T-Mobile: Throttling policy for unlimited customers who hit 21 GB is OK under net neutrality

T-Mobile US said its network management policy of throttling the speeds of smartphone customers on its unlimited LTE plans once they hit 21 GB of data usage in a month and are on congested cell sites is permitted under the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules. "We love anything that puts consumers first," T-Mobile said. "Supporting a free and open Internet is no exception. We adhere to net neutrality rules which ban throttling on the basis of content, applications, services or non-harmful devices while allowing for reasonable network management and customer choice."

T-Mobile recently updated its disclosures about when customers on unlimited plans might see slower speeds. "Unlimited 4G LTE customers who use more than 21 GB of data in a bill cycle will have their data usage de-prioritized compared to other customers for that bill cycle at locations and times when competing network demands occur, resulting in relatively slower speeds," is the new fine print on T-Mobile's website for its plans.