Although the terms deprioritization and throttling are often used synonymously in some contexts, there are actually many differences, such as how they affect data speeds or how long customers experience reduced data speeds.
Deprivation is the temporary slowing down of user data speeds during times of network congestion, while bandwidth throttling is the lowering of package speeds to near-unusable levels, after the customer has used up their monthly data allowance according to their subscription package.
To date, most “unlimited” mobile data plans in the US don’t actually offer unlimited data; instead, carriers here price their plans largely based on a priority cancellation threshold.
For example, AT&T offers plans with a priority cancellation threshold of up to 100 GB, meaning customers may experience temporary slowdowns in data speeds for some time after exceeding this allocation. However, as soon as the network “clears,” users’ access speeds will increase again and there will be no perceived interruption in service.
Bandwidth throttling, on the other hand, impacts the user experience in a different way. It slows down a customer’s data usage so much that it becomes essentially unusable, even for basic tasks like accessing email.
Raise the de-prioritization threshold instead of throttling bandwidth
AT&T’s mobile data plans come in two main flavors: unlimited and prepaid. Customers will get the most perks, the highest speeds, and the most service with the “unlimited” option, which also has the highest monthly cost (starting at $35 to $80/month).
Currently, the carrier's unlimited plan is divided into three sub-packages (Starter, Extra and Premium). However, besides some accompanying services, the main difference between the data subscription packages lies in the priority cancellation threshold. For example, with the basic Starter package, customers do not get priority high speed in case they are in a congested area. As for Extra, users will only lose the "privilege" when they use more than the priority threshold of 50 GB. Meanwhile, the highest Premium package does not have a priority cancellation ceiling to bring the best quality experience.
Meanwhile, another major US carrier, Verizon, also launched the Unlimited Plus package option with the highlight of no priority cap and a commitment to not throttle user bandwidth.
Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sowmyanarayan said the telecom company has spent years studying consumer behavior and concluded that customers are willing to pay more for a reliable network with a seamless service experience.
T-Mobile has also abandoned its data throttling policy, with plans that cap data usage at 100GB or no cap (with the top option being Magenta MAX). On its base plans, the carrier de-prioritizes data usage after customers exceed 50GB of high-speed speed.
In Vietnam, there are currently millions of mobile subscribers using modern smartphones, but are still using mobile data packages with the feature of "bandwidth throttling" when using up high-speed data capacity. Although network operators have announced the policy of "bandwidth throttling" packages, many customers have not paid attention and when accessing mobile Internet at low speed (256Kbps or 512Kbps), they think that the network is having problems, or the network quality is affected by the recent submarine fiber optic cable problem.
Young customers are often interested in high speed when accessing the Internet, leading to negative psychology when bandwidth reduction is applied during mobile data usage. Content that young customers are interested in often requires large data traffic when accessing such as: games, videos, social networks... Sometimes this negatively affects the brand image of network operators in the eyes of young customers.
With the "bandwidth throttling" packages of the providers, the quality of this service is distorted with cross-border and Vietnamese measurement tools. In fact, the mobile telecommunications infrastructure in Vietnam is always considered modern in the region, with more than 100,000 4G broadcasting stations and 5G technology has been tested in more than 40 provinces and cities nationwide. However, according to the measurement results using the iSpeed application of the Vietnam Internet Center (speedtest.vn), the average download speed of mobile subscribers in Vietnam in May 2023 was only 36.16 Mbps. According to Okala's announcement, the average download speed of mobile subscribers in Vietnam in May 2023 was 46.72 Mbps, slightly higher than the announcement of the Vietnam Internet Center, but only ranked 48th in the world and still much lower than many countries in the region such as Singapore (71.69 Mbps) and only about half compared to European countries, Korea, China...
(According to TechRadar, Mashable, Whistleout)
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