6 ms·

T-Mobile CEO to users hiding their hotspot tethering activities: “It's over.”

18 points by atomical 11y ago

mrrrgn 11y ago
I noticed that when I hit my tethering cap, and start seeing an upsell page, my Linux vms can still access content like normal. Seems that they do all of their fancy tracking via user agent strings and consider Linux browsers as being smart phones. If true, it means that Linux users might end up getting accused of being ToS breaking "hackers." Beware.
- iotku 11y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if how these "Hackers" were getting around the data limits was far from sophisticated. I've ended up getting around somewhat similar restrictions accidentally due to poor implementations.
duaneb 11y ago
The idea that data can fundamentally change based on how it's viewed, legally, is absurd. I hope this trend passes quickly.
- Vexs 11y ago
  There's an interesting blog post a while back called w"what color are your bits?". Kinda reminds me of what you are talking about. http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23 http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23
- mmcclure 11y ago
  This. Honestly, I feel like if companies really think they have technical issues with allowing people "unlimited data", they simply shouldn't offer it. Problem solved, people can consume the data they pay for however they'd like and we don't have to keep redefining unlimited.
- snuxoll 11y ago
  > The idea that data can fundamentally changed based on how it's viewed, legally, is absurd. Data itself doesn't change, usage patterns do, and that is why restrictions like this exist. My internet connection at home is a reasonably fat 75/5Mbps 'business-class' pipe, I'm paying for a service that expects pretty high usage and the infrastructure is designed to handle it - the coaxial cable going to my house has enough bandwidth and so does the fiber going from the local cable node back to the big datacenter where my traffic eventually gets routed to the rest of the internet. Mobile has an extremely annoying limitation in that we can't just run a cable to every phone, we want stuff to happen wirelessly! Well, since there's no wires providing service every user has to in essence share the same bandwidth coming from a cell site. We can make sure there's plenty of fiber going to each site, but physically 10Mhz of spectrum can only provide so much bandwidth, and that is a huge limiting factor of wireless service. Your 3-6" smartphone has very different usage patterns compared to my 13" ultrabook. You may watch a couple youtube videos, stream some music, maybe even watch a movie on Netflix - but you are unlikely to do so for extended periods of time or on a frequent basis, the usage is very sporadic and lends itself well to sharing with other users. Usage on a tethered laptop or other device is very different, I'm sitting down right now connected to my work VPN 'getting stuff done', checking email, moving large files around, downloading an update for Visual Studio, the list goes on. And this is not something that I do for 10 minutes or even an hour, this is my entire work-day, and I regularly use 10's of Gigabytes of data, something our limited wireless spectrum is not well suited to handle for a large amount of users (that's what WiFi is for!). Unless nationwide we are going to turn a large enough block of wireless spectrum into a national wireless ISP (we're talking probably 100-200Mhz) we simply do not have enough bandwidth over the airwaves to support people with these usage patterns.
  - ethbro 11y ago
    Exactly, but at the same time you need to keep a firmer leash on your marketing department to match reality.
    - rhino369 11y ago
      T-Mobile is very upfront about tethering. It tells you exactly how much tether data you get.
- ethbro 11y ago
  It's going to pass quickly by companies no longer offering "unlimited" plans of any sort. Which was always the more realistic approach to wireless data usage. To me, AT&T (via Uverse) is the ridiculous conclusion of this. They'll happily set up a number of "wireless" (!!) HD receiver boxes that have content streamed to them over WiFi. Nowhere in the marketing materials do they ever mention this potentially having an effect on your data connections. Most consumers just think of wireless transmission as magic with infinite bandwidth. That said, while the above is my realistic appraisal, I do 100% agree with you that using whatever firmware hacks you can to fully utilize TMO's "unlimited" plans, while they continue to market them as that, is completely moral. If they don't want people trying to use unlimited data, then they should quit marketing it as such. You don't get to tell lies / weasel truths and then cry when people hold you to the same expectations that made it an effective marketing campaign in the first place.
  - snuxoll 11y ago
    > (That said, while the above is my realistic appraisal, I do 100% agree with you that using whatever firmware hacks you can to fully utilize TMO's "unlimited" plans, while they continue to market them as that, is completely moral. If they don't want people trying to use unlimited data, then they should quit marketing it as such -- you don't get to tell lies / weasel truths and then cry when people hold you to the same expectations that made it an effective marketing campaign in the first place). All of T-Mobile's materials explicitly state unlimited usage is for usage ON YOUR DEVICE. This is not hidden 'fine print' or misleading marketing, it's RIGHT THERE. Don't believe me? http://i.imgur.com/tb2BYAe.png http://i.imgur.com/tb2BYAe.png
    - ethbro 11y ago
      I in fact do not believe you with regards to the majority of their marketing material. I'm glad you've found a counter-example, but I'd say the balance favors being less than transparent: https://www.google.com/search?q=t+mobile+billboards&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=t+mobile+billboards&tbm=isch
drivingmenuts 11y ago
Seems to me that T-Mobile should not be able to tell me how I use my device. The device-to-device connect (hotspot) occurs on my hardware and doesn't involve them. The data usage is all mobile usage after that, since it's coming thru my phone. Now, T-Mobile may object to certain kinds of traffic (torrents, etc.) but that opens up a whole different can of worms. If the high-volume data consumers are actually causing a problem for other users, then T-Mobile probably should consider expanding their bandwidth with new equipment. Trying to squirm away from the term "unlimited" because of a few inconvenient users with inconvenient bits, however, is just weaselly as hell and avoiding the real issue.
- chc 11y ago
  If it seems to you that T-Mobile should not be able to tell you how you use your device, then it seems to me that you should not sign a contract granting T-Mobile that permission.
  - drivingmenuts 11y ago
    The only real choice between vendors is based on price and reliability, since all of them tell you what you can and cannot do with your hardware. The only other option is to do without and that's just not a realisitic proposition anymore. It might work for Stallman, but not for me.
    - chc 11y ago
      I agree that there isn't anybody offering completely indiscriminate mobile data for unlimited devices and unlimited users for $80 a month. But the fact that I want a Tesla Model S for $300 and nobody in the market is offering such a thing doesn't mean I can force an existing vendor to provide me with a $100,000 car for $300. Like, if these people want to pay for the data, they can actually use their devices however they want — T-Mobile isn't telling them they can't. T-Mobile is just saying that they aren't offering unlimited data for unlimited devices and unlimited users for $80 a month.
    - snuxoll 11y ago
joezydeco 11y ago
Wait - so TMO monitors your data usage and throttles you down when you exceed your cap on a phone, but doesn't do this for hotspots and trusts the hotspot to police the data cap?
- StavrosK 11y ago
  No, I think the phone sends a certain bit to their servers when you're tethering, to say "this data is from tethering", and they only allow a certain cap for that. These "omg hackers" found a way to prevent that bit from being sent, forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of "unlimited data", which the carrier doesn't want to do.
  - joezydeco 11y ago
    Thanks for the clarification. As a TMO subscriber I've never had a problem with TMO's "unlimited data". What's the problem with throttling down once you've hit your cap? You still get data, just at 3G/4G speed and not LTE. IMO if you're pulling that much data from the tower then yeah, you should probably pay up because you're screwing it up for everyone else. This seems like a totally easy problem for TMO to fix, but I wonder why they haven't done it until now.
    - wnevets 11y ago
      you get 3G/4G speeds when you hit the cap? I've only ever gotten EDGE.
  - mmcclure 11y ago
    > forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of "unlimited data" I'm on the fence about what I think about the announcement itself (because of the implications around enforcement), but this is a pretty untenable argument if you want to get into "promises", or, who's really breaking their contract. Contractually, the promise is unlimited data without tethering. Explicitly. If we want to talk about who's breaking what promises by rooting phones to bypass tethering data limits, it's actually the "omg hackers".
roddux 11y ago
This is the reason that I always take a very sceptical view on mobile contracts that offer "unlimited" data. I wonder if they'll be allowed to continue calling it "unlimited" here in the UK after this revelation.
- DanBC 11y ago
  ASA ruled that unlimited doesn't mean unlimited and can be used in adverts when referring to limited plans. https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/~/media/Files/ASA/Hot%20Topics/Broadband%20hot%20topic.ashx https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/~/media/Fil... All you can do is keep sending complaints and encourage others to keep sending complaints. They do, apparently, occasionally take notice of complaints.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
NovaS1X 11y ago
Can someone clarify this for me (still haven't finished my coffee yet): If T-Mobile is offering "Unlimited Mobile Hotspot" data as a part of their plans then how exactly is this stealing?
- compsciphd 11y ago
  they don't offer "unlimited mobile hotspot". They explicitly say hotspot usage is limited. What's unlimited is "non hotspot usage" (i.e. regular app usage). One might view this as splitting hairs (and I'm somewhat sympathetic to that view).
- jsnell 11y ago
  The very first sentence of the article says that they in fact don't offer unlimited tethering, but that their "unlimited data" plan has explicit language limiting tethering to a few GB, while traffic coming from the actual mobile device is unlimited. That seems fair enough.
  - drivingmenuts 11y ago
    Technically speaking, it's all data coming from the mobile device. Hotspotting occurs on my device without their involvement since it's a feature of the hardware, not the cellular network. In effect, T-Mobile sells you a device and then rents out the capability of your own device. One right way to do it is to put a hard cap on data usage but then they couldn't use the term "unlimited" and T-Mobile would lose customers. The other right way to do is soft-cap all data coming from the device, which would allow "unlimited".
- chc 11y ago
  They aren't. They're offering unlimited mobile data with a limited hotspot feature.
- JohnTHaller 11y ago
  They don't advertise unlimited hot spot. They advertise unlimited data for your mobile device and 6gb of hot spot data. Some users are cheating and masking their hot spot data used by multiple PCs and sometimes servers to get around the 6gb limit without having to pay for the additional hot spot data.
brandon272 11y ago
I always find it amusing when these issues come up and people need to remind us all that "UNLIMITED SHOULD MEAN UNLIMITED!" ... I've always assumed it was common sense that "unlimited" is essentially a marketing buzzword. No network is capable of offering "unlimited" service to all customers. It means they aren't going to enforce draconian caps on every day usage. It's to give the typical user the reassurance that they have nothing to worry about in terms of overage. It's not to provide people with 2TB a month of transfer. Frankly, I find using 2TB a month on an "unlimited" plan to be abusive and disrespectful to other customers. These networks obviously have real limits and capacities. Clearly abusing an "unlimited" plan does little but encourage service providers to enforce data caps and overage fees.
- rm999 11y ago
  T-mobile does actually honor their unlimited plans (unlike AT&T and Verizon). This article is about people explicitly breaking the TOS on a non-unlimited part of the plan. I switched to T-mobile recently and it's been a breath of fresh air - I think people are used to being skeptical of mobile providers after years of abuse. The first intuition of commenters in this thread was to find something to criticize, despite that fact that T-mobile never promised anything it isn't delivering.
  - ds2600 11y ago
    Unlike Verizon? Could you elaborate on that point, please?
    - rm999 11y ago
      Verizon throttled their unlimited 3g plans for years (apparently they just stopped this month: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/08/13/verizon-has-quietly-stopped-throttling-unlimited-3g-data/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/08/13...). They planned to do this to 4g unlimited customers too, but backed off after a stern warning from the FCC. I have friends who are grandfathered in their unlimited plans and as I understand it they do everything they can to get you off of it.
doki_pen 11y ago
I don't think it would hurt their business to say something like : 120GB of data (compared to verizon's 12GB) If they are being honest and really are only worried about people using 2TB, then this should solve the problem completely. 120GB would be unlimited for 99.99% of users.
- brandon272 11y ago
  I'm guessing people in the marketing department would disagree. They'd argue that a lot of consumers don't know how much a gigabyte is so even a comparison between 120GB and 12GB is less appealing to them than a simple term: "Unlimited"
- gkanapathy 11y ago
  They actually do say "unlimited phone, and 7GB tethering". It's very explicit, and limited tethering is a specific part of the "unlimited phone" plans. And as the article says, if you want more tethering, you are able to add and pay for that separately. The issue is people bypassing the tethering limitations.
briantakita 11y ago
Labeling people as thieves is manipulative & hypocritical when the marketing literature claims "unlimited" data. All TMobile needs to do is tell the truth & have a reasonable plan for high bandwidth customers. Instead they treat these customers like criminals & turn into the data gestapo. In the meantime, TMobile seems to be quite profitable. http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-growth-outlook-1438257047 http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-growt...

18 points by atomical 11y ago

I noticed that when I hit my tethering cap, and start seeing an upsell page, my Linux vms can still access content like normal. Seems that they do all of their fancy tracking via user agent strings and consider Linux browsers as being smart phones. If true, it means that Linux users might end up getting accused of being ToS breaking "hackers." Beware.

iotku 11y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if how these "Hackers" were getting around the data limits was far from sophisticated. I've ended up getting around somewhat similar restrictions accidentally due to poor implementations.

duaneb 11y ago

The idea that data can fundamentally change based on how it's viewed, legally, is absurd. I hope this trend passes quickly.

Vexs 11y ago
There's an interesting blog post a while back called w"what color are your bits?". Kinda reminds me of what you are talking about. http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23 http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23
mmcclure 11y ago
This. Honestly, I feel like if companies really think they have technical issues with allowing people "unlimited data", they simply shouldn't offer it. Problem solved, people can consume the data they pay for however they'd like and we don't have to keep redefining unlimited.
snuxoll 11y ago
> The idea that data can fundamentally changed based on how it's viewed, legally, is absurd. Data itself doesn't change, usage patterns do, and that is why restrictions like this exist. My internet connection at home is a reasonably fat 75/5Mbps 'business-class' pipe, I'm paying for a service that expects pretty high usage and the infrastructure is designed to handle it - the coaxial cable going to my house has enough bandwidth and so does the fiber going from the local cable node back to the big datacenter where my traffic eventually gets routed to the rest of the internet. Mobile has an extremely annoying limitation in that we can't just run a cable to every phone, we want stuff to happen wirelessly! Well, since there's no wires providing service every user has to in essence share the same bandwidth coming from a cell site. We can make sure there's plenty of fiber going to each site, but physically 10Mhz of spectrum can only provide so much bandwidth, and that is a huge limiting factor of wireless service. Your 3-6" smartphone has very different usage patterns compared to my 13" ultrabook. You may watch a couple youtube videos, stream some music, maybe even watch a movie on Netflix - but you are unlikely to do so for extended periods of time or on a frequent basis, the usage is very sporadic and lends itself well to sharing with other users. Usage on a tethered laptop or other device is very different, I'm sitting down right now connected to my work VPN 'getting stuff done', checking email, moving large files around, downloading an update for Visual Studio, the list goes on. And this is not something that I do for 10 minutes or even an hour, this is my entire work-day, and I regularly use 10's of Gigabytes of data, something our limited wireless spectrum is not well suited to handle for a large amount of users (that's what WiFi is for!). Unless nationwide we are going to turn a large enough block of wireless spectrum into a national wireless ISP (we're talking probably 100-200Mhz) we simply do not have enough bandwidth over the airwaves to support people with these usage patterns.
- ethbro 11y ago
  Exactly, but at the same time you need to keep a firmer leash on your marketing department to match reality.
  - rhino369 11y ago
    T-Mobile is very upfront about tethering. It tells you exactly how much tether data you get.
ethbro 11y ago
It's going to pass quickly by companies no longer offering "unlimited" plans of any sort. Which was always the more realistic approach to wireless data usage. To me, AT&T (via Uverse) is the ridiculous conclusion of this. They'll happily set up a number of "wireless" (!!) HD receiver boxes that have content streamed to them over WiFi. Nowhere in the marketing materials do they ever mention this potentially having an effect on your data connections. Most consumers just think of wireless transmission as magic with infinite bandwidth. That said, while the above is my realistic appraisal, I do 100% agree with you that using whatever firmware hacks you can to fully utilize TMO's "unlimited" plans, while they continue to market them as that, is completely moral. If they don't want people trying to use unlimited data, then they should quit marketing it as such. You don't get to tell lies / weasel truths and then cry when people hold you to the same expectations that made it an effective marketing campaign in the first place.
- snuxoll 11y ago
  > (That said, while the above is my realistic appraisal, I do 100% agree with you that using whatever firmware hacks you can to fully utilize TMO's "unlimited" plans, while they continue to market them as that, is completely moral. If they don't want people trying to use unlimited data, then they should quit marketing it as such -- you don't get to tell lies / weasel truths and then cry when people hold you to the same expectations that made it an effective marketing campaign in the first place). All of T-Mobile's materials explicitly state unlimited usage is for usage ON YOUR DEVICE. This is not hidden 'fine print' or misleading marketing, it's RIGHT THERE. Don't believe me? http://i.imgur.com/tb2BYAe.png http://i.imgur.com/tb2BYAe.png
  - ethbro 11y ago
    I in fact do not believe you with regards to the majority of their marketing material. I'm glad you've found a counter-example, but I'd say the balance favors being less than transparent: https://www.google.com/search?q=t+mobile+billboards&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=t+mobile+billboards&tbm=isch

drivingmenuts 11y ago

Seems to me that T-Mobile should not be able to tell me how I use my device. The device-to-device connect (hotspot) occurs on my hardware and doesn't involve them. The data usage is all mobile usage after that, since it's coming thru my phone. Now, T-Mobile may object to certain kinds of traffic (torrents, etc.) but that opens up a whole different can of worms. If the high-volume data consumers are actually causing a problem for other users, then T-Mobile probably should consider expanding their bandwidth with new equipment. Trying to squirm away from the term "unlimited" because of a few inconvenient users with inconvenient bits, however, is just weaselly as hell and avoiding the real issue.

chc 11y ago
If it seems to you that T-Mobile should not be able to tell you how you use your device, then it seems to me that you should not sign a contract granting T-Mobile that permission.
- drivingmenuts 11y ago
  The only real choice between vendors is based on price and reliability, since all of them tell you what you can and cannot do with your hardware. The only other option is to do without and that's just not a realisitic proposition anymore. It might work for Stallman, but not for me.
  - chc 11y ago
    I agree that there isn't anybody offering completely indiscriminate mobile data for unlimited devices and unlimited users for $80 a month. But the fact that I want a Tesla Model S for $300 and nobody in the market is offering such a thing doesn't mean I can force an existing vendor to provide me with a $100,000 car for $300. Like, if these people want to pay for the data, they can actually use their devices however they want — T-Mobile isn't telling them they can't. T-Mobile is just saying that they aren't offering unlimited data for unlimited devices and unlimited users for $80 a month.
  - snuxoll 11y ago

joezydeco 11y ago

Wait - so TMO monitors your data usage and throttles you down when you exceed your cap on a phone, but doesn't do this for hotspots and trusts the hotspot to police the data cap?

StavrosK 11y ago
No, I think the phone sends a certain bit to their servers when you're tethering, to say "this data is from tethering", and they only allow a certain cap for that. These "omg hackers" found a way to prevent that bit from being sent, forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of "unlimited data", which the carrier doesn't want to do.
- joezydeco 11y ago
  Thanks for the clarification. As a TMO subscriber I've never had a problem with TMO's "unlimited data". What's the problem with throttling down once you've hit your cap? You still get data, just at 3G/4G speed and not LTE. IMO if you're pulling that much data from the tower then yeah, you should probably pay up because you're screwing it up for everyone else. This seems like a totally easy problem for TMO to fix, but I wonder why they haven't done it until now.
  - wnevets 11y ago
    you get 3G/4G speeds when you hit the cap? I've only ever gotten EDGE.
- mmcclure 11y ago
  > forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of "unlimited data" I'm on the fence about what I think about the announcement itself (because of the implications around enforcement), but this is a pretty untenable argument if you want to get into "promises", or, who's really breaking their contract. Contractually, the promise is unlimited data without tethering. Explicitly. If we want to talk about who's breaking what promises by rooting phones to bypass tethering data limits, it's actually the "omg hackers".

roddux 11y ago

This is the reason that I always take a very sceptical view on mobile contracts that offer "unlimited" data. I wonder if they'll be allowed to continue calling it "unlimited" here in the UK after this revelation.

DanBC 11y ago
ASA ruled that unlimited doesn't mean unlimited and can be used in adverts when referring to limited plans. https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/~/media/Files/ASA/Hot%20Topics/Broadband%20hot%20topic.ashx https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/~/media/Fil... All you can do is keep sending complaints and encourage others to keep sending complaints. They do, apparently, occasionally take notice of complaints.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

NovaS1X 11y ago

Can someone clarify this for me (still haven't finished my coffee yet): If T-Mobile is offering "Unlimited Mobile Hotspot" data as a part of their plans then how exactly is this stealing?

compsciphd 11y ago
they don't offer "unlimited mobile hotspot". They explicitly say hotspot usage is limited. What's unlimited is "non hotspot usage" (i.e. regular app usage). One might view this as splitting hairs (and I'm somewhat sympathetic to that view).
jsnell 11y ago
The very first sentence of the article says that they in fact don't offer unlimited tethering, but that their "unlimited data" plan has explicit language limiting tethering to a few GB, while traffic coming from the actual mobile device is unlimited. That seems fair enough.
- drivingmenuts 11y ago
  Technically speaking, it's all data coming from the mobile device. Hotspotting occurs on my device without their involvement since it's a feature of the hardware, not the cellular network. In effect, T-Mobile sells you a device and then rents out the capability of your own device. One right way to do it is to put a hard cap on data usage but then they couldn't use the term "unlimited" and T-Mobile would lose customers. The other right way to do is soft-cap all data coming from the device, which would allow "unlimited".
chc 11y ago
They aren't. They're offering unlimited mobile data with a limited hotspot feature.
JohnTHaller 11y ago
They don't advertise unlimited hot spot. They advertise unlimited data for your mobile device and 6gb of hot spot data. Some users are cheating and masking their hot spot data used by multiple PCs and sometimes servers to get around the 6gb limit without having to pay for the additional hot spot data.

brandon272 11y ago

I always find it amusing when these issues come up and people need to remind us all that "UNLIMITED SHOULD MEAN UNLIMITED!" ... I've always assumed it was common sense that "unlimited" is essentially a marketing buzzword. No network is capable of offering "unlimited" service to all customers. It means they aren't going to enforce draconian caps on every day usage. It's to give the typical user the reassurance that they have nothing to worry about in terms of overage. It's not to provide people with 2TB a month of transfer. Frankly, I find using 2TB a month on an "unlimited" plan to be abusive and disrespectful to other customers. These networks obviously have real limits and capacities. Clearly abusing an "unlimited" plan does little but encourage service providers to enforce data caps and overage fees.

rm999 11y ago
T-mobile does actually honor their unlimited plans (unlike AT&T and Verizon). This article is about people explicitly breaking the TOS on a non-unlimited part of the plan. I switched to T-mobile recently and it's been a breath of fresh air - I think people are used to being skeptical of mobile providers after years of abuse. The first intuition of commenters in this thread was to find something to criticize, despite that fact that T-mobile never promised anything it isn't delivering.
- ds2600 11y ago
  Unlike Verizon? Could you elaborate on that point, please?
  - rm999 11y ago
    Verizon throttled their unlimited 3g plans for years (apparently they just stopped this month: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/08/13/verizon-has-quietly-stopped-throttling-unlimited-3g-data/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/08/13...). They planned to do this to 4g unlimited customers too, but backed off after a stern warning from the FCC. I have friends who are grandfathered in their unlimited plans and as I understand it they do everything they can to get you off of it.

doki_pen 11y ago

I don't think it would hurt their business to say something like : 120GB of data (compared to verizon's 12GB) If they are being honest and really are only worried about people using 2TB, then this should solve the problem completely. 120GB would be unlimited for 99.99% of users.

brandon272 11y ago
I'm guessing people in the marketing department would disagree. They'd argue that a lot of consumers don't know how much a gigabyte is so even a comparison between 120GB and 12GB is less appealing to them than a simple term: "Unlimited"
gkanapathy 11y ago
They actually do say "unlimited phone, and 7GB tethering". It's very explicit, and limited tethering is a specific part of the "unlimited phone" plans. And as the article says, if you want more tethering, you are able to add and pay for that separately. The issue is people bypassing the tethering limitations.

briantakita 11y ago

Labeling people as thieves is manipulative & hypocritical when the marketing literature claims "unlimited" data. All TMobile needs to do is tell the truth & have a reasonable plan for high bandwidth customers. Instead they treat these customers like criminals & turn into the data gestapo. In the meantime, TMobile seems to be quite profitable. http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-growth-outlook-1438257047 http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-growt...