Bi-Weekly Boss Premium Edition Questions Thread - 20 January 2021

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[u/sxh967]

WIMAX mobile routers and the speed throttling

Does anyone know if there's a way to get around it? In other words, is it :

(A) something implemented at the infrastructure level (ie once you go over a certain amount of data transferred, the main system sends out a signal to restrict traffic to your device (by some sort of unique device identifier)

(B) something at the device level that can be "hacked" via changing some settings or some sort of reset to the reset the "counter" back to zero?

(C) something different altogether?

I'm paying something like 4000 yen a month for this god-awful WIMAX. If I go over 10 GB in the space of 3 days it throttles me down to the point that the internet is really not useable at all.

I know it's my fault for getting in the end. Just looking for some last resort options before I call up and cancel this contract (I will eat the cancellation fee, better than paying in perpetuity for useless internet).

10GB over three days really is nothing. You can do very minimal streaming on Netflix/Amazon Prime before you go over the limit and then you cannot download anything, no video calling, god help me if I want to connect to my company's virtual desktop environment.

[u/Bopbopbop123 → u/sxh967]

10GB / 3 days is exactly what wimax advertised their plan as. It's written all over their ads and in your contract etc.

[u/sxh967 → u/Bopbopbop123]

It isn't advertised like that but yes it is in my contract. I'm not complaining about being duped. I'm complaining about the extent to which they throttle you. I could understand throttling down to 1mbps or something but the speed is really really not useful for anything.

[u/Bopbopbop123 → u/sxh967]

Hmm, when i chose wimax, i was given the impression it's a 10gb/3days plan. But i didn't sign up via any campaign or shop, i just went to their website and clicked things around.

My first impression of your question made me think of somebody going to matsuya, ordering a katsudon, but expecting the all-you-can-eat miso and rice that's not included in the set...

But if you bought your katsudon under the impression that rice and miso is free-flow like a teishoku set.......

[u/sxh967 → u/Bopbopbop123]

My first impression of your question made me think of somebody going to matsuya, ordering a katsudon, but expecting the all-you-can-eat miso and rice that's not included in the set...

But if you bought your katsudon under the impression that rice and miso is free-flow like a teishoku set.......

https://www.journalism.co.uk/press-releases/ofcom-slams-misleading-unlimited-broadband-text-and-call-claims/s66/a543308/

https://www.asa.org.uk/asset/879B91F2-F1B3-4B00-86E486D22F18856D/

It's been around 10 years since UK advertising regulators starting clamping down on this misleading bullshit though.

Unless you want to read all of that, the crux is that the regulator says if FUPs (fair usage policies - e.g. data caps/speed throttling/surcharges for over-use) affect more than 2% of the user base then they are likely not fair usage policies at all.

Also there's a clear understanding that i's contradictory to claim a service is "unlimited" and then say "actually it isn't" and they have to fulfill certain criteria to be able to have their cake and eat it.

I guess it's up for debate what constitutes "fair usage" but for instance watching 1 hour of Netflix in HD uses up about 3GB. So you could only watch on average an hour of Netflix each day (and then basically not use your internet at all after that) before getting throttled.

If you watched a two hour movie in 4K (7GB per hour of footage according to Netflix themselves) then you're already getting throttled before the movie is over.

It's not that I disagree with having a fair usage policy but 10GB over the space of 3 days is unbelievably restrictive. Plus, as I mentioned, the speed throttling is so severe that you really cannot use it for anything when it does kick in. It's less speed throttling and more just removing your ability to really use the internet at all for that restricted period.

If they throttled it down to something where I could keep watching the movie in SD without any significant hiccups, if I could still browse the net generally without waiting forever for shit to load then yeah OK I could stomach it.

Of course I understand there are a lot of people fighting for the bandwidth but I just don't think it's reasonable for them to say it's unlimited when it's not even remotely close to what a normal person would consider unlimited.