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T-Mobile Kills Overage Charges, Challenges Others to Follow

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Throttled Vs Capped.

Slammer

Apr 14, 2014, 11:47 AM
The fine print in Tmobile's new entrance plan, claims that once 500mb of data has been consumed, Tmobile will cease the service for remainder of the billing cycle.

I'm hearing a lot of talk about throttling. However, throttling doesn't cease the accessibility of data consumption. It may slow it down but doesn't terminate it.

For those that don't mind slower service, data will still be used and someone will end up paying. I would love to take a peek at the fine print of this new "Uncarrier" proposition of no overages. It sounds like tmobile is trying to parry the wording of price plans to make them seem more attractive yet only limiting what consumers use.

John B.
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charlesrainer

Apr 14, 2014, 11:51 AM
Simple Starter $40 plan - capped
After going over 500MB, you cannot access the web.

Simple Choice $50 and up - throttled
After going over your data plan, connection slows down.

T-mobile Kills overages on old plans - throttled
Before: $0.10/MB after going over 200MB
On May: Connection slows down after going over grandfathered 200MB
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Globhead

Apr 14, 2014, 2:24 PM
Slammer said:
slower service, data will still be used and someone will end up paying.

Once everyone is on a plan, the cost is fixed whether the available system is used or not. Using data is not some expense which must be paid for later because data doesn't really exist.

By slowing down the cheap customers and therefore spreading their use over more time, it ensures that more system capacity is available for others at any specific time, which is all the paying users care about.

Furthermore, though the slowed users can still "use" the system, it kills all but the lowest-quality video streams and downloads, which does in fact reduce their total usage in addition to reducing their momentary burden.
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Zpike

Apr 15, 2014, 10:23 AM
That's some convoluted logic. I don't think I was able to follow any of it. And what do you mean that data doesn't exist? At some point or another, all data takes on the physical form of bits on the platters of a hard drive, a high or low voltage across an electrical wire, bursts of light, waves of sound, etc. All those things are physical entities which do, in fact, exist.
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Globhead

Apr 15, 2014, 11:14 AM
Data is the arrangement, not the physical tokens. It does not exist. Data transmissions don't accumulate over time, the transmitted data is not a persistent thing, and it doesn't have to be paid for in the future as Slammer tried to assert as a rule.
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Zpike

Apr 15, 2014, 3:37 PM
>>Data is the arrangement, not the physical tokens. It does not exist.

What are you on about? That doesn't even make sense. You're either being purposefully vague or you really have no idea how basic electronics work. Data can come in a plethora of forms, and every one of them is physical. There may be no predefined determination of its meaning, which I suppose it's what you're hinting at, but even then there is some physical element that decides the meaning.

>>Data transmissions don't accumulate over time,

In what context? Because I am unable to think of even a single one. But here's a nice example of how data can accumulate. Stereo amplifiers will advertise a maximum wattage across all channels. But that is not a sustained wattag...
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CellStudent

Apr 17, 2014, 3:30 AM
Wow, there's so much confusion in here, I cannot help but step in.

When someone says "data does not exist" what they really ought to be saying is "data does not have mass." You cannot place it on a scale to weight it. You cannot set chunks of it back to back and measure it with a ruler. You cannot sum up all the parts and measure its electric field properties. Data, in its fundamental form is simply the expression of information by using a code that relates one object to another.

Probably the easiest way to explain this is to look at the Braille alphabet used by the blind. All text in a Braille book consists of identical dots. Many hundreds of them on a single page. Observing one dot in isolation gives no "data" about what is be...
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Zpike

Apr 22, 2014, 11:37 AM
That's pretty well writen, and I applaud you for putting it together. Most people on this site cannot put their thoughts together as clearly as you have just done. But I do disagree with most of what you just said. We'll look at a few key points.

>>Data, in its fundamental form is simply the expression of information by using a code that relates one object to another.

No, you're confusing "data" and "meaning." Data are always something physical, i.e., a ray of light in the eye, a sound wave in the air, a magnetic imprint on a disk, bits of lead or ink on a piece of paper, etc.

And in the case of wireless carriers, the data are ones and zeroes carried across a wire, transmitted over radio waves, or stored on a disk. Those data are q...
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CellStudent

Apr 23, 2014, 6:21 AM
Having received an Electrical Engineering degree with an emphasis in signal processing and digital communications theory, I have a much better grasp of what data is than most.

I tried to simplify things down, but apparently it wasn't enough. Without understanding the concept of modulation, it's difficult to understand the concept that data is a completely non-physical entity which is only given meaning based on its present position.

If the Braille analogy isn't sufficient, think about an abacus. All the beads on the abacus are identical, they're just in different positions, and they can be moved. It is the variance of the beads from the position which was arbitrarily chosen to represent zero which constitutes data. The bea...
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Zpike

Apr 23, 2014, 4:57 PM
The whole thing is an equivocation fallacy. You are using a definition of data very different from the one wireless carriers use when they define how to bill for their plans.

It may come as a surprise to you, but my degree is in Computer Science, and I also studied extensively in Electronics Engineering and Computer Information Systems before deciding on and completing that degree. I have been studying and working on the concept of data for over 20 years now. Currently, I am a database programmer, and the fundamental role of my profession is to work with data. I am as close to it as one can be. I am familiar with the concept of data, not just as it exists in one discipline, but in many. IT, Computer Science, and engineering can all treat ...
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CellStudent

Apr 24, 2014, 2:41 AM
>>You are using a definition of data very different from the one wireless carriers use when they define how to bill for their plans.


Yes.

Your arguments make sense based on the common-tongue use of the term.

Mine are correct in terms of Modulation Theory (which is what matters in wireless communication systems design).
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Zpike

Apr 24, 2014, 2:08 PM
>>Mine are correct in terms of Modulation Theory (which is what matters in wireless communication systems design).

Yes, it is quite ironic that you have to understand the same word in vastly different ways in order to both build a product and sell it. I pity anyone working for a wireless carrier who has to talk to both engineering and marketing.
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Slammer

Apr 16, 2014, 11:07 AM
---"it doesn't have to be paid for in the future as Slammer tried to assert as a rule."---

Actually, that's not what I'm claiming. I'm saying that there are people that can still consume more than what they are allotted per cycle regardless of being throttled. Who pays for these overages? Certainly Tmobile is not going to allow free data in this instance. Even let's say Tmobile is not socking the customer with 10 times the normal charge rate for data overages, someone still has to be accountable and pay for used transactions that have breached the TOS. I say tmobile will inherently charge for overages in spite of what it claims.

I'm ashamed that I actually know people that would not mind a temporary throttle knowing they could use more...
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