It looks like T-Mobile is about to begin to crack down on those that are using their LTE network to download torrents and such. Which is expected as it is against their terms and conditions. It also bogs down the network, which is probably the biggest reason for T-Mobile to do this. It’s really not surprising, as T-Mobile wants to keep their network fast, and not have it saturated like the other three carriers around here.
TmoNews got their hands on an internal memo that was sent to T-Mobile’s staff, which reads:
“T-mobile has identified customers who are heavy data users and are engaged in peer-to-peer file sharing, and tethering outside of T-Mobile’s Terms and Conditions (T&C). This results in a negative data network experience for T-Mobile customers. Beginning August 17, T-Mobile will begin to address customers who are conducting activities outside of T-Mobile’s T&Cs.”
This appears to only affect those on the truly unlimited data plan, that’s the $80 plan that doesn’t throttle, oh wait? So if you get 1GB, 3GB or 5GB of LTE data and then throttled after that, you don’t need to worry about this. Using unlimited data for torrents is labeled as misuse by T-Mobile and most other carriers as well
“Using the Service in connection with server devices or host computer applications, including continuous Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications that are broadcast to multiple servers or recipients, “bots” or similar routines that could disrupt net user groups or email use by others or other applications that denigrate network capacity or functionality.”
So if you are using your T-Mobile smartphone for downloading torrents and such, you’ll need to find another way, unless you’re cool with being throttled. I know, I know, it’s unlimited data. But if we have everyone downloading torrents, it’s going to slow down the network and we’ll hear even more complaints.