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Throttling! Coming soon to a VM (USA) phone near you

Since when has data become the primary factor of choosing a damn carrier?

I think this is a great move. It should get rid of the top % of the people who are abusing this great offer and negativity affecting the rest of VM's data service.

The phone is a tool first, an entertainment medium second; and so is 3G. If you're using your phone and 3G as it should be used; map navigation, occasional browsing and music/video streaming, etc. You should be fine.

I already stated this before. If you're using VM's 3G speeds to stream HD movies all the time or for your daily internet needs through tethering...I feel really bad for you. I suggest you try 4G instead with a different carrier.

I was checking Verizon's prices the other day and guess what they were offering in our area. The cheapest you could get WITH data came to $70/mo 450 minutes, no text plan with a data cap of 3.0G. that's right, not even throttling, just a cap...still think the alternative is better? And despite that, they still have the nerve to sell the Google Nexus phone for $300. Amazing phone but for those prices it should be free.

The whole point of VM to me is freedom from contracts and from stealthy fees at amazing prices and great service. Not to tend to my data needs.

I personally would love to see all these money hungry carriers crumble as all voice services become purely VoIP, but realistically I think we are still far from realizing a true wireless satellite infrastructure for every single US resident's unlimited internet (spoiled) needs, even at 4G speeds. If you really need that now, move to Japan or something, I hear they're way ahead of us in that category.

/rant
 
I had clocked my 3G speeds at about 300kbs, so it would be slower, but not by enough to worry about. Besides, I'm on wifi 90% of the time.
 
MacFett said:
It is for me. I never use the voice. I only text and use data.
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Data was the reason I bought a smartphone. I just completed my 1st month on the Beyond Talk plan. I used 18 minutes talk time of the 300 minutes available. The unused minutes will not roll forward and neither will the data. What would be the point of throttling at 2.5gb?

I will be switching to T-Mobile in the near future. Not so much because of this throttling issue, but the fact their $30 a month plan with 100 minutes and 5gb data suits me better. And is $5 cheaper. Sprint and VM should keep this in mind.

Oh, and I finally received my VM throttle email today. Now I feel special. :p
 
I am considering switching carriers as well and it has nothing to do with the plan, but that I would like a Triumph-esque phone that doesn't suck.
 
brotherswing said:
I had clocked my 3G speeds at about 300kbs, so it would be slower, but not by enough to worry about. Besides, I'm on wifi 90% of the time.
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Considering how sluggish VM 3G can be, I already assumed they were running around 256!

Much of my data use is from streaming music (radio, Pandora, 8Tracks, etc.). I try to aim for lower bitrate AAC+ streams (which aren't so choppy on the network). I think I'll be safe.
 
I initially freaked out when I read this, then I realized I don't spend more than a few hours every day total on my phone's internet. I use wifi when I'm at home anyway.

joeycmb said:
I use pandora radio at work almost 8 hrs everyday. No wifi at work .
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You could buy a radio :D
 
An interview with virgin mobile they said the reason for the change was the heavy data use done by some users costing more than expected. So if it wasn't for people using a ridiculous amount by tethering and things like that we would still have unlimited data without throttling.
 
benslgdroid said:
An interview with virgin mobile they said the reason for the change was the heavy data use done by some users costing more than expected. So if it wasn't for people using a ridiculous amount by tethering and things like that we would still have unlimited data without throttling.
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I pretty much said this already but this thread is a mess and this is a great post so I'm posting it again.
 
melim said:
I pretty much said this already but this thread is a mess and this is a great post so I'm posting it again.
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You've been saying it was going to happen for that reason before they even said they were going to do it. :) they should have listened.
 
benslgdroid said:
An interview with virgin mobile they said the reason for the change was the heavy data use done by some users costing more than expected. So if it wasn't for people using a ridiculous amount by tethering and things like that we would still have unlimited data without throttling.
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I see no difference in data useage, 100% remove tether from all VM phones, and people can still do all the same things.

Problem is VM offered something they can't give, they didn't think folks would really take unlimited searious.


I don't need to tether to do anything, except have a bigger screen and real keyboard. All my heavy downloading is still done on the phone then transfered to PC by bluetooth. All my web surfing is done on PC tethered.


useage so far according the watch dog 3g for this month
mobile internet useage 2.09GB, WiFi tethered useage 219MB

Those numbers could be reverse and I see no difference, Im gonna use the same data either way.

and I still want roll forward on the cap ;)
 
benslgdroid said:
An interview with virgin mobile they said the reason for the change was the heavy data use done by some users costing more than expected. So if it wasn't for people using a ridiculous amount by tethering and things like that we would still have unlimited data without throttling.
Click to expand...


Quoted for truth.
 
Regardless, if you don't go over 2.5gb then you won't get throttled. If you do (which they are claiming are 3% or so of customers) you will get throttled. If that bothers you, either find a network that doesn't do it (how many of those are left?) or use WiFi more. They have been talking about doing this for ages, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Personally, I use WiFi for 90%+ of my data related tasks. It doesn't bother me one bit. In fact it may make a bit less strain on the network and improve my speeds (doubtful, but who knows).
 
I know VM was slowing me down long before they actually announced it.

Mid to late 2011 I was transitioning to a new job in a new town and living out of corporate housing for about two months. I had wired Internet in my room but no where else. The hotel technically offered WiFi but I could never get it to work. If you sat in the lobby it worked but anywhere else, you could get signal but it was packet loss hell.

So because of that I used tether and hotspot a lot. Tether speeds were always faster but often times I had my work laptop with VPN going to work and my tablet connected for work also. Combine all that with moving to a new area and using Google maps HEAVILY for two months and I was using a lot of data. I know VM started to slow me down. The most noticeable area was Google maps taking forever to get directions and this was not because of GPS, it was because the maps were taking forever to load. I also noticed my Outlook inbox on my work laptop would take an hour to sync. At the end of the first month my plan reset and boom I was back to full speed and after about three weeks it slowed down again.

Luckily I was soon in my own place with 30 Mbps cable 'net on tap. I haven't noticed any slowdowns since then but I know I haven't hit the data that hard. I hotspot for 7-9 hours a day at work with my tablet for personal use but it's mostly for email and light browsing. Rarely video since all the video sites I can get at work luckily.

Do I feel guilty? No. The unlimited data and message are why I picked VM. I couldn't care less about the minutes as I talk very little. I'm on the 300 plan and have never used them all and if I have to make a long call, I use Google voice. My primary communication points for via text whether that is email, SMS, Yahoo! IM, etc. I am paying for unlimited data and that's what I expect. The slowdowns never really bothered me or kept me from being able to use the service but it was definitely noticeable.
 
melim said:
No, you pay VM for data service on your phone.
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No, I pay for wireless Internet access which is provided by VM through my phone.

And to the point, the Optimus V, my phone, can tether out of the box with no rooting or hacking. VM sold the phone this way. You are of course welcome to believe otherwise as it does not affect me or what I do with the device, or what VM allows.
 
Well, the Terms of Service that you agree to when using the phone says otherwise. It's not against any rule here at AF or anything, but here is a link to Virgin Mobile's tethering policy.

What you pay for is their data service on your phone. Of course there are ways around it, but VM doesn't want you to do that. Why do you think they started throttling data above 2.5gb?

So what I am saying is VM does not allow it, but they don't really know how you make use of your data plan. To prevent people from tethering much, they have started throttling data speeds above a certain point per month.
 
I brought this VM Optimus V, three months ago, specifically for the unlimited data usage. Now, I find that it is no longer unlimited as advertised, but severely throttled after 2.5GB. Is there an android phone service that actually has unlimited data usage without a throttle? I seriously want to switch now. I feel like I've been baited and switched. So, now it is my turn to play that game.
 
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