T-mobile broadband anomaly

Am 19 months into a 24-month contract on a T-mobile web ‘n’ walk package with a rebadged Huawei E170 HSPA modem as the dongle. Have been mainly using it occasionally as backup (on trains, meeting rooms without wifi etc.) and have found it acceptable with DL speeds up to 2Mb/s (though speeds while moving are of course unstable). With the knowledge that mobile broadband bandwidth is inherently ‘bursty’, my expectations have been limited (ie. I don’t expect smooth streaming video) and these have been met.

The reason for writing this however, is to highlight an anomaly I’ve discovered. I moved house two days ago and so have been using the dongle as my main connection until my new ISP activates my ADSL line. Within two days of mobile dongle use my 3 gig fair use limit had been breached. Fair enough. Despite being careful about not watching online video, or downloading large files, this was mainly due to my online backup program hogging the bandwidth of the 2Mb/s upload connection (4x my old ADSL UL speed!) while I wasn’t paying attention. Fair use is calculated on the sum of upload AND download traffic.

The irony of the situation is this: my punishment for having exceeded the limit, is that I am restricted to web browsing only between the hours of 4pm and midnight (a lashing with wet noodle), with full functionality at all other times.

But here’s what I’ve discovered as a result of the bandwidth transgression: the upload bandwidth seems to be unrestricted (ie. a full 2Mb/s!) even during the 4pm-midnight blackout period. This means that I will complete my current c.400 gig online backup in about 19 days, rather than my original estimate of 3.5 months, and I also have zero incentive to restrict my usage for the rest of the month, as T-Mobile calculate the fair use limits based on a calendar month and I was already put in the ‘penalty box’ on day 4 of this month. (Compare this with Vodafone, who reputedly charge £15/gig excess bandwidth charge)

Of course, my usage will probably be flagged as excessive and we’ll have to see how T-Mobile deals with the matter (T&Cs are vague about this: “If you use more than your fair use policy amount, we won’t charge you any more, but we may restrict how you can use your plan, depending on how often you go over your amount and by how much.”). For now, (and even when my ADSL line gets activated) I’ll continue to enjoy SDSL-like upload speeds, for mobile broadband prices.