jimindenver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2014
- Messages
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Karma's never stop plan started out as unlimited data throttled to 5 mbps up and down for $50 a month. A lot of data at acceptable speeds and a good deal.
Then they found that some were taking the concept of unlimited to freakish levels so they dropped the speeds to 1.5. That didn't go over to well.
This is the latest email from Karma.
"Last week we announced that we were testing lower speeds to find a way to reduce strain on Neverstop. At the same time we asked for your input to improve it and have spent the last week analyzing your feedback.
What Happened
We made a mistake. We modeled Neverstop usage to be much higher than usage on Refuel. But we never anticipated that some customers would use over 1,000GB a month.
Some of you asked why we don't kick off the bad guys. Frankly, we don't think there are any bad guys. We offered an all-you-can-surf option, and people took us up on it. That's on us.
But usage this high is not something that will work today.
The other thing made clear in your feedback is that speed is important. Slowing it down was not a good solution, which is understandable.
What’s Next
Getting online with Neverstop should be simple and work well for most use cases. Here's the update:
5Mbps up and down speeds are coming back
Get 15GB of data per month. After this, you’ll still be online but with speeds good enough for emailing and messaging
Earn a $1 credit for each unused GB
Beginning today at 10am ET, everyone on Neverstop will get a fresh start at 0GB. Based on current usage, this change will have little to no impact for most of you, while still reducing strain on Neverstop. But, if you’re looking to binge watch Netflix 24/7, this probably isn’t the product for you. If that’s the case, head to our returns page and we’ll take it from there.
Our mission is providing you frictionless internet connectivity. Now it's our job to continue iterating to make it happen. There’s a lot to be done."
So now it's a plan to be compared with others offering 15 gigs a month. Cricket is more expensive at $65 a month for 10 gigs at a speed of 8 and throttled to 128kb after the limit. 4GAS has a 5 gig a month hotspot for $17 a month but they add Binge on. I am pretty sure 15 gig on Karma's regular plan would be considerably more than $50.
So it's not the deal it was but it still may work for some. They certainly made a home ISP look more appealing for those needing super high speeds and use huge amounts of data a month.
As for dealing with throttled speeds. The two Sprint based hotspots I have run at 3G speeds in the weak coverage I get here. Usable yes but I wouldn't pay $50 a month for it. Out and about though the hotspots are not throttled and hit download speeds in the 30's. The difference is click and get a cup of coffee to pages loading almost as fast as you can click on them. Come to think of it, my home ISP only hit 12 MBPS until just a few years ago. (now it hits 90)
Then they found that some were taking the concept of unlimited to freakish levels so they dropped the speeds to 1.5. That didn't go over to well.
This is the latest email from Karma.
"Last week we announced that we were testing lower speeds to find a way to reduce strain on Neverstop. At the same time we asked for your input to improve it and have spent the last week analyzing your feedback.
What Happened
We made a mistake. We modeled Neverstop usage to be much higher than usage on Refuel. But we never anticipated that some customers would use over 1,000GB a month.
Some of you asked why we don't kick off the bad guys. Frankly, we don't think there are any bad guys. We offered an all-you-can-surf option, and people took us up on it. That's on us.
But usage this high is not something that will work today.
The other thing made clear in your feedback is that speed is important. Slowing it down was not a good solution, which is understandable.
What’s Next
Getting online with Neverstop should be simple and work well for most use cases. Here's the update:
5Mbps up and down speeds are coming back
Get 15GB of data per month. After this, you’ll still be online but with speeds good enough for emailing and messaging
Earn a $1 credit for each unused GB
Beginning today at 10am ET, everyone on Neverstop will get a fresh start at 0GB. Based on current usage, this change will have little to no impact for most of you, while still reducing strain on Neverstop. But, if you’re looking to binge watch Netflix 24/7, this probably isn’t the product for you. If that’s the case, head to our returns page and we’ll take it from there.
Our mission is providing you frictionless internet connectivity. Now it's our job to continue iterating to make it happen. There’s a lot to be done."
So now it's a plan to be compared with others offering 15 gigs a month. Cricket is more expensive at $65 a month for 10 gigs at a speed of 8 and throttled to 128kb after the limit. 4GAS has a 5 gig a month hotspot for $17 a month but they add Binge on. I am pretty sure 15 gig on Karma's regular plan would be considerably more than $50.
So it's not the deal it was but it still may work for some. They certainly made a home ISP look more appealing for those needing super high speeds and use huge amounts of data a month.
As for dealing with throttled speeds. The two Sprint based hotspots I have run at 3G speeds in the weak coverage I get here. Usable yes but I wouldn't pay $50 a month for it. Out and about though the hotspots are not throttled and hit download speeds in the 30's. The difference is click and get a cup of coffee to pages loading almost as fast as you can click on them. Come to think of it, my home ISP only hit 12 MBPS until just a few years ago. (now it hits 90)
