BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT ·Frontier FiberOp.. Asus RT-AC68
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BiggA
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 8:39 am
YesSprint has fewer customers, and most of the data guzzling is on the CLEAR network up at 2.6ghz. There is so much spectrum up there, and so few users (relatively), it's just a matter of backhauling it all properly.
It's a good niche to take, and Sprint will do well once T-Mo and AT&T form a supernetwork. | |
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| tiger72SexaT duorP Premium Member join:2001-03-28 Saint Louis, MO |
tiger72
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 9:55 am
Re: YesYep, they're certainly making a play at folks like me on T-Mobile. And it's very attractive. Of course, it would be more attractive if Clear's network were up to par, but after TMO goes down that may be the best bet for data users. | |
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Re: YesTrue Unlimited is the only option they have to differentiate themselves. They have the spectrum to do it so need to exploit it. It can work if they keep pushing it in their ads. They need an edgier message though, with creative bashing undertones.
Sprint should take it a step further and say that once you become a Sprint customer, you get unlimited forever as long as you stay a Sprint customer, even when switching phone/plans - to alleviate concerns it may go away some day.
This would put them in a similar class of Costco's return policy - you can return products as long as you stay a contiguous customer. If you leave Costco and come back, you don't get to return items before leaving. | |
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datauser
Anon
2011-Apr-12 12:53 pm
Re: Yessaid by xenophon:True Unlimited is the only option they have to differentiate themselves. They have the spectrum to do it so need to exploit it. It can work if they keep pushing it in their ads. They need an edgier message though, with creative bashing undertones.
Sprint should take it a step further and say that once you become a Sprint customer, you get unlimited forever as long as you stay a Sprint customer, even when switching phone/plans - to alleviate concerns it may go away some day.
This would put them in a similar class of Costco's return policy - you can return products as long as you stay a contiguous customer. If you leave Costco and come back, you don't get to return items before leaving. i would like to see them also specifically state that not only are you 'unlimited' for life but also 'throttle free' for life. the industry has a whole lot of precedence for grandfathering in unlimited data users but than startling\ng to throttle them with a FUP. customers of sprints virgin mobile brand are experiencing this very issue now. | |
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BF69 fan
Anon
2011-Apr-12 1:22 pm
Re: YesI do not see that happening because if they did they could easily be sued if they ever changed their mind down the road. | |
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Re: YesRight... were it not for that "you agree to consent to binding arbitration..." clause in your contract. | |
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BF69 fan
Anon
2011-Apr-12 1:52 pm
Re: YesWould still in no way stop people from trying to start a class action lawsuit. | |
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| | | | | | | BiggA Premium Member join:2005-11-23 Central CT ·Frontier FiberOp.. Asus RT-AC68
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BiggA
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 5:18 pm
Re: YesThey cannot promise something FOREVER, but they could promise it for a contract length, and that will get people to come if they are the only carrier left with true unlimited (which they probably will be soon).
Unlimited plans still make no economic sense for consumers, but hey, they like them. | |
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to xenophon
As long as they offer unlimited for a 2-year contract, it will attract people, even though unlimited doesn't make sense for the consumer- people just like the concept. Personally, I like massive coverage, blazing fast 3G and my virtually unlimited 2GB of data. | |
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JohnInSJ Premium Member join:2003-09-22 Aptos, CA |
JohnInSJ
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 8:56 am
when all you have is a hammereverything looks like a nail.
If they ever do get market share, you can kiss it goodbye. | |
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UnlimitedIf Sprint was available in my area, I'd dump Verizon. Unlimited internet is a great motivation to switch providers. | |
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HappyAnarchy
Anon
2011-Apr-12 10:33 am
Re: UnlimitedIsn't VZW the other provider that offers unlimited. That may change but it hasn't yet. My data plan is unlimited.
Unless you mean mobile BBD, but I don't think their mobile BBD is unlimited either. | |
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| | (Software) pfSense Asus RT-AC68 Asus RT-AC66
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Re: UnlimitedAccording to Sprint, Verizon isn't unlimited because of throttling the top 5% of data hungry users, they mention throttling specifically in their advertisement. I'm fairly data hungry and on an unlimited Verizon plan and I've never been throttled but apparently it does happen. I'd switch to Sprint if their 4G coverage was better, my Thunderbolt screams, but no Sprint 4G here. | |
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| | | criggs join:2000-07-14 New York, NY |
criggs
Member
2011-Apr-12 11:59 am
Re: UnlimitedThe fact is that Verizon's "unlimited" 4G is only on their smartphones. You can't get it on your computer, unless you want to, as one DSL Reports wag put it, "cough (root) cough and cough (tether) cough".
Even if you do that you're still subject to throttling if you're unlucky enough to wind up in their top 5%.
Yeah, Verizon 4G LTE is a bit faster than Sprint 4G Wimax, particularly on the upload side. Yeah, it's a very tempting deal, if one wants to engage in the hassle of the cough, cough routine, and run the risk of the 5% throttle.
In fact, I thought about it very seriously myself for a few weeks. But, in the end, the hassle factor was just too high.
The fact is that those are a heckuva lot of hoops to jump through for unlimited LTE. Too high-maintenance for most people.
And by the way, a Sprint tech, who sounded like he knew what he was talking about, told me that the upload cap on Sprint 4G WiMax will be lifted from 1 mbps to 5 mbps by the end of the year, making it much more competitive with LTE by doing so. However this Sprint tech (his name was Nathan) also told me, with what I thought was commendable honesty, that they still expected average upload 4G WiMax speeds to stay within .5 mbps to 1.5 mbps, which still places it south of Verizon 4G LTE. | |
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Re: UnlimitedClearwire imposed the 1Mbps upload cap because they didn't want you to use the connection for web/video hosting. Now that they have competition, they need to taking away simple restrictions like that. | |
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| | | | | criggs join:2000-07-14 New York, NY |
criggs
Member
2011-Apr-12 1:50 pm
Re: Unlimitedsaid by xenophon:Clearwire imposed the 1Mbps upload cap because they didn't want you to use the connection for web/video hosting. In general, your posts on this forum indicate you know what you're talking about. And my gut tells me you're right about this. But perhaps only in part. You see, based on what Nathan told me, I'm wondering if we know the whole story here. He told me that originally there was no upload speed cap and no plans to cap the upload speed, and that the cap was an emergency stopgap measure due to unanticipated problems. I have no doubt that it is entirely possible that their investigation of the unanticipated problems they bumped into (the problems which led them to impose the cap) may very well have led them to conclude that some subscribers were running web/video hosting. But again, if Nathan is to be believed, it would appear they never expected a few folks doing hosting would cause this problem. It was unexpected, and the cap has always been viewed as temporary while they look for a permanent solution. And, according to Nathan, they are "very serious" about raising that cap to 5 mbps because they are tired of being at a competitive disadvantage with Verizon's LTE. | |
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to criggs
said by criggs:Even if you do that you're still subject to throttling if you're unlucky enough to wind up in their top 5%. You are only subject to throttling if you are in the top 5% AND using a base station that is congested. Verizon said as such when they announced this policy. They have no incentive to throttle you if you aren't impacting other users. | |
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Re: Unlimitedsaid by Crookshanks:said by criggs:Even if you do that you're still subject to throttling if you're unlucky enough to wind up in their top 5%. You are only subject to throttling if you are in the top 5% AND using a base station that is congested. Verizon said as such when they announced this policy. They have no incentive to throttle you if you aren't impacting other users. I use a lot of data and have never been throttled, I have no need for tethering most of the time, but even if you don't want to root their are non-root options like pdanet, you just can't wirelessly tether unless you root. | |
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WhoMI to criggs
Anon
2011-Apr-12 8:48 pm
to criggs
Sprint has a 5gb cap on their dongles too. | |
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to MovieLover76
Even though Sprint says they don't throttle, they do.
Look at Sprint's WiMax speed for upstream. It's throttled to 1mb/s.
Verizon should sue the pants off of Sprint for false advertising!! | |
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Thaler Premium Member join:2004-02-02 Los Angeles, CA |
Thaler
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 11:31 am
Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan TitlesIt's great that Sprint understands unlimited. But why do their "Everything Data" plans still require premium data fees? They lost their entire billing simplification reasoning for these titles by adding nickle-and-dime extras here and there. | |
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Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan TitleIt's not that complicated. It's $xx for dumphones and $xx + $10 for smartphones. They could add $10 for everyone but then dumbphone users get gypped. | |
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| | Thaler Premium Member join:2004-02-02 Los Angeles, CA |
Thaler
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 11:53 am
Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan TitleWhat dumbphone user needs data? Everything messaging handles text + voice plans much cheaper than the "Everything Data" plans.
Not to mention, how is there room for a premium data charge for a plan that explicitly says Everything Data? Should just change it to "Sprint Data", or "Kind-of-Sometimes-Data". | |
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Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan TitleI should have said 'feature phones'. Sprint has several feature phones that do data, but do not have a full blown OS like Android.
Maybe they should set the base price $10 higher and then give a $10 discount for non-smarthphone users. | |
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| | | | Thaler Premium Member join:2004-02-02 Los Angeles, CA |
Thaler
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 12:05 pm
Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan TitleGuess I've never even seen other Sprint customers with feature phones anymore. People seem to get the voice + texters (which also have very broken data offerings), or they step up to a smartphone. I've never seen anyone with a non-smartphone that's tolerable for internet usage.
I just find it funny that their current ads feature dictionary break-outs for contract-defining terms, when their base packages suffer from the same problem. I mean, I don't understand at all why they have the "Simply Everything" plan, yet there are still unavoidable add-ons to such a package. | |
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Razzy12345 to xenophon
Anon
2011-Apr-12 1:17 pm
to xenophon
Sprint doesn't charge $10 extra a month for features phone. Only smartphones (3G or not) will have $10 data fee. | |
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Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Titlesaid by Razzy12345 :Sprint doesn't charge $10 extra a month for features phone. Only smartphones (3G or not) will have $10 data fee. Yes I know, which was the point I was making. | |
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to Razzy12345
Oops, sorry about that. I did mean to reply to someone else. | |
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dvd536as Mr. Pink as they come Premium Member join:2001-04-27 Phoenix, AZ |
dvd536
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 12:08 pm
No loveFor USB stick modems. "unlimited is still 5gb/mo" for them! FAIL! | |
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| Alcohol Premium Member join:2003-05-26 Climax, MI |
Alcohol
Premium Member
2011-Apr-12 12:37 pm
Re: No loveObviously. No company will offer unlimited 3G broadband. | |
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Razzy12345 to dvd536
Anon
2011-Apr-12 1:23 pm
to dvd536
They never advertised USB sticks as unlimited - they stated 5GB. USB sticks != Smartphones. | |
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tmc8080
Member
2011-Apr-12 12:35 pm
$9 a month moreI pay about $98 for triple play 25/25 with Verizon (Time Warner & Cablevision got NOTHING to beat that deal)... for $9 more a month I'd tack-on unlimited phone, text & data.. but it's not like Sprint's price cutting is motivating Verizon to offer me that deal so this means nothing to me.
BTW.. $9 a month is what I pay for a Tracfone. This and an android tablet with a voip app works fine for me. | |
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Ummm....To be able to offer unlimited data, Sprint charges an extra $10 over their 3G data prices just to use the Mobile WiMax network Sprint charges the extra $10/mo for every smartphone, including 3G-only devices, per » www.slashgear.com/sprint ··· 8126947/The $10 additional wimax fee still applies for SERO Premium users though. SERO/SERO Premium is not available for new customers. I have SERO Premium with an Evo Shift @ $40/mo + $10/mo add'l wimax data fee. My understanding is that the add'l data fee does not apply for SERO Premium users unless they choose a wimax device. » mcguireslaw.com/2011/01/ ··· um-data/ | |
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| Jim_in_VA (banned) join:2004-07-11 Cobbs Creek, VA |
Jim_in_VA (banned)
Member
2011-Apr-12 4:36 pm
Re: Ummm....I have SERO as well, but not premium (still using HTC Touch Pro 2). Upgrading to premium, do you pay $10 for use of the EVO Shift +$10 for WiMax? ie $20 extra for the privilege? | |
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Re: Ummm....said by Jim_in_VA:I have SERO as well, but not premium (still using HTC Touch Pro 2). Upgrading to premium, do you pay $10 for use of the EVO Shift +$10 for WiMax? ie $20 extra for the privilege? Correct, +$10 for Sero Premium, then +$10 for wimax, I came from a Palm Treo Pro, the Evo Shift is lightyears ahead of that. You also get anymobile, anytime with Sero Premium, which means that calls to any cell phone, regardless of carrier, are unlimited. | |
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Kobe 4G
Anon
2011-Apr-12 3:07 pm
Not now Sprint, you got the 1 and 2 nervous. Sprint this news has some bad timing, with the press of AT&T / t-mobile, you could gain an un limited number of new subscribers. as this new Nexus phone is close to launch. Your niche is this unlimited data, you need to do what ever you can do to keep it that way.
You have no competition today, this is a good thing. | |
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Jim_in_VA (banned) join:2004-07-11 Cobbs Creek, VA |
Jim_in_VA (banned)
Member
2011-Apr-12 5:59 pm
Sprint, VZ, and AT&T ...were all huddled in a smokey cigar filled room, and threw a dart at the board and hit the 5GB mark. Thus all aircards were limited to that standard. Sadly, Sprint could have gone out for a breather and said " think I'll give 10GB instead" ... and how much so would their ranks have grown. | |
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| slckusr Premium Member join:2003-03-17 Greenville, SC |
slckusr
Premium Member
2011-Apr-13 2:05 am
Re: Sprint, VZ, and AT&T ...said by Jim_in_VA:were all huddled in a smokey cigar filled room, and threw a dart at the board and hit the 5GB mark. Thus all aircards were limited to that standard. Sadly, Sprint could have gone out for a breather and said " think I'll give 10GB instead" ... and how much so would their ranks have grown. It makes me wonder too why they push unlimited on their smart phones, and leave a rather small cap on the card options. Its almost as if sprint is telling you to tether your phone to avoid those pesky data caps, saving you money and cutting out a potential data card sale to sprint. | |
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Razzy12345
Anon
2011-Apr-13 11:48 am
Re: Sprint, VZ, and AT&T ...Uhhh...
You people understand if you are using data card or tether, you'd use 10x more data than a normal smartphone?
Cmon really. Stop pretending air cards should be unlimited (yet). It will be eventually but right now, it's not viable option to carrier due to 3G (WIDELY supported unlike 4G) tech. I completely understand $30/mo data plan for smartphone should not be the same as air cards. | |
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