When the wireless carrier Visible first launched, Visible throttled data speeds to a maximum of 5Mbps. In June, Visible announced a removal of the cap for new and existing customers: Last week, I started trialing Visible’s service. Speed tests I ran all found download speeds of about 5 or 6 Mbps. Whether I had a […]
3:20PM MT update: The outage is has ended. VerizonWireless.com appears to be down at the moment. If you’re having trouble accessing the website right now, the issue is not on your end. As far as I can tell, the problem is not related to the browser or device visitors are using to access Verizon’s website. […]
Yesterday, Google Fi launched an unlimited plan. While Fi labels the new plan as “unlimited,” it has a couple of limitations potential customers should recognize: Video streaming will be limited to 480p quality. After 22GB of regular data use on a line, data speeds will be throttled to 256Kbps. In my opinion, 480p quality (sometimes […]
T-Mobile just started a satirical ad campaign criticizing Verizon. T-Mobile’s CEO, John Legere, kicked the campaign off with this tweet: The ad campaign criticizes Verizon for its decision to charge a premium for 5G service without publishing a map of areas where 5G service is available. The website for the campaign, VerHIDEzon.com, has some entertaining […]
Last month, I published a blog post titled Unlimited Plans At 2G Speeds Are Bogus. I argued that wireless carriers that throttle data speeds to 128Kbps after a threshold amount of data use shouldn’t call their plans “unlimited.” Doing things on the internet at 128Kbps is often frustrating or impossible. Beyond that, imposing a maximum […]
QoS Class Identifiers (QCIs) play a role in the implementation of prioritization procedures on LTE networks. I’m aware of two publicly available options for finding QCI information about a cellular connection. Specialized apps are required. One option requires a rooted device. The second option requires app sideloading. I don’t recommend rooting, sideloading, or using these […]
Altice Mobile just launched with a tempting offer. Altice’s only plan, its “unlimited everything” plan, is only $30 per line each month. A lot of technology websites have been writing about the new offering, and most of them aren’t mentioning how many limits Altice places on its subscribers. (Added 2/26/2020: Since this post came out, […]
It’s becoming more common for carriers to offer additional data at 2G speeds after subscribers use up all of the regular-speed data that they’ve been allotted. In most cases, this means subscribers who’ve run out of regular data are throttled to a maximum speed of 128Kbps. It’s a great perk. Imagine you’ve run out of […]
In the last couple of days, T-Mobile has begun a new trial program. Non-customers can get a mobile hotspot along with 30 days of service and 30GB of data at no cost. The program provides an easy option for people to test how well T-Mobile’s network could work for them. Once a hotspot is turned […]
If you happen to stumble upon a tiny phone on the bottom of the San Marcos river, please let me know. It’s mine. Towards the end of last year, I supported the Indiegogo campaign for the Unihertz Atom. The Atom is a tiny, ultra-durable phone. I have a habit of putting my personal phones through […]