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Comments on news posted 2011-04-12 08:24:18: While larger carriers like AT&T shift to ever lower usage caps and ever higher per byte overage fees, Sprint continues to hope that marketing their Mobile WiMax service as truly unlimited will set them apart in the market place. ..

BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Yes

Sprint 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.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Re: Yes

Yep, 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.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Yes

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.

datauser
@comcast.net

datauser

Anon

Re: Yes

said 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.

BF69 fan
@charter.com

BF69 fan

Anon

Re: Yes

I do not see that happening because if they did they could easily be sued if they ever changed their mind down the road.
mlundin
join:2001-03-27
Lawrence, KS

mlundin

Member

Re: Yes

Right... were it not for that "you agree to consent to binding arbitration..." clause in your contract.

BF69 fan
@charter.com

BF69 fan

Anon

Re: Yes

Would still in no way stop people from trying to start a class action lawsuit.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Yes

They 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.
BiggA

BiggA to xenophon

Premium Member

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.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ

Premium Member

when all you have is a hammer

everything looks like a nail.

If they ever do get market share, you can kiss it goodbye.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Unlimited

If Sprint was available in my area, I'd dump Verizon. Unlimited internet is a great motivation to switch providers.

HappyAnarchy
@iauq.com

HappyAnarchy

Anon

Re: Unlimited

Isn'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.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Unlimited

According 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.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Re: Unlimited

The 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.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Unlimited

Clearwire 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.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Re: Unlimited

said 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.
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks to criggs

Member

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.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Unlimited

said 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.

WhoMI
@zoominternet.net

WhoMI to criggs

Anon

to criggs
Sprint has a 5gb cap on their dongles too.
WhoMI

WhoMI to MovieLover76

Anon

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!!

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Titles

It'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.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Title

It'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.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Title

What 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".
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Title

I 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.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Title

Guess 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.

Razzy12345
@rr.com

Razzy12345 to xenophon

Anon

to xenophon
Sprint doesn't charge $10 extra a month for features phone. Only smartphones (3G or not) will have $10 data fee.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Now if they'd only fix the "Everything" Plan Title

said 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.

Razzy12345
@rr.com

Razzy12345 to Razzy12345

Anon

to Razzy12345
Oops, sorry about that. I did mean to reply to someone else.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

No love

For USB stick modems. "unlimited is still 5gb/mo" for them! FAIL!

Alcohol
Premium Member
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI

Alcohol

Premium Member

Re: No love

Obviously. No company will offer unlimited 3G broadband.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

Re: No love

you can get pretty close: »www.millenicom.com/

Razzy12345
@rr.com

Razzy12345 to dvd536

Anon

to dvd536
They never advertised USB sticks as unlimited - they stated 5GB. USB sticks != Smartphones.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

$9 a month more

I 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.

•••
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH

1 edit

whiteyonenh

Member

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/
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

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?
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH

whiteyonenh

Member

Re: Ummm....

Click for full size
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.

Kobe 4G
@clearwire-wmx.net

Kobe 4G

Anon

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.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

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.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

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.

Razzy12345
@rr.com

Razzy12345

Anon

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.