I have picked up on a number of recent threads in various forums about a shift in policy by T-Mobile with regard to their data provision on W'n'W plans!
I have heard about HSDPA being disabled and the user having to request enabling.
I have heard about restrictions regarding the basic W'n'W plan (that is that it is not 3.5G enabled (????).
I have heard about users being required to pay extra to be able to use the 3.5G service.
All of this concerns me greatly as I have had no contact about any possible changes and that is something that is required by my contract before they can change T&Cs.
I have contacted a local T-Mobile shop and they told me that the contracts that they were issuing today are the same as the one I took in April '07.
If that's the case then all well and good.
If the T&Cs are different and the shops don't know then that is mis-selling and am I likely to find my T&Cs suddenly changed?
T-Mobile are (in my experience) notoriusly bad at communicating this sort of information and if you make 6 enquiries you will get 6 different answers.
Please give member feedback on this data/W'n'W issue and -
T-Mobile, we need to know exactly what the situation is and from someone who knows what they are talking about and can speak with authority giving all the facts!
The T-Mobile W'n'W data challenge
Why not hook your phone up to a desktop/lappy in a 3G area and check your bandwidth on the web ?
There lies certainty.
In good areas, I get 1.3 Mbps.
Theres not a lot of point asking the forum members, because if T-mobile really are that bad other members could be told the wrong things also. You need to ask them to send you the latest Ts and Cs and if they dont tie up with the ones you got sent when you started the contract, then you can get out of the contract free.
Pheonix SZ wrote:Why not hook your phone up to a desktop/lappy in a 3G area and check your bandwidth on the web ?
There lies certainty.
In good areas, I get 1.3 Mbps.
That's how I use the service anyway and I know that I get 3.5G speeds.
Surely getting the 3.5G icon is a sign you have HSDPA?
bartmanekul wrote:Theres not a lot of point asking the forum members, because if T-mobile really are that bad other members could be told the wrong things also. You need to ask them to send you the latest Ts and Cs and if they dont tie up with the ones you got sent when you started the contract, then you can get out of the contract free.
I don't expect the forum members to respond about T-Mobile T&Cs, but I know the networks 'monitor' these forums and this is a direct request to them for clarity on an issue that will eventually affect us all!
I ask for forum members experience as to how they have been informed or otherwise about the issue to see how wide spread the lack of communication might be.
AFAIK its just vodafone that looks at these forums, I havent heard of any of the other networks saying anything/taking action about anything on forums.
Your right about seeing if others have had the same thing though.
Unfortunatly I am unsure as to if they have to inform you of any changes of contract, or if they can just post changes on their website etc.
But, it they do changes you Ts and Cs of your original contract, then you have 14 days to say you dont agree and they have to let you out, without paying the remainder. However, you may have to return any phone you got at the start of the contract.
Id certainly ring them up to confirm (Tmobile, not your local shop). Ask confirmation that your Ts and Cs are remaining unchanged. Also log the date, time and name of the person your calling.
This way, if something daft happens - like they charge you for using a faster data stream even though you didnt enable it - your covered. Bit of time checking now might save a lot of hassle later.
Ok fellas I know all this!
I want T-Mobile to respond in the forum!
I know they monitor.
Let's see.
I think you're over-worrying, personally.
It's difficult to imagine that as the only serious data provider, TMo would risk jeopardising their position with some plan of dubious benefit, at a time when they're seeking to expand the number of data users.
The last thing they'd want is negative consumer publicity.
The only intelligent exploitation of their effective, current 'monopoly' (in the absence of sensible alternatives) is to use it to increase market share rather than screw existing customers for a few pence more.
Their data plans are the reason I defected from O2.
I had a problem with T-mobile and could not get it resolved at the "customer service" area. They seem to be only interested in the bottom line and not their customers
Mmmmm.
Just forund out about T-mobiles new data addons refered to as Broadband Mobile or some such. Costs gone up!
I think this is a bit of scaremongering. I pay a fiver fo my web and walk and although I don't often get 3.5g, I'm satisfied with my speeds.
pa49 wrote:Mmmmm.
Just forund out about T-mobiles new data addons refered to as Broadband Mobile or some such. Costs gone up!
You're not confusing Web'n'Walk (designed for mobiles only) with Web'n'Walk Plus (for connecting your laptop to the net via your mobile) are you?
Ordinary Web'n'Walk looks same price still albeit they seem to be rebranding.
F
ffcphone wrote:You're not confusing Web'n'Walk (designed for mobiles only) with Web'n'Walk Plus (for connecting your laptop to the net via your mobile) are you?Ordinary Web'n'Walk looks same price still albeit they seem to be rebranding.
F
I'm aware of the differences and the rebranding, but, that usually comes with a change in T&Cs as well.
All this is far from pransparent.
I wish to retract my previous comment in this topic. It seems that T-mobile have had a policy change since October and so any contracts after that have had HSDPA automatically disabled. They won't let you enable it if you ring them unless you get web and walk plus. What you have to do is email [email][email protected][/email] and seif they can sort it out for you. I've just had HSDPA enabled. It's ridiculous because half the call centre don't even know what HSDPA is, let alone which people are entitled to it and which are not!
pa49 wrote:I have picked up on a number of recent threads in various forums about a shift in policy by T-Mobile with regard to their data provision on W'n'W plans!
I have heard about HSDPA being disabled and the user having to request enabling.
I have heard about restrictions regarding the basic W'n'W plan (that is that it is not 3.5G enabled (????).
I have heard about users being required to pay extra to be able to use the 3.5G service.
HSDPA is not enabled on all W'n'W contracts taken out after 15th August 2007.
If you require it to be enabled you can call T-Mobile and they will enable it free of charge, with no restrictions other than those that apply to your particular W'n'W contract
I have two T-Mobile accounts, one started in June/July with my N95 and the other started in December with an LG Viewty for my girlfriend.
I've just emailed T-Mobile now for them to advise the current HSDPA status of the most recent account so I'll report back their findings and also whether they will switch HSDPA on for me.
F
HSPDA wasnt enabled on mien untilt he begginign of this month when I added WnW. Seems to work just fine.
If your connecting the N95 to a laptop the most your going to get out of it is about 460kbps because nokia use a virtual serial port and virtual modem and its stuck with the windows port limit for serial data which is a little over 460kbps.
Unplugged wrote:HSPDA wasnt enabled on mien untilt he begginign of this month when I added WnW. Seems to work just fine.If your connecting the N95 to a laptop the most your going to get out of it is about 460kbps because nokia use a virtual serial port and virtual modem and its stuck with the windows port limit for serial data which is a little over 460kbps.
Only for a Bluetooth connection.
For a cable connection, you'll be able to get the full 1.8/3.6-Mbps.
Pheonix SZ wrote:Only for a Bluetooth connection.
For a cable connection, you'll be able to get the full 1.8/3.6-Mbps.
Im connected via cable.
It seems to have gone up but this is the highest value I can select
Unplugged wrote:Im connected via cable.
It seems to have gone up but this is the highest value I can select
Interesting.
That's as reported by Windows.
I'd be more inclined to go by the results of an online bandwidth test like PCPitstop.
Yeah once dialled in you can set a speed of up to 900 odd but the modem still connects at 460.
The speed test i just ran reported 0.8 which is about as fast is ive seen it 😊
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/120234505661186929190.html
IF your phone says 3.5G are you using HSDPA? :con?
Unplugged wrote:Yeah once dialled in you can set a speed of up to 900 odd but the modem still connects at 460.The speed test i just ran reported 0.8 which is about as fast is ive seen it 😊
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/120234505661186929190.html
I've had 1.3-Mbps on my lappy, quite regularly in good 3G areas.
Unplugged wrote:Im connected via cable.
It seems to have gone up but this is the highest value I can select
This has nothing to do with the actual data transfer speed.
Try a speed test in the middle of the night. You will be surprised at the speed.
I can't wait for HSOPA. Evolved HSPA should be out this year with 42Mbit/s downloads, but with HSOPA expect up to 100Mbit downloads 😮 that's gonna be awesome.
On a related issue to this topic is it just me or is downloading stuff via T-Mobile UK's W'n'W somewhat slower these days?
When I got my N95 back in June/July 2007 and, indeed, up to Autumn time, I could leave my office in NW England at 5pm on a Friday and whilst walking to the railway station, I could download Terry Wogan's Radio 2 podcast within a couple of minutes via W'n'W.
More recently, it's become so painfully slow that I've tried to download podcasts when connected to either our home or office WLAN.
Last night, I set my girlfriend's LG Viewty and my N95, both of which are on T-Mobile UK, to download the Russell Brand Radio 2 podcast and to compare speeds - I did this to see whether I could deduce anything about HSDPA because her T-Mobile connection began fairly recently when HSDPA might not automatically be turned on.
The Viewty downloaded the podcast within say 7-10 minutes but my N95 had only got to about 8-10% when the Viewty had finished so I cancelled it and went off in a huff! I've ridiculed her loads as to why she chose such an awful handset and this is the first time the N95 has let me down. Not only that, my signal strength was showing fairly decent and 3.5G was showing whereas there's no indicator on the Viewty to show HSDPA being active (as far as I know) and her signal strength was noticeably lower than mine.
Very bizarre.
F
T-Mobile UK have just responded to my email about HSDPA.
To recap, I have both an N95 and an LG Viewty registered to T-Mobile, the N95 account commencing in June/July 2007 and the Viewty account commencing within the last couple of months.
T-Mobile advise NEITHER account has HSDPA enabled and, in addition, if I wanted it enabled, I would have to upgrade my W'n'W package to "plus" or "max". They say it is not an option on standard W'n'W packages.
The 3.5G indicator does come on the N95 when browsing so either T-Mobile are wrong or the indicator merely confirms the presence of HSDPA not that it's being used. Given the indicator always starts off as 3G until I try and download something and only then does it switch, I'm thinking the former!
F
ffcphone wrote:T-Mobile UK have just responded to my email about HSDPA.To recap, I have both an N95 and an LG Viewty registered to T-Mobile, the N95 account commencing in June/July 2007 and the Viewty account commencing within the last couple of months.
T-Mobile advise NEITHER account has HSDPA enabled and, in addition, if I wanted it enabled, I would have to upgrade my W'n'W package to "plus" or "max". They say it is not an option on standard W'n'W packages.
The 3.5G indicator does come on the N95 when browsing so either T-Mobile are wrong or the indicator merely confirms the presence of HSDPA not that it's being used. Given the indicator always starts off as 3G until I try and download something and only then does it switch, I'm thinking the former!
F
Hook it up as USB modem to a lappy and go to http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/BwDownTest.asp
... to check your bandwidth.
I'd hazard that the 3.5G icon only indicates that you're in a 3.5G zone rather than downloading at 3.5G speeds.
I remember when T-Mobile were accidently throttling my bandwidth at 64K.
I had the 3.5G icon up - but couldn't get past 64Kbps.
just to throw another spanner in the works here...
it can show 3.5G / HSDPA - but has anyone thought that T-mobile might be throttling how much data you can get over your connection? I've no doubt at all they're firewalling this traffic somewhere (they block MSN on standard W+W dont they) so it doesn't take much more effort to throttle down your speed.