RSSSprint says 5 GB per month should be enough for most
by Michael Hatamoto
After last week's news that Sprint confirmed its plans to implement a 5 GB per month overall use cap for its mobile broadband service, the company has seen a flurry of negative comments, and last weekend attempted a clarification.
"The vast majority of our current users (about 99.5%) shouldn't be affected" by the usage cap, reads a statement to BetaNews from Sprint public relations manager Roni Singleton over the weekend. "Whether it's the 300 MB roaming limit or the 5 GB limit on total data usage, that's enough data to meet the regular monthly usage habits of almost all of our customers."
Usage caps will only be placed on consumer and individual accounts, she continued, and not business contract, corporate, government, or public sector accounts. "We're working on additional processes and pricing to appropriately address the needs of heavy roaming and data users among the corporate liable customer group," she added.
A Sprint statement issued last week reads, "The use of voice and data roaming by a small minority of customers is generating a disproportionately large level of operating expense for the company. We are enforcing the existing terms and conditions for phone plans."
Previous Sprint customers should now be receiving messages attached to their phone bill stating the pending data usage caps that go into effect 30 days after receipt of a bill. Starting next month, Sprint employees will begin calling customers to confirm they are aware of the changes made to the mobile broadband plan.
Several blog posts prior to the Sprint announcement inaccurately claimed the cap was designed to force users to get ready for Sprint's WiMAX 4G network launch, currently slated for later this year.
26 Comments
Okay, let's do some statistical math then.
If their plan costs $60 / month, and they think that 99.5 % of customers are not affected by the cap, then only
.005 * $60 = $0.30
needs to be added to the $60 to cover the users who exceed the cap at right around 5 GB.
Let's say that they bittorrent 10 Linux ISOs a month, say around 50 GB. Then just scale that $0.30 up by a factor of ten and you get $3.00 extra, or $63.00.
It seems then that $63 for a "truly unlimited" plan ought to cover everything over a $60 5 GB plan, if their 99.5% figure is correct.
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So much for "Simply" unlimited... That's why I dropped Sprint after almost 10 years.
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Sprint should disappear from the face of the earth already.
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Not that I use crappy Sprint but a USAGE CAP?!?!?!
Are you guys just trying to kill off ALL of your customers by pissing them off????
If there is a usage cap, then I propose a price cap! How about them apples...
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If more or less nobody is affected by a usage cap... Why implement it at all !?
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I don't think I've ever downloaded less than 3-4 GB/day lol since two years ago.
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Sprint do you still care about your customers? Do you care if you continue to loose millions of customers each quarter?
T-Mobile do you still want to buy Sprint?
I am a heavy PPC user using my Tilt to connect to the internet and I range around 600 - 900 megs a month so 5 GB limit is not a big deal but still setting that limit makes me keep track of ONE MORE THING I don't need to deal with while traveling. SPRINT what do you gain by this?
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Wow...Sprint just keeps on adding nails to their own coffin.
Is this how the conversation on this went? "Hey is there anything that might compell customers to subscribe to Sprint that we currently offer? Yah our internet is ACTUALLY unlimited. Ok apply a 5GB cap to help drive away potential/current customers."
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One wonders that if such limits effect such a miniscule amount of users, why they are necessary to begin with.
We don't need them, but they are important....
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Right on sister.
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Sprint says 5 GB per month should be enough
sorta like when Bill gates said 64k of ram was more than anyone would ever need? lol
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You do realize, of course, that the quote is about 640k (not 64k), and he never actually said it?
http://en.wikiquote.org/...ill_Gates#Misattributed
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I could use that in a day... LOL Well maybe a couple days.. LOL
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I called Sprint 3x to confirm the bandwidth caps and I was told repeatedly that it only applies to non-pc card connections. And only affects people using a lot of data over their phones.
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Sprint overcharged my small (US) company for over $50,000.00. We caught them doing it and now they refuse to refund the over-payments. You can read the full story at http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com
I also wrote an open letter to Dan Hesse the Chairman and CEO of Sprint Nextel. It is a good read so please consider reading the letter.
http://www.sprint-really...n-letter-dan-hesse.aspx
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Bulls***. 1 legal game demo now weights from 800MB up to 1,5GB. Just a DEMO. So if you want to try just 4 of them you'll run out of bandwidth. Yeah right. Stupid greedy ISPs. They want to offer speeds beyond their capabilities just to get more customers, yet they can't deliver the goods and they start pushing such stupid ideas. All hail to our ISPs with goods that they can deliver. At least you get what you pay for, no limits at all. Amen.
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Pretty sure the latest Crysis demo doesn't run on your phone. :p
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not everybody just checks email...
tethered to use the cell as a modem
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I think he's talking about if you use your phone as a modem for your laptop or PC or if you have a PC card to download a large game demo.
Their are podcasts, and videos, music, and much more. Even streaming video and music goes against your download, so if you watch youtube videos or steam an internet radio station your screwed. A 5GB cap is a joke.
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I can see the headline in July "Another 500,000 customers leave Sprint". Their digging themselves a grave. Either T-Mobile better buy them out or they better do something to fix themselves.
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I hope they didn't exaggerate that 99.5%. Because they're about to lose .5% of their costumers.
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$10000 annual salary should be enough for the sprint management.
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if u get terminated do you still gotta pay a fee.
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hahhaha I see where you're getting at. Makes me wish I had a broadband account so I could get terminated. :)
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Yup
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yeah this cappping is going to cost them clients
we do a reality site that has a mobile cam which uses the sprint evdo... and i know about 10 others said they will be canceling if they enforce this new rule
and there is a way out of the contract..
tell them u dont agree with the changes to the terms u have 30days
c) in response to a materially adverse change we make to the Agreement see below
Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights
We may change any part of the Agreement at any time, including, but not limited to, rates, charges, how we calculate charges, or your terms of Service. We will provide you notice of material changes, and may provide you notice of non-material changes, in a manner consistent with this Agreement (see "Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement" section). If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on Services under your Term Commitment, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.
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