some posts. It’s good to know that’s not the case, here. :o )

  • http://WWW.GOGETTA.COM MIKE JONES

    T-MOBILE is a thief in the night they’ll rob you blind if they have to. Unlimited is unlimited !!!!STOP LYING TO THE PEOPLE…

  • P B

    I just got throttled for the first time and it wasn’t for using 10 GB in a month it was for using 5 GB which is their new cutoff point. Absolutely ridiculous and the worst thing about it is how slow TMobile has now made my data download. It was previously downloading at 2 MB/second and after being throttled it is now downloading at 0.06 MB/second. A slowdown of 3,333%. To me, that is just ridiculous. If you want to throttle me that’s fine, but not by slowing my speeds down by such an astronomical number that won’t even let you listen to Pandora.

  • Ali

    F**KKKKKKKKKK T-mobile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • bam

    I agree with PB. I normally like T-mobile, but “unlimited” is clearly false advertising when they throttle you at 5GB and the speeds they are providing after basically shut you down. I tether for work (came with G2) and at this speed it is useless. I’m too lazy to sue, but they are asking for it.

  • Johnny X

    how do i sign up for the lawsuit? this is total bull. i pay for unlimited, not throttled if i use too much… saw a great analogy someone else wrote elsewhere it’s like signing up at a hot dog shop for unlimited hotdogs for a month, but after the first two days of eating 20 hotdogs a day, they say “no unlimited really means you can only have one hot dog a day cause you are eating too many”… i was NOT informed that i would be throttled until i got the text message this morning saying so… been a t-mobile customer for nearly a decade now and this makes me want to switch to sprint… too bad i have to wait till june 2012… i am a super unhappy & mislead customer.

  • AbsintheGreenHeart

    I agree 100% with Anthony and if there’s a class action lawsuit that goes with this, I want to sign up too. It’s false advertisement with fine print saying they take back what they can’t even provide properly…corporate lies. The 1% figure is old now and the policy has not been changed, this is wrong.

  • johhny boy

    I honestly think if he was tethering illigally, w/e… they STILL throttle an UNLIMITED plan. the definition of unlimited is: –adjective
    1.
    not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.
    2.
    boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.
    3.
    without any qualification or exception; unconditional.

    THUS: throttling a “unlimited” plan totaly voids the meaning of UNLIMITED… it means unlimited use till 5GB then you get .05MBPS… awesome f*ck up tmobile. i WANNA JOIN AS WELL… can u tell im mad… alot of … used

  • johhny boy

    Also…. now being bought out by AT&T will this cause a change in their lawsuit, rendering the lawsuit useless because by the time anything happens they wont be a company anymore? f*ck large companies getting away with shit and being bought out for 36 BILLION or going “bankrupt” (GM) *caugh* its horse shit how they get caught f*cking over consumers then push the easy out button.

  • Limin

    This lawsuit is bulls***! This person spends a ton of cash to lawyers that isn’t going anywhere. Yes. T-mobile throttle their barely 3g service. It is in the contract that they do that. If he has all these money to sue, he should go to Verizon Wireless and get true unlimited bandwidth for 40 dollars each month.

  • commonsense

    It’s in the contract you sign with Tmobile for unlimited data. Unlimited data yes, but not at the same speed for an unlimited amount of data per billing period.
    If people are looking for unlimited amounts of data at a high speed per month (for video, audio, tethering, phone hot spots, etc) then there are plenty of other options outside of a mobile contract — and for less money! For ie. lots of free wifi locations if you won’t already have one at home.
    It sounds a lot like the common complaint of those who want something for next to nothing.. and complain when they can’t get it.
    All the mobile carriers cap the ‘unlimited’ amount of data speed per month at various levels.. and it’s reasonable to do so not only from a business perspective but in terms of ensuring all customers have adequate bandwidth.
    Those that complain about this are more like those who camp out at McDonalds or Starbucks, order one coffee, and stay as long as they’re open to suck at the free wifi tit. Misuse and abuse, clear and simple.
    To those that claim unlimited means ‘absolutely unrestricted’, then the speeds received should also be those capable by the phone – but they are not. They’re governed or throttled at the network side.

  • Vowone

    @Commensense.You statemenet has no value. Let me sell you a Porche and tell you that you can have unlimited use of it And you can you use it at top speed without any problem. But if you put 50 miles or more on the car, the maximum speed will be reduced for the reminder of the month but caris still useable. If yourdriving the car at say 35 to 40 on average, but then when you hit the 50 mile mark the car only drives at 1 or 2 miles an hour after that, can you still use the car on streets??? Of course you cant.The reduction in speed makes the sport car useless.As with Tmobile, If your use to getting about 6 to 7 MB and the speed is reduce to .05 kbps it does render the phone useless for internet. I myslef paid alot of money for my current 4g and to not be able to use the internet makes the point of having a fast, new phone useless for what I need it for. How do you pay top money for a phone capable of many things but are not able to use it to its full potential??? Because of this reduciton in speed it pretty much makes the tethering and wifi useless. The faster the speed of a phone the more you can download in a month period. So why reduce the speed to where you cant do antything at all??

  • 1mc112

    OK, so you are complaining about being able to download at unlimited speed? I’m sorry, does the Unlimited Data plan state that it has unlimited bandwidth?

    If you drive your Porsche at 1 or 2 mph, you are still driving it. If your data speed gets cut to .5mbps, you are still getting data.

    UNLIMITED DATA AND UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH ARE TWO SEPARATE THINGS. THANKS FOR LOWERING OUR DATA CAP TO 2GB YOU F**KING JULIO.

  • Disappointed Again

    I am not a repeat offender. I’ve been a customer for over three years and this is the first time I had to rely on the high speeds as my family and I are mid-move and our internet wasn’t scheduled to get turned on until next week.

    I understand the CAP and even the need for one. However, when the sales rep was talking me into spending my money he never mentioned the cap. The sale was made over the phone, no contract was signed so there was no fine print to be combed through and its ridiculous to think that the average customer would read the fine print.

  • Brent Kamrath

    I have been a customer with T-Mobile now 12yrs. And i have an Unlimited with NO THROTTLING in any of my contract. SO I WANT TO ALSO SUE!!

  • commonsense247

    It’s the consumer’s fault if they don’t READ THE FINE PRINT. All contracts are available to be reviewed and read and can be cancelled with no penalty by either party within a certain period of time – for T-Mobile I think it’s 14 days.

  • Anthony

    Uhhhh, ‘CommonCorporateNonSense’, the “look at the fine print” is a phrase that is only seriously used by company-ass-kissing-shills for the thieves at these
    mobile broadband juggernauts!! Just f*cking, F*CK OFF,
    with that nonsense!! The plan is called UNLIMITED
    and it’s assumed it will always be AT LEAST
    the lower end of _*BROADBAND*_ speeds
    (even when it is throttled); THAT IS assumed by
    everyone except the con men and women shills at
    the thieving companies that you support!! And
    NO ONE in their right mind would expect the
    speeds to be throttled to such a speed as to
    replicate dial-up or even slower than dial-up
    (which they are, INDEED, *ARE*!! HELLO!?
    You piece of sh*t ASSH*LE SHILLS!! If their advertising stated that everyone will be throttled to dial-up or even slower than dial-up speeds where moving video of any kind will be impossible and average still pictures and text will take forever to fully load, etc., etc.–: If that were made clear from the get-go, they’d have only 1/3rd the sales that they create through their UTTERLY *FALSE* and *MISLEADING* advertising FRAUD AD CAMPAIGNS!! Period.

  • Anthony

    Uhhhh, ‘CommonCorporateNonSense’, the “look at the fine print” is a phrase that is only seriously used by company-ass-kissing-shills for the thieves at these
    mobile broadband juggernauts!! Just f*cking, F*CK OFF,
    with that nonsense!! The plan is called UNLIMITED
    and it’s assumed it will always be AT LEAST
    the lower end of _*BROADBAND*_ speeds
    (even when it is throttled); THAT IS assumed by
    everyone except the con men and women shills at
    the thieving companies that you support!! And
    NO ONE in their right mind would expect the
    speeds to be throttled to such a speed as to
    replicate dial-up or even slower than dial-up
    (which they are, INDEED, *ARE*!! HELLO!?
    You piece of sh*t ASSH*LE SHILLS!! If their advertising stated that everyone will be throttled to dial-up or even slower than dial-up speeds where moving video of any kind will be impossible and average still pictures and text will take forever to fully load, etc., etc.–: If that were made clear from the get-go, they’d have only 1/3rd the sales that they create through their UTTERLY *FALSE* and *MISLEADING* FRAUD AD CAMPAIGNS!! Period.

  • Anthony

    Uhhhh, ‘CommonCorporateNonSense’, the “look at the fine print” is a phrase that is only seriously used by company-ass-kissing-shills for the thieves at these
    mobile broadband juggernauts!!

    Just f*cking, F*CK OFF, with that nonsense!! The plan is called UNLIMITED and it’s assumed it will always be AT LEAST the lower end of _*BROADBAND*_ speeds
    (even when it is throttled); THAT IS assumed by
    everyone except the con men and women shills at
    the thieving companies that you support!! And
    NO ONE in their right mind would expect the
    speeds to be throttled to such a speed as to
    replicate dial-up or even slower than dial-up
    (which they, INDEED, *ARE*)….!! HELLO!?

    You piece of sh*t ASSH*LE SHILLS!! If their advertising stated that everyone will be throttled to dial-up or even slower than dial-up speeds where moving video of any kind will be impossible and average still pictures and text will take forever to fully load, etc., etc.–: If that were made clear from the get-go, they’d have only 1/3rd the sales that they create through their UTTERLY *FALSE* and *MISLEADING* FRAUD AD CAMPAIGNS!! Period.

  • Anthony

    “1mc112″ Are a Total Goober Boob Shill, Dude!! I’ll call YOU ‘M.C. BraindeadHammeredHead’!! The
    ‘Unlimited DATA’ is a falsehood!! What is ‘DATA’
    in this scenario!? It’s anything and everything available on the internet to view and hear and read, etc. And when your speeds are throttled to the point where even still pictures and text are not loading sufficiently and moving video is impossible to
    properly access, etc–: WELL, then, that means
    you are IN FACT–: NOT getting “Unlimited DATA”
    at all!! Dumb Ass!! Asshole Shills!! Sheesh!!

  • Anthony

    “1mc112″, *YOU*, Are a Total Goober Boob Shill, Dude!! I’ll call *YOU*–: ‘M.C. BraindeadHammeredHead’!!

    The ‘Unlimited DATA’ is a falsehood!! What is ‘DATA’
    in this scenario!? It’s anything and everything available on the internet to view and hear and read, etc. And when your speeds are throttled to the point where even still pictures and text are not loading sufficiently and moving video is IMPOSSIBLE to
    properly access, etc–: WELL, then, that means
    you are IN FACT–: NOT getting “Unlimited DATA”
    at all!! Dumb Ass!! Asshole Shills!! Sheesh!!

  • commonsense247

    @anthony – if you haven’t learned now to read contracts and fine print before or soon after you’ve agreed to something, you’re proving your ignorance, stupidity, and entitlement mentality. take some valium and calm down.

  • commonsense247

    Just an FYI…
    NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. said Friday that it’s going to start limiting speeds for the 5 percent of its customers with “unlimited” data smartphone plans who clog the airwaves the most.

    The measure will take effect Oct. 1, AT&T said, and is intended to alleviate congestion on the network.

    T-Mobile USA already throttles users who go over certain limits for data consumption.

    AT&T stopped signing up new customers for “unlimited” plans last year. Instead, it now lets heavy users pay extra when they go over a certain data allotment.

    Verizon Wireless also recently stopped signing up new customers for unlimited service.

    AT&T says it will warn users when they are approaching joining the top 5 percent, and anyone subject to the speed limits will experience them until the next billing cycle starts.

    The Dallas-based phone company says that what puts someone in the top 5 percent is usually streaming video or playing some online games.

    AT&T won’t count data use over Wi-Fi, just usage over the cellular network.

    ___

    Online:

    AT&T statement: http://bit.ly/r4JTVp

  • Anthony

    Have you ever read the fine print on a bottle of Valium, CommonCorporateNonSense Fella, YOU!! :o )

    Which leads me to My more serious point about the whole false advertising problem amongst mobile broadband providers who throttle their services–: Nowadays, pharmaceutical companies have to give that laundry list of scary side effects associated with medicines that are supposed to help you. And, of course, the side effects sound more terrifying than the ailments they are supposed to be treating.

    So, perhaps, if the same strict advertising requirements were used for these fraudulent mobile broadband companies, then there’d be no confusion at all about what to expect. Problem is, they WANT
    the consumers to be confused about what they’re getting!! And THAT is premeditated FRAUD!!

    So, they need to turn that terribly unclear and unrefined “fine print” into the same kind of UPFRONT and ALARMING and *REQUIRED* advertising disclaimer laundry lists of problems with their services, that drug companies have to do nowadays!! Have them state, upfront, for instance–: “When we say you’ll be “THROTTLED” we MEAN SEVERELY throttled, BABY!! SO SEVERELY THROTTLED, it could cause birth defects and blindness and the complete INABILITY to watch cute kittens getting caught in vases on YouTube like you used to do before you stupidly picked US as your
    severe-throttling-happy
    dial-up-speed-or-worse
    broadband provider!!”

    How’s THAT for a solution, CommonNonSense Guy!?

  • commonsense247

    @anthony, the sensationalistic, bombastic, emotional tirade guy…
    no, i haven’t read the fine print on a bottle of valium because I DON’T USE IT. i read and get informed about what i use, obviously a concept beyond your grasp.
    your wild animated reactionary responses indicate the need for a stronger prescription… two doses of propofol ought to do it. ;)

  • Anthony

    Okay, so that “Propofol” must be what YOU take to settle your feeble mind into the comfortable cocoon of corporate concocted “fine print” delusions you embrace so readily and stupidly!! You, of course, completely ignore the utter reality of My completely fair and factual contentions and proposals for remedying the
    situation at hand. The facts are–: T-Mobile and other
    similar companies have deliberately clouded their mobile contracts with falsehoods and half-truths. The only remedy is much stricter regulation of these juggernauts via mandated, advertised disclaimers about their very severe and crippling throttling practices.

    A consumer should NOT be obligated to sift through
    deliberately cloudy promises and lies to get to
    the reality-based facts and services which will
    actually be rendered. Period.

  • commonsense247

    @anthony, once again, i only read the fine print of what i use, so assuming i must take propofol is an irrational conclusion without logical merit.
    the factual and simple solution for the problem at hand is for you to use your eyes and brain and time to read and become informed about what you use. period. end of story. end of subject.
    ps – nice job, you actually toned down the lunatic rhetoric a notch.

  • Anthony

    I was a bit less intense that time, CommonNonSense Guy, because, after fully realizing you really ARE heavily medicated on “Propofol”, I, therefore, took pity upon you, and didn’t want to jolt you awake suddenly to where you might spring-up out of your medicated coma in a violent daze and pull-out your I.V. and catheter. I do have compassion, even for idiot corporate shills, such as yourself. Now get some rest, dear CommonNonSense Guy, as you’ve got a lot more delusions to form in that mucky mush of a brain tomorrow. And may God Bless your poor nurse, who I am sure gets the brunt of your spewed — pro-corporate “fine print” lies and deceits and cheats — speeches from your hospital bed. Period. Double Period..

  • commonsense247

    @ranthony those who don’t read contracts and agreements and live in the fantasy world of entitlement and abuse what they get so that it ruins the conditions and situation for everyone deserve the mental derangement and absolute irrationality of their gimme gimme ramblings, completely vacuous of any economic facts, sense, or functional feasibility.. knee jerking to the simplistic and ignorant label of corporate shill for anyone that opposes their freeloading nonsense.
    try working for a living. it will do you good.

  • Anthony

    Who is talking about or encouraging ‘freeloading’ here!? Dear God you’re a fool!! There is NO ‘Free’ being offered by any of these huge companies and no one expects them to offer that. And as far as the ‘LOADING’ part: Well, with the severe throttling they do, you won’t be getting much ‘loading’ at all either, whether you PAY for it or not, save for, (maybe, if you’re lucky) a few small thumbnail pictures and part of a page of text, after about 15 minutes of waiting!!

    HELLO!? Wake-Up You Corporate-Loving Fruit Loop!! The complaints are due to the the dumbly SEVERE throttling of what is supposed to be UNLIMITED BROADBAND SERVICE!!
    That’s what everyone assumes when they are pitched that crap over the phone by T-Mobile!! *Most* naturally assume that the throttling will only be minor, and maybe just make the BROADBAND speeds
    slow down a bit to the lower end of
    average BROADBAND speeds, but, NOT,
    to the bloody lower end of
    average DIAL-UP
    speeds from the
    1990′s!! HELLO!?,
    AGAIN!!, HELLO!?

    All T-Mobile has to do NOW, is compensate those they lied to, and let everyone they lied to out of their contracts, obviously, and, then, start telling the TRUTH in very explicitly understood terms!! (i.e.–: “You WILL be throttled severely–: Down to Dial-Up or worse speeds!! You will NOT be getting BROADBAND speeds after you reach your Cap!!”

    It’s really easy to work this out!! With HONESTY and Making Amends for their LIES!! HELLO!?

  • Anthony

    Who is talking about or encouraging ‘freeloading’ here!? Dear God you’re a fool!! There is NO ‘Free’ being offered by any of these huge companies and no one expects them to offer that. And as far as the ‘LOADING’ part: Well, with the severe throttling they do, you won’t be getting much ‘loading’ at all either, whether you PAY for it or not, save for, (maybe, if you’re lucky) a few small thumbnail pictures and part of a page of text, after about 15 minutes of waiting!!

    HELLO!? Wake-Up You Corporate-Loving Fruit Loop!! The complaints are due to the dumbly SEVERE throttling of what is SUPPOSED to be UNLIMITED BROADBAND SERVICE!!

    That’s what most logical and reasonable *thinking* people have assumed when they’ve been pitched that crap over the phone by T-Mobile!! *Most* naturally assumed that the throttling would only be minor, and, maybe just make the BROADBAND speeds slow down a bit to the lower end of average BROADBAND speeds, but, NOT,
    to the bloody lower end of
    average DIAL-UP
    speeds from the
    1990’s!! HELLO!?,
    AGAIN!!, HELLO!?

    ….All T-Mobile has to do NOW, is compensate those they lied to, and let everyone they lied to out of their contracts, obviously, and, then, start telling the TRUTH in very explicitly understood terms!! (i.e.–: “You WILL be throttled severely–: Down to Dial-Up or worse speeds!! You will NOT be getting BROADBAND speeds after you reach your Cap!!”).

    It’s really easy to work this out!! With HONESTY and Making Amends for their LIES!! HELLO!?

  • commonsense247

    @ranthony, ranthony… you’re clearly technologically incompetent and illiterate.
    bandwidth affects everyone and those who shadily use their ‘unlimited’ internet access for tethering or downloading movies are making the conditions ridiculous for the rest of the 98% who are not abusing the reasonable use.
    what does your contract say specifically? mine has always included the verbage that chronic excessive data use in a month would result in lower broadband speeds after being warned by text message. my regular download speeds in my area when the towers are working at their best is 2.5 to 3 Mb/sec.. friends who live locally and have hit the upper data envelope have been slowed to a speed of 300-500 kb/sec – still broadband speeds and clearly not dial-up, but much slower. even a typical full webpage of text and graphics would load in under 20 seconds, far less than your outrageous exaggerations and embellishments.

    so, the question is – just what does your contract say that you are not comprehending or clear about acknowledging?

  • commonsense247

    @ranthony – techno-illiterate ranter of ignorance…

    you need only to post your blathering tirades once. get it? click and send. it’s really a simple concept. even you can indeed learn it.

  • Anthony

    I can see you are getting very distraught there. The truth is hard to stomach, I know. You surely work for T-Mobile, it’s pretty clear now!! Sheesh. As far the repeat posts, I was just correcting some typos. I wish I could delete the previous ones, but, alas, that option is not available. And, as far as, your further lies–: It only takes watching a few STREAMED movies on NetFlix and watching YouTube for awhile to reach that 5GB threshold, ASSHOLE!! No one I know is doing what you’re lamely suggesting like the sure as shit SHILL you are!! And there’s NO WAY to know if the broadband companies are tallying the GB’s correctly!!
    Just like it was hard to keep track of cell phone company charges before they FINALLY began offering truly UNLIMITED MINUTES, so people didn’t have to worry about being overcharged or in this case OVERTHROTTLED!! I am technically literate enough to know you’re a full of shit shill from T-Mobile or the like!! And I seem to know MUCH more about what’s TRULY and FACTUALLY and TECHNICALLY happening than you do, dude!! You just seem to be reading from the talking points script of the customer service reps who try to further lie, when you call to cancel the contract due to their initial lies!! Asshole!!

  • Anthony

    I can see you are getting very distraught there. The truth is hard to stomach, I know. You poor baby, you!! Suck-It-Up, You Goober Boob!! *YOU* surely work for T-Mobile, it’s pretty clear now!! Sheesh. As far as, the repeat posts: I was merely correcting some typos and//or adding this or that thing I inadvertently left-out, etc. I wish I could delete the previous ones, but, alas, that option is not available. And, as far as, your further lies–: It only takes watching a few STREAMED movies on NetFlix and watching YouTube for awhile to reach that 5GB threshold, ASSHOLE!! No one I know is doing what you’re lamely suggesting like the sure as shit SHILL you are!! And there’s NO WAY to know if the broadband companies are tallying the GB’s correctly!!
    Just like it was hard to keep track of cell phone company charges before they FINALLY began offering truly UNLIMITED MINUTES, so people didn’t have to worry about being overcharged or in this case OVERTHROTTLED!! I am technically literate enough to know you’re a full of shit shill from T-Mobile or the like!! And I seem to know MUCH more about what’s TRULY and FACTUALLY and TECHNICALLY happening than you do, dude!! You just seem to be reading from the talking points script of the customer service reps who try to further lie, when you call to cancel the contract due to their initial lies!! Asshole!!

  • commonsense247

    @ranthony you can stop projecting your irrational rage and emotional tirades requiring anger management… it’s evident to any reasonable individual you are in need of therapy.
    as for your hilarious and outlandish claims, conclusions, and asinine assumptions, they just fall in line with the same level of effort, understanding, and critical thinking ability of which you are devoid.
    it’s useless to discuss subjects with someone like yourself because your mental illness renders you nonfunctional.
    you can continue to have the last word.. because after all, in your state of confusion and delirium, you will play it back, over and over, in the same repetitive idiocy of banal inanity.
    get help.

  • Anthony

    As usual, you completely ignore the facts at hand. You are an utter asshole shill of the lowest common denominator order. A complete corporate ass
    kisser with no clue about what is happening.

    You’re only interested in defending your idiot bosses
    who employ uber-idiots such as yourself to follow
    in their crippled logic footsteps!! You are a
    truly _*COMMON*_ NONSENSE-SPEWING GUY!!

    Period. Double Period.. Triple Period…

  • http://automotivetraveler.com Richard Truesdell

    I’m running into the same problem with T-Mobile as the rest of you. After turning off FiOS I started using my T-Mobile line for high speed access at home and so long as I didn’t use it to upload photos to my storage site, I was OK. But the trouble started when I started using Netflix to watch movies. Five days into my billing cycle, I got shut down to 50kbs, essentially cutting off my service for all but phone calls and texting.

    As others have pointed out unlimited by definition means “without limits.” How in the same sentence that you say your plan is “unlimited” that it is qualified with an asterisk that states that your data rate will be “throttled” when your usage reaches a certain threshold, be it 2GB, 5GB, or 10GB? This is semantics and splitting hairs and the carriers know it and if isn’t deceptive advertising, it certainly comes close to it.

    The carriers are all encouraging the purchase — with a contract — of advanced devices, then fail to offer any way to economically take advantage of their features. Many Third World countries, especially those with no established wireline phone infrastructure, offer pricing plans grounded in reality. But not here in the US where these carriers, using spectrum that was granted to them by the FCC, are gouging their customers.

    But there’s something more insidious at work here, and many of us know exactly what it is. AT&T is in the process of buying T-Mobile, a move that is clearly anti-competitive and not in the best interest of consumers. If we think our data plans are expensive now, wait until you see what happens when there are just three, rather than four national carriers. Prices will skyrocket with even lower data caps before throttling or overage charges set in.

    And if AT&T is successful in buying T-Mobile (a GSM carrier) do you think that Verizon is going to stand by and do nothing? They will do the logical thing and buy Sprint, which coincidentally is a CDMA provider like Verizon. Then we end up with a true duopoly with no downward pressure on prices. We’ll see a similar situation to the cable/satellite TV providers where costs continue to rise and with bundling, we are forced to pay for channels we don’t like, like the Oprah Winfrey Channel in my case.

    The solution? Mobilize… communicate and let the FCC know how opposed we are to the possible takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) has weighed on this possible merger and he deserves our support.

  • commonsense247

    @richard There is simply not enough bandwidth in the wireless network for users to use their mobile phone data accounts for high speed internet access via tether for laptop, internet tv devices, etc. All those I personally know who have had their speeds throttled for excessive data use in a one month period have only been slowed to 300-500kbs – still a broadband speed and almost 10x the speed of dialup. So I’m surprised at your throttled down speed to 50 kbs.
    Even to highlight this issue, most wireless carriers offer a tether or wireless card plan for unlimited data. There will always be caps at some point of usage – or eventually listed for all plans – since there is not an infinite amount bandwidth and much of the network equipment out there is not yet capable of handling the highest speeds and volume.

    This isn’t a rights issue or an example of corporatism and greed – it’s about intended use, technological limits and practical abilities based upon shared use of a wireless network, and how abuse of that affects the rest of the customers.
    You can’t be intellectually honest and argue against the evil greedy companies that are setting caps when you are taking advantage of and abusing the system which makes service worse for everyone else. There are plenty of legitimate examples of corporatism and greed in companies that are defrauding customers. This, however, is certainly not one of them.

  • http://automotivetraveler.com Richard Truesdell

    @commonsense247, you certainly seem to be a shill for T-Mobile and the carriers.

    First is the draconian way that the process is applied. One second speed is 1mbs, the next it’s 50kbs. If the reduction is speed was incremental, say 300-500kbs, I wouldn’t be complaining. Then say when you get to 10GB of data there’s another speed bump, say to 100-300kbs, that would be fairer given that the plan is heavily advertised and promoted as “unlimited.” But 50kbs all but renders access as all but useless.

    Two, my grandfathered plan is/was an all-Internet plan, going back more than four years ago to my T-Mobile Wing and was for 10GB. When it transitioned to a smartphone plan was apparently when the data allowed was reduced to 5GB.

    Third, that part of my plan that permits tethering, was retained; I was not required to pay extra.

    Four, T-Mobile is happy to force me to sign a new two-year contract for 10GB for an added $40 more each month so your argument about bandwidth rings quite hollow. They are heavily promoting these devices, then cripple your access to use them. (This does not take into account that T-Mobile will not allow me to buy more data access in a given month when, because of the Netflix issue, I went over my data limit five days into my billing cycle.) This is all about locking me into another two-year contract, something that I am unwilling to do with the specter of the AT&T acquisition still pending.

    Sorry @commonsense247 but your points are simply not valid. And to call a plan unlimited when it is clearly not, is deceptive, no matter how much fine print T-Mobile’s lawyers can insert into the one-sided contract that gives them all the control. And as bad as it is now, with two huge and two smaller players, can you imagine their level of control when it is just AT&T and Verizon (assuming my initial point that Verizon will gobble up Sprint)?

    While I am clearly not happy with the way T-Mobile has handled this issue in my case, I still remain opposed to the AT&T acquisition. We need more competition in the wireless marketplace, not less. As we all continue to ditch traditional wireline phone service and become increasingly dependent on our wireless devices (I am going to living and traveling full time in an RV shortly) this will become a bigger, not smaller issue. Rather than criticizing Alvarez, as wireless users we should be giving him our unqualified support.

    I will be calling Sen. Kohl’s office later today to see if he’s remaining steadfast in his opposition to the AT&T acquisition. (I will not call it a merger. If it is a “merger” it will be like the DaimlerChrysler merger and we know how that turned out.)

  • commonsense247

    @richard Calling someone a shill who simply points out what anyone can and should be reading before they agree to a contract is pathetically ridiculous and intellectually dishonest. It’s a thoughtless, lazy, knee-jerk personal slur which has become all too popular in the current economic conditions to just blame big business and corporations. When they are legitimately defrauding customers, they should be faulted.

    Your points sound like merely excuses for failing to adhere to a policy meant to benefit all customers rather than a few data hogs.

    Unfortunately, it sounds typical of the selfish entitlement mentality that is so pervasive all around us in nation that has become too often full of demanding whiners.
    At the same time, if T-Mobile wants to rectify this problem and save their reputation at all with customers, they should clearly state that the unlimited data plan is for high speeds and an ‘amount’ of data up to a certain cap, with additional data at a significantly lower speed. So I do agree with your point that this is a ‘truth in advertising’ issue. But the contract and intent is clear. I’m thinking an online petition and action to deliver such petitions with media coverage would get some results.

    Still, if you had a better grasp of wireless technology, bandwidth issues, wireless network capabilities, the various tower equipment issues and ages, you might have a better chance of comprehending and framing your argument in a reasonable and practical manner. For ie. if T-Mobile had enough customers paying the $40 for 10Gig of high speed data per month in a geographic area served by one tower, they may install additional equipment to ensure that demand is met.

    As it stands for the situation you describe, there are options – albeit outside of T-Mobile – you have to achieve your desired result without the erroneous blame and conclusion that you are being defrauded or lied to by a wireless carrier. Your speed dropping to 50kbs is odd – out of the dozen or so people I know who’ve been throttled, none receive anything less than 300kbs after the initial ping and connect. I’m guessing that particular speed is to prevent abusive streaming and downloading that affects other customers while still allowing MMS, pictures, webpages, podcasts, and limited buffered video, etc.

    I understand that with the level of our infrastructure in this country, it makes using the internet however we choose difficult or sometimes not possible. That’s an issue of bandwidth, acceptable service to an area, and the current size of data being streamed or downloaded.

    I’m also against the merger because it will threaten free market competition. That is not really the issue relevant to this topic though.

    On a side not, at this time Sprint and Verizon have unlimited plans without data caps resulting in throttled speeds.

    In any event, I wish you the best in your efforts going forward.

  • http://automotivetraveler.com Richard Truesdell

    @commonsense247 I said you seem to be a shill. As in other parts of this thread, your arguments ring false.

    In the 66 months that I have had either an All-Internet or smartphone pricing plan, I have gone over my data allotment a grand total of five times. The first, which alerted me to the practice, was last November when I was staying at a hotel that advertised high speed WiFi in every room, didn’t. As I am a professional photographer I used my wireless phone connection to upload photos to my storage site so that my editors could view them. After half the photos were uploaded, the speed slowed to a crawl and I got a text message from T-Mobile saying that for the remainder of my billing cycle, 24 days, my data speed would be curtailed. Since I was sold an “unlimited” plan for voice, text, and data, I thought this was crazy and called for an explanation and was told their process. This was one month after T-Mobile unilaterally reduced the data cap from 10GB to 5GB (http://bit.ly/r9etFZ), in essence changing the terms of my contract without allowing me out of the contract. Can you tell me how this was fair?

    This latest shutdown was after I shut off my FiOS access as I am preparing to start living in my motorhome full time. My full speed data transfer speeds through my T-Mobile connection were almost as fast as FiOS and I thought to myself, “This is great, I can eliminate $150 a month for FiOS — Internet access, TV with two DVRs but no premium channels, and a phone bundle that I almost never use — and use my T-Mobile connection for my Internet access. Especially when I am on the road, this will be great. When I want to watch movies, I’ll get them through Netflix or Amazon Prime.”

    Apparently getting movies through Netflix is what triggered the data cap this time. I accept responsibility for that but not to have my speed throttled down to 50kbs. That’s is essence turning my data off for the remainder of the billing cycle.

    And what about all the months, 61 in all, that I didn’t exceed my data cap, many months that I used no data at all? T-Mobile doesn’t carry over the data allotment, like Cingular used to do with your minutes, which was heavily promoted until… they were bought by AT&T. If the system was fair, those GB of data I didn’t use should have been carried over since you know what, I paid for them but didn’t use them in a given “billing cycle.”

    And it’s not an issue of bandwidth as T-Mobile is happy to lock me into another two-year contract for 10GB/month and charge me an extra $40/month for data whose incremental cost to T-Mobile is something on the order of 10 cents a GB.

    To heavily promote and sell devices that gobble up data while advertising unlimited data with an asterisk is disingenuous at best and most likely deceptive. Why you seem to condone this practice is a mystery to me. While you might not call that being a shill, I do and I suspect that a majority of people reading this thread will agree with me.

    And then there’s the definition of “throttle” when used as a verb, courtesy of dictionary.com.

    4. to stop the breath of by compressing the throat; strangle.
    5. to choke or suffocate in any way

    Now the carriers can employ terms in any way they want, literally re-writing the disctionary. I like the dictionary.com definition as it represents reality. When your data is “throttled” from 1-2mbs to 50kbs, you are choking or suffocating access, effectively limiting access or almost totally eliminating it. This is 2011, not 1995 and reducing access to 50kbs is effectively turning it off.

    How about now that T-Mobile has unilaterally reduced my data cap from 10GB to 5GB, that T-Mobile sends me a text message (like they do the minute I go over my data cap) when I reach 3.5GB, 4GB, and 4.5GB, so I have some warning to manage my use (in my case, stop streaming Netflix for the remainder of the billing cycle)? If their policy was about managing system resources and keeping “data hogs” in check, wouldn’t this be a sound policy? Or is this really about gouging the customer by forcing the customer into a higher-priced plan with a much higher incremental profit?

    This is all a matter of semantics and as the CNN article on Wednesday pointed out (http://bit.ly/qpCgxm), all the carriers, especially AT&T and Verizon, are being less than transparent about the process. With the iPhone 5 about to launch, were about to see another round of “how we can gouge the customer” on the part of AT&T and Verizon, as witnessed by AT&T recent announcements on how they will follow T-Mobile and start capping data on their grandfathered unlimited plans. You can bet that AT&T won’t offer those customers the option out on their contracts so they can move to Sprint, who right now, is the only one of the major national carriers that offers an affordably-priced unlimited plan, if even $120/month can be considered affordable given the cost to provide the service.

    I don’t expect you to understand or accept my reasonable explanations of my position. You’re too busy defending T-Mobile’s (and the other carriers) unfair and deceptive practices. This is not about entitlement, it about fairness, something you apparently have no comprehension of because you’re too busy defending practices that common sense says can’t be defended.

    I pay for “unlimited” high-speed Internet access and my plan allows for tethering. If being “throttled” was incremental, say from 1-2mbs to 300-500kbs, which is still defined by the FCC as high speed, then I could accept this. Being throttled to 51kbs, which can not be defined as high speed and is in essence 1995 dial-up speeds, makes the advertising deceptive and T-Mobile needs to live up to their side of the contract to provide the true unlimited high speed access I am paying for. When I call 611 the T-Mobile rep tells me that they value my business over the last eight and a half years, from my standpoint, they clearly don’t.

    @commonsense247 After reading your attacks on others in this thread, I no longer think you seem to be a shill for T-Mobile, it appears that you are one. And your screen name is as deceptive as T-Mobile’s marketing. When you defend putting an asterisk in the same sentence that qualifies the word “unlimited” it’s you that lacks common sense. Period.

  • commonsense247

    @Richard We’re not going to agree. As I said, T-Mobile should be very clear about their policy – and if anyone reads their contract, it *is* quite clear. If a customer doesn’t, well, then the blame is on them for not doing due diligence.
    Most of the situations stated on this thread cite where people misused, abused, violated the conditions of use and thus were subject to lowered speeds.
    There are plenty of cost effective (and even cheaper) methods of obtaining high speed data with giant caps (150G/mo for ie) so that using one’s mobile phone data account is not just limited, but considering the contract cap limitations, it’s just naive and stupid.

    Any person familiar with business and technology and the costs associated with them and their ongoing maintenance and use as data usage increases is evidently going to be considered a shill in your biased opinion. So be it.
    Your own words and descriptions have labeled yourself as a shill for entitlement and pushing the limits of a finite service for your own financial benefit no matter the cost to other customers. Park your motorhome near a free wi-fi signal and enjoy sucking to your heart’s content.
    The courts will decide what’s reasonable, fair, or true cases of defrauding the customer.

  • http://automotivetraveler.com Richard Truesdell

    The problem is that T-Mobile isn’t very clear, especially when renewing, changing, or upgrading a contract over the phone.

    Their advertising is at a minimum, deceptive, and everyone knows it. It has nothing to do with entitlement. And my plan allows for tethering, so don’t continue giving me the line that I’m not entitled to do so.

    I spent another three hours on the phone yesterday with T-Mobile tech support after the customer service rep said I was entitled to .70mbs speed in the throttled down mode. Yet they still haven’t restored me to that level, 24 hours later.

    Using my phone for Internet access while traveling — I’ve explained to you several times I will be living in a motorhome full-time several times — so getting this fixed is essential.

    I’m paying for service/access/data speeds that I’m not getting… get that through your thick head. A contract is a two-way street, they have to provide minimum levels of promised service in return for me paying for that service. Yesterday, after pulling teeth with Customer Service, T-Mobile acknowledged that — that I should be getting at least .70mbs of data speed — and after nine days, are finally addressing the problem on the tech support side as they should have a week ago Saturday.

    Getting a straight answer from them as to what speeds I should be getting shouldn’t be as hard as it’s been nor should it take nine days to rectify the issue.

  • commonsense247

    @Richard You just don’t get it and keep explaining your behavior in such a manner of excuses and banal unreasonable demands. Get it through your head… tethering isn’t the issue. It’s hogging massive amounts of data – especially exemplified by downloading/streaming movies.
    Idiot customers like yourself ruin it for the rest of us. It’s like the all-you-can-eat obese man camping out in the restaurant all day and night and being belligerent and shocked when he’s forced to leave.

  • commonsense247

    @Richard
    It doesn’t matter what your job is.
    It doesn’t matter how much you need internet access.
    It doesn’t matter if you thought wireless would save you money.

    What matters is that you’re paying for something that is offered with terms and conditions you are failing to adhere to…

    Quit the whining and use a method that will actually support your ‘need’ for massive amount of data per month – without putting a strain on a network or taking from others sharing that tower.

  • Anthony

    Oh, Dear, CommonCorporateNonsense Guy, you DO realize that the obviously intelligent and intuitive Richard is calling you a “shill” partially, due to the fact, that I so effectually ferreted you out and beat your sorry ass in a debate where you were unarmed save for
    lame talking point scripts from your T-Mobile
    bosses!!

    You dunder-headed DOLT and shriekingly
    SHRILL _*SHILL*_ *YOU*!! I effectually labeled you as a “SHILL” many posts ago, and, the reason it stuck is because you were entirely ineffectual!! You are an ineffectual shill!!

    You should be fired from T-Mobile on the spot!!

    But you won’t be, because, they employ
    uber-goober-boob-IDIOTS (such as yourself)
    to just blather on and on regardless of the
    fact that what you’re saying sounds (and IS) severely hollow and false when heard by all the abundant unhappy customers on the other end of the phone!!

    That’s right–: Your job is just like those customer service complaint department jobs located in India, where they’re trained to just blather on and on to try their best to just tire the customers out until they just give-up!! Sorry, dude, it doesn’t work like that, HERE on this forum!! Nor in a court of law, either!!

    And, as far as, your continued idiocy in regards to your false contentions about how most of the complaining folks are “misusing” the broadband
    services: That is just further proof of your
    shrill shill lies and deceits!! The T-Mobile
    Rocket USB Stick, for example, is a broadband stick designed for use with ANY computer!! No tethering involved, you foolishly drooling Drool-Fool!!
    This is NOT just about PHONES with broadband!!
    This is about ALL mobile broadband services and
    devices, IDIOT!! Get your facts SEMI-straight,
    at least SOME of the time, just to make it seem like you know something//ANYTHING about what you’re talking about!! Which you clearly don’t!! All you know is what the bosses hand you to blather on and on about. Period.

    Buh-Bye For Now, You, Braindead Goober Boob, YOU!!

    Oh, and one more thing, you also gave yet another falsehood and fraud away that T-Mobile fraudulently promotes–: You mentioned how the hardware is not even in place for the highest-end broadband in most places.

    Yet, T-Mobile touts 4G speeds!! What a crock that is, in MOST places in America!! Hell, they can’t even provide the lowest-end of broadband for an entire 30 days!! Nope. They SEVERELY throttle you to dial-up or worse speeds, if you go over 5GB’s!!

    And, again, it only takes a few streamed movies and watching YouTube, to reach that amount within a few days, if that!! And, there’s absolutely no way of knowing if they’re tallying-up those GB’s accurately in any sense or fashion!! As there is no way of
    verifying or backtracking to see how it’s all being tallied-up!! No way of knowing!! All anyone can do is place (Bloody!!) blind trust in utter idiot shills like you!! And I wouldn’t trust the likes of YOU to give me accurate change back at a McDonald’s (let alone tally-up My GB’s for the month)!! Sheesh!!
    (Bloody!!) SHEESH!!

  • AbsintheGreenHeart

    Stop it you f’ing troll! I was really mad at T-Mobile for throttling my internet and still want some resolution but you are just ridiculous.

    If any of you guys find a solution or update to T-Mobile’s crappy throttling, sharing is certainly appreciated.

    CommonSenseGuy, you’re right…we don’t read the fine print; we’re dumb for that. T-Mobile is still being shitty for false advertising and making up for it with some obscure lines in fine print that the majority does not believe will include some huge contingency. If the contingency is that important, it should be just as visible as what they advertise. I agree that the fine print should be verbalized just as medical side effects are.

  • Anthony

    “Absinthe”, your hallucinatory nick really suits you,
    if you’re calling Me or Richard or ANYONE OTHER THAN ‘CommonCorporateNonSense’ Guy, a “troll” or a “shill”.

    It’s clear that YOU’RE most likely just a sock puppet of Common Guy, trying to give himself just a tiny wee little bit of support but yet not wanting to seem too obvious. I, of course, don’t have to do such a thing, because, My effectually presented words and truths speak for themselves and they ring all too *painfully* true for YOU (especially, when I’m speaking *about*, YOU, Dear, CommonNonsenseAbsintheHallucinating Guy!!
    Sheesh. So *obvious*, you are, Common!!
    So common and so obvious!! :o )

    Oh, and just what exactly are you contending was “ridiculous” about anything Richard or I or anyone else said or conveyed critically about T-Mobile and//or their Shill//Troll–: (i.e. YOU and//or
    Common Nonsense Guy). (i.e. One and the Same).
    HELLO!?

    Seriously, it doesn’t ring at all true, that someone so upset about being conned by T-Mobile would suddenly take the side of the likes of ‘Pro-T-Mobile Common Guy’ in any capacity. It’s as *ri-dic-u-lous* as the lies you spew as ‘Common Nonsense’ guy, dude!!
    Wow. So lame and dumb (and, again, so obvious
    and common)….!! Sheesh.

  • Anthony

    And, by the way, there is NO “solution” to the severe throttling.

    Once they throttle you, you’re screwed until the end of that 30 day cycle!! The whole concept of this throttling policy is absurd from the get-go.

    And they are absolutely lying if they tell you or anyone they didn’t “mean” to throttle you “so much”. That is total bullshit!! Lies upon lies!! They purposely throttle to the point that you can’t DO what you expect to be able to do with a broadband account of ANY kind!!

    It’s like having a car that runs fine
    and fast until you reach a certain mileage
    point, but, after you reach that point, it
    slows down to slower than a briskly walking
    Grandmother. But, the car doesn’t completely
    stop, mind you. So, you’re peachy keen
    SET, BABY!!, Just as long as you don’t
    mind being passed-up by a walking
    grandmother in support-hose. And
    as long as you don’t mind it taking
    a month to get to the next intersection!!
    And by that time, you’ll be back to full
    throttle speed anyways!! At least for
    another few days until you reach that
    magic overage number again (on your
    so-called “UNLIMITED PLAN”)!!
    And then it’s back yet
    again to slower than the
    support-hose
    lady!!

  • AbsintheGreenHeart

    You are wound up way too tight, dude. Get laid, have a drink, whatever..just spare the rest of us from all your attacking comments.

  • Anthony

    No. It is obviously YOU who are wound too tight, dude. And you seem a little too soft and boring. There is nothing wrong with an entertaining back-an-forth.

    And why on earth are you so offended at Me being
    severely critical of an obvious shill for T-Mobile!? It makes no sense unless YOU are HIM as I suspected.

    Either that or you are showing much too much compassion and empathy for your merciless broadband contract captors. Kind of like ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ or something. What a contradicting goober you seem to be.

    Earlier in the thread, you agreed with Me 100%, I
    just noticed. I am the same Anthony as the one you initially agreed with. You seem terribly inconsistent.

    And, again, it seems you lack a sense of humor and a sense of CONSISTENT outrage over what your T-Mobile captors have done to you. Which leads me to believe you are not being sincere and are, again, probably a sock puppet of Common Nonsense Guy or, again, just a contradicting marshmallow who is easily offended
    by cut-downs//put-downs and the like, even when they’re directed at your captors and oppressors, etc.
    Odd. You must have been one of those self-hating Jews who were willing to give Hitler a chance to explain himself a little more!! (–Ha!! Ha!!–) And, yes,
    of course, I am joking, right there. But the joking point is ultimately a serious point about your wishy-washy semi-flip-flop due to your wimpy intolerance of entertaining debates and rants and such and your apparent lack of self-worth and maintaining a strong defense against those who have betrayed your trust.

  • commonsense247

    @anthony hahaha… what a fool you’re making out yourself to be. accusing me of being too tightly wound while you exaggerate, sensationalize, and wildly ramble as though you’re throwing a blog tantrum. you need some intervention with the supernanny. lol. it’s just more evidence of your refusal to accept responsibility and grow up but instead blame others for your own problems without using critical thinking to discover bottom line solutions.

  • commonsense247

    *re-edit since it posted without my hitting submit*

    @anthony hahaha… what a fool you’re making out yourself to be. accusing people of being too tightly wound while you exaggerate, sensationalize, and wildly ramble as though you’re throwing a blog tantrum. you need some intervention with the supernanny. lol. it’s just more evidence of your refusal to accept responsibility and grow up but instead blame others for your own problems without using critical thinking to discover bottom line solutions.

    anyone who wants to solve the problem of needing mobile wireless for large amounts of data/month (5+ Gig) should make an arrangement with someone who has a high speed connection they can connect to via wi-fi for a small fee/month. i did that at my last place and it worked out great since the cap before an additional fee was 150 Gig.

  • Diggler

    Point is throttling is bs if there is a lawsuit going on sign me up !!

  • commonsense247

    The Point is: Providing high speed data for wireless customers streaming or downloading movies or anything upwards of 6 gig a month is not feasibly possible with the current equipment, towers, and networks we have in most areas across the nation… especially since so many customers are relying on each individual tower. The hogs drown out the average users.

  • Anthony

    No. It is YOU who is making an utter fool and dumb ass ASS out of YOURSELF, Common Nonsense Guy!! You just responded to a comment I made towards your sock puppet ‘Absinthe’, Dumb-Dumb!! Try not to be so obvious!! Sheesh. Also, you re-posted a post, just like you criticized Me for doing. So that makes you a very hypocritical Dumb-Dumb, as well!!

    And, there you go again and again, spouting more and more utterly ridiculous idiocies!! It’s not being a “hog” watching a few streaming movies and watching YouTube, etc. When you buy high-end video-capable mobile computer products and you buy high-end broadband services you should expect nothing less than the bare minimum of broadband speeds throughout the ENTIRE month on an UNLIMITED plan while using the very devices that boldly tout up to even 4G speeds, (as do the broadband carriers tout such speeds, such as your bosses at T-Mobile), you dumb ass Shrill Shill, YOU!!

    And, if the equipment is not in place and they are just lying about all of these capabilities and services, well, then, they should be sued and sued again and again, until you and they stop the lying in their false advertisements and stop the lying when We call to sign-up for the so-called “UNLIMITED” plans!! Sheesh.

    Now, THAT (i.e. What _*I*_ am saying and have been saying all-along) is _*UNCOMMON*_ SENSE that MAKES COMPLETE SENSE!!

    These companies (where utter uber-idiots (such as yourself) work as Total-B.S.-Service-Reps) NEED to stop making and//or selling broadband mobile products and broadband internet services, if they are not, in fact, able to handle and provide the towers and other equipment in the field that is necessary to make these products work sufficiently for the entire 30 day cycle!! What good is an “UNLIMITED” broadband service that only works for a few days of movies
    on Netflix and YouTube. it makes no sense to offer products and services
    that can’t technically deliver month to month.

    Resorting to stupidly calling paying customers “hogs”, for watching a few streaming movies and such, as they easily reach their cap and are then mercilessly throttled within a few days (sometimes, even, within the mere beginning HOURS) of their 30 days cycles; Calling those decent and honorable folks “hogs” shows every thinking, intelligent person, just how (Bloody!!) insidiously ignorant and audaciously fraudulent you and your
    bosses at T-Mobile truly are….!!

    And anyone who has argued with the dumb asses at their customer services hotline, knows right off that *THAT* is exactly what YOU are!! A pee-on customer “service” rep paid to lie and make excuses for this and that fraud, all-while they (i.e. YOU) just try their best to tire out the good folks who call-in to simply be released from that completely false contract for “Unlimited” mobile monthly broadband, which is NEVER offered to ANYONE!! EVER….!! ….HELLO!?

    And, again, seriously, that whole “Hog” comment of yours, is a really telltale giveaway about just how ridiculous this whole thing is. You are treating people
    like they’re a fatty at an all-you-can-eat buffet of wonderful
    broadband delicacies!! You’re like the manager of some dive
    all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant giving the stink eye to
    Louie Anderson and Carnie Wilson for staying the whole
    day. The same guy who later-on goes up to them
    to inform them, that they can’t unbutton their
    pants button, to make more room for
    dessert. House rules!! It’s in the “fine print”
    imprinted on one of the panels of the
    buffet-table-sneeze-guard
    (conveniently located
    at the ‘lima beans,
    sauerkraut and spinach’
    section)….!!
    HELLO….!?

  • commonsense247

    @ranthony get some intervention… you clearly need psychological therapy and medical help.

    at least i explained my edit, something which you didn’t have the foresight or clarity to do.

    and once again, by your own statements and analogies you have proven my comments and claims that you are simply a spoiled entitlement whore to be absolutely and profoundly true and accurate.

    your rambling rants are full of inconsistencies, exaggerations, sensationalistic rhetoric, and ridiculous notions that only someone so irrational and bombastic as yourself would put into print, let alone think.

    yes, you’re the hog, the abuser, the violator of contracts, the misusing ignorant consumer that everyone else can’t stand, the complainer and moaner that makes the rest of us who are reasonable roll our eyes because of your simplistic and slothful thinking and lack of critical thought.

  • AbsintheGreenHeart

    Anthony, I currently agree with you only by 1%, that what T-Mobile is doing is wrong and should be more transparent in their practices. The remaining 99% of your point turned into a bunch of ranting and raving that doesn’t go anywhere. Figuring out how to legally get T-Mobile to fix their mistake is the way to go. You’ve turned this comment thread into something useless. People are coming to this page for a reason and your attacking words are not helping anyone.

    If average citizens can foreclose on Wells Fargo and Bank of America, average citizens can make a cell phone company change their deceptive practices. It’s not easy, HP has been ignoring petitions for fixing their mistakes for years, but it will get the word out there in a more positive and proactive way and eventually we’ll find a solution that will work for everyone and can even spread across industries. That’s what we all want, isn’t it? A domino effect of resolution with corporations that lie to us?

    CommonSenseGuy, T-Mobile is, in actuality, lying to us. If a corporation is entitled to be treated as a person, by government and tax standards, then we people are entitled to be treated AS PEOPLE, with the same honesty that REAL PEOPLE give us. If we met in person and had a conversation, nothing I would say to you would have an asteri I have nothing against you and even if, in fact, you work for T-Mobile, maybe you can plant a seed of change in that world. Everyone knows they know about us, the unhappy customers. As for Anthony, The Simpsons said it best, stop paying attention to monsters and they lose their powers.

  • AbsintheGreenHeart

    ————–EDIT—————-

    Anthony, I currently agree with you only by 1%, that what T-Mobile is doing is wrong and should be more transparent in their practices. The remaining 99% of your point turned into a bunch of ranting and raving that doesn’t go anywhere. Figuring out how to legally get T-Mobile to fix their mistake is the way to go. You’ve turned this comment thread into something useless. People are coming to this page for a reason and your attacking words are not helping anyone.

    If average citizens can foreclose on Wells Fargo and Bank of America, average citizens can make a cell phone company change their deceptive practices. It’s not easy, HP has been ignoring petitions for fixing their mistakes for years, but it will get the word out there in a more positive and proactive way and eventually we’ll find a solution that will work for everyone and can even spread across industries. That’s what we all want, isn’t it? A domino effect of resolution with corporations that lie to us?

    CommonSenseGuy, T-Mobile is, in actuality, lying to us. If a corporation is entitled to be treated as a person, by government and tax standards, then we people are entitled to be treated AS PEOPLE, with the same honesty that REAL PEOPLE give us. If we met in person and had a conversation, nothing I would say to you would have an asterisk attached to it. You’d have to rely on my honor and take my words as truth. As with any corporation, their word defines how honorable their business is. I have nothing against you and even if, in fact, you work for T-Mobile, maybe you can plant a seed of change in that world. Everyone knows they know about us, the unhappy customers. As for Anthony, The Simpsons said it best, stop paying attention to monsters and they lose their powers.

  • commonsense247

    @absinthegreenheart I can see where some people think T-Mobile is lying to them or being deceptive. If you read the contract it’s pretty clear what their acceptable use policy is, however. If people choose to abuse or misuse the service they are purchasing from T-Mobile, that’s their choice. It’s then just the consequences they are complaining and whining about. That’s what I fervently reject and am arguing against.

    No, I don’t work for T-Mobile or any wireless carrier – or any corporation for that matter. Those that assume such or conclude I must aren’t thinking clearly and are using extremely flawed logic – the kind that says “if you don’t agree with me you must be work for the one I have issues with”. Very idiotic indeed.

    The best we can do as consumers is to:
    1. be completely informed and make the effort to do so
    2. when companies violate their terms of agreement or start sliding into a policy that is questionable, confront them and then take it to the media, petitions, and to court if necessary

    Abusing their stated policy – even if it is in fine print (the law says you cannot plead ignorance of what is written in a contract, even if in fine print) doesn’t help a consumer’s case or argument against T-Mobile’s policies. It only proves the customer’s laziness and irresponsibility.
    Like I’ve said in this thread already, T-Mobile should make it very clear beyond the fine print contract that their unlimited data policy refers to amount up to a certain cap at a high speed rate. It’s also true that only so much information can be in bold print in an advertisement and the rest is up to the customer to do their due diligence in understanding the complete agreement.

    However, from a technological standpoint – which is my background – arguing that wireless carriers should offer unlimited data at the high speed of 3g or 4g and not cap and throttle those who hog the bandwidth (currently about 3% of all users according to trade journals) is naive and useless whining about something that is unsustainable at this time with the equipment and networks in place. The average customer uses less than 2Gig a month in data – whereas the abusers/misusers/hogs can suck up twice that amount in less than a day for one movie download. That jeopardizes the connectivity for the majority of the customer base.

    If the point is to get high speed data in massive quantities per month, using a wireless account from T-Mobile or any other is patently counter-intuitive and inefficient compared to other options available.

    I have my own beefs with T-Mobile, their 3g coverage, their lack of tower upgrades, etc. but I know I have to weigh all that out with my pricing and what I’m willing to put up with… because the bottom line is they haven’t violated their contract with me.

    As for this issue with T-Mobile in this discussion thread, I think petitions delivered to their headquarters and put on Youtube would make a big statement, as well as getting some media involved. There’s nothing corporations like less than bad publicity and exposing a tainted reputation or customer dissatisfaction in a very public manner.

  • Anthony

    NonsenseAbyntheHallucinating Guy (i.e. Split-Personality CommonNonsense Guy with His Sock Puppet), it appears that “you and yourself”, BOTH, have a lack of a sense of humor and also don’t seem to understand that not everyone comes here for what you two (i.e. ONE and the same) boring folks come here for. And, you are ALSO very wrong when you say that My comments render ANYTHING “useless”.

    On the contrary, My comments are both entertaining and funny yet effectually piercing and pointed with lots of excellent ideas and solutions and memorably entertaining criticisms thrown into the mix, which is ALL extremely
    useful. Venting and expressing, in general, is a good thing, as well,
    in a thread such as this one. As it helps to spotlight the expansive
    nature of the problem at hand and how it effects so many
    unhappy customers, etc.

    And, I also know-full-well that it’s equally useful how I immediately
    ferreted-out the actual T-Mobile (B.S.-Rep) Employee; i.e. The Ultimate Shill of All Shrill Shills (i.e. Your Sock Puppet Master), who has taken-up residence in this thread by responding with a grab bag of T-Mobile talking point excuses as to why they can’t or just WON’T fulfill their reasonably expected contractual promises!! HELLO!? YEP, Common Nonsense Guy, has predictably responded to just about everyone and anyone, who dares to criticize his almighty fraud kingpin bosses at T-Mobile.

  • Anthony

    NonsenseAbsintheHallucinating Guy (i.e. Split-Personality CommonNonsense Guy with His Sock Puppet), it appears that “you and yourself”, BOTH, have a lack of a sense of humor and also don’t seem to understand that not everyone comes here for what you two (i.e. ONE and the same) boring folks come here for. And, you are ALSO very wrong when you say that My comments render ANYTHING “useless”.

    On the contrary, My comments are both entertaining and funny yet effectually piercing and pointed with lots of excellent ideas and solutions and memorably entertaining criticisms thrown into the mix, which is ALL extremely
    useful. Venting and expressing, in general, is a good thing, as well,
    in a thread such as this one. As it helps to spotlight the expansive
    nature of the problem at hand and how it effects so many
    unhappy customers, etc.

    And, I also know-full-well that it’s equally useful how I immediately
    ferreted-out the actual T-Mobile (B.S.-Rep) Employee; i.e. The Ultimate Shill of All Shrill Shills (i.e. Your Sock Puppet Master), who has taken-up residence in this thread by responding with a grab bag of T-Mobile talking point excuses as to why they can’t or just WON’T fulfill their reasonably expected contractual promises!! HELLO!? YEP, Common Nonsense Guy, has predictably responded to just about everyone and anyone, who dares to criticize his almighty fraud kingpin bosses at T-Mobile.

  • Anthony

    Notice, folks, how, Common Nonsense Guy, is now trying to distance himself a bit from T-Mobile. Obviously, his bosses there got wind of his poor performances, here, and actually read some of his responses and saw just how painfully obvious and ineffectual he was being with his shrill shill unreal pro-T-Mobile speel!! Yep, so ineffectual, that, he was told to immediately distance himself from their company in as convincing and as subtly incremental a manner as possible without being nearly as obvious as he had been as their paid shrill shill speeler. What a total doofus that\ guy is. Seriously. Wow.

  • Anthony

    Notice, folks, how, Common Nonsense Guy, is *now* trying to distance himself a
    bit from T-Mobile. Obviously, his bosses there got wind of his poor
    performances, here, and actually read some of his responses and
    saw just how painfully obvious and ineffectual he was being with
    his shrill shill unreal pro-T-Mobile speel!!

    Yep, My Friends, he was *so* ineffectual, that, he was told to immediately distance himself from their company in as convincing and as subtly incremental a manner as possible without being nearly as obvious as he had been as their paid shrill shill speeler. What a total doofus that guy is. Seriously. Wow.

  • james

    Bunch of player haters. Let him get his money

  • chris

    Late comment on the issue, but feel a few things could be pointed out.
    First, no one who is defending tmobile and their practices has bothered to address the act of changing the terms of a users contract without warning. This could be argued as a breach of contract in that terms of the original contract were not adhered to.
    Second, commonsense247, since you have a technical background, you should be aware of how rare your particular skills are. There are a lot of pro and closet geeks, but they are far outnumbered by the technically deficient. it is these technically deficient that make up the mass of smartphone end users. This is the premise of the argument that they are misleading their end users.
    Of course they tell you in the fine print that you will be throttled if you go over your allotted data cap. They might even clearly define throttling as a reduction in the rate at which you receive and transmit data. What they dont tell you is how many netflix movies you can watch, or minutes of youtube video, or hours of pandora radio, which is how these large amounts of data are being consumed by most smartphone users. And the carriers like Tmobile feed this behavior by advertising the device as something that is made and sold to do these things, along with operate as a phone.
    How many users do you think they would get if they said “watch up to 4.5 movies a month before your speed is reduced so you can no longer even listen to pandora radio. Oh, and if you,re watching netflix in high definition, you can watch 1.5 movies a month.” I think their new sales numbers would plummet, don’t you? Once people started to understand they are paying $20 a month for the equivalent of one and a half hd movies, they would avoid these plans like the plague.
    My point is the consumer shouldn’t have to get a certification to feel like they are being treated fairly, and neither should they be treated like a scumbag because they use their device for what they were told by advertising to use it for. Shame on you for using knowledge as a pedestal to look down on and deride those people.

    I think thats all.

  • absinthegreenheart

    that’s a very good point, chris

  • Anthony

    Well, you’re repeating the very arguments I have been making all along, so, obviously I agree with most of what you have repeated and//or
    reiterated from My many effectual postings. But the one HUGE
    point that I disagree with, was your use of the phrase “using
    knowledge as a pedestal”. The shills for these scummy
    thieving companies aren’t any more “knowledgable”
    than their customers. That’s been rather obvious
    in this thread and elsewhere. No. They’re just
    much more underhandedly contradicting and
    conniving and amorally deceptive than their customers.

    That’s a BIG difference. As *your* chosen phrase
    seemed condescending towards the customers
    even as your were defending them.

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Well, you’re repeating the very arguments I have been making all along, so, obviously I agree with most of what you have repeated and//or reiterated from My many effectual postings. But the one HUGE point that I disagree with, was your use of the phrase “using knowledge as a pedestal”.

    The shills for these scummy thieving companies aren’t any more “knowledgable” than their customers. That’s been rather obvious in this thread and elsewhere. No. They’re just much more underhandedly contradicting and conniving and amorally deceptive than their customers.

    That’s a BIG difference. As *your* chosen phrase
    seemed condescending towards the customers
    even as you were defending them.

    Anthony

  • http://automotivetraveler.com Rich Truesdell

    Chris is saying what I said back in August when I got throttled and was told by different people, what that meant after watch an HD movie on Netflix. Some T-Mobile reps said it was 2G speed, some said it was 700kbs, others said they didn’t know. All I knew was that I was throttled down to 51kb, which rendered the phone useless for the rest of my billing cycle.

    What did I do? I went out and bought a Virgin Mobile Android for $150 and a $30 card for airtime and data access. Not only did it solve my data problem (I didn’t stream any more Netflix movies but I consumed an unknown amount of data without being throttled) but Virgin’s coverage (provided by Sprint) was superior to T-Mobile’s.

    Ultimately I had to return the Virgin Android phone because it wouldn’t work with the Bluetooth uConnect setup in my Dodge Challenger (or any other Chrysler uConnect-equipped vehicle) but I think that I’m going to pay the ETM on my T-Mobile contract (I have four months left so it will be $50) and get an unlocked Android (tons on amazon.com), port my existing number, and activate it on either Virgin or Boost Mobile, another carrier using Sprint’s network.

    For $55 a month or less, I’ll have what I want, unfettered data access and all the minutes I need. Currently I’m on a grandfathered plan on T-Mobile at $89 a month with 5GB of data. I used the Virgin Android tethered to my laptop and iPad 2 after installing Quick Settings to access the hidden tethering menu.

    As Chris again pointed out above, and I pointed out earlier, the carriers are actively promoting smartphones that by their very design, consume data and the carriers, under the guise of saying it strains the network, cut you off or throttle you even though your plan says “unlimited.” The word unlimited should never be used with an asterick. It’s a contradiction in terms and as I pointed out, it’s misleading at best and most likely deceptive.

  • commonsense247

    @chris Great points and intelligent civil discussion.
    I agree that technical issues should be better explained in laymen’s terms – I deal with this everyday and often times seem to be the only one in the game software company I work for that tries to keep that in mind, especially as technological changes develop and have an impact on our customers.
    I think tech companies serving the general public should employ an ombudsman of sorts, that ‘translates’ into understandable concepts what they are developing and what they offer and how it affects the customer. Some do this quite well already while others fail miserably.

    No, I think you’re definitely wrong – people would not avoid the wireless data plans if they knew their movie watching would be limited by bandwidth, and history proves my point to be correct. They’d still use them for fast browsing, music streaming, sending and receiving pictures, social network functionality, and all of the speedy functionality that smartphones (android, blackberry, iphone) use in their various apps. Prior to the availability to download and watch movies, they were still used for these purposes.. and even paid more for the data plans than they cost now.
    I do agree that companies – not just telecom – need to be completely forthright and explain their plans in detail and how it affects the customer, in simple laymen’s terms and with examples. When they’re not, they should be called out and made to account for it.
    As I’ve said several times in my posts here, in my experience I have not found that T-Mobile has misled or withheld details of their data plans and how they affect the customer.

    However many of the issues here and the defense of their use and abuse sounds alot more akin to the tendency of our society to (1) want alot for next to nothing, (2) become accustomed to a certain unguaranteed or specified condition and then complain when that availability changes, and (3) try to find ways to cheat the system in order to satisfy wants.. all creating the environment of entitlement.

  • Anthony

    More utterly common BULLSHIT from the Common NonSense Shill Guy!! And, actually, the last part of that Chris Guy’s post leads Me to believe, once again, that this Common Guy, just creates sock puppets (like his ‘Absinsthe Hallucinatory’ Guy, one of his other Socks) to further insult customers to varying degrees and//or to “civilly” “agree” with himself to varying degrees. The Chris post looked great up until he insults customers in the last paragraph while seemingly defending them.

    Read between the T-Mobile Shill smokescreens folks!! Common NonSense
    Guy–: T-Mobile Shill Guy is using sock puppets to argue amongst himself while attacking the customers even when he is defending them, with some of his lame sock puppets!! :o ) Can’t wait to hear what this “Chris” puppet says back
    to himself the “Common” troll puppet master. I am sure it will be very “civil”. :o ) Sheesh.

    His agenda seems pretty clear, even while some of his socks disagree to a degree they ALL eventually sneak in some condescending negative digs about the customers even while “civilly” disagreeing with Common Guy!! I believe that Common Guy is one of those guys T-Mobile hires to abuse the customers when they call into cancel right after realizing they’ve been suckered into a useless non-working “Unlimited” 2 year plan which is quite simply NOT Unlimited and where they cripple your speed to BELOW some dial-up speeds for the rest of each month, if you merely watch a few NetFlick movies and YouTube for a few days, etc.!! HELLO!? :o )

    Anthony

  • chris

    Wow, you have made my day, anthony. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. I am no ones puppet, I just wanted to say my piece and maybe stimulate my mind a bit before I went to bed.

    I “civilly” disagreed because I did not agree with commonsense247′s point of view, and I attempt to be a civil person……… It really doesn’t help anything to be otherwise. I somewhat understand the average consumers point of view because, alas, I am a customer of T-mobile. I also somewhat understand commonsense247′s point of view, because I am employed in the technical field, and have been for over 20 years.
    I am a very heavy bandwidth user and I often go over my allotted 5 Gb. I won’t go so far as to list all the ways I use my bandwidth, but I will say that a lot of it involves mobile app research, development and testing.

    I also understand the reality of the situation. I signed a contract, just like you. I read the contract very carefully, and I am fully aware that at that 5 gb mark, I will effectively (for my purposes, anyway)be cut off. No, it’s not fun, or cool. It pretty much sucks. The difference is I take responsibility for my actions. Combine that with a healthy dose of reality, and you would quickly understand that no matter how much you want it to be different, it’s not going to be, and no amount of trashing people in blog comments is going to change that in the slightest.
    Now, if you already know this, then you are only here to be a problem, and therefore no longer worth wasting time on. If you prove this to be true, as I suspect you will, this will be the last time I speak to you, because I have better things to spend my time on.

    @Commonsense247, a lot of what you say is grounded in truth, and I tend to agree about a general sense of entitlement, But for me that falls in the arena of politics, so I’ll leave that alone. My issue with companies like Tmobile and all major capitalist corporations is a general lack of responsibility to the consumer. As someone with a secondary degree in design and advertising, I am fully aware that they know the power of advertising, and use it to full advantage against the ignorance of the consumer. They feed the machine. When people feel a sense of entitlement, they will go to great lengths to get what they feel they deserve, including going into debt and/or living beyond their means. Companies love this, they get theirs no matter how poor the chump is who bought the product. Witness Apple and the iPhone, statistically, iPhone users are more likely to be overdrawn in their main bank account than users of any other mobile platform. Why is this? Because Apple creates an air of “must have at all expense”. They engage in the promotion of a lifestyle, which just happens to be very costly and include their phone. People buy things they don’t even need because some group of people that are paid to manipulate you hit a home run with a sexy woman and revving motor sounds.

    Now is all of this the fault of a company like Tmobile? No, But they are not just letting ignorance be, they are actively promoting it through advertising. Does a man who sees a beer commercial with a beautiful woman really believe that drinking said beer will get him that woman? No, however he may find himself more inclined to buy that brand of beer, because we can be influenced against our will and without our consent. If this wasn’t true, these companies wouldn’t spend billions of dollars a year on it.

    Anyway, I’ve rambled enough for the evening, cant wait to hear what is to be said.

  • commonsense247

    @chris
    you say that ‘entitlement’ is in the arena of politics and you’ll leave that alone, and then proceed to bask in the light of politics while talking about major capitalist corporations, entitlement, and advertising.
    quite conflicted there.

    all of this subject has to do with responsibility – at the personal level, the corporate level, and as a society.

  • Anthony

    Okay, Chris, you’ve convinced Me that you’re not a mere sock puppet, since you obviously have a sense of humor and such!! :o )

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Well, I responded too quickly, really, without reading your entire post!! It seems you really were more inclined to accept that idiot, Common Sense Guy’s stance, when you read your post in its entirety!! I just think you, were shaded erroneously with your technical internet background, which apparently, makes you tend to lean more towards the fraudulent facade of the internet providers for whatever fucked-up reasons. You seem to be much too apologetic about the clear deceptions involved!! Something doesn’t compute!!

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Well, I responded too quickly, really, without reading your entire post!! It seems you really were more inclined to accept that idiot, Common NonSense Guy’s stance, when you read your post in its entirety!! I just think you, were shaded erroneously with your technical internet background, which apparently, makes you tend to lean more towards the fraudulent facade of the internet providers for whatever fucked-up reasons. You seem to be much too apologetic about the clear deceptions involved!! Something doesn’t compute!!

  • chris

    @commonsense247

    eh, you got me. I did stand at the pulpit for a few. That’s what I get for posting with the grogginess of sleep weighing on me.

    And you are absolutely correct in your summation of the issue in responsibility. I am not letting the individual off the hook, merely saying that your original posts were very rigid, and blamed only the consumer. My desire was to get you to accede that it is not that cut and dried, and that the companies share in the blame for not being forthright in a way that is easily understood.

    @anthony
    As I stated to Commonsense, I don’t really think either one of you are correct in your rigid stance on the issue. You, like I, signed a contract. No matter how much we bitch and moan about it, nothing is going to change that or the wording in the contract. I am not leaning towards the ISP’s….. I think they are part of the problem and not interested in solving the issue any time soon. Unfortunately, they are a necessary evil. They have what everyone needs in this day and age of information, bandwidth.
    Commonsense is also correct about some other things, there is a severe limitation to the wireless bandwidth available. It’s not even as easy as putting up more towers, either. The more towers you add to an area, the more interference you generate, causing all signals to degrade.
    On your side of the argument, however, I could make the point that the wireless carriers have admitted that they oversell bandwidth. but really what are they going to do, stop selling phones so we can have all the data we want? They would quickly go out of business without steady growth. It is the nature of the beast.
    Supply and demand.
    Im not as angry as you, because I feel I understand the nature of the situation, and know that it is delicately balanced as it is. I know you don’t like the way things are, but if you think about it, you REALLY do not want the alternatives. So calm down, learn about the technology, and offer real, well thought-out solutions instead of ranting and raving and calling names. That way we might get through the problems instead of getting mired in them.

  • Anthony

    Well, Chris, all you did was repeat all the arguments that I’ve been making all along in your first posting to this site, and your only additions to the reiterations of what I’ve already covered effectually well, was, your condescending comments towards the customers which gave away your warped thought processes which are as warped as Common NonSense guy’s in the key anti-customer (i.e the customers are “dumb”) kind of a mindset, which reared its ugly head in your last paragraph of your initial posting here. And showed in your follow-up postings, as well, in key spots.

    As far as “name-calling” or humorous insults, etc. I like to read entertaining and colorful commentaries. So, I write the kinds of stuff I enjoy reading, as well.

    And, I, have also, offered-up a bunch of solutions–: Stop lying to customers!! That a great solution!! Stop selling items and internet plans which promote watching HD movies on a regular basis!! Stop all of it, until they have a system in place that can handle all of that broadband consumption, if it really and truly can’t ALREADY!! Also, offer a better pricing plan, when it’s clear that 5gb’s won’t be enough for many customers!! Offer a half off price for the next 5gb’s, for instance!! So, instead of throttling, just add $25 dollars per 5gb’s overage!! So, if you do 10gb’s that would be $75 dollars for the month!! Or charge, $5 dollars per 1gb overage over the 5gb’s!! That kind of a thing would be a SMART compromise and then T-Mobile wouldn’t have to deal with all of these very reasonable and understandable lawsuits against their fraudulent and idiotically inflexible and gouging-tactics contracts that don’t even come close to being UNLIMITED MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICE!! HELLO!?

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Well, Chris, all you did was repeat all the arguments that I’ve been making all along in your first posting to this site, and your only additions to the reiterations of what I’ve already covered effectually well, was, your condescending comments towards the customers which gave away your warped thought processes which are as warped as Common NonSense Guy’s in the key anti-customer (i.e. the customers are “dumb”) kind of a mindset, which reared its ugly head in your last paragraph of your initial posting here. And showed in your follow-up postings, as well, in key spots.

    As far as “name-calling” or humorous insults, etc. I like to read entertaining and colorful commentaries. So, I write the kinds of stuff I enjoy reading, as well.

    And, I, have also, offered-up a bunch of solutions–: Stop lying to customers!! That a great solution!! Stop selling items and internet plans which promote watching HD movies on a regular basis!! Stop all of it, until they have a system in place that can handle all of that broadband consumption, if it really and truly can’t ALREADY!! Also, offer a better pricing plan, when it’s clear that 5gb’s won’t be enough for many customers!! Offer a half off price for the next 5gb’s, for instance!! So, instead of throttling, just add $25 dollars per 5gb’s overage!! So, if you do 10gb’s that would be $75 dollars for the month!! Or charge, $5 dollars per 1gb overage over the 5gb’s!! That kind of a thing would be a SMART compromise and then T-Mobile wouldn’t have to deal with all of these very reasonable and understandable lawsuits against their fraudulent and idiotically inflexible and gouging-tactics contracts that don’t even come *close* to being ‘UNLIMITED MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICE’….!! HELLO!?

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Well, Chris, all you did was repeat all the arguments that I’ve been making all along in your first posting to this site, and your only additions to the reiterations of what I’ve already covered effectually well, was, your condescending comments towards the customers which gave away your warped thought processes which are as warped as Common NonSense Guy’s in the key anti-customer (i.e. the customers are “dumb”) kind of a mindset, which reared its ugly head in your last paragraph of your initial posting here. And showed in your follow-up postings, as well, in key spots.

    As far as “name-calling” or humorous insults, etc. I like to read entertaining and colorful commentaries. So, I write the kinds of stuff I enjoy reading, as well.

    And, I, have also, offered-up a bunch of solutions–: Stop lying to customers!! That’s a great solution!! Stop selling items and internet plans which promote watching HD movies on a regular basis!! Stop all of it, until they have a system in place that can handle all of that broadband consumption, if it really and truly can’t ALREADY!! Also, offer a better pricing plan, when it’s clear that 5gb’s won’t be enough for many customers!! Offer a half off price for the next 5gb’s, for instance!! So, instead of throttling, just add $25 dollars per 5gb’s overage!! So, if you do 10gb’s that would be $75 dollars for the month!! Or charge, $5 dollars per 1gb overage over the 5gb’s!!

    That kind of a thing would be a SMART compromise and then T-Mobile wouldn’t have to deal with all of these very reasonable and understandable lawsuits against their fraudulent and idiotically inflexible and gouging-tactics contracts that don’t even come *close* to being ‘UNLIMITED MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICE’….!! HELLO!?

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Richard, your new post hasn’t showed up here yet, but I received it via email already–: And I was shocked at how WIMPY you were in it!! Still, saying it is “most likely deceptive” is so wishy-washy after all we know!! It really proves to Me why thievingly DECEPTIVE (i.e. LYING) companies like T-Mobile think they can get away with stuff like this–: With customers like YOU who severely naively STILL try to give them even a little benefit of the doubt. It’s ridiculous. It’s clearly DECEPTIVE what they’re doing. My God, why are so many willing to give these gouging corporate juggernauts even a little break when it comes to them lying through their teeth with their false advertising and promises, etc.!! Sheesh. Wow.

    Anthony

  • Anthony

    Richard, your new post hasn’t shown-up here yet, but I received it via email already–: And I was shocked at how WIMPY you were in it!! Still, saying it is “most likely deceptive” is so wishy-washy after all we know!! It really proves to Me why thievingly DECEPTIVE (i.e. LYING) companies like T-Mobile think they can get away with stuff like this–: With customers like YOU who severely naively STILL try to give them even a little benefit of the doubt. It’s ridiculous. It’s clearly DECEPTIVE what they’re doing. My God, why are so many willing to give these gouging corporate juggernauts even a little break when it comes to them lying through their teeth with their false advertising and promises, etc.!! Sheesh. Wow.

    Anthony

  • SW

    I just left Tmobile after their was a mix up with my phone payment plan being cut off early. They ‘could not’ or ‘would not’ fix it. I paid the bill and left I was lucky I didn’t have a contact with them.

    But my bro in law does and he was mislead into thinking he could get two smartphones with 5gb of data for the same price he had been paying for only one phone having that data. Well once he resigned he was told for 5gb it would cost $20 more a month. And he couldn’t have that new smartphone without paying full price if he wanted it on payments.

    He called up and was told he was mislead and they were say but they couldn’t do anything about it.

    Now my sister has a smartphone that is getting throlled at 1.5 Gb’s she’s not even getting her 2gb’s before they slow her down.

    I’m just glad I’m done with Tmobile, I’ve went prepaid with truly unlimited data plan.

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  • Robert Thadani

    I am having the same problem with throttling.
    T-mobile has my account throttled into the next billing cycle. I called tech support and they told me “sorry for some reason the system won’t let us restart your device on the network and you will have wait till 1 AM (25 hours) into the next billing cycle to have your speeds return to normal.
    This not what I expected when I left Sprint.

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