Yet another confused customer puzzled by data caps and 3g vs (throttled) LTE

[PDub]

I signed up with PM a few years ago and most of the time I've been happy. I've been thinking of upgrading my plan because I was only getting 6gb per 90 days, which isn't great and I'm starting to exceed that cap. So I go to PM's website to figure out how much it would cost...and if I've got this right, I have an older LTE plan (just tested: 184mbps/18mbps) but I can't pay for extra LTE data; instead I now have to choose between 2gb of LTE per month, or 8gb of 3g (throttled LTE to 3g speeds)?! Is this seriously what PM is doing now?

[AE_Collector]

@PDub  If you are just getting to where you are consuming 6Gb over 90 days I don’t think your data use is that intensive which makes me think you really won’t notice the drop in speed to 3Mb / second. Plans are all 30 days now and at the moment the 4.5 Gb for $40 is your next step up. What are you paying for your 6 Gb over 90 days plan? You may not see much/any increase in price for lots more data?

Terry

[stonechucker]

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@Korth wrote:

 @PDub  bulk data transfers will be faster on 4G/LTE than on capped "3G", of course.

But most real-world usage will be browser content, streaming, or apps.  Plenty of bandwidth for anything except streaming stuff at higher resolution than most smartphone devices can even display.

Synthetic benchmark metrics - like SpeedTest - don't really represent actual usage which isn't optimized for maximum extreme transfer rates.  And bulk data transfers don't really take too much longer when handling data on MB scales.

4G (and 5G) hardly make any difference vs 3G when you're only moving a few GB per month.   I don't personally feel it's worth paying premium... that's what real computers and real broadband are for. But then again, I do realize my mobile usage isn't typical. 

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But what exactly is typical mobile usage?  I’m on the Fall Promo 2016 full speed LTE plan, 12 GB over 90 days.  I’m on day 87, and I’m at 46% data usage, and I’ve been streaming radio, Spotify, almost non-stop while walking my dog, walking to and from work, while taking a bus, and even when forgetting to enable Wi-Fi when possible.

Am I typical?  Is some one who streams HQ FHD video 24/7 typical?  Email and MMS only could be typical.

[Korth]

 @PDub  bulk data transfers will be faster on 4G/LTE than on capped "3G", of course.

But most real-world usage will be browser content, streaming, or apps.  Plenty of bandwidth for anything except streaming stuff at higher resolution than most smartphone devices can even display.

Synthetic benchmark metrics - like SpeedTest - don't really represent actual usage which isn't optimized for maximum extreme transfer rates.  And bulk data transfers don't really take too much longer when handling data on MB scales.

4G (and 5G) hardly make any difference vs 3G when you're only moving a few GB per month.   I don't personally feel it's worth paying premium... that's what real computers and real broadband are for. But then again, I do realize my mobile usage isn't typical. 

[stonechucker]

@PDub, I don’t know what you use your mobile data for, but most folks on the 3G throttled LTE plans see very little difference, as the latency is still fast, and it’s very usable.  I referred a friend who was on a yellow dog brand LTE package, and he switched to the $50 plan with 8.5 GB at 3G speeds, and je seriously says he see so difference to his LTE experience at the dog brand.

He is in his 3rd cycle now, and has fully used his 8.5 GB only once so far...he does a ton of data transfers.

[srlawren]

@PDub yes, they have seriously done this, much to many of our collective chagin.

[computergeek541 · Accepted solution]

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@PDub wrote:

I signed up with PM a few years ago and most of the time I've been happy. I've been thinking of upgrading my plan because I was only getting 6gb per 90 days, which isn't great and I'm starting to exceed that cap. So I go to PM's website to figure out how much it would cost...and if I've got this right, I have an older LTE plan (just tested: 184mbps/18mbps) but I can't pay for extra LTE data; instead I now have to choose between 2gb of LTE per month, or 8gb of 3g (throttled LTE to 3g speeds)?! Is this seriously what PM is doing now?

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With the elimination of plan builder, the only option to get more full-speed LTE data on your account would be to purchase somewhat explensive data add-ons.  You'l have to choose betwen that or the reduced speed plans.