New Subscriber with a few dumb questions.

reluttr 

Regarding the speed throttling when you're out of data, it can be up to 3Mbps, but it will vary, depending on system load/congestion.  It's not scaled.  For speed testing you should use testmy.net.  If you're speed testing for troubleshooting purposes when you're having speed issues, you should use the protocol in this post.  And, if you're getting speeds of less than 1Mbps while you have plenty of data, it sounds like you are having a speed issue, as that's VERY low.  If that's the norm for you, even just in the evenings, I would start a new topic in Tech Support and post the speed test results as outlined in that testing protocol, as again, your speeds souldn't be that low.  

Regarding free tokens, there aren't ways to earn any.  Sometimes they give free tokens if there is a system issue that negatively impacts customers, as well as when a lot of speed testing is requested by the reps for troubleshooting a speed issue, but in general there are no free data tokens given.  Those with an older legacy plan (daily refill plan) get one free data token per month, so that's part of the reason you see that entry.  

As for the equipment during a thunderstorm, you can never go wrong with just unplugging it.  It's what I do.  Surge protectors can help, but they aren't foolproof, so unplugging it is a good idea.  Actually, mine's always unplugged when I'm not using it, but if I'm using it and a storm rolls in, I unplug it.