T-Mobile Slashes Fair Use Policy, Says Download At Home 364
nk497 writes "T-Mobile in the UK has revealed a new fair use policy, cutting caps from 1GB and 3GB to 500MB, saying mobile browsing doesn't include videos or large downloads. 'If you want to download, stream and watch video clips, save that stuff for your home broadband,' the company said. All those people who have bought smartphones with the aim of doing such things on the go may not agree with the mobile operator, however. Any user that goes over the new limit won't be charged, but will be blocked from downloading or streaming for the rest of the month."
slow network? (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope the public sees that as admission of having a bad network and move elsewhere :-)
Bait & switch (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm assuming this switch does not apply to people they've already baited?
Reality setting in (Score:5, Interesting)
I seriously doubt any mobile operator will be able to satisfy smart phone usage long term. They build out a new generation of towers with a higher data rate, then people buy new phones and saturate it.
As soon as smartphones stopped being $500 up front + $100/mo yuppie and power user toys and aspired to become mainstream products the math of wireless bandwidth simply must be taken into account.
Now if someone would tell the marketing depts at the mobile operators so they stop running endless ads showing users watching movies and music videos on their phones.... and video chatting. And downloading huge attachments.
Re:slow network? (Score:5, Interesting)
The reality is the public will soon realise this cap is not about downloading but screwing people when they make video calls and don't realise how quickly they are chewing up the cap, as you can only make video calls via the internet (double billing upload and download).
Dear T-Mobile, (Score:4, Interesting)
I was a customer until this morning, spending approximately £50/month with you for three years.
Today I'll switch to Vodafone UK, they have a suckier network but at least they offer reasonable caps. Look for a number portability request today from a customer with a number ending in 573 and you'll know it's me.
Re:Bait & switch (Score:5, Interesting)
We have a telecomms regulator with the regulatory ability of a bribed, wet cabbage in a soggy brown paper bag.
Yes I am a bloody angry t-mobile customer with an Android phone, and I will go elsewhere as soon as I can afford it. This is not the only example ot t-mo UK being scum.
Too much demand (Score:4, Interesting)
Think what you want, but the demand for 3G bandwidth is growing too fast to satisfy it. With ever more smartphones and very soon a flood of tablets sold you can not have unlimited data if you really use it.
What I don't get is the methods they're applying here. They should offer cheap 300 MB, not so cheap 2 GB and not at all cheap 10 GB or so. And then they shouldn't just cut you off but throttle speed to EDGE speeds if you hit your allowance. Nobody would complain then. In fact in Germany almost all carriers do exactly that and most people seem to see such offers as quite reasonable especially since the lower bandwidth offers are rather cheap (like 7 Euro a month for 500 MB 3G and unlimited EDGE after that).
Anyway, the practice of selling phones with contracts bites the customer here. If you outright buy an unlocked handset and then buy your bandwidth month by month where it's cheapest there's some real competition. If enough people are bound by a 2-year contract or so there's hardly any.