T-Mobile to remove discounted internet limits in New York — Ars Technica

T-Mobile has agreed to remove the 50GB-per-month cap and speed restrictions for discounted home wireless internet plans in New York State, United States. The agreement with the state attorney general’s office was reached after an investigation that, according to New York authorities, found that the company’s offers did not comply with the New York Affordable Broadband Act, Ars Technica reports.

Speeds dropped to 600 Kbps

State law requires internet providers with more than 20,000 customers to offer eligible households access for $15 per month at speeds of at least 25 Mbps, or for $20 per month at speeds starting from 200 Mbps.

According to New York authorities, after using 50GB of data, the maximum download speed for T-Mobile customers was reduced from 25 Mbps to 600 Kbps. A state press release said that a typical user could exhaust that amount in about four days. T-Mobile neither admitted nor denied the findings of the attorney general’s office set out in the agreement.

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Plans must be expanded to 4G areas

The investigation also found that the operator offered discounted plans only at addresses where 5G home internet was available. At the same time, the company had standard offerings capable of providing speeds of 25 Mbps in areas with 4G coverage. In addition, T-Mobile configured the page containing information about the discounted plan so that search engines would not index it.

Under the agreement, within 120 days T-Mobile must stop intentionally limiting speeds, make discounted plans available at every address where it provides fixed wireless home internet, and ensure that search engines index the information page. The company said it is updating the plan to comply with state requirements while keeping its price unchanged.