jsnydcsa

I've been chugging along with AT&T with a high GB monthly plan (with unlimited talk and text) and was thinking of switching back to T-Mo. However, it seems all T-Mo's plans limit/cap tethering data to 5GB per month. Do any T-Mo plans (for a phone, rather than a T-Mo stand alone HotSpot) offer higher, or better yet no, caps on the amount of tethered data per month?

Thanks.

ScottC

Truly unlimited is $80/month:

http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-p...tab-navigation

Though I'm pretty sure even that plan has some kind of fair use policy that will limit it at some point.

WIRunner

There's a cap of 5 GB of tethering when using a T-Mobile branded phone, the unlimited is only on phone data.

jsnydcsa

I think ScottC may be right. There is a difference in the in the Terms and Conditions between the Family and Individual Plans/Tabs.

The T&C for Family Plan has the following language:
"Unlimited Rate Plan Promotion: Minimum two lines required. Includes 5GB of capped Smartphone Mobile Hotspot tethering that cannot be upgraded."

The T&C for the Individual Plan does NOT have that language. The T&Cs do mention tethering but only to note that there is no tethering while roaming internationally (OK, sub-optimal) and possibly implicating you if you stream a lot of music via tethering (not me, if I'm reading it right).

Three drawbacks:
1) I've got two phones with AT&T right now. If I upgrade each of them to an iPhone 6 and put them on this plan, the combined bill is quite a bit higher than upgrading them with AT&T. Granted the AT&T is only 10GB per month for the two phones combined compared to "unlimited" for each of the two lines. But, on the "simple" pricing of the device itself, I'm paying a bit more (e.g. $99 to start with T-Mo then $27/month for 24 months v. $25/month with AT&T for 24 months). AT&T for 10GB and the new phones (and the iPad discussed in #2 below) would run approx. $190/month plus tax for the first 24 months. T-Mo would be about $99x2 to start then $220 per month plus taxes for the first 24 months (then, $160 per month plus taxes) PLUS the plan for the tablet below.
2) I've got a family member with an iPad who's currently on my AT&T plan as an add-on device ($10 per month) and eating out of my current AT&T data plan. Adding them on to TMo pushes things up a bit - esp considering that they use next to nothing data-wise.
3) We're still in magic T-Mo terrible coverage land. So, we'd be going with their WiFi station. A de minimus cost. Right now, we're using the AT&T Femto/Fento (sp?).

The plus side for T-Mo is the "free" international roaming. But, that's about it. I do a fair bit of international roaming and have been paying for it with AT&T. But, I'm getting better at "planning" my expected data use and buying the appropriate plan and, more importantly, using WiFi rather than mobile data.

WIRunner

The T&C does have the language in it regarding fair use, but it is rarely enforced. It is primarily for the use of network management in congested areas where the heavy users would experience a slowdown to allow the less high users fair access to the network. I've churned through 30 GB in a cycle (three in a row actually) and never had a problem. My previous carrier would throttle me on 3G (for some reason) if I exceeded 15 GB on LTE (yeah, not sure.) T-Mo's my account app does tell you the breakdown.:


I've got the unlimited single line plan, and I get 5 GB of hotspot data. If I hit the 5 GB on a T-Mobile branded phone it just stops.

Also, international data is 2G, not sure if that matters to you or not. Good for email, facebook, and directions, bad for streaming.

vletnguyen

if you had an android phone you can make it so you can have unlimited tether, they'll just see you using it as regular data. a lot of people have been doing this with numerous carriers and phones for years.

pseudoswede

For an additional $10/mo, you can get an extra 2GB of tethering.

Letitride3c

With the current generation of apps & 4G/LTE data-hungry devices, whether it's AT&T or T-Mobile, tethered capped or unlimited (subject to T&C fine prints) - it will burn 5 or even 10 GB very quickly. Whenever possible, make good use of WiFi on Fios or fast business class HSI - but, "stranded" at a hotel somewhere with 1 to 5 MB speed traps, that's where mobile data come in handy and now that unused rollover data has returned/available again - I think I'm covered.
With a rooted Android on a friendly/customized Rom, it's even better as it's all seen by mobile data and not tethering with simple edits of the DB file with SQL in the case of our Nexus 5.
If one's going to tether stationary to a land-tower for any extended period of time, odds of getting "detected" & throttled would be much higher, regardless of which carrier one is on. Case in point: late Fall, we did a 10 hour vacation road trip coming out of the Grand Canyon & tethered most of the way to keep Youtube going on the bigger Nexus 7, used a good chunk of 4G mobile data on our 5GB plan - no problems whatsoever - not a single hiccup or getting throttled, as we're moving at 70 mph mostly from tower to tower and not hogging up the available bandwidth.
OP's situations complicated by # of lines & devices attached to the plan on what's best - I would first stay away from carrier-branded devices.
On T-mobile, pricing deals, latency & excess usage/throttled speed down to 2G/Edge are irrelevant if there's no coverage at your major locations & places frequently traveled.

robroy90

Be advised that magenta is getting more aggressive with the user agent monitoring, so even if you have a rooted Android phone (or Jailbroken and using MyWi on iOS) and you have done an edit to the DB file, you can still be throttled down. The best bet is to use a browser that allows you to manipulate the user agent string, or just use an SSL VPN for all of the traffic.

jsnydcsa

I spent an excruciating amount of time on TMo's chat service yesterday discussing my earlier observations about the difference in the T&Cs between family and individual plans. I will not waste space re-creating the whole thing. But, here are some exemplars:

You: For example, The T&C for Family Plan has the following language: "Unlimited Rate Plan Promotion: Minimum two lines required. Includes 5GB of capped Smartphone Mobile Hotspot tethering that cannot be upgraded."

You: But, The T&C for the Individual Plan does NOT have that language. The T&Cs do mention tethering but only to note that there is no tethering while roaming internationally and possibly implicating you if you stream a lot of music via tethering.

You: But these terms and conditions are entirely different, implying that T-Mobile DOES differentiate between a hard cap of 5GB on some plans for tethering and a soft cap without a number of GB restriction on others. Please explain.

[TMO REP]: I see. [JSNYDCSA], to answer your question about the capped tethering, we do not have any data plans or any rate plans that has unlimited tethering. All our plans have capped tethering.

[TMO REP]: This $80 plan has unlimited data, however, the tethering for this plan is only up to 5GB.

You: Where in the terms and conditions does it say that?

[TMO REP]: As far as to where it is shown on the web site, right now, we can't find an external page where you can see it, but what I can do right now is to let our support teams know about this so it will show on the web site.

[TMO REP]: I do assure you that the info I am providing is correct, and is what is showing here on our end.

You: "what is showing here on our end." So, it's a secret? You're still no being clear. Are you referring to data speed on tethering or data cap on tethering.

[TMO REP]: I'm sorry to hear that you feel that way, [JSNYDCSA]. We do not want to keep secrets to our customer, that's why I am providing you these details right now. When it comes to the tethering part of the $80 plan, the limit is at 5GB.

[TMO REP]: What we can do right now is to make sure to have the web site better so this won't happen again in the future.

You: Come on [TMO REP] What "limit"? The speed limit or the cap limit? Even if I believe your "secret" web site, you're not being clear! What happens at 5GB. Is speed reduced? Is access via tethering stopped? Or both? Be clear. I typed the clear question about re: speed and data cap for a particular plan. You answered the question. If you answered it in an unclear fashion based on your supersecret info, how am I to know and the only responsible reasonable thing to do is to ask follow up questions for clarity when you are not clear.

[TMO REP]: I apologize if this has not been clear, [JSNYDCSA]. So here's how the $80 plan goes. It includes unlimited talk, text and web, where our web feature doesn't have any speed limits.

You: So, you're telling me that you're telling me that, because of a web site error, this cap is not mentioned on the individual part of the

[TMO REP]: Right now, it does not show, but as I have been explaining, it works the same way.

You: And, your claim that it "works the same way" is based on some magical thing that you can see, but right now, I can not? Right?

[TMO REP]: It works the same way as how the family plan goes. We'll make sure to work out with the web site so it will be better and so we can avoid this in the future, [JSNYDCSA].

WIRunner

Years in wireless almost had me ready for this.

https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-9847

(Italics mine.)

The overriding T&C is that Smartphone Hotspots are covered by this: Smartphone Mobile Hotspot: Plan data allotment applies. Unlimited 4G data includes 5 GB of tethering. Roaming and on-network data allotments differ: see General Terms. Use of connected devices subject to T-Mobile Terms and Conditions. Must use device manufacturer or T-Mobile feature.

ScottC

Wow. Outsourced customer care can sometimes be really, really painful.

Sorry

jsnydcsa

Understatement.

I didn't include it, but as WIRunner pointed out. The T&C for dedicated hotspots or non-phone devices running a hotspot are different as well. The [TMO REP] quoted above focused on that earlier and had to redirect him to what I was actually interested in. Ugh!

I have some time tomorrow and may try and go into a store to resolve this. I REALLY want to port back to TMo, particularly b/c of their international data (I know, not for tethering). I'd just like to give up on the added $$ of AT&T international. When home, I'm bound to a Femto no matter what (AT&T's as of now, or, possibly, a TMO WiFi Device), so on a net-net basis, TMo is cheaper for me.

WIRunner

I still don't quite know what answer you want. If you get an unlimited plan there's 5 GB of data included, hard cap, or for $10 more you can have 7 GB with a hard cap. The limited data plans have a "soft cap" which will throttle you down to speeds where there might as well be a hard cap.

jspira

With T-Mobile's use of Wi-Fi calling, do you really need a femtocell?