Forum Discussion

fatherlu's avatar
fatherlu
Newbie Caller
3 years ago

Prepaid Plan: Whitelisted vs Data

Hello. I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered--I just couldn’t find a satisfactory answer through a quick search or when calling T-Mobile customer service.

I just signed up for a $10 Connect prepaid plan with 1GB of data. On the usage details (under data), I see both categories called “whitelisted” and “data” under category for the service of internet access (a copy of the usage detail is attached).

Can anyone give me an easy to understand explanation of why there is two categories of “whitelisted” and “data,” both of which really reduces the overall data anyway?

One site (https://techshift.net/what-is-t-mobile-whitelist-and-regular-usage/) seems to indicate that “whitelisted” “doesn’t count towards a plan’s data bucket.” I’m not sure what that really means or if it is even accurate since there aren’t many similar explanations that I could find.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

  • One white listed data is mms since it's sent using data and doesn't count towards your plan. Another one is the streaming music services that T-Mobile offers for free .

  • gramps28's avatar
    gramps28
    Router Royalty

    One white listed data is mms since it's sent using data and doesn't count towards your plan. Another one is the streaming music services that T-Mobile offers for free .

  • fatherlu's avatar
    fatherlu
    Newbie Caller

    Since no one has replied to confirm, I just wanted to follow up with an answer to help people in the future who search for an answer to whitelisted data.

    I’ve been able to confirm by daily usage that “whitelisted data” doesn’t count towards the data used. If you want to confirm, it is pretty easy. Leave the data on for that day but have a baseline summary data usage (e.g., 10.45 MB at the start of the day). You will see that at any point during the day, the regular “data” will add to the data summary on top but will not include the “whitelisted data.”

    Now I’m not exactly sure what whitelisted data is--I’m not that knowledgeable in this area--however, I think it is a type data interaction between the device and T-Mobile but it is not being counted towards normal usage data.

  • fatherlu's avatar
    fatherlu
    Newbie Caller
    gramps28 wrote:

    One white listed data is mms since it's sent using data and doesn't count towards your plan. Another one is the streaming music services that T-Mobile offers for free .

    Nice to know. I’m new with this $10 Connect prepaid plan. And you are sure the MMS data sent doesn’t apply to regular data? I’m going to try a test send.

    Do you know what the streaming music service that T-Mobile offers for free?

  • fatherlu's avatar
    fatherlu
    Newbie Caller
    gramps28 wrote:

    It's plan dependant so call to confirm. MMS states no data fees apply in the USA.

    https://www.t-mobile.com/support/plans-features/unlimited-music-streaming-with-music-freedom

    Thanks, gramps28. While the link to the web page seem to include prepaid plans, I’ll call just in case I ever use it.

    I also tested an MMS attachment of a picture--it didn’t seem to have moved the data usage. Really good to know. It will be good to send attachments without concern that it may eat too much data--since I only have 1 GB.

  • ziggy29's avatar
    ziggy29
    Newbie Caller

    So this is OK?  I just signed up for the 55+ Magenta Max plan yesterday, and at first that is the plan I saw listed in my cellular setting on my iPhone,  But after they finished porting my previous number, the plan changed to “WhitelistAndRegularData”.  If that is normal and is giving me everything my plan is supposed to be offering, that’s fine, but it seems strange.  

  • fatherlu's avatar
    fatherlu
    Newbie Caller
    ziggy29 wrote:

    So this is OK?  I just signed up for the 55+ Magenta Max plan yesterday, and at first that is the plan I saw listed in my cellular setting on my iPhone,  But after they finished porting my previous number, the plan changed to “WhitelistAndRegularData”.  If that is normal and is giving me everything my plan is supposed to be offering, that’s fine, but it seems strange.  

    If your 55+ Magenta Max plan has unlimited data, these whitelisted and regular data shouldn’t really be of concern. You get unlimited data anyway (subject to lower speeds after a certain amount). As was discussed, T-Mobile likely differentiated the two types of data to show which counted towards a user with a limited data plan. The whitelisted data appears to be just routine connection data necessary to “speak” with T-Mobile’s network while regular data is the connection between the customer’s apps, etc.

  • ziggy29's avatar
    ziggy29
    Newbie Caller
    fatherlu wrote:
    ziggy29 wrote:

    So this is OK?  I just signed up for the 55+ Magenta Max plan yesterday, and at first that is the plan I saw listed in my cellular setting on my iPhone,  But after they finished porting my previous number, the plan changed to “WhitelistAndRegularData”.  If that is normal and is giving me everything my plan is supposed to be offering, that’s fine, but it seems strange.  

    If your 55+ Magenta Max plan has unlimited data, these whitelisted and regular data shouldn’t really be of concern. You get unlimited data anyway (subject to lower speeds after a certain amount). As was discussed, T-Mobile likely differentiated the two types of data to show which counted towards a user with a limited data plan. The whitelisted data appears to be just routine connection data necessary to “speak” with T-Mobile’s network while regular data is the connection between the customer’s apps, etc.

    Thank you.  It does have unlimited data and 40GB hotspot.  I don’t want to unnecessarily burden the support team or drive over to the local store if I don’t need to, so as long as everything is working according to what the plan offers I won’t fret about it. But if something isn’t working right in the future I’ll keep it in mind as a possible place to look.