T-Mobile home internet for low-income New Yorkers capped at 50 GB

What did T-Mobile do wrong, according to New York?

The ABA requires home internet providers with at least 20,000 subscribers to offer eligible low-income households either $15 a month for at least 25 Mbps, or $20 a month for at least 200 Mbps. The law itself says nothing about data limits. But the state argues that T-Mobile's policy of slowing service once a monthly cap is hit breaks the rule.

According to the settlement, after the limit the maximum download speed falls from 25 Mbps to 600 Kbps. That is under 1 Mbps. The state says an ordinary user could burn through the monthly allowance in roughly four days.

The cap was not the only complaint. Officials also say T-Mobile artificially narrowed the pool of people who could sign up, and made information about its ABA offer hard to find.

What changes now?

Under the deal, T-Mobile must lift the data and speed limits, offer the required plans in more parts of the state, and make it easier for customers to find the details. It has 120 days to remove the throttling and widen availability.

If T-Mobile breaks the terms, New York can sue. The ABA's enforcement mechanism has the attorney general file suits on residents' behalf, and those can bring compensation and penalties of $1,000 per violation.