OOKLA Speedtest App being removed from throttling?

[Bishop99]

For those in the know, will this apply to MetroPCS too? I have a T-mobile Galaxy S4 on MetroPCS. I liked checking my net speeds multiple times a day, but since I'm on the 2.5GB monthly plan, I only use this app like once a month. It would be great to regularly use the app again.

Or is speedtest still counting towards your monthly data, but only that it will continue to show regular network speeds once your throttled?

Not everyone on T-Mobile is subscribed to one of its unlimited high-speed data plans. Some are on the lower plans which restrict data speeds once you hit your allocated allowance. Today, we’ve learned that T-Mobile is removing OOKLA’s Speedtest app from network throttling.

What that means is that those who have hit their cap, and are being throttled, they’ll be able to use the Speedtest app and still see the true network speeds in their location. Not the slower, throttled speeds.

A short snippet we received from our source indicates that we’ll see it take effect from today:

On June 19, the OOKLA Speedtest app was removed from network throttling. Customers experiencing slow data speeds due to throttling now see our true network speeds (that they are missing due to being throttled) when they check their data speed connection using the OOKLA Speedtest app.

We’re told that we should expect a public announcement at some point in the next couple of days. So, get testing your phone data speeds. If you haven’t got an unlimited plan, and you’ve hit your data cap, be sure to test and let us know if/when you notice the change.

 

[DirtyDee]

I don't think so...us guys on tmobile need some reason to pay more lol

 

[Shabbypenguin]

LOL tmobile is trying real hard to sweep its throttled speeds under the rug, for those who dont know it isnt being throttled they will do a test and then blame all sorts of stuff on why things are loading slow.

 

[DirtyDee]

That came to mind like right away

 

[Bishop99]

I don't think so...us guys on tmobile need some reason to pay more lol

lol

 

[Bishop99]

Ok, so I have 2 days left on my MetroPCS pre-paid month. I had used 1.34 GB of data so far in the month, so I figured that I would try out multiple speedtests to see if MetroPCS would throttle my plan for going over the 2.5GB Plan. Last October, when I went a bit crazy with the speed test, I was quickly throttled after passing the 2.5GB mark.


Well, tonight I've been running multiple speedtest. I began the night with 1.34GB and now I've used up 3.88GB and my 4g LTE isn't getting throttled at all. I also went into different web sites and to check out youtube videos, and they are streaming at full 4G LTE force. I have 2.6GB used up on Speedtest alone.

I'm going to keep on running speedtests through out the day tomorrow. But since I'm already at 3.88GB and I haven't had my 4g LTE service dropped like last time, I'm sure it's pretty safe to say that on MetroPCS, the speedtest app doesn't count towards your data any more.

I'm glad to finally be able to freely use the Speedtest app again without worrying about passing my 2.5GB monthly plan.

 

[N7AS]

Ok, so I have 2 days left on my MetroPCS pre-paid month. I had used 1.34 GB of data so far in the month, so I figured that I would try out multiple speedtests to see if MetroPCS would throttle my plan for going over the 2.5GB Plan. Last October, when I went a bit crazy with the speed test, I was quickly throttled after passing the 2.5GB mark.


Well, tonight I've been running multiple speedtest. I began the night with 1.34GB and now I've used up 3.88GB and my 4g LTE isn't getting throttled at all. I also went into different web sites and to check out youtube videos, and they are streaming at full 4G LTE force. I have 2.6GB used up on Speedtest alone.

I'm going to keep on running speedtests through out the day tomorrow. But since I'm already at 3.88GB and I haven't had my 4g LTE service dropped like last time, I'm sure it's pretty safe to say that on MetroPCS, the speedtest app doesn't count towards your data any more.

I'm glad to finally be able to freely use the Speedtest app again without worrying about passing my 2.5GB monthly plan.

Now with metroPCS not counting OOKLA SpeedTest, I would like to find a data manager app that would EXCLUDE the data from the speedtest. I use My Data Manager which I think is the most accurate app, but no way to exclude the speedtest data usage.

 

[Gman9831]

I don't think so...us guys on tmobile need some reason to pay more lol

T-Mobile most likely stopped throttling it because the throttled speed test still goes into the crowd sourced data bringing down the average speed on Ookla's Net Index and if I remember correctly that's what they've been using to crown themselves the fastest LTE network.

 

[Bishop99]

Now with metroPCS not counting OOKLA SpeedTest, I would like to find a data manager app that would EXCLUDE the data from the speedtest. I use My Data Manager which I think is the most accurate app, but no way to exclude the speedtest data usage.

Same here. I really like that app, but they do count speedtest as data usage, so it loses some of its charm. For now, I'll just subtract the data used by speedtest to see how much data I've actually used, but that isn't as convenient as if there was an option to remove speedtest from My Data Manager.

 

[kate]

T-Mobile most likely stopped throttling it because the throttled speed test still goes into the crowd sourced data bringing down the average speed on Ookla's Net Index and if I remember correctly that's what they've been using to crown themselves the fastest LTE network.

Which brings up an interesting question that would be hard to answer - how much are the other carriers speed test results reduced by having users test their speeds when they are throttled?

 

[Gman9831]

Which brings up an interesting question that would be hard to answer - how much are the other carriers speed test results reduced by having users test their speeds when they are throttled?

Which of the other carriers and/or their MVNO's throttle a noticeable amount of users?
Only ones I can think of is the ones under the TracFone brand(not even sure if they show up under the main carriers data) and Cricket

 

[kate]

I meant people doing speed tests on other networks after being throttled to 2G speeds after they reach their monthly limit, not a permanent throttle like Cricket has. Sorry if I wasn't clear

 

[Unforgiven]

FWIW I don't see throttling skewing results for VZW. Their bandwidth management (I don't call it throttling because quite frankly it isn't) will reduce a customer's bandwidth if a)they were previously flagged as a high user, b) are using a currently congested tower, c) only reduce bandwidth enough to maintain good service to others on that tower, and d) cease restricting bandwidth when traffic eases on the tower.