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T-Mobile is declaring war on those who consume more tethered data than they are supposed to. As seen on the wireless carrier’s newsroom page, John Legere, the president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile, has posted an open letter to subscribers of T-Mobile, and has expressed some unflattering words for a select group of customers who gobble up more than their fair share of tethered data.
Those who abuse data usage on T-Mobile’s network only makes up a very small percentage of the wireless carrier’s 59 million strong subscriber base. These unscrupulous users apparently take advantage of certain methods that allow them to work around the monthly limit set for high speed tethered data. According to Legere, these abusers use up as much as 2 terabytes on a monthly basis.
But wait -- isn’t T-Mobile offering unlimited data anyway? Yup, the wireless carrier does offer plans with unlimited data inclusions, but there is still a limit to how much fast data a subscribers can use for tethering. For those not familiar with tethering, it is a technique that allows customers to use their handset’s cellular connection as a hotspot in order to provide web access to other mobile devices, such as tablets or laptops. T-Mobile’s standard unlimited 4G LTE plan comes with 7 gigabytes of high speed tethered data. If subscribers go beyond that limit, their hotspot data will be slowed down.
How do these select group of customers work around their data limits exactly? Often, they download mobile apps that allow them to mask their tether usage. Sometimes they root their handsets, and even write code to hide their data usage. These methods make it appear as if the data is being used up by the user’s handset, not by tethered mobile devices. That lets these subscribers gobble up copious amounts data without being slowed down. Moreover, customers who take advantage of these turnarounds can potentially affect the network performance of other T-Mobile subscribers.
So, what is T-Mobile planning to do these with these data thieves? The wireless carrier will begin by issuing warnings against subscribers guilty of these practices. If these customers do not stop what they are doing, T-Mobile will be cutting them off from their unlimited 4G LTE data plans, and then demote them to entry level LTE plans. The wireless carrier has also outlined its policy against data abusers -- those who are interested in knowing more can read the full FAQs.
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