// ARS TECHNICA — MOBILE & WEB
T-Mobile illegally imposed 50 GB cap on low-income home Internet plan, NY says
Law requires 25Mbps home Internet. T-Mobile lowers speed to 600Kbps after 50GB cap.
T-Mobile violated a New York state law by imposing a 50 GB-per-month data cap and reducing speeds to less than a megabit per second on home Internet plans it is required to offer people with low incomes, New York government officials alleged.
T-Mobile agreed to a settlement requiring it to scrap the data and speed limits, to offer the required low-income plans to more parts of the state, and to make it easier for customers to find information about the plans. The settlement requires T-Mobile to eliminate the speed limits and expand availability of the plans within 120 days.
The alleged legal violation and the settlement are related to T-Mobile’s wireless home Internet service, not the company’s mobile plans. Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlement on Monday, saying that a state investigation found T-Mobile violated the New York Affordable Broadband Act (ABA).
The state law doesn’t specifically mention data caps, but it requires home Internet providers with at least 20,000 customers to offer plans at specific prices and minimum speeds to people who meet income-eligibility requirements. T-Mobile’s policy of reducing speeds after customers exceed a monthly data cap violates the law, New York officials said.
“An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found T-Mobile’s offerings did not meet the ABA’s requirements, which mandate that home Internet providers offer high-speed broadband to income-eligible households for $15 per month at speeds of at least 25 Mbps, or $20 per month for speeds of at least 200 Mbps,” the press release said.
New York says in the settlement with T-Mobile that “after the data cap is reached, the customer’s maximum download speed is reduced from 25 Mbps to 600 Kbps.” New York’s press release said “a typical customer could hit the data cap after about four days of usage.”
Data caps and speed limits aren’t the only restrictions. T-Mobile also “only offers ABA Internet plans to customers in homes that are eligible for 5G home Internet,” preventing residents in 4G-only areas from accessing the plans, the settlement says. The company also prevented search engines from indexing the webpage that provides detailed information about eligibility for and enrollment in ABA plans, it says.
“T-Mobile did not fully comply with the New York Affordable Broadband Act,” New York said in the settlement.
T-Mobile’s ABA webpage confirms that customers are provided only 50 GB per month and that speeds after using the allotment are merely “up to 600 Kbps.”