T-Mobile "Unlimited Data Plans" - a scam.

[reallyscrued]

So you're a T-Mo US customer right? It looks like the 5GB limit is in fact in their terms and conditions and has been for years (check the previous revision of the T&C from 2008, the 5GB hard cap is mentioned there as well).

http://www.t-mobile.com/Templates/Po...ons&print=true

Still don't understand why this is a valid point...

if it's being advertised as unlimited...it should be delivered as unlimited. Why are people trying to talk like lawyers mentioning words like moderation and such....it's advertised as UNLIMITED. Do you honestly not see the consumer's side in the argument here?

There is a thin line between this being a fair business practice and a flat out bait-and-switch. Oh, thought it was unlimited? Nah...we're gonna cap you off just a little north of the amount of data you can fit on a DVD-R 5. Freaking ridiculous. There will be a court case about this one day that will turn the tables on the way they can advertise such services, wait and see.

Just wait and see.

 

[frostedflakes]

If you check the T-Mo site, they are also careful to put an asterisk next to Unlimited in their advertisements with a little footnote that says "we have the right to limit usage if you use a disproportionate amount of bandwidth, blah blah blah." Maybe they didn't have this when OP signed up, but currently it's all over their site. This page for example.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/C...obileBroadband

And here.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/C...oup=Individual

And I'm not going to claim that the advertising isn't deceptive in some cases. But when you sign the contract, you're saying that you have read, understand, and agree to the terms and conditions for the service. So it's kind of hard for me to be sympathetic when someone complains about a 5GB limit that is stated clear as day in the T&C that they were supposed to have read.

 

[reallyscrued]

If you check the T-Mo site, they are also careful to put an asterisk next to Unlimited in their advertisements with a little footnote that says "we have the right to limit usage if you use a disproportionate amount of bandwidth, blah blah blah." Maybe they didn't have this when OP signed up, but currently it's all over their site. This page for example.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/C...obileBroadband

And here.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/C...oup=Individual

And I'm not going to claim that the advertising isn't deceptive in some cases. But when you sign the contract, you're saying that you have read, understand, and agree to the terms and conditions for the service. So it's kind of hard for me to be sympathetic when someone complains about a 5GB limit that is stated clear as day in the T&C that they were supposed to have read.

Bait and switch. Be sympathetic.


Unlimited Internet Access!*

*Not unlimited.


Man, that's one powerful usage of punctuation. Not to mention sleazy and unethical. Maybe one day when you possibly sign into an agreement where you didn't happen to read all the fine print and ask for some sympathy, everyone on this forum can gawk at you and claim you should have carefully read the TOS!


Works on contingency
No money down!

 

[reallyscrued]

Don't get me wrong, light users do kind of get screwed over. I think I remember Comcast saying at some point that median bandwidth usage is only like 2-3GB/mo. But your idea of staggered pricing probably isn't realistic, because bandwidth isn't the only cost of operating an ISP (truthfully, it's probably a relatively tiny chunk of the pie since most major ISPs have so many peering agreements). There are fixed costs like administration, network maintenance, etc. that don't really change if a customer is using more or less bandwidth than another.

That's really my issue with this whole scenario. Bandwidth allocation is probably a very small chunk of what they are doing with my monthly payment yet I'm stuck to a rigid allowance of how much data I can go through. It would almost make more sense if they put time frames on it, like keeping from maxing out your line during prime-time usage, as per your telecommunications analogy.

 

[frostedflakes]

But the thing is, it is unlimited in some ways. There are no limits on the duration you can stay connected to the service, for example. And as others have pointed out, technically there are no hard limits on bandwidth usage either. You can go past 5GB, but they will just throttle the heck out of you after that point. But if you can live with the slow speeds, you can keep using the service and probably rack up 6GB, 7GB, etc. (although if you really push it, using tens of GB a month for example, then they might threaten to cut you off or do something more drastic).

I guess I've pretty much just accepted that companies will embellish the truth at least a bit in their advertisements, and if you really want to know all the details about what you're signing up for you need to read the fine print and ToS. I wouldn't sign up for a credit card for example without looking over the ToS (often they advertise introductory rates and stuff like that and you have to read the details to see what your actual interest rates once the introductory one expires will be). I don't see why it should be any different for a cell phone contract or a contract for any other monthly service you sign up for. I'm not going to put my name on something based on blind belief of advertisements that may not be telling you the full story.

 

[reallyscrued]

But the thing is, it is unlimited in some ways. There are no limits on the duration you can stay connected to the service, for example. And as others have pointed out, technically there are no hard limits on bandwidth usage either. You can go past 5GB, but they will just throttle the heck out of you after that point. But if you can live with the slow speeds, you can keep using the service and probably rack up 6GB, 7GB, etc. (although if you really push it, using tens of GB a month for example, then they might threaten to cut you off or do something more drastic).

I guess I've pretty much just accepted that companies will embellish the truth at least a bit in their advertisements, and if you really want to know all the details about what you're signing up for you need to read the fine print and ToS. I wouldn't sign up for a credit card for example without looking over the ToS (often they advertise introductory rates and stuff like that and you have to read the details to see what your actual interest rates once the introductory one expires will be). I don't see why it would be any different for a cell phone contract or a contract for any other monthly service you sign up for.

True. I guess since the credit card companies get away with it, we should assume all companies will jump on the bandwagon to blindside any uninformed consumer whenever possible, correct? I guess the business ethics class they teach on college campuses are really just formalities in this day and age. Truth be told, I'm playing devil's advocate here and I understand it's pretty much the core principle of new-age capitalism in America.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, but Comcast can still suck it.

 

[alkemyst]

Still don't understand why this is a valid point...

if it's being advertised as unlimited...it should be delivered as unlimited. Why are people trying to talk like lawyers mentioning words like moderation and such....it's advertised as UNLIMITED. Do you honestly not see the consumer's side in the argument here?

There is a thin line between this being a fair business practice and a flat out bait-and-switch. Oh, thought it was unlimited? Nah...we're gonna cap you off just a little north of the amount of data you can fit on a DVD-R 5. Freaking ridiculous. There will be a court case about this one day that will turn the tables on the way they can advertise such services, wait and see.

Just wait and see.

you forgot to add: *shakes fist*

 

[shortylickens]

Still don't understand why this is a valid point...

if it's being advertised as unlimited...it should be delivered as unlimited. Why are people trying to talk like lawyers mentioning words like moderation and such....it's advertised as UNLIMITED. Do you honestly not see the consumer's side in the argument here?

There is a thin line between this being a fair business practice and a flat out bait-and-switch. Oh, thought it was unlimited? Nah...we're gonna cap you off just a little north of the amount of data you can fit on a DVD-R 5. Freaking ridiculous. There will be a court case about this one day that will turn the tables on the way they can advertise such services, wait and see.

Just wait and see.

In all fairness it is unlimited. After you hit 5 gigs it either slows down a lot or you pay by the meg. But you still get data forever.
But I dont doubt you about this going to court someday. And in the end whether they win or lose they will be publicly humiliated and have to change their advertising. It will need to be obvious exactly how they scale the data.

 

[SSSnail]

Well, my whole point of this is what is this world coming to? Instead of innovations, and advertising on what you can do BETTER than your competitors, they have to resort to bait-and-switch and shady advertising tactics. What happens to ingenuity? Integrity? What happens to the day when you have distinctive features on your products that are BETTER than your competitors, and not how clever or deceptive your advertising is? What's even sadder is that the apathetic lot is cheering them on and accept these dishonest tactics as the norm. What is wrong with you? It speaks volume about your moral compass and values.

That, essentially, is what's wrong with America today. Everybody is clamoring about profits; everybody just care about the bottom line and innovation be damned. While we sit here and argue about semantics, the world passes us by, but that's OK in your views, some of you anyways.

If your network is unable to handle the load, then don't advertise it an come up short on delivery. It's that simple. If your product is lacking, go back to the drawing board and improve it, don't try to hide it with colorful words and deception. That is all, I'm done.

 

[alkemyst]

Super Suck?