The Un-Carrier may be looking over its shoulder as the FCC’s Open Internet Rules are set to go live this week.
According to TmoNews, T-Mobile will increase by 2GB the amount of tethered data allowed to its unlimited customers. Also, tethering limits may no longer be capped and will instead be throttled to 128kbps when users hit their limit.
The move is reportedly part of T-Mobile’s attempt to better comply with the FCC’s new Open Internet rules, which are slated to go into effect June 12.
If true, T-Mobile may be conscious of the definition of ‘unlimited,’ on which the FCC has already made clear there is very little wiggle room.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has denounced Verizon’s throttling of those customers on legacy unlimited plans under the guise of network management.
“Reasonable network management concerns the technical management of your network; it is not a loophole designed to enhance your revenue streams,” Wheeler wrote in a letter to Verizon CEO Dan Mead, saying that it was “disturbing to me that Verizon Wireless would base its network management on distinctions among its customers’ data plans, rather than on network architecture or technology.”
With the new Open Internet rules, which are currently being contested in the courts, the FCC has banned all blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.