T-Mobile reducing data caps from 3GB per month to 500MB.

TheOtherOption · 11 Jan 2011 at 00:36

Balls. Went with T-Mobile purely for their 3GB android allowance and now this ...

Will defo keep an eye on how this progresses - don't really want to have to cancel and move but if it comes down to it I will!

manveruppd · 11 Jan 2011 at 00:37

I urge you all to send these news to sites like Slashdot, Boing Boing, Gizmodo and Engadget, pointing out what a blow to net neutrality this new policy is. I did, and I'm hoping if there's enough bad publicity on widely-read blogs they might backtrack on it.

TheOtherOption · 11 Jan 2011 at 00:45

Good idea - I've also "tipped" Engadget just now with the link to the t-mobile help and support page - see if they post something relating to it!

Will post about it on twitter too - see if their customer support people cough up the same rubbish excuses ...

Janesy B · 11 Jan 2011 at 00:47

They'll be getting a letter from me. I rely heavily on data and 3gb to 500mb with less than a months notice is pathetic.

stoke1863 · 11 Jan 2011 at 00:49

can anybody help here?

to be honest i have had this sim since November and this is the first time i have used it. I have just now signed into the t mobile site. I got my phone on mobiles.co.uk and then rang t-mobile to get the 3GB android allowance.

My account plan is called "Pay monthly 25ST (18 months)" and nowehre on my account does it say i have any data alloance.

Your plan includes:
300 minutes
Your minutes and texts are from the UK to UK mobile networks and numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 (excluding Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man).
300 texts
Your minutes and texts are from the UK to UK mobile networks and numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 (excluding Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man).

and on my boosters i have unlimited texts and video calling.

Why isnt my data plan showing on there site?

manveruppd · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:06

TheOtherOption said:
Good idea - I've also "tipped" Engadget just now with the link to the t-mobile help and support page - see if they post something relating to it!

Will post about it on twitter too - see if their customer support people cough up the same rubbish excuses ...

Nice one, let's all start a complaints campaign!

Here's a theoretical question for people: say someone's 3-4 months into a contract, got a new phone with it. Obviously you'll be allowed to cancel with this, I don't see how they can get out of letting you, but what happens to your £400 phone? They can't take it back, as it's used, but they can't keep forcing you to pay for it if you leave!

Janesy B · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:11

You keep the phone. It's not part of the contract.

The text I got reads as follows:

We wanted to let you know that from 2nd Feb the fair use policy amount for internet on your phone will be 500MB a month. For details see t-mobile.co.uk/datachanges. If you do reach your limit don't worry, you'll still be able to browse and use email

manveruppd · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:12

stoke1863 said:
can anybody help here?

to be honest i have had this sim since November and this is the first time i have used it. I have just now signed into the t mobile site. I got my phone on mobiles.co.uk and then rang t-mobile to get the 3GB android allowance.

My account plan is called "Pay monthly 25ST (18 months)" and nowehre on my account does it say i have any data alloance.

Your plan includes:
300 minutes
Your minutes and texts are from the UK to UK mobile networks and numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 (excluding Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man).
300 texts
Your minutes and texts are from the UK to UK mobile networks and numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 (excluding Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man).

and on my boosters i have unlimited texts and video calling.

Why isnt my data plan showing on there site?

I was looking at mobiles.co.uk cause I was shopping for a contract quite recently and if the Internet booster was included it would say "Unlimited web browsing" on the website. What did T-Mobile say when you called them? Cause generally if you buy through a reseller the 3GB internet allowance isn't AUTOMATICALLY included like it is if you buy from TMobile directly, even if you get it with an Android phone - you have to use your included booster to get the 1GB internet allowance, and it seems like you chose different ones. I'm sure you can change them though, just dump the video calling.
(TBH this is a bit OT and you should start a different thread for it)

manveruppd · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:14

Janesy B said:
You keep the phone. It's not part of the contract.

Wow, so they'll effectively have to give lots of phones away for free to people who signed up recently?

Pity I don't have mine yet

stoke1863 · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:18

manveruppd said:
I was looking at mobiles.co.uk cause I was shopping for a contract quite recently and if the Internet booster was included it would say "Unlimited web browsing" on the website. What did T-Mobile say when you called them? Cause generally if you buy through a reseller the 3GB internet allowance isn't AUTOMATICALLY included like it is if you buy from TMobile directly, even if you get it with an Android phone - you have to use your included booster to get the 1GB internet allowance, and it seems like you chose different ones. I'm sure you can change them though, just dump the video calling.
(TBH this is a bit OT and you should start a different thread for it)

I talked them into pretending it was a mistake by then. They droped the "unlimited web booster" and included it into my standard plan. (web n talk)

that freed up a booster so i had unlimited text

edit my bill summary says

Your monthly plan charges
300Mins&300Text(18)25 £21.28
Unltd Text Booster (FB) for 4/12/10 to 3/1/11 Free
web'n'walk Plus (18) Free
Monthly charge total £21.28

Crizzy · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:19

This is a joke, I have just received my new handset and wanted to stay with T-mobile because of their internet usage policy. I use spotify to stream music to my phone and do a fair amount of web browsing too.

If you want to download, stream and watch video clips, save that stuff for your home broadband.

Cheeky beggers, don't tell me how to use my phone!

I am one week into my cooling off period so I might as well just phone up and cancel and go somewhere else.

thepeganator · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:21

Crizzy said:
This is a joke, I have just received my new handset and wanted to stay with T-mobile because of their internet usage policy. I use spotify to stream music to my phone and do a fair amount of web browsing too.

Cheeky beggers, don't tell me how to use my phone!

I am one week into my cooling off period so I might as well just phone up and cancel and go somewhere else.

Or you could cancel due to the contract change and keep the phone....

This is only a day old, wait a few days to let the internet legal guys get their hands on this and sort out the wording that you'll need to use to get out of your contract.

stoke1863 · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:25

yea im sure in two or three days there will be a template going around that will get us out of this

Spartacus · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:35

This sucks for T-Mobile customers, ..I would say you have a strong case for getting out of your contracts.

The 2 best options for data seem to be giffgaff or Three now.

giffgaff - Sim cards are free and theres no contract, simply pay as you go with truly Unlimited data...

Is unlimited really unlimited?
The answer is yes, we are unlimited for personal mobile use - but not for commercial and automated use. Mobile Internet allowances exclude PC use and tethering

...Only downside no Tethering allowed, and it runs on the O2 network which has pretty shabby 3G coverage in some parts of the UK.

Three - The one plan now has All-you-can-eat data , This is also truly Unlimited data and you CAN Tether your phone. One plan starts from £25 per month, which isnt too bad considering you also get 5000 texts and 2000 anytime minutes to any network.

Also consider Three's 1 month rolling sim only contracts. These are advertised as having 1GB of data, but in actual fact you get 2GB allowance per month as the data is included via a free internet add-on which has recently been upped from 1GB to 2GB. Im on the £15 sim only contract and my3 shows 2048mb of data to use at the start of every billing month under usage

Only downside with Three, theyve started switching off 2G fall-back in some parts of the country, so unless you live in an area with blanket 3G coverage I wouldnt sign up to a long term deal.

Crizzy · 11 Jan 2011 at 01:45

thepeganator said:
Or you could cancel due to the contract change and keep the phone....

I'm not sure that would work as I am still in my cooling off period but yeah worth a try.

More on here:

http://twitter.com/TmobileUKhelp

T mobile seem to think that you cannot cancel a contract as it is a 'non core' service. I believe it is as I use my phone for the internet more than I do for calls. I hope they don't get out of this due to a technicality.

Probably cancel my contract buy a new phone and maybe go giffgaff or something, even though their coverage probably isn't as good.

manveruppd · 11 Jan 2011 at 02:10

I'm curious whether they'll actually block services other than web and email. From the sounds of things they're saying feel free to browse and email as much as you want and even go over your "fair use" limit and we won't charge you if you do. So presumably the FU limit (pun intended) exists for all OTHER services (the ones they say you're not supposed to use, like streaming video, VOIP, tethering etc) otherwise it's meaningless to have a FU limit. So I'm guessing those services won't be blocked, but they might throttle you after you go over the FU limit.

(Not trying to find a silver lining here, I'm still gonna cancel, I've already emailed buymobilephones.net in fact - just curious exactly what the new T&Cs are)

muon · 11 Jan 2011 at 02:35

Spartacus said:
Also consider Three's 1 month rolling sim only contracts. These are advertised as having 1GB of data, but in actual fact you get 2GB allowance per month as the data is included via a free internet add-on which has recently been upped from 1GB to 2GB. Im on the £15 sim only contract and my3 shows 2048mb of data to use at the start of every billing month under usage

Cool, just got their £5 a month internet tariff.

dbmzk1 · 11 Jan 2011 at 03:20

Alpherah said:
No one have received a text or a letter. T-mobile seem to think a website announcement is enough. And yes it effects everyone

-edit-
For example, i have two android contracts with T-mobile (by me, i mean 'in the household' rather then personally).
Both should have the 3gb limit.

One remains at it used to on my account features.
The other now has lost "Android Data" and displays "Capped Data Rate" instead.

Mine never said Android Data.

All Capped Data Rate means is that they limit how much you can spend on data, so that you will never spend more than x £ per day no matter how much data you use. All accounts should have it.

stoke1863 said:
Why isnt my data plan showing on there site?

Mine has never showed up, wouldn't worry about it.

EDIT:

Mine has always been like this:

Spartacus · 11 Jan 2011 at 04:08

manveruppd said:
they might throttle you after you go over the FU limit.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but dont T-Mobile throttle/limit your speed to around 300k anyway unless your on the web n walk+ thingy with the 3GB FUP?

I wonder how this will work for T-Mobile customers when its lowered to 500MB

Charlie Bravo · 11 Jan 2011 at 07:11

If you cancel, I doubt you will keep the handset. Phones are subsidised by the network so therefore unless you complete the term you agreed to, they will have the phone back.

I had a seperate line with 3 a few years back and managed to get out of the 18 month contract only 8 months in due to network issues. I had to send the handset (N95 8gb) back within 5 days in order to do so though.