Unlimited T-Mobile Data Available Today > smartphone vs. modem/hotspot

The best solution is to do what Verizon did with their legacy 3G unlimited customers, assign different contention ratios to high consumption users. They can use all-they-can-eat when the network isn't busy, but they receive less resources than non-heavy users when the network is congested.

It's the best way to handle the problem, someone downloading a torrent isn't going to notice a temporary slowdown, but I'm damn sure going to notice if my webpage request takes three minutes to complete.

Optimizing Our Network. Our Network Optimization practices ensure that you can count on the reliable network you expect. To optimize our network, we manage data connection speeds for a small subset of customers – the top 5% of data users with 3G devices on unlimited data plans – and only in places and at times of 3G network congestion. This ensures that all customers have the best data experience possible.

Implementing Change. 95% of our data customers will not see any change in service. You’ll continue surfing the Web, downloading music, uploading pictures and sending emails just as you always have. The highest data users, the top 5% with 3G devices on unlimited data plans, may experience managed data speeds when connected to a congested 3G cell site after reaching certain data-usage levels in a bill cycle. High data users will feel the smallest possible impact and only experience reduced data speeds when necessary for us to optimize data network traffic in that area.