T-Mobile's Uncarrier 6.0 announcement brought "Music Freedom" to the carrier, giving unlimited streaming at no cost, and now T-Mo is doing us another favor and making Speedtest data not count against your data allowance either. Following some detective work, T-Mobile has confirmed that data used by the Speedtest.net app — and other similar apps — will no longer count towards your full-speed data allowance. From T-mobile:
"The Ookla Speedtest.net application is designed to measure true network speed--not show that a customer has exceeded their high-speed data bucket. Other speed test providers are also whitelisted."
That means customers can run as many speed tests as they want on the T-Mobile network, and reserve their often-limited high-speed data for other apps and services. Just another way the carrier continues to flex its network capacity muscle.
With moves like this that barely take up any data in the grand scheme of things but are big customer-facing winners, we can't blame them for wanting to whitelist some data traffic from going against your cap. The upside for T-Mobile is even more customers showing off their network speeds through the Speedtest app without worry that it will push them closer to their limited allowance of high-speed data.
Source: FierceWireless
Reader comments
T-Mobile confirms Speedtest data no longer counts against data allowances
I'm only ON HERE because I was shockea the data usage being associated with my speedtest app. (Verizon LTE test mostly likely the culprit now that I see these comments). 56mb, but hell it's more than my Facebook data totals (47.6mb) going from the same starting point. I go on to FB DAILY and I can only recall a few speedtests weeks ago, so obviously the speedtest is a data hungry app. FRANKLY I was worried it was constantly pulling data, and thought it's location services was doing some constant background monitoring. I guess it just uses massive amounts in a blast few seconds to get results for LTE. Good to know now. I used to test areas w/o even thinking about it. I'll now be using it only when I'm really concerned!
I disagree and my data cap excess is directly related to OOKLA speedtest.net. My TMobile My Account seems to be correctly displaying excluded data but the web and the sms alerts seem to include OOKLA speedtest.net. In addition my account was throttled at 1Gb based on the web totals.
In 5 years of Mb totals I have not exceeded my threshold as stated on My TMobile My Account app. This month with these stated exclusion I have exceeded usage.
Somethings wrong and it's not fixed yet.
Bye bye net neutrality
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Just burned through half of my data doing a few tests, awesome speed but ookla was the only test that didn't affect data. Open signal and sensorly killed it though, my plan resets in 3 days no big deal
This was around last year, a few weeks after they rolled out LTE in March 2013.
I hope sprint deal does not go through, then tmobile will get more money to improve network again. Well have att right now and not switching until they finish lte rollout.
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They will use the data tests in their ads so it is nice they aren't basically charging users for that.
Tmobile only works in major cities found that out while driving from chicago to ny gland I don't have tmo.
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Lol. One speedtest used 80 MB of data...
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Bring LTE to Des Moines and I'm on board.
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Best plans best deals, who in there right mind wouldn't pick Tmobile
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People in my area who actually want to be able to use their service.
Another ridiculous gimmick by Legere! Don't get fished in to his shinnanegans
If they were really being an Uncarrier why don't they just remove caps and throttling all together?
It's called $70 unlimited everything ;)
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That is 5GB of 4G LTE speed.
no, it's truly unlimited.
Posted via Android Central App
Really? Do you think you could link to that? I bet you a million dollars you can't.
$70 was the grandfathered rate. It's $80 now for members new to truly unlimited.
So if I reached my cap and was being throttled... [what they said - I have no cap]
I should have run the numbers during the USA - Germany World Cup match. Data speed were way down in Lower Manhattan. This is the first time in over a year I actually has the spinning circle of load showing up.
Now that they are singling out the SpeedTest data, does that mean they are also allowing it to pass through unthrottled, even if they are throttling the rest of your data? So that your SpeedTest results will show faster speeds than what you get from any other download or upload?
So let's say a user hits their cap using other apps. Does this mean the speedtest app will show the throttled speed or the full network speed? I would assume the full network speed. I think they are doing this just so the users don't have that piece of evidence that they are being throttled.
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I was wondering the same thing. This way when people share their results it's going to be regular speeds
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I tried it once and it just ate up my data. T-Mobile is starting to really make a change since they started the Uncarrier initiative.
Posted with my Nexus 7 2012 or Moto X via the Android Central App
This!
Nice move.
Just ran a speed test and got a data warning.
Posted via Android Central App
An android data warning?
The data warning inside of android isn't reliable with all these t-mobile white lists of data that counts and doesn't count.
I just did a few tests and I can confirm that while the Ookla speedtest shows no increase in my data usage, Sensorly DEFINITELY DOES. It's showing up in both my phone data chart as well as directly on the T-Mobile site. I have contacted T-Mobile about this, but they have not been able to figure it out.
Love what T-Mobile is doing for us
Posted via Android Central App
I found out it did the hard way....
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"With moves like this that barely take up any data in the grand scheme of things"
I did a speed test on TMO and it used almost 150 MB of data. Granted it was blazing fast LTE, but still, I wouldn't call that barely any data. Good to know I can run additional tests and not have to worry about it.
Posted via Android Central App
Look at that blazing LTE in the picture.
***Ivana........Ivana Humpalot***
Hahaha!!!
It's better than my speed tests. It's so slow that it usually doesn't show an upload speed
Posted via Android Central App
Anything close to Seattle for T-mobile should be amazing. Most likely Sprint network for the test picture.
You don't know that.
***Ivana........Ivana Humpalot***
Awesome. One reason I don't like to speedtests is because they eat data quick! I wish Google Play Services didn't count against you as well, since a few weeks ago my phone re-downloaded the update over and over and ate 2 gigs of data.
Hey Verizon, will you do the same thing? Probably not, you really don't care about the consumer, just their money.
Posted via Nexus 5 Android Central App
Verizon has proved over and over again they don't care. Both their cable Internet and mobile data sectors show they're just there to maximize profit.
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If Verizon was doing this you all would be running net neutrality up the flag pole, so let's calm down on the hate ehh?
Your dumb if this makes you mad.
Well who else has good enough servers to run all the speed tests? Sensorly would probably be #2 for mobile tests, but when T-mobile announced that they want people running speed tests on Sensorly to prove they had the fastest wireless internet Sensorly's servers crashed repeatedly.
T-mobile already didn't count root metrics.
Speedtest.net is actually the only speedtest that provides support for iOS, Android, and WP.
Duh. Of course they exist to "maximize profit". That's what businesses do. I assure you that if you were on their board or were a stock holder, you would be wanting them to "maximize profit".
Since when did Verizon become a cable internet company. I hate cable internet that is why I have Verizon FIOS. Way better than cable.
Hows Netflix working out for you on FiOS? ;)
Honestly wish FiOS was in my area, the only competition to Comcast is AT&T and they don't offer anything that even comes close to Comcast.
AT&T uverse in my area blows away Comcast. Maybe not in speed because we max at like 45mbps vs like 300 for Comcast but everything else is better. Uverse box is fast, easy to use, and everything just looks nicer. Plus Comcast is more expensive and has terrible customer service as everyone knows. My parents have the Comcast x1 box and its a total travesty of a box.
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Yeah Verizon doesn't care about the consumer. Except for giving them service where they need it. Screw you Verizon.
I think this is cleaver because even when your cap has been reached you will still see that you are downloading at high speeds
That's awesome
Posted via Android Central App
I really wish we had a decent wireless carrier in Canada
*Looks at Rogers bill, where for the second month in a row they informed me of different upcoming price increases on my plan*
Sorry bruh. We got houses for you here in the US if you want to come ova
Posted via Android Central App
I actually own a house in the states...should move there, and convert my pre-paid T-Mobile plan to a monthly plan...
So could one possibly get a tablet with free data and use it to stream Pandora all day?
Posted via Android Central App
No. It's not available for the free tablet data plan.
I was wondering this same thing after listening to their podcast from 2 weeks ago
Posted via Android Central App
It's available on the $20 a month plan thats $10 a month till the end of the year or free if you are a t-mobile voice customer.
Great news, the five people who don't pay the little extra for unlimited high speed data but still know what speed test is can let out a sigh of relief.
Thanks for making me laugh audibly.
I'm going to venture that a vast majority of T-Mobile postpaid customers use a plan under the $80 totally unlimited plan.
And if you read the comment you'd realize that what I said refers to the fact that most of the people not on the fully unlimited plan probably have no idea what speed test is or what it is for. And even then considering the postpaid pricing I have seen, there is no logical reason to not take the $80 plan if you actually use data.
Most importantly though, and this is the big one, it was a joke comment that at least one person got.
I apologize, the above came out rude and I didn't intend it to be that way.
I also realize the initial comment may have looked like a criticism of your work. Not the case at all, I truly appreciate what you guys do.
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Idk how you came to that conclusion, but it's illogical. If this were the case, music streaming not using data wouldn't be a big deal at all.
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See above reply to Andrew, the response still applies.
It should! *network neutrality rant*
+1. Now I see the damage the NN advocates speak of. This seems nice but really is the start of something bad...
Smart move T-Mobile. They said during a conference last year that they used the customers Speed Test results to back up their amazing speed. Only make sense they'd make this not count towards data limit. I wonder what they'll make not count against next.
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I assume this follows the Music whitelisting? In that it doesn't apply to us 100 min / 5gb $30 plan users?
What is this 100 min/5 GB $30 plan you speak of
Posted via my M9, X+1, N910, G906, D6653, G4, or G Pro 3
It's a T-Mobile talk, unlimited text and unlimited data (first 5gb at LTE or 4G speed, depending on your phone) plan for $30. It's only available at Walmart, or on the T-Mobile web site. The catch is you have to activate a new account with a new SIM and phone number.
Also, once activated, if you switch off the plan onto any other one, you can't switch back.
One of TMobile's Prepaid plans.
EDIT: Anthony Jennings beat me to it, with a very informative post.
Just tested it. Data use didn't change after running the speed test twice. So yep, it definitely seems to work on this plan.
I tested it like 10 times and mine keeps saying unlimited. Oh well.
Zing!
Both apply for the 30 dollar plan. It's on TMobile's website. Don't ask me for a link, because I can never seem to find it, lol.
I'm on the $30 plan. Just tested speed test about 5 times and it did not count against measured data. I haven't tested any music streaming since I read somewhere that the $30 plan wasn't eligible.
Music whitelisting does apply to the $30 plan.
I switched to tmo in March and it has never counted Ookla or RootMetrics speedtests toward my usage.
My Android data usage is always way higher than my actual usage because I have been testing a lot in these first few months.
Where I live, it doesn't go fast enough to use up any appreciable data anyway.
But hey thanks for looking out for others.....
Kinda like Sprint too for everyone else...
Brought to you by the Nexus M8
LOL
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Speedtest app has used 475MB of mobile data on my phone over last two weeks, on Sprint I should add. Mostly over LTE but there's a bunch of 3G results in there too. I honestly don't know where Andrew gets off saying:
"With moves like this that barely take up any data in the grand scheme of things but are big customer-facing winners, we can't blame them for wanting to whitelist some data traffic from going against your cap."
I've used half a gig in two weeks and I don't even run speed tests that frequently or on a daily basis.
See now you go an make a general statement and it just show you to be a troll. I spoke for me, not the nation as you seem to have done.
I even threw in a compliment. Your Nexus superiority complex is showing through again.
First of all, relax. It was a comment. And I hate to admit it, I'm right though. Sprint's network sucks. I could say that because I currently use it, and I'm not the only one saying it.
Secondly, your Nexus hate shows every time you post a comment if you want to go there. I never even mentioned anything about my phone other than my signature. So again I say, relax.
Brought to you by the Nexus M8
Now, now. Y'all go ahead and hug it out, lol.
Sprint is great where I am. Guess I'm the only one with great coverage. Fine by me.
Posted via Android Central App
There can only be one, lol.
No.
There can be up too 2.
I'm the other person with great Sprint service.
Posted from my "KNOX-FREE" 4.3 Sprint GS3 Maxx...!!!
Nice to meet you. Just don't move here, we will probably screw with the band width then we are both screwed. Lol
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My service is great too.
***Ivana........Ivana Humpalot***
When I was on Sprint coverage was fine, data speeds were horrible though. I always called it the dial up network (3G only, Wi-Max was decent).
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I tethered quite a bit with mine. LTE all over my area. Both of you stay away. Pennsylvania is mine
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Sprint is pretty solid in Puerto Rico, competitive with AT&T in a lot of cases because AT&T is over saturated... Far better than VZW since they sold their stake here years ago and never came back so there IS no VZW. I've been meaning to grab a Tmo SIM to test drive them, I'm sure speeds will be the best in certain areas but it's coverage worries me with them, gotta do it when i have time to drive around.
Top laugh
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I found a comparison graph a few weeks ago showing that Tmo and Sprint customers use significantly more data than At&t and Vzw customers. I am willing to bet that Sprint and Tmo customers are a lot more likely to use their smartphone as their primary internet connection and avoid getting a real broadband connection at home.
I have a REAL broadband connection at home.
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same here, If I had to depend on Sprint for my hone data I would better off with a 56k modem.
I have a FAKE broadband connection (i.e., Comcast) at home.
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Switch to one of their DOCSIS 3.0 plans and you'll change your comment.
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It's because we have unlimited. I do not usually put my phone on my WiFi connection at home.
I have tethered in certain instances and it was not slow at all. It wasn't my fios speeds, but I could do the basics without problems
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I'm guessing that's because it's unlimited as well. Also, it seems like mostly soccer mom types use Verizon, most of my friends use T-Mobile or AT&T and i'm pretty sure we all consume a ton of data. I used to be on Verizon, I don't know how people can take their SLOWER than hell 3G.. Seriously, it's unusable much of the time.
This is nice. I'd stopped checking network speeds because it ate so much data.
I'm always happy with what Tmobile has done they have changed the industry.
From my Galaxy Note 3 via Android Central App
Like what?
***Ivana........Ivana Humpalot***
By finding a way to get people to embrace preferred network access.
Your dumb if this makes you mad.
You're, not your, dumb for falling for the BS.
***Ivana........Ivana Humpalot***
Seems you fell for the your vs. you're bs.
That's his signature, lol.
LMAO
Posted via my M9, X+1, N910, G906, D6653, G4, or G Pro 3
So closeeee
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