Skip to main content

T-Mobile raises high-speed data throttling cap to 30GB for its unlimited plan

t mobile fcc settlement
Chris Potter/Flickr
T-Mobile has quietly updated the terms and conditions of its One unlimited plan. On the carrier’s website, it stipulates a 30GB soft data cap, at which point all usage in excess may be slowed. The previous cap was 28GB, indicating that the company has recently increased it.

All of the major carriers’ advertised “unlimited” data plans aren’t truly unlimited — the caps implemented usually fall somewhere between 20 and 30GB. Verizon and AT&T begin throttling customers at 22GB, while Sprint starts at 23GB, and selectively slows certain types of content differently. Many wireless providers argue that enforcing such limits is necessary to deter users from abusing the plans, or using them as a full-stop replacement for residential internet, which in most cases is slower than what customers can achieve via LTE and a smartphone.

T-Mobile said subscribers that do go over the 30GB soft cap will only experience throttling and speed differences during rare congestion periods and “places of high demand.”

Unlimited data has undergone something of a resurgence since Verizon announced it was reintroducing its plan in February, forcing AT&T to follow suit and T-Mobile to improve its pre-existing One plan. Initially, One reduced the quality of all streaming video to 480p and restricted tethered data to 3G speed. Last month, the carrier did away with these caveats to stay competitive.

With the latest news, T-Mobile has driven up its high-speed data advantage to 8GB more than what is being offered by Verizon and AT&T, the two mobile giants the carrier is desperately trying to chase down. Its tactics may be working, too, if recent data is any indication. T-Mobile reported it added 1.2 million postpaid customers during the fourth quarter of last year. Verizon, comparatively, fell short of expectations, pulling in less than half that amount, at 591,000 subscribers, according to market research firm FactSet Street Account by way of Reuters.

Although the vast majority will likely never use anywhere near 30GB in a month, T-Mobile’s changes are a show of goodwill toward its customers that may make all the difference in the cutthroat competitive arena that is the wireless industry. And if these past few weeks have taught us anything, you can expect the company’s competitors to take notice.

Adam Ismail
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Adam’s obsession with tech began at a young age, with a Sega Dreamcast – and he’s been hooked ever since. Previously…
T-Mobile adding a free year of Apple TV+ to its most expensive plans
Apple TV icon on Apple TV.

T-Mobile today announced that it's giving subscribers to its most expensive mobile plan a free subscription to Apple TV+, which normally costs $60 a year. Those who are subscribed to the Magenta Max plan — which costs $85 a month for a single line — will get Apple's streaming service for free. If you've got T-Mobile's Magenta plan, which costs $70 a month for one line, you'll get six months of Apple TV+ for free.

The perk takes effect on August 31, 2022, and it's good for the foreseeable future. (A previous version of this story stated it was just for one year, but that's legacy copy on T-Mobile's website for the old perk that's being supplanted.)

Read more
AT&T just made its FirstNet plans a lot more helpful for first responders
AT&T SatCOLT which is a mobile 5G tower platform.

Wireless smartphone plans are historically confusing and complicated — and this can be especially true when trying to mix and match different plan types. Take AT&T as an example. Ever since the carrier launched its FirstNet wireless service for first responders, families with FirstNet and regular/commercial AT&T plans have had to put up with multiple wireless plans, multiple accounts, and multiple bills. However, starting August 9, AT&T is taking big steps to reduce the headaches and make its FirstNet service offerings much easier to digest.

Created in 2001 and contracted to AT&T in 2017, FirstNet is a wireless network "built with AT&T to specifically to meet the needs of first responders." In the event of a natural disaster, terror attack, etc., it's not uncommon for wireless cell signals to become overloaded and disrupted. FirstNet is designed to remain up and running during such events and gives first responders "superior security, truly dedicated coverage and capacity when they need it and unique benefits they can’t get anywhere else." While that aspect of FirstNet is great, how it's traditionally been billed to people has been anything but.

Read more
T-Mobile just achieved 3Gbps 5G speeds — without mmWave
Speedtest results on a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

T-Mobile is setting out to prove that carriers don’t need to deploy extremely high-frequency mmWave technology to get blazing fast speeds. Thanks to Carrier Aggregation technology, the “Un-carrier” has demonstrated performance of 3Gbps download speeds on good old-fashioned low-band and mid-band 5G channels.

In a press release today, T-Mobile revealed that it has reached these unprecedented speeds for the first time ever on a commercial device; in this case, a Samsung Galaxy S22 powered by a Snapdragon X65 modem. “This test demonstrates the incredible power of mid-band spectrum and represents another huge step forward for stand-alone 5G,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile.

Read more