Tethering is using your smartphone as a mobile wi-fi hotspot. It’s a handy way to get online when you’re, say, stuck at the dentist’s office and need to turn in some work. It’s also against the rules for customers with legacy unlimited-data plans from AT&T, for obvious reasons. One customer who has one of these plans is currently fighting with AT&T: they want him to stop tethering, and he says that he isn’t. [More]
unlimited data
Verizon Announces $20/Month Bill Increase For Few Remaining Unlimited Data Plan Customers
By 10.8.15
If you’ve been bragging to everyone you know that you’re still part of Verizon’s $29.99/month unlimited data plan, you might want to quiet down just a bit. That’s because the wireless provider is increasing your monthly bill by $20. [More]
T-Mobile CEO Has No Idea What People Are Doing With 2 TB Of Mobile Data, Vows To Stop Them
By 8.31.15
Heads up, mobile data hogs: T-Mobile is on to your tethering shenanigans and your testing the limits of what “unlimited data” means. In a blog post, CEO John Legere says that the company plans to go after its biggest “network abusers,” and it will begin today. What’s “abuse,” according to Legere? Using as much as two terabytes of data per month. [More]
AT&T: $100M Fine For Throttling Unlimited Data Users Is “Unlawful,” “Coercive,” “Indefensible”
By 7.28.15
In June, the FCC proposed a potentially $100 million fine against AT&T for allegedly failing to disclose to its “unlimited” data plan subscribers the extent to which their data access could be throttled if they used too much of it in any given month. The company recently responded to the allegations, and let’s just say that AT&T isn’t exactly thrilled. [More]
Sprint Backpedals, Won’t Slow Video Speeds For Unlimited Data Customers
By 7.1.15
Well, that was fast: A day after Sprint stirred up the ire of customers with its new “All-In” unlimited plan that stuck users with 3G speeds for streaming video, the company has now reversed course. [More]
Sprint’s New Unlimited Plan Covers The Phone, But Sticks You With 3G Streaming
By 6.30.15
In an attempt to show customers exactly what they’re paying for with their phone plans, Sprint is throwing its hat into the phone-leasing ring with a new “All-In” plan. The $80 monthly price includes a $20 leasing fee for the customer’s chosen device, as well as unlimited text, talk and data. [More]
Sprint CEO: Unlimited Data Works For Now But “Is Not Forever”
By 5.28.15
The era of unlimited mobile data has been in rapid decline over the past few years. It turns out that consumers really like using mobile broadband and that wireless companies really like making money, and when the two go hand in hand the whole “unlimited” thing doesn’t really work out in business’s favor as much as “charge for data” does. Sprint has been trying to attract new customers by fighting against that tide, but even the top exec of the company now says that’s ultimately likely to be a losing battle. [More]
T-Mobile Will Throttle Users Who “Misuse” Their Unlimited Data Plans
By 8.14.14
The Federal Communications Commission has told America’s wireless carriers that it’s fine if they want to drastically cut back the speed of data (or “throttle”) that their heaviest users have access to: they need to spell out to customers exactly what behaviors lead to throttling. T-Mobile has spelled this out quite clearly…in an internal memo for employees, not necessarily a clear guide for customers. [More]
Sprint Now Offering Guranteed Unlimited Everything For All Eternity
By 7.12.13
Like the Fountain of Youth, wireless customers always seem to be on a quest for the truly unlimited plan. Often, just when we think we’ve grasped it, it slips out of our hands like some ephemeral bit of Holy Grail hallucination when carriers yank it away. Sprint claims it has what those customers are looking for with its new unlimited talk, data and text plans, and is guaranteeing it forever. For. Ev. Er.* [More]
AT&T Took Away My Unlimited Data, Says ‘Tough’
By 7.2.13
Brad stuck with AT&T Wireless through thick and thin, through the terrible dark days when iPhones could barely connect to the network in some metropolitan areas. He stayed partly because he signed up as a customer back when unlimited data plans were still a thing. Then he got an iPhone upgrade and AT&T took away his unlimited data even though he didn’t ask them to. He is sad. [More]
Straight Talk’s Unlimited Data: Actually Sort Of Limited
By 1.30.13
A Straight Talk mobile plan with unlimited everything for $45 per month sounded pretty great to Thom, and he bought an unlocked Samsung Galaxy to use with the carrier. All has been well since September, when he subscribed to the plan, but now something terrible has come up. Limits. TracFone (Straight Talk is a joint venture between TracFone and Walmart) tells him that he’s running up against the plan’s unspoken 2 GB limit, and they reserve the right to cut him off. [More]
For Once, AT&T Being Incompetent Is Good News
By 11.30.12
Do you remember reader Aaron? We published his story about a month ago. He was stuck between two mobile providers. He ditched AT&T when his iPhone 5 was devouring so much data that his data connection got throttled. Fine, he said–he switched to Sprint, which has unlimited data, but painfully slow data. He resolved the situation by going back to AT&T, but here’s the interesting part: he got unlimited data back because AT&T thought that he had never canceled his account. Well, um, that’s nice. [More]
Should Sprint Tell Me That I Could Switch To A Cheaper Data Plan?
By 9.11.12
Amy may be the first reader in Consumerist history to complain about being left on an unlimited mobile data plan. She has tethering on her smartphone, which lets her use her phone as a mobile Internet hotspot. Yes, apps exist that can help you get around this limitation. Officially, if you want to tether, you generally have to pay for a data plan that includes it. Amy was paying for a $30/month plan, but learned that she was grandfathered in, and a cheaper plan existed. Sure, the cheaper plan only includes two gigabytes of data, but she never uses that much anyway. It costs $10 less. She wanted to alert her fellow Sprint customers to this change, and complain that the company didn’t let her know she had an opportunity to give them less money in exchange for capped data. [More]
Sprint Customers In Texas & Georgia May Now Have Access To 4G LTE Service
By 7.16.12
With Verizon already touting its 4G LTE roll-out and AT&T claiming that LTE is currently available in 47 markets around the country, third-place wireless competitor Sprint needs to do everything it can to compete. Over the weekend, the company finally flipped the switch on its LTE network, but unless you live in some parts of Texas, Georgia and Missouri, you’ll probably still be waiting. [More]
Call AT&T To Remove Unwanted Add-Ons, Lose Unlimited Data
By 6.21.12
Michael is one of the remaining unlimited data customers at AT&T Wireless, and got to keep this plan after upgrading to a shiny new iPhone 4S earlier this year. At least he thought he did. When he signed his new contract, he accidentally ended up with some add-ons he hadn’t requested, like roadside assistance and insurance on his phone. He called to remove these, and somehow this resulted in his losing his unlimited data plan and switching to a mere 3-gigabyte one. [More]
Verizon CFO Probably Wasn't Supposed To Say That Thing About Killing Grandfathered Unlimited Plans
By 5.17.12
Yesterday, the CFO of Verizon Wireless kicked the hornet’s nest that is the Internet by unofficially announcing that VZW would be killing off currently grandfathered unlimited data plans as customers made the shift from 3G to 4G LTE. Judging by the company’s response since then, he probably wasn’t supposed to let that particular cat out of the bag just yet. [More]
Nearly Half Of AT&T Unlimited Customers Could Save By Switching To 300MB Plan
By 3.15.12
While many, many AT&T wireless customers with so-called unlimited plans are justifiably furious at the company for throttling data speeds after a subscriber uses 3GB in one month, the results of a new survey show that nearly half of people with unlimited plans aren’t even using 300MB each month. [More]
Verizon Upgrades My Smartphone, Downgrades My Data Plan
By 3.9.12
At the end of last year, Christopher and his girlfriend upgraded their Verizon phones to a pair of lovely matching Samsung Galaxy Nexuses. They’ve both had Verizon data plans long enough that they’re grandfathered in to unlimited data, and Christopher has unlimited international data as well. Or…. he did. After the upgrade, his unlimited plan is gone, the employee who turned it off has (apparently) fled the country, and no one at corporate or the local Verizon store knows how to get it back. [More]
