How to tell if your wireless carrier is throttling data
Is your unlimited data plan really unlimited? Use an app to find out.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
That unlimited data plan that you're fighting tooth and nail to keep -- is it really unlimited if your wireless carrier cuts back the speed once you exceed a certain data allotment?
Not really, no, but such an experience is far from uncommon. Last year, Verizon announced (and then quickly rescinded) plans to throttle, or slow down, unlimited data users who went over 4.7GB per month. But does that mean that unlimited data users are free from throttling constraints? Not quite -- all of the major carriers throttle unlimited data users to some extent, although not necessarily constantly (T-Mobile likes to call it "prioritization"). Usually this throttling happens after you surpass between 3 and 7 gigabytes of data.
Want to find out just how much your wireless carrier is cutting back your plan? Here's how you can find out:
Step 1: Download Ookla's Speed Test app
Ookla's Speed Test app is free for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
Step 2: Run a few speed tests at the beginning of your billing cycle
My data speed after using 0.014GB of my limited data plan.Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
In order to see how much your wireless carrier is actually throttling you, you'll need a baseline score. Use the Speed Test app to run a couple of tests from various locations at the beginning of your billing cycle, before you've exceeded your "limit."
Step 3: Run a few speed tests after you've exceeded your limit
My data speed after using approximately 35GB on my unlimited plan.Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Your "limit" will depend on your carrier and your plan, but for most users you should find that 5GB is around where your data goes slow. Try to run all of the speed tests in the same location and at the same time of day, to minimize any external factors that might affect data speed.
It's a good idea to run multiple tests and take an average speed for accuracy.Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Step 4: Conserve data
I know, I know -- the whole point of an unlimited plan is not having to conserve data. But, unfortunately, for "heavy" data users, throttling comes with the territory -- unless, of course, you pay full price for a limited plan with a high monthly allotment. Since most unlimited data plans are throttled at around 5GB, if you consistently need 10GB of high-speed data, a limited 10GB plan may actually be a better deal for you. Meanwhile, here are some surprising ways to lower your data usage.
Microsoft may be building a lightweight email app called Flow
Microsoft appears to be building an app for real-time conversations called Flow, which will likely debut on the iPhone, according to leaked information.
Microsoft's Outlook for iOS may be getting some company, in the form of an app for fast, lightweight conversations called Flow.Josh Miller/CNET
Microsoft seems to be developing a new application designed to enable "rapid email conversations on your phone with the people who are important to you."
That new application, called Flow, is meant to be an adjunct to Microsoft's Outlook email client, according to a download page for the new app, marked "Microsoft Confidential." The page was discovered by @h0x0d on Twitter.
The header of the download page calls the app "Flow by Outlook" and indicates the coming app will be available for Apple's iPhones. The text describing the app:
Use Flow with anyone, it's email: Reach anyone with an email address and all conversations for you and others are also in Outlook. Together, you can use Flow and Outlook interchangeably to participate in the same conversations.
Fast, fluid, natural conversations: No subject lines, salutations, or signatures. Flow is designed for fast, light-weight conversations in real time.
Focus on what's important: Only conversations started in Flow and their replies show up in Flow, not your whole inbox. Focus on your most important person-to-person conversations without the noise.
Flow sounds in some ways like the email complement to Skype Qik. Skype Qik, a video chat app for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices that Microsoft made available last year, was designed to be "as lightweight and convenient as SMS and IM," according to Microsoft. All that was required to communicate via Qik is a mobile phone number.
Microsoft's Outlook for iOS app is a rebranded version of the Acompli email application Microsoft bought at the end of last year. Outlook for Android is, likewise, the Microsoft-rebranded and updated version of Acompli. Microsoft's new Outlook app for Windows Phones, currently in preview for Windows 10 Mobile, looks similar to these other two versions of Outlook, but isn't based on that same code base.
The Outlook, Outlook.com and Exchange teams are all part of the same group at Microsoft under Corporate Vice President Rajesh Jha.
I asked Microsoft officials for more information about Flow, including details such as when Microsoft plans to make it available for iOS (and other platforms) and who the target audience is. A spokesperson said the company had nothing to share about Flow.
Google, Apple among tech giants urging US to support encryption
The companies, along with security experts, say President Obama should protect user data, putting them in direct competition with the country's top law enforcement officials that may want access to that data.
Apple's iMessage will keep your data private.Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Some of the technology industry's largest companies have applied pressure on President Obama over the issue of data encryption.
A total of 140 companies, including Apple and Google, joined security experts and former government officials in co-signing a letter to the White House, urging President Obama to scuttle any law or action by law enforcement that would weaken data encryption. The letter, which was sent on Tuesday to the White House, calls data encryption the "cornerstone of the modern information economy's security," according to the Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the letter.
The letter is just the latest salvo in an ongoing battle over data encryption. One side of the battle is made up of companies like Apple and Google that encrypt data communications between users. The companies argue that such data encryption is not only justified, but necessary. Law enforcement officials, including FBI director James Comey, however, have said that data encryption on applications like Apple's iMessage instant-messaging software, provides a gateway for criminals to communicate with each other without fear of law enforcement oversight.
Apple's iMessage has been of particular concern to Comey and his cohorts. The instant messaging application allows iOS and OS X users to text each other messages. Apple has encrypted those communications from one end to another and only the user holds the key that would decrypt those messages. That creates a scenario in which the US government could technically obtain a warrant for a user's data, but would be unable to access that data, since Apple has no way of retrieving it.
Similar data-encryption is running on Google's Android, the world's most popular mobile operating system. Together, Apple's iOS and Google's Android owned 96 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in 2014, representing more than 1.2 billion devices.
That scale has prompted Comey to speak often and loudly about his concerns with data encryption. In a talk in October, Comey said that "justice may be denied" because of strong encryption. He added that while he's not seeking a backdoor to easily access servers and obtain messages, he would like "to use the front door, with clarity and transparency, and with clear guidance provided by the law."
Comey has bolstered his argument by pointing to the US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994. That law mandates that telephone companies build wiretapping backdoors into their equipment for officials to listen in on suspected criminals. No such law mandates a similar backdoor for mobile devices.
Comey's statement was echoed by US Deputy Assistant General David Bitkower in March who said that data encryption that doesn't allow for law enforcement access gives a criminal or terrorist the opportunity to act at their will without fear of any prying eyes, effectively putting the US in danger. Giving law enforcement access to suspected criminal information, Bitkower said, is the "standard American principle for the last couple of hundred years."
The debate over data encryption and privacy is even more concerning in light of the Edward Snowden leaks. The former NSA contractor, who is currently living in Russia and away from US law enforcement, revealed several US government surveillance programs, including the National Security Agency's PRISM program. Those programs have been heavily criticized by people around the globe for scraping any and all data that hits foreign servers and allows the US government to access any communication it desires. The leaks, which have been ongoing since 2013, have shined a bright light on US government activities and data privacy. They've also provided ample fodder for technology companies like Google and Apple to justify their data-protection efforts.
In an interview in September with Charlie Rose, Apple CEO Tim Cook chimed in on his company's policy on data privacy. He said that Apple's "business is not based on having information about you," adding that the iPhone maker is "not reading your email. We're not reading your iMessage."
"If the government laid a subpoena on us to get your iMessage, we can't provide it," Cook confirmed. "It's encrypted and we don't have the key."
Cook also took a shot at the US government, saying that it has "erred too much on the collect-everything side."
Ultimately, whether the letter and overtures made within the technology industry prove fruitful will depend on how President Obama decides to respond. In an interview with the Washington Post, privacy expert Kevin Bankston, who drafted the letter, said his goal is to put the issue back in front of President Obama, who he says, "has been letting his top law enforcement officials criticize companies for making their devices more secure."
Whether Bankston and his co-signers will find a sympathetic recipient, however, remains to be seen. In an interview with Recode in February, President Obama said that he's a "strong believer in strong encryption" and he's sympathetic to companies "properly responding to market demand." Still, he sees the other side of the argument and isn't so sure either side is entirely correct.
"I lean probably further in the direction of strong encryption than some do inside of law enforcement," the President said. "But I am sympathetic to law enforcement because I know the kind of pressure they're under to keep us safe. And it's not as black-and-white as it's sometimes portrayed. Now, in fairness, I think the folks who are in favor of airtight encryption also want to be protected from terrorists."
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