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T-Mobile Users Say Spotify Still Eating Usage Allotment

T-Mobile recently raised a few eyebrows with the announcement that music streaming services wouldn't count against a user's bandwith cap. To hear T-Mobile tell it, they'd determine which services would be exempt based on consumer demand, though the announcement still raised the hackles of net neutrality advocates, who'd prefer carriers not intervene in selecting which services get preferred status.

T-Mobile's initial efforts at cap-free music services doesn't appear to be without the occasional hiccup. Users on Reddit have noted that using Spotify still appears to be eating data from their allotment. In a statement to the press, T-Mobile states they aren't seeing any problems on their end and offered this advice:

quote:
We aren’t seeing anything indicating that Spotify or other apps are using customers’ 4G LTE data bucket, but if you’re seeing this, please ring T-Mobile Care. They’ll take care of you, but there are a few steps you can take first to verify the issue:

1) Make sure you’re looking at data traffic after June 18, when Music Freedom was introduced.

2) Keep in mind that your phone may be doing other stuff that uses your high-speed data while you’re streaming music (e.g. downloading email, updating apps, etc).

3) Many phones come with apps that report total data usage, but this might not use your data bucket. Check your account on your phone or at my.t-mobile.com to see how much of your 4G LTE data bucket is being used.

4) Some non-music content (e.g. album art) may not be covered when it comes from a different data stream. In apps that serve up non-music content, it generally represents a very small percent of total data the app uses. In our quick check with Spotify, it was roughly 1-4% of data used.
While this very well may be user error, it again raises the question of who is verifying that usage caps and other network gear is monitoring consumption and tracking usage accurately? Regulators certainly aren't.
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

impossible..

on android, unless you ONLY let ONE foreground process work at a time.. there's no way for you to only be running one app. even then, you could have other rogue mini applets syncing w/o your permission. android is a mess when it comes to firewalling what goes in and out on your data usage.

FYI, it took several generations of windows for this to be tamed with proper apps.
kram1984j
join:2009-12-06

kram1984j

Member

Re: impossible..

You haven't used a recent (recent referring to ~2yrs old?) android device then. It shows total data usage over a period you select, but it also breaks it down by every individual app/service. You can also specifically disable apps/services from using "background" data.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

Re: impossible..

possibly, not with a native app tracfone minutes android. maybe with some 4g/LTE phones. until recently, most of the phones you speak about were mainly CONTRACT phones (around the time all carriers either throttled data or went off the wagon to paid data plans)

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

1 edit

MovieLover76

Member

Re: impossible..

tracfone supplied android isn't current android in most cases, they just stopped offering mostly gingerbread phones this year.
You don't need a contract phone, any ICS or better phone has the per app bandwidth tracking, and timeframe selection capabilities kram talked about. Honestly any phones that doesn't have at least Jellybean isn't worth buying these days.
You can get a Moto G w/ LTE for $219 or Moto G for $179 or a moto E for a little over $100 that includes these features and the most recent version of Android.

Very few users are on such old android versions that can't do this. I think pre ICS is down to less than 15% of android users.

Use Bring your own device, the devices that prepaid carriers offer are generally not worth your time. Though there are some exceptions, MetroPCS carries the S5 and I think Straight Talk offers the iphone

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

fiosultimate

Member

people

I swear these people would complain if u gave them free money about the fact that they dont have a wallet and would have to carry their free money all the way to their car and their hand might get soar carrying a wad of bills

These are the people that win the 100 million lotto and whine about the taxes they have to pay and how its so unfair and that the lotto should pay those taxes and give them 100 million lotto free and clear
ndwbr
join:2003-07-10
Atlanta, GA

ndwbr

Member

Re: people

"...their hand might get soar..." - seriously?

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

fiosultimate

Member

Re: people

Yes, if there was a website about people who got free money, someone would go there and complain about getting soar

YogiYahooeys
join:2004-08-17
Evansville, IN

YogiYahooeys to ndwbr

Member

to ndwbr
I wonder if the hand detaches from the arm or if the whole body goes flying up into the air with the hand...

bmccoy
join:2013-03-18
Port Orchard, WA

bmccoy to fiosultimate

Member

to fiosultimate
You're whining and complaining about other people that whine and complain. A little bit ironic, huh?

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

fiosultimate

Member

Re: people

I am saying people will always find a way to complain, no matter what, I am not whining at them, I am laughing at them, they stuupd
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

Re: people

You're whining about them in almost every thread.

fiosultimate
join:2014-06-09
San Antonio, TX

4 edits

fiosultimate

Member

reality vs fantasy

I pity them, the fools actually that even if one thing in one million is wrong they need to yell at the top of their lungs and act like they have been stabbed in the back, these are the people that sit outside their homes and complain when their welfare check doesn't go up enough, I just laugh at their expense, I am like how they get from point a to point b ??? Then I see logic and common sense doesn't work for them the way it works for normal people, now of course if u have an issue with me, I have a number of a good shrink a friend of mine used, sounds like u are projecting
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

It is Sprint's fault.

Tmobile can never do wrong and it is csrtainly no a customer's issue. Sprint must somehow be doing it. There better not be a merger it would be worse.
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

Which services does this apply to?

Since I have yet to see any details at all about this, does anyone know which kind of phone service this applies to, contract or prepaid or other such as 3G tablets with lifetime data? What about roaming? Does it only work for a few of the main services they designate like Spotify, iTunes, Beats, Pandora, Slacker, etc. or any service streaming music and how do you tell which ones? What about audio podcasts that only have occasional music like twit.am/listen or live.darkmatterradio.net and how will they know the difference? Also what is a data bucket, never heard that term before?
cadman06
join:2014-06-15

cadman06

Member

tmobile

I thought after you used your data allotment that's when spotify would no longer count against cap