T-Mobile forced to remove data caps and stop throttling home internet speeds in New York
New York alleges that T-Mobile failed to adhere to certain requirements with its home internet service for low-income households.
T-Mobile and New York reach agreement on low-income home internet service. | Image by T-Mobile
T-Mobile reached an agreement with the State of New York to improve the quality and reach of the carrier's home internet service for eligible New Yorkers under the state's Affordable Broadband Act (ABA). The ABA requires T-Mobile and other internet providers in the state to offer eligible households a service enabling them to get online for $15 per month with data speeds of at least 25 Mbps or $20 per month with speeds of at least 200 Mbps.
James also said that her office discovered that T-Mobile had coded its website in a certain manner to make its ABA pricing almost impossible to find when searching for low-priced internet service. T-Mobile is also accused of limiting sales of its most affordable $15 monthly plan to areas with 5G coverage even though it did offer home internet to some areas with 4G coverage.
As part of its agreement with New York, T-Mobile agreed to remove the data caps and offer 25 Mbps service to all ABA home internet subscribers unless network congestion forces T-Mobile to temporarily reduce speeds. ABA plans will now be offered by T-Mobile in all areas in New York where it offers home internet, and its ABA plan website must now be discoverable by search engines. New Yorkers are able to apply for an ABA home internet plan if one member of the household receives one or more of the following benefits:
The carrier was accused of throttling home internet speeds to low-income subscribers in New York
New York Attorney General Letitia James said that her office has found that T-Mobile failed to meet the ABA requirements and instead was intentionally throttling the data speeds of subscribers to the $15 per month service. The Attorney General alleged that the $15 per month T-Mobile home internet plan has a 50 GB per month data cap and once customers hit that limit for the month, their download data speed was reduced by 97% to 650 Kbps.
We have a long history of helping customers in New York stay connected through low-cost broadband, and we’re updating our plan to meet the state’s requirements while maintaining the same low price. We’ve reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General that builds on that commitment, provides greater clarity around our offering and makes the plan available to more eligible customers.
T-Mobile spokesman
James also said that her office discovered that T-Mobile had coded its website in a certain manner to make its ABA pricing almost impossible to find when searching for low-priced internet service. T-Mobile is also accused of limiting sales of its most affordable $15 monthly plan to areas with 5G coverage even though it did offer home internet to some areas with 4G coverage.
T-Mobile agrees to make these changes with its agreement
- Medicaid;
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
- Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) or any baseline utility affordability benefit;
- Free or reduced-price school lunch through the National School Lunch Program; or
- Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption or Disability Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE/DRIE).
Even if no one in a low-income household subscribes to one of these benefit plans, they might still qualify for ABA home internet pricing based on their income.
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