T-Mobile announced on Monday that it will begin to crack down on its customers who abuse its unlimited data plan.
T-Mobile's CEO John Legere announced on Twitter, Periscope and in a blog post that the Un-carrier will ban users who "steal" data, saying their unchecked actions could have a negative effect on the other honest customers.
Legere was specifically calling on those who use their mobile phones for tethering, which is the feature that lets customers use their smartphones as hotspots to share its Internet connection with another device such as a tablet or computer. This means that the data thieves are able to get an Internet connection on a second device without additional charge.
But T-Mobile is onto to these data abusers because tethering can take as much as 2 terabytes (2,000 GB), which is more data than people use over the course of a month.
When customers buy T-Mobile's unlimited 4G LTE plan, they are given a fixed amount of LTE per month for tethering at no additional cost (approximately 7 GB) so they will be able to still use the Internet when broadband is not available. When the consumer reaches their allotted data, their download speeds will begin to see a decrease.
But to hide their data usage to avoid decreased speed, Legere said that these data thieves are downloading apps that hide their usage and write code to hide their activity, hence "hacking" the system for high-speed tethering data. "These aren't naive amateurs; they are clever hackers who are willfully stealing for their own selfish gain," Legere said.
4/ This abuse is intentional. If you’re not sure, YOU ARE NOT an abuser. This isn’t something the average person just happens to do.
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) August 31, 2015
Legere said while these data thieves are only a small group, about 1/100 percent of the company's 59 million customers, T-Mobile will start taking action against those 3,000 users.
T-Mobile is the only remaining service provider that still offers unlimited data plans. AT&T discontinued its unlimited data plans back in 2010, and Verizon ditched its offering around this time as well.
It's appears as though T-Mobile's unlimited data plan is about to get real limited for hackers.
Via: T-Mobile
Photo: Elvert Barnes | Flickr
