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Burn Her! T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces a data hog crackdown.
T-Mobile’s CEO has declared war on about 3,000 current customers caught “stealing data from T-Mobile” by using workarounds to avoid T-Mobile’s tethering usage allowance.
T-Mobile customers with unlimited 4G LTE plans get a fixed allowance to be used for tethering when using the Smartphone Mobile HotSpot feature, which allows laptops, tablets, and other wireless devices to share a T-Mobile wireless data connection.
“These violators are going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds to steal more LTE tethered data,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile USA. “They’re downloading apps that hide their tether usage, rooting their phones, writing code to mask their activity, etc. They are ‘hacking’ the system to swipe high-speed tethered data.”
Legere claims the “clever hackers are willfully stealing for their own selfish gain” and are running up as much as two terabytes of usage a month over T-Mobile’s network. Legere thunders he won’t allow this on his watch and the company is starting a campaign of countermeasures this week to go “after a small group of users who are stealing data so blatantly and extremely that it is ridiculous.”
Legere was not specific about how T-Mobile identifies customers it considers to be abusing its network, but a new FAQ on the carrier’s website explains what will happen to those deemed to be exploiting workarounds to exceed T-Mobile’s standard 7GB tethering allowance:
We’re first warning these customers that they’re illegally using more data than they bought. We hope folks will stop on their own so they can keep their current plan. These customers are on an unlimited 4G LTE smartphone plan that includes a set amount of Smartphone Mobile HotSpot data, but they’re using workarounds to make their tethering look like smartphone usage which helps them use significantly more 4G LTE tethering than their plan includes.
Customers who continue to do this will be warned, then lose access to our Unlimited 4G LTE smartphone data plan, and be moved to an entry-level limited 4G LTE data plan.
Legere
Legere is clearly concerned the crackdown could be interpreted by the Federal Communications Commission as a Net Neutrality violation.
“These abusers will probably try to distract everyone by waving their arms about throttling data,” Legere wrote. “Make no mistake about it – this is not the same issue. Don’t be duped by their sideshow. We are going after every thief, and I am starting with the 3,000 users who know exactly what they are doing. The offenders start hearing from us tomorrow. No more abuse and no risk to the rest of our customers’ experience. It’s over. If you are interested, you can find more info in our [FAQ].”
The FCC has no rules prohibiting usage caps, but the issue of speed throttling is less settled and Legere’s comments are intended to frame the issue in terms of data theft and violations of the company’s terms and conditions.
Carriers are often less lenient with hotspot usage because desktop computers and laptops often consume much more data than portable handheld devices like tablets and smartphones. T-Mobile admits that customers who need to consume a lot of data should find another ISP:
[Wired] Broadband services would be a better solution for customers who need more high-speed for tethered devices.
Poor Legere! Poor, poor, hysterical douchebag hipster wannabe Legere… The dam he built to create a false shortage and drive up prices is springing open, and he’s ever so angry! Your fault! Not his!
1. It’s not Data Theft. It’s us using a feature of our smartphone and we are able to use our purchased device however we wish. 2. Blaming root users isn’t going to stop people from rooting there devices. Hell I rooted mine since I had to fix the hotspot feature on it since switching to T-Mobile (As they sent something to my phone that f**ked it up). 3. There is Zero Difference between tethered usage and Mobile usage. It’s All still Data and since we are paying for Unlimited Data without a Throttle tethering will be unlimited as well. 4.… Read more »
1. Whatever term you use, you are still in breach of the terms and conditions of the contract you agreed to when you signed up for their service. It’s made very clear that unlimited data is for smartphone consumption only, and not to be used for tethering. 2. I’m sure T-Mobile doesn’t give a damn about who roots their phones as long as they don’t use it to work around the clearly defined limits to the tethering bandwidth in the plan they paid for. 3. That’s clearly B.S. and merely a weak attempt to justify your behavior. Consumers simply do… Read more »
It doesn’t matter what’s in the T&C. This is a violation of net neutrality. You can’t agree to illegal things in T&Cs. I do feel for Legere here as 2 TB usage is excessive. However, they pull this crap on the limited plans, too. That’s where I really have the issue. If I pay for 2 GB data, I shouldn’t have a lower cap for tethered usage and I shouldn’t have to pay a bogus hotspot fee. In this case, they just shouldn’t offer unlimited. Either offer unlimited and shut up or cap it at what you are comfortable with.… Read more »
This issue has nothing to do with Net Neutrality. T-Mobile isn’t creating a fast lane for certain web sites and they don’t throttle or cap the data based on the type of Internet transport it uses (e.g. peer-to-peer vs web vs streaming). They are merely enforcing the clause in the contract that states you can’t use your connected cell phone as a wifi hub for other devices (beyond a certain GB limit). If you’re downloading 20GB of videos onto your phone, that’s okay. If you’re downloading the very same 20GB of videos onto the PC tethered to your phone, that’s… Read more »
If we look at the definition of net neutrality from Wikipedia, it states “Net neutrality … is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.” Charging extra for tethering or setting a different cap for tethering is discriminating based on application. It’s not much different than telling me I can’t use the Facebook app. I do believe this will eventually get settled in consumers’ favor. I don’t think it will be hard for… Read more »
“Broadband services would be a better solution for customers who need more high-speed for tethered devices.” I live in a broadband profit deadzone. Despite the fact my home is only about 2000 feet from Comcast Cable. I went around with a few of my neighbors since 2003 to petition AT&T to give us 300kbps service which is still “Available” online for my address but I’m too far away for the service to work properly (from the node) according to the AT&T tech who periodically tries to set us up with no avail. Comcast sent a tech to see if it… Read more »