T-Mobile slammed with a class-action lawsuit for misleading clients on unlimited data plans
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It turned out that the unlimited part doesn't really refer to the download speeds, since the plaintiff received a message that he has reached 10GB of data usage, therefore his access will be restricted to 50kbps until the end of the billing cycle. Calls to customer service resulted in refusal to lift those speed limits.
The lawsuit is similar to what Verizon settled in 2007 after advertising unlimited data plans, but actually throttling speeds down once an invisible cap was reached, and this is a well-known practice of many carriers.
Now, we know these class-action lawsuits are usually a dime a dozen in the corporate world, and the companies' lawyers usually quickly dismiss the charges. Moreover, there has been fine print at the end of the T-Mobile brochure, which states that the carrier reserves the right to restrict download speeds if the network is overloaded, etc.
What we can hope for, is that such lawsuits result in these warnings being made more prominent, with actual examples explained, and the data caps clearly stated, so users know what they are dealing with upfront.
source: ConsumerAffairs via Electronista
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29 Comments
1. psn1819 posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:47 0 0
Yea why do we have to find out in a random message that youve gone over...T-mobile was hiding the cap like it was government secret lol
2. Homotechual posted on 10 Aug 2010, 09:30 0 0
Really? The guy is an idiot if your going to use more then 10gb of data get internet at your house. Instead of being cheap and tethering something T-Mobile doesn't even charge for ANYWAY and then file a lawsuit. Dumba$$ I'm sure now T-Mobile will either block or start charging for tethering. There is no way that guy hit 10gb using his phone.
3. remixfa posted on 10 Aug 2010, 09:45 0 0
most carriers cap at 5g before they charge you or throttle you down. This jacko is complaining about 10g? what the heck was he streaming to use 10gig? most people dont use that at home, much less their cellphones.. And just like H pointed out, tmobile doesnt charge for tethering, and they are the only major carrier not to. so, hes getting the cheapest data plan, with that usage id assume he's in HSPA territory, not paying for tethering, has a 10g cap instead of 5 like everyone else, and still wants to sue for unfair practices?!?!?! LOL. I-D-I-O-T.
7. WKlingbeil posted on 10 Aug 2010, 11:22 0 0
Thank you, 10GB is insane on a smartphone, God only knows what the guy was doing on it to run up 10Gb of usage. It's people like this moron that caused the mortgage crash, thinking they shouldn't have to have responsibilities in any services they use. I'm normally on the consumer's side because companies like to throw their weight around, but it's consumers like this that make companies have crooked policies. I hope they countersue him to show him that he's an idiot.
11. JackFace posted on 10 Aug 2010, 12:32 0 0
I 100% agree with you. People like this cause companies to put more restrictions on usage and everything else One persone (or a small group of people in most cases) screw things up for everyone else because of their greed and their retardation. People are absolutely amazing sometimes....
14. skymtich89 (unregistered) posted on 10 Aug 2010, 13:57 0 0
i hit almost 12Gb of data use on my phone last month just by watching videos and downloading large files. it isnt that hard to reach over 5Gb when doing that.
4. Sniggly posted on 10 Aug 2010, 10:17 0 0
Huh. Didn't know about the speed cap. Then again, I'm never in 3G coverage so it's pretty slow around here anyway. :D
5. THEOG posted on 10 Aug 2010, 11:00 0 0
Agree this dam jackoss. I hardly use that much data at home let along on a mobile network. I mean 10gb? I have an evo and most people after the frist moth use a ton of data playing with there new toy. But now i'm somewhere around 400mb - 1 Gb a month. To use that much you'll have to be hooking up a notebook downloading movies while he's at work. And I dont know who would want to do that because it would be so slow downloading it.
6. GHOUSE posted on 10 Aug 2010, 11:15 0 0
This guy probably started downloading a bunch of huge files on purpose to find a data cap and file this lawsuit. try to make some easy money.
8. messiah posted on 10 Aug 2010, 11:47 0 0
would love for them to pull his records and reveal in court he was streaming child porn, then the douche goes away for life and walks awak with scorching herpes.... dumbass sucka...
9. messiah posted on 10 Aug 2010, 11:56 0 0
my car has unlimited driving.... but if it runs out of gas, i have to push it to the station.
10. hawk62 posted on 10 Aug 2010, 12:11 0 0
He totally did it to find the cap. ATT limits to 2gb? and that covers like 98% of their customers. SO this ass is 5 times over what 98% of att ppl use. The story doesnt even say how far into the month he was. How long of a charger does he have, cause that phone had to be plugged in all the time.
13. networkdood posted on 10 Aug 2010, 12:56 0 0
at&t does not, purposely throttle speed and just buills 10.00/GB for overages. STill, what a dumb lawsuit. TMOBILE should counter-suit on the fact that this customer is an arse.
12. PhoneUser posted on 10 Aug 2010, 12:43 0 0
Well technically the rep didnt lie about the Unlimited part. The customer ask if it was unlimited internet and the rep answered honestly and said yes. The customer never asked if there was a download cap on the unlimited internet. This can go either way because well for one who really uses 10GB of internet???? Second the customer needs to do his own research and READ THE CONTRACT AND/OR BROCHURE!!! The contract will tell you everything your getting into and he is "supposed to read it" when signing the contract he state he has read and understands the terms and conditions to his service. This guy is just looking for a quick buck cause he probably is not getting paid what he would like so he wants to sue Mcdonald's cause the coffee was Hot........ Get a a life and know what your getting into.....I always do.
15. skymitch89 (unregistered) posted on 10 Aug 2010, 13:59 0 0
i've hit over 10Gb for the past 2 months and never got any message saying that my speed was going to be reduced. in fact it seemed like my speed actually increased. i've got the everything data plan through sprint and have never had a problem with that yet. and i dont even pay the tethering fee either.
16. Daryl209 posted on 10 Aug 2010, 15:39 0 0
10GBs.....on a phone.....yea this guy is off his rocker. That's way too much data for a phone. Plus that much data being downloaded on one phone will cause congestion. And technically, it's still Unlimited, he's not being charged for extra data and they didn't block his data. Gotta love the great state of California, we sue everyone lol.
18. jimster (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2010, 05:02 0 0
wow this guy has really lost his mind! i hit the 10gig mark before... after trying 3 months in a row!!! i watched videos all day, tethered my phone and played ps3 online, downloaded torrent, etc... i barley hit the 10gig!!! this guy really needs to do something better in his life. im sure he is one of those retards that everybody hates. and now look... he now has thousands more that hate him! lol FAIL!
19. pingpong posted on 11 Aug 2010, 18:50 0 0
This guy seems like the type of person that does stuff to ruin things for everyone else. Now thanks to this jackass everyone else will most likely have to see some sort of consequence for their internet usage. Hope he gets hit by a bus.
20. Sega10 (unregistered) posted on 14 Aug 2010, 14:03 0 0
I went over my Unlimited Data Plan this month also...well I excedded the 10gb limit and early this morning T-Mobile sent me a text saying that my Data was being throttled t o 50 kbps....Im not bothered like that guy because I was tethering and download ALOT of computer software and such..in the end that guy is a idiot because most likely he was halfway through his billing cycle..which means his speed would have been returned to normal.
