T-Mobile has garnered a reputation for standing out from the crowd in what it’s willing to do, and today it’s taking another interesting step. The company is now going after what it calls “network abusers,” which are T-Mobile users who are taking advantage of the company’s network and its unlimited 4G LTE data plan.
The unlimited data plan comes with 7GB of data for tethering and unlimited reduced-speed tethering after that, with the option to pay for more high-speed tethering data as needed. However, some T-Mobile customers are using all sorts of workaround to hide their tethering data, allowing them to use high-speed tethering data unchecked. T-Mobile has developed technology that has allowed them to see which customers are using these workarounds and has decided to take a stance against them, as some of the customers are using — or in T-Mobile’s words, “stealing” — as much as 2TB (that’s 2000GB!) of data every month.
The total number of users who are using these workarounds comes to about 3,000, which is a small amount, but even those few can have a significant impact on the data speeds for their area. To combat them, T-Mobile is sending out warnings to all of the customers beginning this morning, August 31. If the customers don’t stop abusing the data plan, T-Mobile will move them to the cheapest plan with a set amount of 4G LTE data, thus neutralizing the workarounds, which rely on labeling tethering usage as smartphone data usage.
The move could be controversial, but most will likely support the fact that T-Mobile is taking care of its network by eliminating those that are knowingly and intentionally taking advantage of T-Mobile’s unlimited data offer. In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. We’ll keep you posted if anything notable happens.
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