Question about the data plan throttling

[remedymauricio]

After I have used my allocated 500 megabytes for the month, will i have 2g or 3g speeds? I saw similar threads but none of them in the Metro PCS board. Thank you

 

[Spec2nirvash]

You will have unlimited 2G for the remainder of the billing cycle. Do yourself a favor, cut.your budget by two or three meals a month, and upgrade to the unlimited. TMO 2G is so slow your phone will implode.

 

[remedymauricio]

All i really do is listen to some music (spotify or pandora) and text/use the steam app. do you think 2g will be enough for those things (spotify is probably out of the question, but ive heard pandora can work on 2g).

 

[Spec2nirvash]

It depends on how slow 2G is in your area. My 2G speeds clocked in at about 0.01 mbps no matter where I went. I don't think it's enough to run Pandora or any streaming app. Lets just say I had it for 1 day and had about enough. Upgrade me plz....

 

[Spec2nirvash]

And with old Metro CDMA 1X, Pandora would just skimp by, but it worked. I can tell you with utmost certainty that TMO 2G for me was slower than old 1X. But as I said, you may have faster 2G speeds where you are, maybe even slower. Try it for a day after throttle, and keep in mind Metro will always be there to help when they smell an open wallet

 

[timmyh318]

If you can force your phone to 2g only when you hit your throttle do it. T mobiles actual edge speeds are faster than there throttled down 4g or lte speeds. That trick works on tmobile so id assume it works on metro. They dont actually throw you on edge what they do is throttle down you 4g speeds and they have a cap that it wont go over. So it doesnt really matter what your edge speeds are in your area for throttle speeds. Now they dont throttle actual edge speeds on any plan. So if you force your phone to 2g only your actually using the edge network and will get actual higher speeds.

 

[Spec2nirvash]

If you can force your phone to 2g only when you hit your throttle do it. T mobiles actual edge speeds are faster than there throttled down 4g or lte speeds. That trick works on tmobile so id assume it works on metro. They dont actually throw you on edge what they do is throttle down you 4g speeds and they have a cap that it wont go over. So it doesnt really matter what your edge speeds are in your area for throttle speeds. Now they dont throttle actual edge speeds on any plan. So if you force your phone to 2g only your actually using the edge network and will get actual higher speeds.

When I was running a Valiant as my daily, I had the 500MB plan with a 3G only device. I was able to force it to 2G only, thinking it would offset my 3G usage (lol didn't matter, your data is counted with edge too). Pre-limit 2G/edge vs post throttle (while displaying 3G) speeds were the same. And that was within my usual 50 mile radius of travel, regardless of what time of day it was. Maybe it's just the area I'm in, but it's so slow it may as well be nothing, not enough to receive MMS.

 

[timmyh318]

Any data before throttle is considered data it will still count against your cap no matter if its 2g 3g or 4g. But after throttle i believe they peak you at 100kbps on 4g. If your able to switch to 2g after your throttled and are in a decent area you can top that on edge. Not by much but when your that low any bit helps. But the best advice was the first advice if you need more data get a higher plan. It saves alot of headaches.

 

[Spec2nirvash]

Any data before throttle is considered data it will still count against your cap no matter if its 2g 3g or 4g. But after throttle i believe they peak you at 100kbps on 4g. If your able to switch to 2g after your throttled and are in a decent area you can top that on edge. Not by much but when your that low any bit helps. But the best advice was the first advice if you need more data get a higher plan. It saves alot of headaches.

+1

Another thing to take into consideration is battery life. Now, 2G theoretically uses less battery with semi-decent speed. In my case, with a horrible connection, app sync activity and general web browsing slaughtered my battery. Seriously, by more than half while throttled, as in dead after 5 hours when normally I'd arrive home after work with 70+% left.

Its all about the speed. If edge/throttled speeds were at least 1-2 mbps, which to me is tolerable I'd have kept my $40 plan

Edit: Hell, even 100kbps would have been OK with me