Sprint falls in line, caps "unlimited" data at 5GB
We guess we all knew this was coming, granted, but it's still a sad day whenever you see another carrier fall to the dreaded "unlimited" ambiguity syndrome. Following Verizon's and AT&T's leads, Sprint is the latest to declare that unlimited does not, in fact, mean unlimited when it comes to data card usage -- it turns out that 5GB should be quite enough for you, apparently. Taking a page out of their rivals' books, Sprint "reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service" if that soft cap is violated (or you exceed 300MB of data while roaming) once their Terms of Service are modified on July 13. TOS modifications are famously ripe opportunities for escaping out of contracts, so if this leaves a bad taste in your mouth, feel free to try to get out in a couple months -- not to say there's hardly any carrier out there that's friendlier to heavy data users at this point.[Thanks, Croft]
Filed under: Sprint
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
striggity @ May 19th 2008 3:04PM
Yea, this sux. :-( oh wells.
Dave @ Jul 16th 2008 10:38PM
I called Sprint 7/14/2008 with questions about the 5 gig usage limit. I was inquiring about discrepancies from what I had thought I had used verses what the online meter said I was using. I was transferred to a data specialist and after waiting for about 10 minutes he had an answer for me. I was informed my account is GRANDFATHERED in and is truly unlimited! I was told I can ignore the meter. The notice on our bills was general across the board and not filtered for existing users. I believe this to be true as my voice lines original plan is still honored but no longer offered to new customers. If you have an existing unlimited data plan just make sure you pay your bill on time and renew before it expires to keep your truly unlimited usage plan active.
RC @ May 19th 2008 3:27PM
I wonder when Sprint will ditch SERO. In this much debt, why would they keep customers on a plan where they lose money?
Andrew @ May 19th 2008 3:46PM
I dunno, but when they do is when they lose me as a customer. I won't leave Sprint while I have my $30 SERO plan, but once it's gone Sprint has no appeal to me.
VZWguy @ May 19th 2008 4:58PM
wow, when verizon did this it ballooned to 100 replies in under an hour....sprint does this and nobody gives a crap. and better yet all those people posting in the verizon one about how great sprint was for not capping.....soooooooo
were are they now?
oddly quite now aren't you..
PineRoot @ May 19th 2008 5:01PM
Still cheaper to stay with Sprint than with any of the other carriers, even with the data cap. It is however sad that Sprint didn't have the marbles to not cap its service.
VZWguy @ May 19th 2008 5:08PM
Pineroot:
I don't knwo what puiblic school you attended
but
59.99 = sprint 5gb plan
59.99 = VZW 5gb plan
last I checked....those numbers are identical.
Those are the ADVERTISED prices for both carriers.
SERO plans do not constitute cheaper, as they are not advertised, as well as because the majority of the sprint user base knows nothing of them. when SERO goes away...and it will because it is a giant loss of money. every idiot sprint fanboy coddling the balls of a carrier falling apart faster than michael jackson's face....will oddly be quiet. just like thye are now.
Cactus @ Jun 6th 2008 7:37PM
Please... everybody stop with the SERO "losing money" talking point, alright?
What Sprint is doing with SERO is akin to an airline selling cut-rate seats on a flight that's only 30% booked. Cruise lines do this as well, for instance on some Caribbean trips during hurricane season; you get to go for cheap, but you know the odds are fairly high that the itinerary won't go as scheduled. For both airlines and cruises, it STILL is better for them than to sail/fly empty vessels.
Likewise, I know that being a Sprint customer means their 'ship' might, ah, one day get re-routed to the T-Islands, or to Bankruptcy Bay. So what? Like my life would be ruined for the 2 hours it would take me to switch carriers and get a new phone, as Verizon fanboys yell out "I told you so!"...
In the end, since much of their network is underutilized, it makes more sense for Sprint to go after some value-conscious (but less faithful) customers to get some extra revenue. It still IS revenue; it's not like the 400 minutes or so + Mobile Web data I'm using up have much of an actual cost basis to them -- call termination costs, bandwidth, paper and postage. Otherwise, the network infrastructure was already there...
Andrew @ May 19th 2008 7:20PM
Uhh... why do I give a damn what is advertised or not? That's the silliest nit picking argument I've ever heard. I care about what I am paying for, not for what is advertised. So if I have SERO and it costs less, then whoopdie doo if the advertised rates were 10 times the amount of other carriers.
Why is it everyone on the internet, and especially Engadget, has to argue about everything, and whatever they prefer is so much better than everything else. Just use what you like and stop being acting like a jackass to everyone else.
PineRoot @ May 19th 2008 10:10PM
Noted about the price, we were speaking of two different things though. I was mostly interested in the phone plans than the USB card plans. It makes more sense for me to use my phone to tether (I don't have to pay anything extra with the programs that are in the Mogul out of the box).
Don't insult my education, I remain respectful to those that treat with respect, but you seem to do otherwise.
tc1uscg @ May 20th 2008 9:22PM
They don't have to advertise. They are all over the place or are you that blind you never seen it?
As far as the cost. Yep.. they look the same.. however, Sprint's network in most major markets is much better then VZW (that is when you can get a signal)..
p3t3b2 @ May 19th 2008 6:03PM
I just called to verity this with several different reps and their managers, they all said it is hearsay. In fact, if you go to Sprints web site here: http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/SubmitPhone You will see they still advertise the unlimited plan. If anything new customers will have a cap not current customers!
Chris B. @ May 19th 2008 6:14PM
I've been following the posts on HowardForums.com and Sprint's forums for a few days, was about to move from VZ over to Sprint when I read the first postings a few days ago, waiting to hear something more concrete first before I signed up. Keeping my VZ voice plans though. There's a few hundred postings on those sites.....
VZWguy, what drove me from VZ's data plans wasn't the "cap" - it was the .005/kb overage charge. On my business accounts, I didn't want to get a data bill for a few thousand. I read the revised TOS and that was it for me.
I called a couple of Sprint stores today about the revisions. They hadn't heard yet or seen any changes, and did say that any new accounts would be grandfathered in. We'll see.
Bryan @ May 20th 2008 9:03AM
According to sprint these changes apply only to consumer and Corporate individual liable accounts, any aircards on Business or Corporate accounts will not recieve the cap.
ahow628 @ May 19th 2008 6:26PM
I'm not really sure this makes a difference.
This cap does not affect corporate liable customers, so the traveling sales person is unaffected.
If you aren't a traveling sales person and you are downloading HD movies, why the heck are you doing it on an Aircard? Get a cable modem and download 10+ times faster. I don't think I could send enough email or download enough iTunes to get close to the 5 gig cap.
youngcalihottie @ May 19th 2008 8:11PM
youd be surprised. i only used my att aircard like 3 times last month and i used 500MB. all i really do is go on here, myspace, and check email. if i used the card every day i would really be pushing it.
Kellie @ May 20th 2008 9:40AM
You got it!
MBN @ May 19th 2008 7:21PM
The 300 MB cap while roaming? Does that include roaming on Sprint out of your home market, or roaming on other CDMA network?
john @ May 19th 2008 7:35PM
Here I was just about to get a Cradlepoint PHS or CTR and a Sprint EVDO modem. Now there's no point. If I'm going to go CDMA/EVDO, might as well go Verizon.
I just hope T-Mobile releases a 3G Express Card soon, and gets on the driver list for Cradlepoint ... and doesn't modify their TOS for their data plans.
IntentFire @ May 19th 2008 8:47PM
Bell mobility in Canada also did this a couple months ago.
JD @ May 19th 2008 9:58PM
wohoo! TOS change. I've been thinking about cancelling my contract since my Treo 755 sucks and I refuse to use WinMo or pay extra for BB services.
Cingular and 3G iphone here I come!
wako @ May 19th 2008 11:59PM
Ah! Im glad im not the only one that thought of this :D
For a second I thought everyone forgot this loophole!
john @ May 20th 2008 1:31AM
If the iPhone could do some form of wireless tethering*, for my N810, or a MID/PDA/UMPC, I'd go down that path. But, last I checked, it can't.
(* bluetooth DUN, or act as a wifi access point/base station, not an ad-hoc peer, and not bluetooth PAN (well, PAN is ok if it also does DUN))
Maybe the 3G one will.
morphius @ May 19th 2008 9:58PM
@MBN roaming on another carriers network. Roaming charges with other carriers are too expensive.
mingkee @ May 19th 2008 10:42PM
about T-Mobile, current 3G is limited to UMTS, except you use it with more than one computer, you're not likely to hit the cap
however, when I did testing on my 3555, a single 15 mins session ate up 35MB, and just shuffle several sites!
current html sites can load up a couple of MB easily
rick @ May 20th 2008 9:51AM
I just got verizon. the first month I went over by about 2 Gig. My bill this month was 732$.
Now I'm having to manage my usage and it really stinks.
John @ May 20th 2008 10:47AM
JD - The grass is always greener on the other side. I'll bet the farm that you will not be satisfied with your Cingular 3G service on your iphone.
But it's a free country...and that "stimulus package" money seems to be burning a hole in your pocket. Not sure how you plan to save money by throwing hundreds of dollars at Steve Jobs, though.
Thales @ May 20th 2008 10:50AM
Maybe they should revise their commercials now. Sprint is an ailing company insofar as their wireless service goes. I'm not a big fan of their wireless service, however the data center I colocate in uses Sprint in their bandwidth mix and it is a pretty reliable connection, beats the hell out of XO. Maybe they will just drop their wireless division. Although I wonder how an acquisition by another company would affect Sprint's other products/services.
-fin
Thales
Kris @ May 20th 2008 12:28PM
I would like to add that this article is inaccurate. Sprint is adding a cap to unlimited data _ONLY_ on roaming usage.
Most of America will be unaffected unless you do a ton of data transfer while roaming.
Ricktbo @ May 20th 2008 3:39PM
Kris,
Where did you here this info? There are seperate caps for roaming and non roaming.
Sprint "reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service" if that soft cap is violated (or you exceed 300MB of data while roaming) once their Terms of Service are modified on July 13.
5GB for non roaming 300MB for roaming
Kris @ May 20th 2008 3:53PM
Sprint employee told me and stated it should be in the new ToS.
Rayzilla @ May 20th 2008 12:41PM
In October my house burned down in a massive wildfire. I just recently purchased a new laptop. I got the sprint card due to the fact that where I am staying while my house is rebuilt does not have internet and I really liked the unlimeted download. I was also able to use a crossover cable and hook it to my xbox 360 and I renewed my live subscription. So between xbox, surfing and such I am gonna be so screwed when this changes. Nice.
r
ShadowwarZ @ May 20th 2008 1:54PM
does anyone know if this 5G CAP applies to phones as well as the data cards?
ShadowwarZ @ May 20th 2008 10:51PM
no, i am not fucking retarded. if you read the original story it states the following:
And they are changing the Terms of Service which will be affective July 13th. So that is another way to easily get out of contract. It seems as though this is only applying to PAM and Data Card plans - and not to Vision/PowerVision Pacakges (that is how it seems...). From the memos we got - but we could be interpreting it incorrectly.
NOT THE VISION/POWERVISION PACKAGES
it seems like you are the FUCKING retard.
thank you for the response instead of submitting a useful response.
tc1uscg @ May 20th 2008 9:22PM
It's just simply amazing when changes are made like this, of all the people who blow smoke and say "I'm switching to.... for my aircard needs".. Well, just don't say it. Do it. It doesn't make buisness sence to do this but Sprint is shooting itself in the what feet it has left. So, if anyone from corp is reading this, thanks. The idiot to proposed this should be fired and the current plans be left alone.
The only REAL reason they may be doing this is to get people onboard with WiMAX when it starts getting deployed. I would rather go with AT&T for BB service vs VZW. I'm sure AT&T's network will rock when 3G is all over the place..
KimberlyB @ May 21st 2008 7:52AM
You know I read Dan Hesse email and I beleive the keyword here is roaming, 5GB cap when roaming off our network and less then 1% our our users will be affection. if you have any question email him dan@sprint.com I'm sure somebody will answer you
M @ May 21st 2008 10:29PM
No, read Ricktbo's post. He researched it and the cap is 300mb for roaming and 5gb for regular on-network usage.
anthonylitz @ May 21st 2008 11:15AM
suxxs super bad if this comes true... I finally got "highspeed" at home with a sprint data card and evdo router. This will make me consider canceling...
JDUBB @ May 26th 2008 7:14PM
I am a sprint customer and I run my house off of the Aircard and come extremely close if not exceed 5gb a month. I have 3 computers and Xbox Live so it is not going to be pretty. Are they going to charge overages like VZW or just reserve the right to terminate people going way over. I doubt they would terminate for just a little over. Any one know?
Bertha @ May 28th 2008 3:06PM
I was wondering if you already have an existing broadband contract with sprint if they are going to grandfather our contracts because our contracts are unlimited.....
rich @ May 29th 2008 2:52AM
I just bought a verizon plan and plan to drop it with the 30 day guarantee. i've already hit 1g in one week. after doing the research, calling sprint customer service and the brick and mortar store, nobody has heard about putting a cap on the "unlimited" plan. any suggestions? should i still drop verizon for sprint. seems sprint is a little faster in everything i've read so far.
Matt @ Jun 25th 2008 5:56PM
For some, Alltel may be an alternative... I believe they are still unlimited?