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

[agentc13]

Notice that the TOS states throttle will bring users to 256k (Or below) that "Or below" for my grandparents on Virgin Mobile's MIFI program brings them to a little more than 56k, so don't be surprised when your phone suddenly wont load any faster than that AOL dial-up that you had back in 1999.

Well, that will also depend on your usual speeds. If you usually get fast 3g speeds you will probably have fast throttled speeds. And vice versa.

 

[MachPrimeRib]

Well, that will also depend on your usual speeds. If you usually get fast 3g speeds you will probably have fast throttled speeds. And vice versa.

Oh no trust me, we run at around 512kbps until that throttle hits and drops it to dial-up. The thing about the MIFI device is, unless you unplug it from the wall, it will use about 300mb over night with all computers turned off in the house. That is the only reason we know that we hit the cap. When we are done now we just unplug it and never go anywhere near the limit.

 

[agentc13]

Oh no trust me, we run at around 512kbps until that throttle hits and drops it to dial-up. The thing about the MIFI device is, unless you unplug it from the wall, it will use about 300mb over night with all computers turned off in the house. That is the only reason we know that we hit the cap. When we are done now we just unplug it and never go anywhere near the limit.

Yeah there was a reason I said probably.

Your speeds depend on a lot of different variables. My 3g speeds can be like 58kbps at times and that is going nowhere near any throttling cap. It will be different for everyone, don't be surprised either way.

 

[millenium]

Noticed AT&T has changed it's data packages. It doesn't look that bad.
AT&T Announces New Data Packages, Gives You More Bang For Your Buck

yeah thats just for the DATA, thats not including the $50 plus voice plan, i refuse to pay over 80 bucks for a cellplan, been on contracts before, im done with them.

 

[millenium]

Yeah there was a reason I said probably.

Your speeds depend on a lot of different variables. My 3g speeds can be like 58kbps at times and that is going nowhere near any throttling cap. It will be different for everyone, don't be surprised either way.

so im paying 45 bucks a month for a 56K modem?!?

 

[agentc13]

so im paying 45 bucks a month for a 56K modem?!?

No, you are paying for phone service, wifi capabilities, and I have no idea what YOUR data speeds are.

 

[MachPrimeRib]

so im paying 45 bucks a month for a 56K modem?!?

Well for an unlimited cell phone plan you're paying next to nothing that a 2yr contract company would charge you for that same service. You have the benefit of having unlimited data on top of your plan, and no obligation to pay every single month which in my personal opinion is priceless.

 

[ChampN252]

Do you use one?
Any suggestions?

The one I used is called My Data Manager Free. I stopped using it after a couple of months of realizing I was going well past 2.5 gigs

 

[Yeahha]

Just wanted to give you guys the heads up. I saw this article Virgin Mobile (USA) To Begin Throttling 3% Of Data Hungry Customers This March

Looks like VM is joining VZW, AT&T, and T-mo and will being to throttle 3% of data users

According to Virgin Mobile, only 3% of their customer base will be affected which doesn

 

[melim]

Thanks. We knew it was coming but they kept putting it off so we were never sure if/when it was really going to happen.

 

[Deleted User]

Got a text today from VM. It said the throttling will start on March 23. Their Web site faq says that you can see how much data you use on your My Account page but I could not find my usage. I don't mind the limit but their system needs to let you track your usage.

 

[snoobzilla]

Wow... I guess I am lucky unless units are off (speedtest app). I usually get around 500kbps at home and close to 1000 kbps when I have a really good signal.

 

[marc12868]

Wow... I guess I am lucky unless units are off (speedtest app). I usually get around 500kbps at home and close to 1000 kbps when I have a really good signal.

Yea i would say your lucky... I get like 100-200kbps with a fairly decent signal at my house and maybe 300-500kbps when I have an awesome signal... :/

 

[Yeahha]

Got a text today from VM. It said the throttling will start on March 23. Their Web site faq says that you can see how much data you use on your My Account page but I could not find my usage. I don't mind the limit but their system needs to let you track your usage.

I would hope they will update it to include that function. I can't believe it hasn't already been done.

On the positive side 4G is also coming later this year so you may be able to hit that 2.5 GB limit quicker

 

[Petrah]

3G Watchdog will let you know exactly how much data you're using. Its a very nice app indeed.

I used it for two months to see how much I was using and never even came close to the set limit VM is imposing, so I'm personally not all that worried.

 

[zeth006]

I would hope they will update it to include that function. I can't believe it hasn't already been done.

On the positive side 4G is also coming later this year so you may be able to hit that 2.5 GB limit quicker

4G on VM? Latest news I heard is VM has an unstated timeline for bringing WiMax, an old relic from Sprint, to VM.

 

[UnixPimp]

I have never hit the 2.5 GB limit on VM. Heck, I have never hit 2GB or even 1GB on VM or when I had a Droid on Verizon.

Streaming video on either providers 3G service is a nonstop stutterfest, so I never bother with it. I mainly use my Androids for work purposes, and emails rarely take up a lot of network traffic.

 

[cammykool]

A few months ago we reported Virgin Mobile USA’s plans to begin throttling their customers back in October but that plan never came to fruition. Instead, Virgin Mobile delayed the inevitable throttling to sometime in 2012. Well, now the pay-as-you-go service provider is officially announcing their plans to introduce throttling (for real-sies this time), come March 23rd.
According to Virgin Mobile, only 3% of their customer base will be affected which doesn’t sound too bad at all. Reduced speeds of around 256Kbps of data will affect all individuals who use over 2.5GB of data in a month. These users will receive a friendly text message from VM, warning them of the sh*t storm to befall upon them as they wait 4+ minutes for Phandroid.com to load on their web browsers (and another 7 minutes attempting to close the subsequent popup ad).

so they are throttiling anyone over 2.5gbs of data anyone got the nasty text yet?

 

[Atma]

Fine here so far. But, may be a good time for me to start looking at T-Mobile's $30 a month plan and 5GB data.

 

[350X]

should be posting higher up the chain, its not a LG Optimus V only problem, its anyone with Virgin.

 

[cammykool]

I'm just asking all my friends here

 

[350X]

Its anyone on VM beyond talk, Sprint is now offering unlimited for Iphones, and to make sure they got data room, VM is told to throttle its pre pay users.

crap rolls down hill

 

[geminiguy]

Hoping that going on youtube a lot isn't enough to reach 2.5gbs in less than a month.

 

[benslgdroid]

It says March. It's only January.

 

[xrae]

I just got the text message. I think I'm ok, but I have no idea how much data I use over their network each month. Most of my high-bandwidth usage like streaming podcasts is over my home wifi network.

Here's the text message i received, and the text of the link. Sounds to me like they'll unthrottle you if you pay for the next month of usage immediately.

======

VMFreeMsg: Your Beyond Talk Plan is about to change. Starting 3/23/12, data speeds may be reduced once you hit 2.5GB. For more info, click http://msg4u.us/th2

======

To make sure we can keep offering our Beyond Talk Plans at such great prices, we're putting a data speed reduction in place for anyone who uses over 2.5GB of data in a month.

Will it affect me?
Based on your activity for your last plan month ending in December, you shouldn't be affected.

If you continue to use the same amount of data as you did in your last plan month, you should not see your data speeds reduced. Just to give you an idea, in order to hit 2.5GB, it's about 400,000 Mobile Internet page views, about 90,000(!) emails (without attachments), 91 hours of streaming music or 20 hours of video clips*.

This will not affect your ability to text or make calls with your phone.

How will it work?
Starting March 23, 2012, if you use over 2.5GB of data in a month on your Beyond Talk Plan: